Jeremy Black, 2007
ISBN 978 1 904863 23 6
£10

A Short History of Britain covers an enormous sweep of time - from the mists of prehistory to the present day. And yet, as he surveys the countless years, Professor Jeremy Black - one of the UK's leading historians - never loses sight of his main theme: the trends that have made Britain what it is - exceptional. Not in any jingoistic way, but in the sense that, right from prehistoric times, the geography, the topography, the demography have all moulded the British character and contributed to the way we have evolved and to the way we are now. Of late, there has been a tendency in government and the media to dwell on those aspects of our being that are shared with other countries; but the history of other countries is not our history. And Britain's history readily stands comparison with the history of any other country. With its broadly chronological structure, A Short History of Britain does not shy away from dates, people and events. And, as such, it is a handy work of ready reference. But it is so much more than that. In his trademark pithy style, Jeremy Black brings an extra dimension to the history of our nation: he reminds us vividly what we should cherish about our past and, more particularly, what we are in such grave danger of losing.

Jeremy Black, 2007
ISBN 978 1 904863 22 9
£10

The slave trade was vile. Everybody can agree on that. But was it unambiguously the fault of the Western powers of the time? Was it something for which we should today apologize? The Anglican Church seems to think so, and so do elements of the British government. Does the modern mania for apology and breast-beating, however, not perhaps lead to an oversimplification of matters? In this timely book, published to mark 200 years since Britain took the historic step of abolishing the slave trade, Professor Black grasps the nettle of political correctness. He deftly points out the contradictions and ambiguities of the slave trade: the inconvenient fact that the Arab world played at least as large a part in the slave trade as any Western power, for instance; or the uncomfortable truth that African chieftains were all too willing to sell other Africans to Western and Arab slave dealers. In the light of this, what are we to make of allegations that 'racism' lay at the heart of the slave trade? To whom should the West apologize? Professor Black underlines the degree to which both slavery and the slave trade fulfilled labour requirements in a world in which labour was frequently coerced. Rather than thinking of slavery as uniquely evil, he points out the need to consider it alongside other systems of labour control, such as serfdom. In this fascinating volume, we trace the evolution of the slave trade through the centuries, pausing to examine some of the shifting variables: How did the supply of slaves change as the various cash crops rose or declined in importance? What happened when European manufactured goods entered the African marketplace? Though slim, this is a thought-provoking and fearless book by one of the UK's leading historians. Dealing as it does with slavery around the world, it deserves to be widely read both in Britain and abroad.

Richard D. North, 2007
ISBN 978 1 904863 20 5
£15.95

Broadcasters are corseted and cosseted - it's time to set them free. We need to scrap the TV licence and give broadcast journalists the same freedoms their print colleagues enjoy, argues Richard D. North. It made sense 80 years ago to treat broadcasters as special - but not now. "Scrap The BBC!" is a manifesto for the future of broadcasting. North suggests that broadcasters are crippled by the requirement to be impartial. Instead of being neutered but perpetually dissident, they need the freedom to be partisan and even positive.

"A very stimulating work with some palpable hits at the BBC and how it has cleverly survived in the bearpit of media politics." Professor Sir Alan Peacock, Chairman of the Government Committee of Inquiry into the financing of the BBC, 1986

Patrick Basham, Gio Gori & John Luik, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 19 1
£20

Does the obesity epidemic require radical countermeasures? Contrary to the obesity crusaders' belief, Diet Nation argues that we cannot overcome the obesity problem through legislation. The crusaders' solutions are blunt, heavy-handed and coercive policy instruments that punish both the producers and the consumers of foods and beverages - the obese, the fat, the slim and the thin - in the unscientific and unethical quest for the poisoned chalice of an obesity-free society. There is a significant cost to the current course of treatment for an illusory disease. But the cost is not merely monetary. The greatest cost will consist in the sacrifice of so many of our hard-won economic and political liberties on the altar of a misguided, unwinnable crusade.

Digby Anderson, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 18 3
£16.99

The modern English congratulate themselves that their food is rather good - they claim that Britain has undergone a culinary renaissance. In The English at Table Digby Anderson surveys England's eating habits and finds that these claims are all nonsense. English food remains as bad as it has ever been. The English at Table documents the awfulness of English food and the shallowness of English food culture. The English at Table is illustrated by The Spectator's cartoon editor, Michael Heath.

Digby Anderson, earning himself the title "England's most violent cook", has written about food for The Spectator, National Review, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, and New York Times. He was also Director of the Social Affairs Unit from 1980 until February 2004.

"Parts of this book really do read as written by a monster".
Leading UK food publisher

Peter Mullen, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 17 5
£11.99

If the original gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written today, they would never get published. They are far too politically incorrect.

As part of his ministry, Rev’d Dr Peter Mullen - Rector of St. Michael’s, Cornhill and Chaplain to the Stock Exchange - has felt compelled to compile an updated Gospel that is relevant to the modern age. It is The Politically-Correct Gospel, the only gospel that could find a publisher in our enlightened age. This new gospel is accessible, inclusive and socially-engaged.

W. D. Rubinstein, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 12 4
£20

Who were the very rich in Britain during the past 200 years? Until recently, surprisingly little was known about them beyond anecdotes and stereotypes. Men of Property, the first book by an historian to examine and analyze who the very rich in Britain really were, first appeared in 1981 and has had a wide influence. It is credited with helping to shape the so-called "Gentlemanly Capitalism" school of economic historians, which has heavily affected our notions of economic growth in modern Britain. Men of Property now appears in a fully updated edition, with new chapters on the very rich in post-war Britain. William D. Rubinstein found that the plurality of the rich in Victorian Britain earned their fortunes in commerce and finance, especially in the City of London, rather than in manufacturing and industry. This study is largely based in a detailed, comprehensive analysis of the probate records of wealth at death, as well as income tax and other objective sources. From these, a full picture has been built up of the occupations, social origins, and career patterns of the very riche in Britain since the early nineteenth century, including both businessmen and the great landowners.

This fully updated edition includes extensive new chapters on the wealthy in the 1940-80 period - when, because of extraordinarily high rates of taxation and other factors, the number of very rich persons in Britain declined sharply - and on the wealthy in contemporary Britain. This last chapter focuses on the remarkable increase in the scale of riches in Britain during the past quarter-century, which occurred at the same time as an increase in general levels of affluence.

Anthony Glees, Philip H. J. Davies, & John N. L. Morrison, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 16 7
£20

Britain's spies know very well how to keep their secrets secret. Only nine parliamentarians - the members of the Intelligence and Security Committee - have the continuing legal authority to pry into the most sensitive activities of MI6, MI5 and GCHQ and report back candidly to the Prime Minister on how well the country's intelligence Agencies are performing. Since the Committee was set up in 1994 it has also made sanitised copies of its reports available to Parliament and the public which - when the space between the lines is read by experts - can reveal a great deal.
But how well has the Committee done its job? The Open Side of Secrecy is the first in-depth analysis of the Intelligence and Security Committee's first ten years. It dissects the Committee's successes and failures and suggests ways in which it could become more effective in future. The Open Side of Secrecy is a ground-breaking analysis of Britain's most important intelligence oversight body.

Professor Anthony Glees is Director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies. He is one of the founding figures of the academic study of intelligence and security issues in the UK.

Dr Philip H. J. Davies is Deputy Director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies.

John N. L. Morrison progressed through Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) from desk analyst to Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence and Head of the Defence Intelligence Analysis Staff. He represented the MoD and DIS on the Joint Intelligence Committee and was UK representative to the NATO Intelligence Board. On his early retirement in 1999 he was selected by the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee to be its first Investigator, a position he held until 2004.

Manifesto of the Henry Jackson Society, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 15 9
£13.99

The British Moment is the foreign policy manifesto of a group of young academics based at Cambridge University, the Henry Jackson Society. "The British Moment" calls for a new way of thinking about British foreign policy in the twenty-first century and argues that the time is rife for Britain to play a leading and progressive role in promoting democracy and human rights across the globe. The British Moment's authors argue it is time for Britain to reclaim the noble tradition of liberal interventionism.

Roger Howard, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 14 0
£11.99

On both sides of the Atlantic, the doctrine of "liberal interventionism" has, in recent years, been making inroads in policy making circles. The domestic affairs of one sovereign state, maintain its advocates, are a matter of direct concern to other states, which are therefore justified in actively interfering. "Neoconservatives" argue that the global diffusion of democratic values is in the West's best interests; meanwhile, many among the liberal-left argue that the Western world has a responsibility to uphold human rights in other countries. In What's Wrong with Liberal Interventionism, Roger Howard argues that the core principles of liberal interventionism are not only delusional, but also present clear dangers. He argues that not only are liberal interventionists particularly apt to wholly misjudge a foreign mindset, but they are also inadvertently responsible for fuelling mistrust with rival states - at the very time when this ought to be avoided.

Jeremy Black, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 13 2
£13.99

Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq - Britain's armed forces are increasingly required to engage in 'power projection'. Yet for years, Britain's armed strength has been in decline. How can the military do more with less? Can Britain's Thin Red Line remain intact? Or is it already too late? Professor Jeremy Black - one of Britain’s leading historians - employs a number of perspectives as he casts a fresh eye over the main issues of defence: from the eighteenth century, through the Cold War and the double-edged 'peace dividend', to the new threat that is Al-Qa'ida. In this compelling book, Professor Black sounds a reveille - a wake-up call to the political elite and society at large urgently to address (and redress) the imbalance between what Britain's forces physically can do and what the country expects them to do.

S. J. Masty, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 11 6
£20

At home and abroad, the war against terrorism can only be won in two ways - stop young Muslims from becoming terrorists, or get their friends, family and neighbours to inform the police. We are losing that war, and terrorist recruiters are winning - argues S J Masty - because the West bungles its communications to the Muslim world, often by accident but sometimes intentionally due to conflicting objectives. S J Masty, international expert in strategic communications and long-time observer of Islamic affairs, describes why the war is being lost, how Western messages alienate Muslim audiences. He recommends structural reforms in the way Western governments communicate in response to domestic political pressures, and how to improve content to stop making enemies needlessly.

"If you want to know why terrorism all too easily finds favourable terrain read S J Masty's excellent book."

Nick Danziger - author of Danziger's Travels and Danziger's Britain

Anthony McRoy, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 09 4
£20

From Rushdie to 7/7: The Radicalisation of Islam in Britain is the first book to offer an authoritative and comprehensive overview of what has led to the radicalisation of Islam in Britain. The book analyses the key events - including the Rushdie, Gulf and Bosnian crises, the second Palestinian intifada, 9/11 and the Iraq War - which have led to this radicalisation.

From Rushdie to 7/7 explains how this radicalisation created the environment for the 7/7 bombings. The book also explains the various religious and ideological bases for Islamic attitudes to jihad and democracy.

From Rushdie to 7/7 also offers a comprehensive overview of Islamic groups in the UK. It explains the different standpoints and histories of groups from the Muslim Council of Britain via the Muslim Association of Britain to Hizb ut-Tahrir and the supporters of Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri Muhammad.

Jeremy Black, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 08 6
£16.99

In The European Question and the National Interest Jeremy Black – Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain’s leading historians - offers an alternative, historically grounded, Euro-sceptic account of Britain’s relationship to European integration. He takes the story from the “deep history” of the historical background to Britain’s relations with continental Europe to scenarios for Britain’s future relations with the EU.

The European Question and the National Interest argues that supporters of the European “project” have offered a dubious reading of history to support their assertions about the supposed inevitability - the supposed inherent “destiny” - of further European integration. Those advocating closer European integration have also failed to define - let alone advance - the national interest. He argues that this failure has been particularly acute during the Blair administration.

Richard D. North, 2006
ISBN 1 904863 10 8
£11.99

Mr Blair’s Messiah Politics: Or what happened when Bambi tried to save the world shows how a personal sense of mission led Tony Blair to concentrate power in his own hands as he re-imagined Britain from top to bottom – before going on to save the world.

In seeking to fight third-world poverty, tackle climate change and topple tyrannies, Blair has framed goals that truly merit the term ‘messianic’.

Blair’s Messiah Politics mixed idealism with ballot-box cunning. Bemused and outwitted, the media became a tool of the PM. New Labour’s careerist party ceded power to the great vote-winner. The electorate was charmed by his disingenuous earnestness. The institutions of state became subservient to the whims of Number 10.

Along the way, we have seen an actor-manager play the ardent campaigner, the world-weary statesman, the Therapist-in-Chief. Manager, missionary, military leader: these roles have all suited Tony Blair.

This book shows us how to avoid a future Tony Blair: the public needs to be sceptical of personal power; MPs need to reassert their authority; Civil Servants need to rediscover their allegiance to the Crown. By these simple measures, we can guard against Messiah Politics, whether Blair’s or anyone else’s.

Douglas Murray, 2005
ISBN 1 904863 05 1
£20

Neoconservatism: Why We Need It is a vigorous defence of the most controversial political philosophy of our age. In this timely book Douglas Murray explains what neoconservatism is, in theory and practise. He defends it against its critics and explains why – despite the noisy claims of its opponents - neoconservatism is good.

Murray is the first person to make a sustained case for why neoconservatism is relevant to Britain. And neoconservatism, it is argued, is the future not just of the British Conservative party, but of any political party committed to the ideals of freedom at home and abroad.

This book calls for the introduction of neoconservative ideas into British politics, explaining why this is necessary and how it could be achieved.

The early chapters explain neoconservatism’s roots and forebears. A chapter on the Iraq war demonstrates the moral and political vacuum now gripping both left and right in Britain. Finally Murray details what British neoconservatism should look like and why the need for it is so urgent.

Born in 1979, Murray is a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford. His first book, Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas, was published in 2000. Acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic, the book became a bestseller.

Oliver Kamm, Foreword by Martin Bell, 2005
ISBN 1 904863 06 X
£13.99

Throughout the past century the Left has fractured over the issue of national security. In Anti-Totalitarianism: The Left-Wing Case for a Neoconservative Foreign Policy, Oliver Kamm plots a course for progressive politics by drawing on four pivotal historical debates on the British Left. These episodes comprise: collective security in the 1930s; opposition to Communist expansionism after World War II; the Labour Party’s rejection in the 1980s of its earlier anti-Communism; and President Bush’s ‘war on terror’.

Kamm identifies, running through these debates, an authentic left-wing tradition of militant anti-totalitarianism. Against it, however, there has been a recurring temptation for progressives, critical of their own societies’ failings, to extenuate or even romanticise the ideological opponents of Western liberal democracies.

Kamm criticises left-wingers who instinctively oppose the use of force by the Western democracies. He demonstrates the affinity between their supposedly progressive anti-interventionism and a conservative ‘realism’ (which Kamm terms ‘amoral quietism’) that fails even in its own terms as a strategy for preserving vital interests. Kamm demonstrates that these issues are not new to British political debate, and that the Left is reprising familiar errors. The sole novel feature of left-wing opposition to the Blair-Bush strategy since 9/11 is that an alliance has emerged between different and previously hostile forms of totalitarianism.

Against self-styled realists, Kamm defends regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of an anti-totalitarian struggle with recognisable antecedents in twentieth-century Europe. He argues that the promotion of global democracy accords with the Left’s internationalist ideals of opposition to fascism and clerical reaction. Indeed, the much-maligned term neoconservatism should be seen as a modern variant of traditional liberal internationalism.

Interventionism has recently been a difficult cause to argue in British politics. Kamm expounds it, as Martin Bell notes in his foreword, “with style, dexterity and scholarship”.

Digby Anderson, 2005
ISBN 1 904863 04 3
£20

Britain, Europe and the United States are decadent societies in a special sense of that word. They have traded in an old morality that served them well throughout their civilisation for a new, experimental quasi-morality. The old morality had well-known virtues, courage, love, fairness, honesty and prudence. The new ‘virtues’ are equality, anti-discrimination, environmental concern, self-affirmation, a ‘caring’ attitude, and a critical mindset.

The old were genuine virtues; they required specific behaviours of individuals. The new are quasi or bogus virtues. Some, such as equality, are political policies rather than features of personal conduct. Environmentalism is an arena in which virtue may be exercised not a virtue themselves. Transparency in business is a way of revealing virtue not a virtue. Some are slogans: they make rhetorical appeals to moral indignations. Others such as self-affirmation would once have been regarded as a vice.

One of the best known bad exchanges is that of Aladdin’s lamp. Aladdin’s princess wife, not knowing his old, dusty lamp is a magic one is persuaded to exchange it for a bright new one. The exchange of a dusty, old but well-proven morality for a bright, new quasi-morality is an even worse deal. This book shows how good the old one was and how empty the glittering new one is. But there is something worse than the new set of quasi-virtues, and that is the exchange itself. The princess gave away Aladdin’s lamp in ignorance of its magic powers. Our society has given up its priceless set of virtues in the face of ample evidence of their goodness and practicality. Indeed, it may be that it is this very goodness with which society is so uneasy. A shiny bauble morality is so much easier to live with.

Anthony Glees & Chris Pope, 2005
ISBN 1 904863 07 8
£15

John Taylor & Adrian Furnham, 2005
ISBN 1 904863 03 5
£9.95

Dishonesty and deceit are increasing in the workplace. Employee theft, it is estimated, is responsible for 30% to 40% of all business failures. In the retail sector theft by staff accounts for an estimated 50.8% of all “shrinkages”.

John Taylor and Adrian Furnham offer employers a guide to minimising employee dishonesty. Taylor and Furnham explain the most important things employers should – and should not – do to prevent dishonesty by their staff. The authors base this advice on their many years of experience. John Taylor is now an independent consultant to international companies and government organisations, having worked for many years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Adrian Furnham is Professor of Psychology at University College, London and has been acknowledged as the world’s most productive psychologist for the last twenty years.

Taylor and Furnham argue that the way ahead is not for employers to trust their staff less and less. Loyalty is a two way street: employers who show their staff little loyalty can expect less in return. Commitment and loyalty come from the right recruitment – and exit - policies, not from CC TV cameras.

Richard D. North, 2005
ISBN 1 904863 02 7
£20

In the last ten years there has been a torrent of writing which deplores the Western economic model and the Consumer Society. Will Hutton, Naomi Klein, George Monbiot, Joseph Stiglitz and many others have made their names accusing the neo-liberal world of brutalising the well-off and poor alike.

In Rich Is Beautiful: A very personal defence of Mass Affluence, Richard D North takes on this assault and – drawing on a huge range of material – defends Western life. Where it fails, he says, it is because citizens fail in their manners and morals - they are not sufficiently grateful for the great advantages capitalism, industry, science and democracy have brought them.

With great wit, North argues that we fail ‘the system’, ‘the system’ doesn't fail us.

What's more, the Third World needs lots more ‘neo-liberal’ capitalism.

This book also addresses the latest complaints from soft-left ‘liberals’:

• That we are getting less happy as we get richer;
• That we are suffering from ‘Status Anxiety’;
• That we have too much choice.

Richard D. North says this is all nonsense. In the modern world, almost everyone has unparalleled opportunities to live the ‘deliberate’ or the ‘examined’ life, just as philosophers down the ages have hoped we might.

Drawing on movies, TV shows and popular culture - and much hard data too, North powerfully argues that the soft-left ‘liberal’ world of media, academia and politics have created much of the misery they blame on capitalism.

“This book takes on an impossible task. It defends the greed and materialism of the present age and says that it is good - for everybody (what people used to call the Trickle Down Effect, or what I called the ‘Champagne Fountain Effect!’). If you want to see the indefensible argued with vigour, Richard D. North is your man. And he’s funny. He is our very own P J O'Rourke.”

Peter York, co-author, The Sloane Ranger Handbook.

"Logical yet impassioned, utterly politically incorrect yet splendidly right, Richard D. North has broken one of the great taboos of modern society in this inspiring, liberating book."

Andrew Roberts

Anthony Glees & Philip H J Davies, 2004
ISBN 1 904863 01 9
£30

This book is about a major and dangerous failing of government and intelligence at a time of great national crisis. It is also about the failure of the BBC to properly fulfil its role as a public service broadcaster.

The inability to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction which members of the intelligence community firmly believed were being amassed in Iraq was Britain’s worst intelligence failure since the Second World War. It continues to haunt the corridors of power, raising grave questions about how intelligence feeds into policy-making in an increasingly fissile world.

Exploiting the unique resource of the published evidence marshalled by the Hutton Inquiry Anthony Glees and Philip H J Davies show how:

• Tony Blair’s government and Britain’s intelligence community systematically mishandled the use of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war;


• The BBC systematically misreported and mishandled the story of Dr David Kelly, one of Britain’s best weapon experts.

Digby Anderson, 2004
ISBN 1 904863 00 0
£9.95

Once Middle England was as immovable as a rock. It was a minority but a sizeable one. Now, however, as far as public life is concerned, it has surrendered to the oiks

Christie Davies, 2004
RESEARCH REPORT 37
ISBN 0 907631 21 5
£6

Argues that those who support the censorship of jokes massively exaggerate their impact

Compiled by Digby Anderson, 2000
ISBN 0 907631 93 2
150 pages, £5.95

With more than 50 contributors assesses recent cultural change through the change in use of some 200 words, including gentleman, fortitude, patriotism, manliness, marriage, inclusiveness, partner and precautionary.

Edited by Digby Anderson & Peter Mullen, 2003
ISBN 0 907631 99 1
£5.95

An attempt by experienced churchpeople, ordained and lay, to comment on the present state of the Church of England across the whole range of its life and practice.

Edited by Digby Anderson, 2003
ISBN 0 907631 98 3
£15.95

Western civilization is built on wisdom, the best that its past generations have thought. That wisdom is now under attack and if this assault succeeds – because Western society is built on wisdom – Western society will, as have all other great civilizations, fall.

Michael Mosbacher, 2002
ISBN 0 907631 95 9
£9.95

After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, capitalism was acknowledged as the only way of organising a sucessful econony, at least for a brief time. But today capitalism finds itself surrounded by a host of new critics. At least these critics appear to be doing something new. They focus on cases of abuse, cases which result allegedly from the actions of particular global corporations: the abuse of the environment, the low pay of workers in the 'South', child labour, and the imposition of lifestyles through brands.

So, how seriously should these critics of capitalism be treated? Marketing The Revolution finds that a good number of the new critics are doing little that is new. Even their emphasis on individual alleged abuses is, at least in part, not a new end but a means to galvanize support for their hatred of capitalism.

The new critics imply, by their recitation of particular abuses and attacks upon particular brands, that they are concerned with the specific abuses. Yet the leading chronicler of anti-branding, Naomi Klein, says:'For years, we in the movement have fed off our opponents' symbols - their brands, their office towers, their photo-opportunity summits. We have used them as rallying cries, as focal points, as popular education tools. But these symbols were never the real target: they were the levers, the handles.'

Even the tactics of the new critics are not original; they are borrowed from modern corporate PR. Take away the heartstring of 'abuse' cases and the second-hand PR and what is left is little more than a crude and entirely negative hatred of capitalism. There is no thoughtful analysis of the system they so loathe, no awareness of how they themselves are part of it, no carefully considered alternative for the betterment of the world.

Adrian Furnham, 2002
ISBN 0 907631 96 7
£9.95

Many factors other than advertising influence young people’s purchasing decisions and many of these are more important than advertising, especially parents and peers.

Theodore Dalrymple, 2002
ISBN 0 907631 97 5
£6.00

The toleration of “minor” incidents of incivility has led to the increase in violence towards doctors and nurses.

Digby Anderson, 2001
ISBN 0 907631 94 0
206 pages, £12.95

"One loyal friend is worth 10,000 relatives", said Euripides. Aristotle thought friendship the best thing in the world. Saint Augustine was devastated by the death of a friend, "All that we had done together was now a grim ordeal without him". For men as different as Dr Johnson, Coleridge and Cardinal Newman friendship was a great, moral love. For Cicero it was a foundation of social order. For Burke "good men [must] cultivate friendships". To try to lead a good life on one's own is arrogant and dangerous. In past ages business thrived on the trust of friends; armies won battles on the loyalty of men to their comrades and people were attracted to and schooled in medicine, law and academe by friendship. This friendship of the past was high friendship, a friendship of pleasure but also of shared moral life.

LOSING FRIENDS contrasts this high friendship with the "pathetic affairs" which pass for friendship today. Friendship is in trouble. An institution once as important as the family, has been "diluted to mere recreation...passing an odd evening together...sharing the odd confidence". It is being outsted from business through fear of cronyism and squeezed between the demands of work and the increasingly jealous family. Fathers neglect their obligations to their friends at the club or pub to bath their children. Many of us will have no friends in illness, in need or at our funerals. Bewildered letters to agony aunts ask how to make friends. Schools are absurdly introducing classes on how to do so. Our society has no public recognition of friendship and cannot even discuss it articulately. When it does it sentimentalizes it. Modern society is wealthy, healthy and long lived. Aristotle would ask what the point of such a life is if lived without friends.

Adrian Furnham, 2000
ISBN 0 907631 92 4
64 pages, £7.50

A survey of over 20 significant studies published between 1967 and 1999 on children as consumers and finds that notions which are still popular in the press, such as ‘pester power’, have long lost any academic credence.

Edited by Digby Anderson, 2000
ISBN 0 907631 91 6
64 pages, £7.50

Finds areas of spending in the NHS, other than bureaucracy, which are wasteful or of very limited medical efficacy.

Digby Anderson, 2000
ISBN 0 90763190 8
28 pages, £6

Examines corporate mission statements and finds many wanting. Too often they ignore the shareholders and speak of the companies