Search results for ""shepheard-walwyn (publishers) ltd""

This book, as relevant today in the Coalition era as when it was first published in the early 1990s, challenges the need for governments to resort to practices which undermine the economy and the integrity of the political process, such as sneaking in new taxes in a desperate attempt to extract more money from reluctant taxpayers.

Read more less

Sparkle is the magical story of a curious snow leopard cub that experiences an exciting and gripping adventure; it's bound to fuel any child's imagination. His story teaches children the value of friendship and helps inspire them to understand the need to protect these exquisite creatures in their natural habitat. Who knows, it may even help them to become our conservationists of the future. This story is set to become a much-loved Christmas classic for generations to come. Proceeds from the sale of this charming book will go to support the work of the charity, The White Lion Foundation, and will be used to conserve and protect a small vulnerable population of snow leopards in the Karakorum Mountains of southern Asia (Sparkle's home).

Read more less

Munu is a story of hope in the face of adversity. As one of the world's rarest black rhinoceros, his story, as the most special rhino in the world, will appeal to children, with its humorous tone as well as promoting the charity's ethos of integrity and kindness. Munu's story raises the profile of the charity's ambitious vision for the future of global wildlife conservation, at the centre of which, are children today, the conservationists of the future.

Read more less

How it is that humanity has brought itself, along with most other species, to the brink of extinction? In the Gilgamesh Gene Revisited, Russell-Jones provides a time-line analysis of man’s relationship with the natural world that stretches back deep into pre-history and illuminates the origins of many of our most cherished fables, myths and religious creeds, which provide our belief systems governing our world and political thinking today. Extinction is avoidable but do we, as sentient beings, possess the ability to change the way we think? This question is fundamental to the survival of the human species. In this second edition, Dr Robin Russell-Jones expands on his vision of the human condition, providing new findings to many of our most abiding mysteries, including the origin of King Arthur and the Round Table, the Holy Grail and the meaning of the Trinity. Gilgamesh was a vainglorious king who ruled the city of Uruk in Ancient Mesopotamia, allegedly around 2750 BC. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest narrative in existence, and it contains the blueprint for much of our environmentally destructive behaviour today. This implacable pursuit of fame and fortune, at the expense of the natural world, has proven so successful that plundering the Earth’s resources has become hard-wired into our thinking: hence the Gilgamesh Gene. Furthermore this quest for immortality is now regarded as a “natural” part of the human condition: whilst in reality it is deeply deviant, and contains the seeds of our own destruction. As mankind rushes head-long into the Anthropocene, there is some hope as the author explains the steps we need to take to avert disaster: limiting human numbers; getting away from ever-expanding GDP as the only definition of progress; and urgently implementing the Global Carbon Incentive Fund as the most equitable, efficient and effective way of putting a price on carbon emissions globally.

Read more less

This book tells the story of two people, born in poverty, who found each other and married in a world at war. They brought up and educated a family, but while their two sons were still very young, the father, a strong man who had served for twenty-five years in the army in India, developed the symptoms of Huntington’s disease. This cast a deep shadow over the family as his condition deteriorated over the next twenty-five years, but their faithful experience of God's love and their deep love for each other gave them the strength and sense of purpose that brought them safe to the end, a meaning expressed in the words of Mother Julian of Norwich: “Do you want to know what our Lord meant in all this? Love is his meaning. In this love our life is everlasting. All this we shall see in God without end.” Love is His Meaning recreates in a new way and as one book, as the author always wished, the story first presented in Stranger on the Shore and This Life of Grace, both of which captivated readers. This new book has allowed the author to draw together the separate stories of his parents and of their families, before they were married, the story of their marriage and of his mother's long life after his father's death. This treatment, of parallel lives, gives a picture of life in our country over the whole of the twentieth century, allowing the reader to grasp what life was like for many ordinary families in those days when the power of the Christian Faith was more influential and widely experienced.

Read more less

This engaging poem depicts Winston Churchill as a hero, in traditional epic style and echoes the works of Homer and Virgil. The metre adds an emotional intensity to the events of 20th century history more usually found within Classical literature. The narrative covers the period from 1940, when Great Britain faced perhaps the greatest threat to its very existence as an independent nation: invasion and defeat by the rampant forces of Nazi Germany, to 1941 when the United States entered the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In this acute crisis King George VI appointed a man whose reputation and earlier political success were questioned by many influential figures. Yet public opinion and some wiser men and women of substance, such as Lord Halifax, the alternative choice as Prime Minister at the time, determined the outcome. Their choice was thoroughly vindicated by the events that followed. His courage, boldness, rhetoric and inspiration united the country in its solitary stand against the might of the Luftwaffe and the potential landing of the dreaded Wehrmacht on British soil. Under his leadership the Royal Air Force defeated the Luftwaffe's attack, foiling Hitler's plans to invade England to the extent that he began to think instead of attacking his apparent ally, the Soviet Union, and to leave Britain to wither alone. Churchill knew that that he had only won a respite, but he set about to strengthen the country and to turn it from defence to aggression. The bomber force was developed, the army enlarged and re-equipped, the navy set to the task of eliminating German surface marauders and submarines. The population at large were motivated to make a supreme effort to resist the still extant threat to their whole way of life. Until Hitler attacked Russia, Britain stood alone, confronting a Europe largely controlled by the Nazis and their allies. To Stalin he offered full support: Hitler was the immediate threat to a civilised world. Only when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the USA into the war, did he realise that Germany - and Japan - were sure to be defeated. He had led the British people from the brink of utter disaster to the expectation of victory.

Read more less

This first biography of Pamela Hansford Johnson (1912-1981) has been written with the full co-operation of her three children, who allowed Wendy Pollard access to previously unexamined diaries, letters and much other material, illuminating their mother's eventful and often entertaining life. Pamela Hansford Johnson's achievements were all the more remarkable because of her lack of formal education after the age of 16. With no literary contacts to ease her path, she nevertheless quickly established herself first as a poet, then as a prolific short story writer, and, after the publication of her first novel, she was able to support herself and her mother on her income from writing and reviewing. In addition to their aesthetic worth, her novels are remarkable for the portraits they paint of almost forgotten, yet comparatively recent, worlds. Her 1930s novels are not set in the privileged surroundings featured in the novels of the majority of her contemporaries, but in the down-to-earth milieu of lower middle-class Londoners. Her novels of the 1940s and 1950s graphically portray the period of social adjustment during, and immediately after, the Second World War.Later, several of her novels focused on moral dilemmas, and she also varied her range with a group of well-received satirical novels. She frequently broadcast on the Third Programme, and was a regular panel member on the acclaimed radio programme, 'The Critics' and BBC TV's 'The Brains Trust'. Her non-fiction works include literary monographs on Thomas Wolfe and Ivy Compton-Burnett, a published series of broadcasts entitled 'Six Proust Reconstructions', and On Iniquity, a book-length meditation on the Moors Murder Trial, on which she reported for the Sunday Telegraph. Her private life was full of incident, the earliest being her youthful romance with Dylan Thomas. Her first marriage was to an Australian journalist, and she subsequently married the novelist and scientist, C.P. (later Lord) Snow. The Snows formed a celebrated literary partnership, travelling widely, and being feted in academic circles in the USA and the USSR as well as in the UK. The biography also recounts the many intrigues in literary circles in the post-war years when the Snows later became targets for the emerging satire movement.

Read more less

This series is the first English translation of the letters of the philosopher priest who helped to shape the Renaissance worldview. This volume spans the seventeen months from April 1491 to September 1492. This is a crucial period for Marsilio Ficino and Florence itself, for it witnessed the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In one of the letters Ficino calls him 'the great and god-like Lorenzo'. In a letter to Lorenzo in Volume 1, he had written: 'Almost all other rich men support servants of pleasure, but you support priests of the Muses'.Of the 34 letters in this volume, five are addressed to Martin Prenninger, Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at Tubingen University and counsellor to Count Eberhard. One, the longest in this volume, consists mainly of extracts selected by Ficino from his translation of Proclus' commentaries on Plato's Republic.Another letter to Prenninger gives an insight into Ficino's activities in this period: his work with the Divine Names of Dionysius, the preparation of a copy of his Philebus commentary being made for Prenninger, and the reprinting, in Venice, of his translations of Plato's dialogues and the Platonic Theology.Most interesting and intriguing is Ficino's response to Prenninger's frequent request to receive a list of his friends, with which he complies, requesting him not to infer any ranking from the order in which they are listed.

Read more less

Understanding the territorial basis of political power and wealth is the pre-requisite, the author argues, for making sense of issues as diverse as genocide, narco-gangsterism, terrorism and fascism. He provides a framework for truth and reconciliation in what has become a violent world that is slipping dangerously out of control.

Read more less

This remarkable study explores how human language may be appreciated as a reflection of the natural laws of the universe. Describing how different philosophical premises lead to different views of language—including English and Mandarin—the book especially considers the close relationship between Advaita Vendanta philosophy and Sanskrit. Examining the nature of words, its various categories, and meanings, this record argues that speech is seen as having an innate and unique capacity to reflect the light of consciousness.

Read more less

The major industrial nations enter the 1990s in the midst of land booms offering riches for a few but unemployment for many. Banks in TEXAS were bankrupted by massive speculation in real estate. Even embassies had to abandon their offices because they could not afford the rents in TOKYO. In BRITAIN, the spoils from housing - the direct result of the way the land market operates - enriched owner-occupiers but crippled the flow of workers into regions where entrepreneurs wanted to invest and lead the economy back to full-employment. Fred Harrison's thesis is that land speculation is the major cause of depressions. He shows how the land market functions as a junction box which regulates the power flowing between Labour and Capital. And how land speculation periodically throws the switches on the productive power of men and machines, causing economic stagnation. This theory was acknowledged by philosophers such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and social reformers ranging from Winston Churchill to Leo Tolstoy, but it has been forgotten by today's economists and policy-makers. The hypothesis is tested against the historical facts and the recent booms and slumps, and is found to offer a powerful explanation for postwar trends in unemployment and the distribution of income. The Power in the Land challenges the pessimistic belief, nurtured by the depressions of the last two decades, that unemployment is now a permanent feature of late 20th century society. The author elaborates policies, based on a radical reform of the tax system, which would banish involuntary unemployment and generate continuous economic growth. Author Details: Fred Harrison is Executive Director for the Land Research Trust. He studied economics at Oxford, first at Ruskin College and then at University College, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. His MSc is from the University of London. Reviews: “This is a brilliantly-written and extremely readable book … not unduly difficult for those with no more than an elementary grasp of economic concepts.” Journal of General Management “Harrison’s book is a formidable challenge to the apologists for the status quo which raises, and goes a long way toward answering, the questions that gnaw at the intellects and consciences of all thinking men and women.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology “In his book, The Power in the Land, first published in 1983, Harrison, correctly forecast property prices would peak in 1989 as well as the recession that followed it.” The Full Interview with Ed Magnus is available here: www.thisismoney.co.uk (Financial Website of the Year and part of the Daily Mail Group)

Read more less

Based on new information recently come to light, this history reveals how Britain's staunchly anti-communist Prime Minister was deceived into supporting communist Tito and into cutting all aid to the anti-communist forces resisting the Germans in Yugoslavia. If it had not been for Churchill’s change of heart in December of 1948, this record argues, Tito would not have overcome his political opponents and have emerged as the country's undisputed ruler after the war. Exposing the skullduggery behind the blue-blooded British Establishment, this account also reveals how Tito used the munitions received from the British and Americans not to kill Germans, as promised to Churchill, but mostly to eliminate his political rivals; how he accused his political opponents of accepting weapons from the Italians while he was proposing joint action to the Germans to resist an Allied landing in the Balkans; and how his Partisans massacred thousands of anti-communist Yugoslavs handed over to him by the British in good faith. In essence, this account is a revisionist biography of Tito, puncturing the wartime myths surrounding the communist leader.

Read more less

A child bride paralysed by fear, a man trapped in a life of slavery, a couple imprisoned for simply loving one another, a woman who refuses to bow to social pressure. For many, such nightmares are unimaginable, however, across the world, these struggles are all too real. What If It Were You? draws back the curtain on the men, women and children who suffer in silence, giving a voice to those whose rights, freedom and wellbeing are so often compromised. The hard-hitting realism of Arif-Fear's poetry uncovers the reality of child marriage, modern slavery, Female Genital Mutilation and many other forms of abuse, and presents such issues in a way which is direct and uncompromising. From women struggling to break free from restrictive socio-cultural norms, to communities in conflict and under prohibitive rule, social cohesion and justice are often compromised in the name of religion, culture or for the purposes of money and politics. Arif-Fear uses her wealth of experience campaigning for human rights and a more just society to expose these global injustices through poetry based upon real people and real issues.

Read more less

The author raises some fundamental questions about the distribution of wealth. Why is it that those who produce the wealth, the workers, receive only a small portion of what they have produced? Why are there so many unemployed and so cannot provide for themselves? What is the privilege that grants some a lion’s share of the product without having to work for it? A trade union organiser for many years, George Curtis came to realise that there are limits to the improvement in wages that can be achieved through collective bargaining so long as this privilege remains. In fact higher wages increase the windfall gains of those benefitting from the privilege. This book traces the cause of poverty to a widely accepted social institution, just as slavery once was, and reveals a way in which this defect could be remedied by introducing a more efficient way of funding government.

Read more less

The Devil's Dance transcends categories. It is an exciting, original story, full of menace and very moving. The story is told in turn by two teenagers, Jake and Samuel. It begins with a dream, like a musical overture, which contains the themes to be developed in the rest of the work and describes events that took place two or three hundred years earlier. Gradually the reader understands the horror of what is happening. Jake and Samuel's story unrolls over Hallowe'en, with eerie and, finally, shocking events. The book describes movingly the love of Jake and his mother for his father, who is afflicted by a terrible illness, and their heart-searing loss when he dies. When Jake understands that he may himself inherit the illness and indeed pass it on to his children he struggles to come to terms with the appalling fact. The reader shares the boy's turmoil. The story has several strands: Jake's personal loss; his friendship with Samuel and his loving family; and the mystery of the nocturnal rituals that take place in a deserted hospital on the edge of Dartmoor. Between the episodes of adventure in this well paced story, there are peaceful and pastoral descriptions, particularly of Samuel's home and special family occasions. The boys' nocturnal walks together and alone are also full of atmosphere. The climax of the story is menacing and cruel, and its immediate aftermath no less shocking. The book is charmingly illustrated with line drawings by Tracy Davy.

Read more less

A Tear in the Curtain is a historical novel. The story tells of three families, British, Hungarian and Russian, whose lives are linked for fifty years during the Cold War and afterwards.Their experiences reflect the danger, bravery, heartbreak, joy and sorrow of those days when Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. Four eleven year-olds spend an idyllic seaside holiday in England in August 1956, just before the Suez crisis and the Hungarian Uprising intensify the Cold War. John Symons skilfully portrays how world events, including the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the Solidarity movement in Poland in the early 1980s, the end of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 and in the Soviet Union in 1991, affected the lives of the four children and their families in their respective countries. The author draws on Russian documents not yet available in English to paint a picture of the Cold War in human terms and to show its origins in the rise of Lenin, Hitler and Stalin and the Second World War. A Tear in the Curtain can be read with pleasure and interest by three generations. It is narrated in simple, clear and fast-moving language that engages young people, including those taking GCSE history. A fifteen year-old boy with dyslexia was absorbed by the story and read it, twice, in thirty six hours. He said how much it helped him to see the meaning of Hitler and the Second World War which he was studying for his exams. His mother loved the book's atmosphere and poetic sense of hope amid the fear and anxiety of the events described. And, for an older generation, A Tear in the Curtain expresses the meaning of all that shaped their lives after 1945. John Symons is a classical and modern historian with a passionate interest in Russia and the Soviet Union. He has travelled widely in Eastern Europe and Russia and has visited a former GULAG prison camp in Siberia. Described by a British Ambassador to Russia as 'an enthusiastic Russophile', his talks with people persecuted or imprisoned by the Gestapo or KGB give the book the ring of truth. He is the author of two biographies, Stranger on the Shore and This Life of Grace. John Symons describes the tragedies that struck at the heart of a poor but devoted Cornish family. Humanity and the valour of the human spirit shine from every page.' This England reviewing Stranger on the Shore 'The writer is a consummate artist in style, with a poet's eye for detail. The story is exceptionally vivid ...expressing deep faith and perception of the meaning of life ...' Professor C.F.D. Moule, Cambridge, on Stranger on the Shore. PROMOTION: This book will be reviewed in the local and national press. Ideal for giving GCSE and A level History students a taste of the human impact of the Cold War.

Read more less

Pinpointing a flaw in prevailing economic practices that explains why so many families in the richest nation on earth are mired in poverty, homelessness, joblessness, and hunger, this study suggests that a reform is available to correct this flaw that is corroding the enterprise system. This flaw is widely accepted and enshrined in law; certain taxation and land policies enable a powerful few to skim off a large share of the wealth created by the mass of citizens. How this injustice plays a major role in generating destructive boom and bust cycles is important, but the overprivileged who benefit from “legalized theft” are not vilified. Rather, the book calls for correcting the public policies that make slum ownership, land speculation, and other forms of parasitic and exploitive behavior more profitable than honest labor and productive enterprise. Accounts of places in the United States and elsewhere that are applying the proposed reform are presented, proving that it is politically feasible, and offers an ethical cleansing of the economy so that all people can enjoy all the fruits of their efforts.

Read more less

Tracing the life of the author's father, this title follows him through his childhood in the west of England, his successful 25-year career in the Indian Army prior to the country's independence in 1947, and his final years in Devonshire, where he raised a family while the symptoms of Huntington's disease gradually set in.

Read more less

Braybrooke and Mofid call for the evolution of a global ethic that respects cultural diversity, the environment and economic reality. In a clear, engaging style the authors show how economic issues can be understood by us all - it is important we do, so that we can help build a world that is just, free and prosperous.

Read more less

Fortunate is the man who has been able to realise his childhood dreams: this beautiful book is the result of Andrew Winton's long cherished dream - 'to pass on some of the pleasures I got from Burn's songs.' As a child, he had the North Lanarkshire moors as a playground, listening to the calls and singing of the birds, lying in beds of wild thyme and heathers beside cool, clear burns - while at school, he was taught to recite the poems of Robert Burns, finding that 'old Scottish airs came naturally to me.' Winton describes his emotions while playing the simple melodies on his violin. 'I had a great desire to pass on some of the pleasure I got from his songs. To do this, I would lay aside the cold hard print of the many books of his works and I would try to develop a hand of write to suit the subjects.' There is an uncanny resemblance about the way Burns went about composing his songs (revealed in a letter from Burns included in the book) and the manner in which Andrew Winton was inspired to present his book. Burns describes how he would 'look out for objects in Nature around me that are in unison and harmony with the cogitations of my fancy and workings of my bosom'. One has only to observe the harmony between the words and the watercolours to appreciate how similar was the creative process working through Andrew Winton as he painted the illustrations and penned the words, veritably ...'the beauty of speech made visible by the art of the hand...' In addition to the words and music, there are notes on the lasses to whom the songs were written, and the pages are decorated with delicate watercolours of the countryside flowers and grasses which inspired Burns. Among the favourite songs included are Ae Fond Kiss, Afton Water, Green Grows the Rushes O, Johnny Anderson My Jo, The Red Red Rose, Mary Morrison and Auld Lang Syne. Not only is the music included but the book is designed to open out flat so that it may be played as Andrew Winton has done so many times. His careful research and dedicated craftsmanship have produced a book no true lover of Burns can resist.

Read more less

An affectionate, light-hearted and nostalgic look back at the Isles of Scilly of the 20th Century through the photographs of Ena Reseigh.

Read more less

EVEN IF THERE IS A REALM BEYOND MORTALITY, WOULD FINDING IT IMPROVE OUR LIVES ON EARTH? What use is Spirituality to a suffering world? Do prayer and meditation work? Addressing these questions, this title offers evidence that with patient perseverance, the grip of the ego and all the unhappiness it brings, can be loosened.

Read more less

In a clear and systematic way, it explores, in the manner of the Universal Wisdom Tradition, the unfolding of Consciousness from its Unmanifest and Implicate realms, through Cosmos, and Man. Readers will find here a goldmine of wisdom, information and resources.

Read more less

Based on the Second World War, this narrative poem, with its evocative drawings, captures the devastation of this global war and the dramatic events that took place. It is the author’s dedication to the courage displayed by men and women of every participating nation, but especially by those who fought for the ideals of freedom and justice against tyranny and humanity. This narrative poem seeks to give a comprehensive view of the most extensive and devastating war that has ever occurred. It deals with both the West, where fighting was prolonged in Europe, North Africa and on the sea, and also the Far East, where predominantly American forces fought the Japanese. The British role includes accounts of the Dambusters' raid and General Slim's campaign in Burma. The chronological narrative recounts major events, such as the fall of France, the battle of Britain, Hitler's invasion of Russia, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the battle of El Alamein, the fall of Italy, the Normandy invasion, far eastern naval battles, the final collapse of Nazi Germany and the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. Its focus on military strategy, tactics and descriptions of battles is enhanced by details relating to the war conferences between the Allied leaders. Integral features of the war such as the atrocities against the Jews, the efforts of the French resistance and the Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler are not overlooked. The inspiration that motivated the writing of the book was not only the courage displayed by men and women fighting for freedom and justice, but also the moral principle that drove the war to its conclusion in the defeat of the Nazis and the Japanese warlords; namely the belief that civilisation depends upon the defence of the traditional values of respect for law, representative democracy and, ultimately, upon love of one's neighbour.

Read more less

In late 2019 the Corona virus emerged and spread quickly around the world. With it went the invisible virus of fear. No one knew how many of those who caught it would die, but the fear of death was in the air. Most of the world was locked down. No public figure asked or tried to answer the questions, at one time so deeply felt: 'Is death the end?' 'Is there an afterlife?' Perhaps they assumed the answers 'Yes' and 'No' respectively but, the author argues, those answers are not to be taken for granted. Unasked questions cause untold psychological trouble. The author tackles these questions in a direct, open way of interest to believers and non-believers alike. In fact he asks 'If you do not believe, do you wish there were an afterlife?' He acknowledges that he feels great sympathy with and respect for those who do not believe in the life of the world to come, and admits that he was once one such. In the book he explains frankly what he now believes and why. He argues that it is the most important question that any of us faces: Are we or are we not created by God to live forever, first in this world and then in His nearer presence in the life of the world to come? It is not a comfortable question to face, but which answer is true?

Read more less

Society is in a state of chaos, causing great suffering for people all over the world. Yet almost all life stresses are human-made. Our species is literally making itself sick. In A World in Two Minds, Kenny Jamieson considers the two complex adaptive systems behind the chaos - the individual mind and the global mind - and how the latter emerges, in the form of culture, from the former. He explores how conflict results from the opposing operating modes of the two brain hemispheres. We have a global cognitive imbalance due to the dominance of the mechanistic worldview of scientific materialism, which is strongly rooted in the left mind and Western culture. Over centuries, this bias has gradually dissociated us from the right mind, lowering consciousness, denaturing the human condition and negatively impacting our health. However, in more recent times a distinctly organic worldview has emerged, shifting attitudes towards human rights, gender equality and environmentalism, while undermining scientific materialism. In doing so it has pushed global society to the `edge of chaos', as our human system seeks to rebalance itself and make our species whole again. Our global crisis is no more than the result of competing worldviews and their associated cultures clashing. Today, life offers the human race both opportunity and danger. Our global mind could evolve to a higher cognitive plane where harmony, health and happiness prevail, but it could just as easily disintegrate, leading to catastrophic conflict. Our future is unknown but whatever we bring forth will be the output of the global mind we collectively create. Critically, everyone has a role to play. Any one of us could be the final catalyst which tips our whole human system into a new era. Elevated personal consciousness and greater civic engagement are pre-requisites, and increasing the influence of women could potentially fast-track us forward. We must change our thinking to change our future, but whether we are smart enough to do so remains the great unknown. All will be revealed in the 21st century.

Read more less

South Africa, like many countries in Africa, is resource rich but the benefits are not shared by the whole population. High levels of unem-ployment are leading to increasing conflict and violence, undermining the brighter future hoped for when apartheid was abolished. The authors set out a proposal to unleash their country's potential for growth in a way that benefits investors and the poorest by reforming taxation - a blueprint for other developing countries. The rapid develop-ment of Taiwan and South Korea in the 1950s and 1960s owed much to a similar, business-friendly tax reform. Governments today tax social ills like tobacco and alcohol to discourage use, but why tax work and investment? The result, the authors reveal, is to make half the country economically unviable, yet economists since Adam Smith have known that a tax on ground rent does not have this adverse effect. As he put it: "Though a part of this revenue should be taken ...in order to defray the expenses of the state, no dis-couragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry." All governments need do is collect the value they create and stop taxing the value created by labour and capital.To achieve this, the authors propose replacing most taxes with land value rentals and, in the case of mining, rolling out the tried and tested gold mine tax formula to the rest of the industry, thus stimulating development and creating more jobs. Such a regime would encourage the owner of land to put it to its best use or sell it for someone else to do so. It would also make viable public investment in new infrastructure projects. These would become self financing, because the uplift in land values, due to the improved amenities, would automatically be captured in higher rentals payable to the government, a kind of virtuous circle.

Read more less

Presenting a radical revision of modern economic theory, this analysis adjusts the entire range of economic thought in relation to the fundamental part played by land, the significance of credit—especially in the banking system—and the crucial impact of the taxation method. The resulting system based upon natural law, economic security for all, fair distribution of output, and the opportunity for self-fulfillment through work draws upon the masters of economic thought—from Smith and Ricardo to Marshall, Schumpter, and Keynes—but also provides new insights by highlighting concepts often omitted from current studies of their works.

Read more less

This Life of Grace is a history and a biography. It tells the story of Grace Jarrold, the youngest of eight children, who lived for almost ninety years in the village of Plympton in Devon. It also tells the story of the village over the last century, beginning with the Great War of 1914-1918 and school life at that time.

Read more less

Advocating a new form of leadership that places the health and well-being of people and the planet first, this book proposes a new Earth law, a framework for sustainable development and international environmental governance. As it argues that the planet is not the exclusive preserve of the executives of the world’s top corporations, this volume illustrates how the law can be the catalyst in a shift of attitude away from regarding the Earth as something to be owned and traded for profit. Detailed and passionate, this is a holistic approach to law, business, and the environment in the battle for the ecosystem.

Read more less

This is a collection of poetry, prose and visual art that keeps body, mind and spirit together, a rich summation of ideas, thoughts and philosophy. Their common theme is a respect for life and an affinity with what endures throughout the years, bringing an empathetic solace and strength in time of need - with a "Diary of an Edwardian Lady" look and feel about it.

Read more less

Ficino's commentary on Plato's Timaeus offers the English reader, for the first time, an opportunity to share the insights of this highly influential Renaissance philosopher into one of Plato's most important works. It provides rich source material for those interested in philosophy, the history of cosmic theory, Platonic and Renaissance studies.

Read more less

This book is a voyage of discovery through the atoms, solar systems and galaxies of our universe to find ultimate reality. What is the true nature of our universe? How do we fit into it? How may we comprehend and appreciate its marvellous harmony and intelligence? Drawing on the current state of knowledge of the sciences, the author reminds us that much smaller than a microchip is the genome that provides a text longer than eight hundred bibles which living cells can read and respond to it a fraction of a second. These cells consist of nothing but atoms, and if all matter of the universe is made up of atoms with the same intelligence, then this intelligence must be everywhere, all the time. This includes our bodies. What is this intelligence? Where does knowledge come from? How may we know it? Is this the same intelligence that guides the movements of the planets, solar systems and galaxies of our universe? Was it all caused by a 'big bang' or otherwise? Are other universes brought into being, sustained and eventually extinguished, in an endless cycle? The author addresses these and many related questions in the light of modern scientific discoveries. Explanations are given for all, including our unique conscious awareness, which is considered by many to be the most important unsolved mystery of modern science. He argues that the 'language' of cosmic reality is conveyed by intuitive thought, and that through contemplation we are able to slip out of our limited world view and connect with that universal, eternal intelligence, the ultimate reality.

Read more less

Through cabbie Jack Clyde's humorous account, the reader gains an insight into the rich variety of people with whom he has come into contact: the famous, the awkward, the shoppers, the emergencies, the crime, the late night clubbers, the mean and the generous tippers. This is Glasgow, rich in variety, seen through the twinkling eyes of a likeable cab-driver whose humanity shines through. The book also gives an insight into the business of being a cab-driver - getting a licence, passing the street test and renting or buying a cab of your own, a surprisingly large investment. It concludes with a short history of the Glasgow taxi trade and mechanical details of the vehicles used for the enthusiast. Rather like Anna Blair's Tea at Miss Cranston's (Shepheard-Walwyn 1985), this is a gently humorous trip down memory lane which will strike a chord with Glaswegians all over the world.

Read more less

Marcus Aurelius, one of the greatest Roman emperors, is remembered less for his military exploits than for his private reflections. His Meditations, as they became known, have been a major influence on Western thought and behaviour down the centuries - the pen is mightier than the sword. Seeking an alternative to faith-based religion, Alan Stedall came across the book and found rational answers to questions about the meaning and purpose of life that had been troubling him. Here too were answers to his concern that, in the absence of moral beliefs based on religion, we risk creating a world where relativism, the rejection of any sense of absolute right or wrong, prevails. In such a society any moral position is considered subjective and amoral behaviour is unchallengeable. Because the Meditations were jotted down in spare moments during a busy life ruling and defending a huge empire, they lack order and sequence. Inspired by the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, Stedall has sought to present the contents in a more contemporary and digestible way. To achieve this, he employed the Greek philosophical technique of dialogue to create a fictional conversation between five historical figures who actually met at Aquileia on the Adriatic coast in AD 168. Apart from Marcus, they were his brother and co-emperor, Lucius, the famous Hellenic surgeon of antiquity, Galen, an Egyptian high priest of Isis, Harnouphis, and Bassaeus Rufus, Prefect of the Praetorian Guard. The Dialogues afford Marcus and his guests the opportunity to express their views on such topics as the brevity of life and the need to seek meaning; the pursuit of purpose; the supreme good and the pursuit of a virtuous life - issues as relevant today as they were in antiquity. By a gentle process of question and answer, Marcus shows up the weakness of his guests' arguments and reveals how a virtuous life may be lived without the threat of eternal damnation or promise of salvation to enforce compliance. Virtue is its own reward.

Read more less

'From women's eyes this doctrine I derive: They are the ground, the books, the academes, From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire' These lines, spoken by Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost, embody all the passions of the early stages of love but, as so often with Shakespeare, he seems to be hinting at something more. What is the doctrine he derives from women's eyes? What is it women's eyes convey? What is the true Promethean fire? The answers to these questions lie in the Christian-Platonic philosophy of love which permeates all Shakespeare's plays and poems. Although Christian-Platonism, or the new learning as it was known in his time, has long been associated with the poetry of many of his contemporaries, its relationship to Shakespeare's work is not so well known. This perennial philosophy has come down through a long line of teachers, including Hermes Trismegistus, Pythagoras, Plato and Plotinus. The philosopher of this tradition, whom Shakespeare most clearly reflects, was the scholar-priest Marsilio Ficino, who lived in Florence a hundred years before him. It was he who drew together the strands of many teachings and, having found the same truths in Christianity, formulated a philosophy that is generally referred to today as Christian-Platonism. Most of the comedies and some of the sonnets are explained in the light of this philosophy as they show most clearly the concepts of Platonic love. The tragedies, some of the Roman plays and Shakespeare's last plays are used to show how he expanded on these ideas throughout his life, but only passing reference is made to the histories. Most Shakespearean criticism of recent years has been set firmly in the historical, social and political context of our contemporary world. This book reveals the philosophy which enabled Shakespeare to write of such universal themes as the harmony and disharmony between nations and princes, and the inner conflicts of mind and soul in men and women whose natures and desires are not confined to any particular age. It will appeal to theatregoers and students, especially those seeking to understand inner meaning of his plays and poems.

Read more less

A popular and respected trades unionist, Tom Chapman was elected a divisional organiser of the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1958, beating his communist opponent by one vote. This pitched him into the bitter struggle between the moderates and the hard-left who, in many cases, were financed and directed from Moscow. Such conflict could be treated as an ugly memory best forgotten, but as the hard left gained control of more unions, Marxist economic philosophy, with its essentially divisive nature, pitting labour and capital against each other, is returning to bedevil industrial relations and damage the economy. To stand for moderation and fair play in such circumstances needs courage and resourcefulness, as Chapman discovered when he was subjected to harassment and obstruction in carrying out his official duties. Despite this, he remained scrupulously fair, even fighting for a hard-left activist and known troublemaker who had been wrongfully dismissed. Chapman's strength was his Christian faith, unfettered by humbug, and his "secret weapon" was an all-inclusive love, by no means sentimental, that always tried to build bridges between opposing factions. Applied to industrial relations, he saw clearly that: "There are always two sides to every conflict in negotiation, but it is also true that both sides have a common objective. This common objective is the continued success or prosperity of the company, the industry, or even the nation". After leaving union employment, he was appointed liaison officer to the Church of England's Board of Social Responsibility, where he sometimes acted as the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy to resolve damaging and protracted strikes at Vickers, Pilkingtons and Linwood. Later he formed the European Christian Industrial Movement to continue his lifelong work of building bridges between people. When a boy of 12, Tom Chapman dedicated his life to Christian service. This book is an account of how he kept that promise and gives a glimpse of how another Battle of Britain was fought where "so much [was] owed by so many to so few".

Read more less

Totty is a story of a brave turtle that overcomes different obstacles with the help of his friends. His adventure brings him full circle back to his birthing place, where he is saved by the Turtle Sea Rescue staff that help him and then release him back into the sea. His story is a positive way that children can learn about how litter in the ocean and oil spills can affect the different sea creatures and their homes and will inspire children to protect these creatures and become conservationists of the future.

Read more less