Search results for ""Biteback Publishing""

Is there more to Russian politics than Putin? Inside Russian Politics is an intelligent, critical and engaging account of the realities of contemporary Russian politics. It is distinctive in widening our view of Russia beyond the standard account of global power plays and resurgent authoritarian menace. Putin matters, but he is not Russia. Russian military adventurism has had a major effect on contemporary international affairs, but assessing its aims and projecting future intentions and impacts requires analysis within a context deeper than the stock 'Cold War renewed' story. The holistic approach of this book facilitates our understanding of power politics in and beyond the Kremlin and of Russian policy on the international stage. Revealing the Russia beyond Moscow and the central figures around Putin, Edwin Bacon focuses on Russia's political present, not to ignore the past but to move beyond cliche and misleading historical analogy to reveal the contemporary - and future - concerns of Russia's current generation of politicians.

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Only fifty years ago, sex between men was a crime. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act changed that in part, but it was only the beginning of the long fight for equality in the eyes of the law, in society and in millions of private lives. This vital new oral history - to accompany a Channel 4 documentary of the same title - tells that story through the lives of gay men who lived through those years. Built around the intimate testimonies of some exceptional but largely unknown characters, it tells previously untold stories of denial, deceit and subterfuge, public pain and secret pleasure through the ten tumultuous decades before and since that watershed Act. The human variety of gay experience is all here: lives lived in joyous defiance of the law and a repressive society; others always in fear of a prurient tabloid press. Those committed to love and others to licence: lifelong affairs alongside casual sex. Young gay men may now take for granted the equal treatment denied those who went before. This anniversary year is a good time to record the past, celebrate achievements and remember that hard-won freedoms can so easily be eroded in uncertain times.

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Is big business part of the problem or part of the solution? Sometimes it seems as if business exists purely to enrich a small elite. While the world is facing unprecedented challenges, it appears that businesses are only interested in making profits or paying bonuses. Big businesses are powerful machines. We all know they have the potential to harm; but with their resources and expertise they can also be great engines of positive change. Rather than fighting the power of business, should we be seeking to harness it? Everybody's Business is a journey through the business world. We meet the companies that are driving business forward by mobilising to tackle the challenges we all face. At its heart, this is a story of businesses doing what they do best: delivering products and services that people need, creating jobs and finding new ways to solve old problems. It's a story of people taking the initiative, and finding inspiration in the positive impact of their actions. We see how some of today's leading companies are realising that lasting success comes from having a purpose broader than making a profit. They know that business should benefit customers, employees, suppliers, neighbours and the wider world, as well as shareholders. Enduring value comes from making business work for everybody. Start a conversation about the role of big business in the world and, often even before you reach the end of your first sentence, you'll find you've unleashed a furious response. To many, it feels as though business has become detached from society it seems like part of the problem, not part of the solution. That's not good for the world: we're facing global challenges of unprecedented magnitude, and business has the scale, resources and expertise to make a positive difference. This book puts a powerful argument that if you want to fix the world, you're better off harnessing the power of business, rather than fighting it. Royalties from this book will support the work of TechnoServe - an NGO working on business solutions to poverty.

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Inheritocracy: It's Time to Talk About the Bank of Mum and Dad, is a provocative and eye-opening analysis of how parental support is the real economic story of the 21st century.

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Detective Sergeant Gurpal Singh Virdi's exemplary career in the Metropolitan Police Service ended when he spoke out against racism within it: an issue it has long paid lip service to tackling. What came after is simply shocking. On Wednesday 15 April 1998 Virdi was arrested, had his home searched and was suspended on charges of sending racist hate mail to himself and other ethnic minority colleagues. Dismissed in disgrace, an employment tribunal found that he had been racially discriminated against. The Met was forced to give him an apology and compensation. He returned to service but soon discovered, having been passed over for promotion, that when you challenge an organisation like the Met, you are a marked man for life. Freshly retired and due to stand in local elections as a Labour councillor, Virdi was arrested again and accused of the most horrendous of crimes: sexually assaulting an underage prisoner nearly three decades before. When it came to court, it took just fifty minutes to acquit the former police man of all charges, with the trial judge noting the likelihood of a conspiracy behind the case. But the damage had been done. For seventeen years the Met had pursued a vendetta against one blameless individual who dared to speak out against injustices, and it had driven him and his family to the edge of the abyss. This is the deeply shocking story of how one of the biggest institutions in the country brought the entire apparatus of state to bear in a campaign to destroy the life of one of its own officers in an apparent act of revenge.

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Love her or hate her Edwina Currie falls comfortably into that category of celebrity you simply cannot ignore. The first edition of her diaries explosively revealed her affair with former Prime Minister John Major. This second volume, which begins in 1992 with her refusal to serve in Major's Cabinet, is no less revelatory about her colleagues, encounters with others in the public eye, and, of course, her extraordinary love life. It covers her life in Parliament up to the election of Blair's Labour government, but more importantly sees its subject's emergence as a mainstay in the public imagination, first as a bestselling author, then as a commentator, broadcaster, presenter and performer - most recently on the BBC's flagship entertainment show Strictly Come Dancing. Shot through with her trademark effervescence and sense of fun, Edwina Currie Diaries: Volume II documents one of the biggest characters in British public life at her saucy, scathing best. 'Frank and funny, you can't put her down' Time Out 'Few women can lay claim to the word "magnificent", but Currie is now surely one of them' Daily Telegraph

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Wickedly indiscreet and elegantMail on SundayHe will join Chips Channon, Duff Cooper and Alan Clark in the pantheon of truly great diaristsMatthew d'Ancona, Evening Standard

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In the wake of the inconclusive May 2010 general election Lord Adonis and other senior Labour figures sat down for talks with the Liberal Democrat leadership to try to persuade them to govern Britain together in a Lib - Lab coalition. The talks ultimately resulted in failure for Labour amid recriminations on both sides and the accusation that the Lib Dems had conducted a dutch auction, inviting Labour to outbid the Tories on a shopping list of demands. Despite calls for him to give his own account of this historic sequence of events, Adonis has kept his own counsel until now. Published to coincide with the third anniversary of the general election that would eventually produce an historic first coalition government since the Second World War, 5 Days In May is a remarkable and important insider account of the dramatic negotiations that led to its formation. It also offers the author's views on what the future holds as the run-up to the next election begins. 5 Days in May presents a unique eyewitness account of a pivotal moment in political history.

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First World War espionage was a fascinating and dangerous affair, spawning widespread paranoia in its clandestine wake. The hysteria of the age, stoked by those within the British establishment who sought to manipulate popular panic, meant there was no shortage of suspects. Exaggerated claims were rife: some 80,000 Germans were supposedly hidden all over Britain, just waiting for an impending (and imagined) invasion. No one could be trusted - Against this backdrop, as head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department, it was Basil Thomson's responsibility to hunt, arrest and interrogate the potential German spies identifi ed by the nascent British intelligence services. Thomson's story is an extraordinary compendium of sleuthing and secrets from a real-life Sherlock Holmes, following the trails of the many specimens he tracked, including the famous dancer, courtesan and spy, Mata Hari. Yet his activities gained him enemies, as did his criticism of British intelligence, his ambition to control MI5 and his efforts to root out left-wing revolutionaries - which would ultimately prove to be the undoing of his career. Odd People is the insightful and wittily observed account of Thomson's incomparably exciting job, offering us a rare glimpse into the dizzying world of spies and the mind of the detective charged with foiling their elaborate plots. The Dialogue Espionage Classics series began in 2010 with the purpose of bringing back classic out-of-print spy stories that should never be forgotten. From the Great War to the Cold War, from the French Resistance to the Cambridge Five, from Special Operations to Bletchley Park, this fascinating spy history series includes some of the best military, espionage and adventure stories ever told.

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From 1999 to 2009, Damian McBride worked at the heart of the Treasury and No. 10. He was a pivotal member of Gordon Brown’s inner circle before a notorious scandal propelled him out of Downing Street and onto the front pages. When he released his memoir Power Trip in 2013, its frank depiction of the dirty work that props up British politics was greeted with shock, disgust and awe. Never before had the lid been blown off the Westminster system with such ferocity. Throughout the book, McBride made no effort to cleanse his reputation; instead, he sought relentlessly to expose the manipulation, plotting and skullduggery that lay at New Labour’s core. Ten years on, Power Trip remains the essential guide to understanding the murky underbelly of modern politics and how it can shape and corrupt those who inhabit it for too long. Now updated with a new foreword, this is the 10th anniversary edition of the most explosive political memoir of the past decade.

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A masterful survey of one of the most influential but under-examined roles in politics.

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An insidious snobbery has taken root in parts of progressive Britain. Working-class voters have flexed their political muscles and helped to change the direction of the country, but in doing so they have been met with disdain and even abuse from elites in politics, culture and business. At election time, we hear a lot about 'levelling up the Red Wall'. But what can actually be done to meet the very real concerns of the 'left behind' in the UK's post-industrial towns? In these once vibrant hubs of progress, working-class voters now face the prospect of being minimised, marginalised and abandoned. In this new updated edition of his rousing polemic, David Skelton explores the roots and reality of this new snobbery, calling for an end to the divisive culture war and the creation of a new politics of the common good, empowering workers, remaking the economy and placing communities centre stage. Above all, he argues that we now have a once-in-a-century opportunity to bring about permanent change.

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The Best of Enemies is the political diaries of one of the most significant politicians of the late twentieth century. Covering the Thatcher/Major period - during which time Norman Fowler held prominent positions in the Cabinet and as party chairman - Fowler's diaries observe both Prime Ministers, and their Cabinet colleagues, at close quarters. Fowler brings his training as a journalist to bear on these diaries, which are full of insights and anecdotes and resonate powerfully with the situation the Conservative Party faces today, with industrial strife, waning authority and a Labour Party looking like a government in waiting. The entries raise other issues that are still unresolved. They range from the effect that the private sexual conduct of a minister should have on a career to whether an entirely 'hands-off' approach to industrial strategy is in the national interest. Norman Fowler's diaries provide a ringside seat to the struggles of their time. These are not the diaries of an ex-minister seeking to justify their own record; rather, they are the story of how two Prime Ministers rose and fell and caused their party to split apart, told by someone who was there at the time.

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History is written by the winners, they say. And more often than not, it is written about them too. A library's worth of books have been published chronicling the UK's Prime Ministers - those individuals who somehow made it to the top of the greasy pole of politics, however short or undistinguished their tenure. But what about those who failed to make it? Leaders of the Opposition present themselves as the alternative Prime Minister, waiting in the wings, ready to move centre stage. Many of them have indeed gone on to take power. But many more have not. Who were these potential PMs? Why did they never reach the top job? Do they all deserve to be remembered as losers? In this often wildly entertaining anthology, Dr Nigel Fletcher of the Centre for Opposition Studies brings together profiles of the opposition leaders who didn't make it to No. 10, from Charles James Fox to Jeremy Corbyn. Packed to the brim with odd facts, amusing anecdotes and pub quiz trivia about each not quite Prime Minister, this compelling collection is a journey through British political history, bringing to life the figures from the other side of the political equation who had remained in the shadow of 10 Downing Street - until now.

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A dozen years into austerity, statistical warning lights are flashing to suggest a return to types of deprivation we once imagined we had consigned to history. In the decade up to the pandemic, the official count of rough sleepers and recorded malnutrition in hospital patients both doubled, while recourse to food banks rocketed by an order of magnitude. And yet it has never been statistics but rather individual human stories - from the fictionalised accounts of Dickens to the faithful reporting of Orwell and Priestley - that have seared the reality of hard times into the public imagination. In Broke, Tom Clark assembles today's masters of social reportage to go deep into the communities so often ignored by politicians, introducing us to those at the hardest end of the poverty crisis. Contributions from Jem Bartholomew, Cal Flyn, Dani Garavelli, Frances Ryan, Samira Shackle, Daniel Trilling and Jennifer Williams, and a foreword by Kerry Hudson, unflinchingly reveal the contemporary experience of cold, hunger, homelessness, disease, debt, disability, punishing work and an immigration system that makes people destitute by design. With Joel Goodman's photography bringing the characters to life, and some of the writers having had first-hand experience of the issues raised, Broke blends powerful human stories with analysis of the policies that have led us to this point - and the reforms we urgently need. All royalties will be donated to Leeds Asylum Seekers' Support Network

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In the high-stakes world of politics, there are superb highs and terrible lows - and never more so than in the period since 2010. Few are better placed to give an insider's view of the turmoil than the Rt Hon. Dame Andrea Leadsom MP. From taking to the stage at Wembley as a key figure in the campaign to leave the European Union, through two leadership bids, Cabinet intrigue and squaring off against an increasingly erratic Speaker, Andrea's very personal account tracks the ups and downs of a life in politics and particularly the challenges for female MPs. In this updated edition, which sheds new light on the fraught leadership campaigns of 2022, Andrea argues that political careers don't always - as is so often claimed - end in failure, and explains how, like a game of snakes and ladders, politics is often about getting yourself into the right place at the right time.

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In September 1962, John Vassall, a clerk at the Admiralty in London, was unmasked as a Soviet spy. After being photographed in compromising positions while working at the British embassy in Moscow, Vassall was blackmailed into handing British defence secrets over to his Soviet handlers for seven years. While there have been several successful books and film adaptations about the Profumo, Jeremy Thorpe and Duchess of Argyll affairs, the story of John Vassall, who was responsible for a more serious intelligence breach, is ripe for retelling. It has everything: a honey trap, industrial-scale espionage, journalists jailed for not revealing their sources and the first modern tabloid witch-hunt, which resulted in a ministerial resignation and almost brought down Harold Macmillan’s government. With access to newly released MI5 files and interviews with people who knew Vassall from the 1950s until his death in 1996, this book sheds new light on a neglected spy scandal. Despite having been drugged and sexually assaulted by the KGB in Moscow, as a gay man John Vassall was shown no mercy by the British press or the courts. Sentenced to eighteen years in jail, he served ten years, despite telling MI5 everything. Once released, he found that many of his old friends and lovers had been persecuted or dismissed from the civil service in Britain, America and Australia. Unlike the Cambridge Five, who courted attention, after leaving prison Vassall changed his name to avoid the media and lived quietly in London. Including atmospheric detail about Dolphin Square – a hotbed of political intrigue but also a safe haven for members of the LGBT community – in the 1950s and ’60s, this is an explosive tale of sexual violence, betrayal, conspiracy, snobbery, homophobia and hypocrisy that blows apart some of the British establishment’s darkest secrets.

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Antisemitism is supposed to have disappeared long ago, but despite our abhorrence of racism and oppression in all its forms, this ancient prejudice continues to thrive. Anti-Jewish hate crime is rising, Jewish blood is spilt in Europe once more and arguments over antisemitism, whether in politics or music, theatre or sport, are increasingly hard to avoid. At a time of economic, political and social turmoil, fuelled by conspiracy theories on your smartphone or conflict in the Middle East, antisemitism is back, and we need to know why. It would be tempting to put this down to a handful of extremists, but antisemitism endures at an everyday level in the stereotypes and assumptions about Jews that are woven into the fabric of our world. It is these almost-unnoticed prejudices that perpetuate violent hatred, and until we all understand where they came from, how they are sustained and how they can be challenged, they will continue to do so. Blending personal anecdotes, contemporary examples and historical insights, Everyday Hate takes you on a journey through this contentious and often confusing subject. Spanning Shakespeare to South Park, Israel to Covid-19 and ancient stereotypes to internet memes, it reveals surprising truths about how antisemitism continues to thrive in the interactions, assumptions and views of decent people around the world - and how we can change this for the better.

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In his bestselling Station X, Michael Smith brought us the astonishing true story of the breaking of the Enigma Code. In The Emperor’s Codes, he continues the tale as he examines how Japan’s codes were broken and explores the consequences for the Second World War. The Emperor’s Codes tells the stories of John Tiltman, the eccentric British soldier turned codebreaker who made many of the early breaks into Japanese diplomatic and military codes; Eric Nave, the Australian sailor recruited to work for the British who pioneered breakthroughs in Japanese naval codes; and Hiroshi Oshima, the hard-drinking Japanese ambassador to Berlin whose candid reports to Tokyo of his conversations with Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis were a major source of intelligence in the war against Germany. Many of these revelations have been made possible only thanks to recently declassified British files, privileged access to Australian secret official histories and interviews with an unprecedented number of British, American and Australian codebreakers.

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The son of a meat market porter and an office cleaner, Peter Cruddas left Shoreditch Comprehensive School at the age of fifteen with no qualifications and a part-time job as a milkman. Today he's Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch, the founder of a GBP1.5 billion financial trading company and a distinguished philanthropist, giving to over 200 charities through his foundation, which helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Fed up with Labour's economic mismanagement, Cruddas began his foray into politics, becoming a key Conservative Party donor. But after being elevated to treasurer in 2011, he fell victim to a Sunday Times sting in which he was falsely accused of breaking the law on party donations. With unflinching honesty, he reveals the full story of his successful libel battle and opens a Pandora's box of profound wider questions about newspaper dark arts and the power of the British press over the judicial system. Refusing to be scared off from the political world, Cruddas co-founded the winning Vote Leave campaign. Here, he gives a detailed insider view of the real reasons behind the victory and contemplates how Britain can now thrive outside the EU. Filled with heartbreak and elation, this is the extraordinary story of Cruddas's epic rise from an east London council estate to a Mayfair mansion - and includes plenty of tips for budding billionaires.

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An unputdownable true account of how a tenacious head teacher led one of the most challenging schools in the country to excellence. No Excuses charts an extraordinary principal's journey in diary form from the moment she took over at a failing secondary school in a deprived area of the country, where less than a quarter of children attained five or more A*-C GCSEs, and how she set about the gruelling task of transforming its reputation using her zero-tolerance, tough-love approach. Armed only with a wicked sense of humour, fearless energy and a powerful vision, Alison Colwell put in place a stringent set of rules, including a strict uniform policy and a complete ban on mobile phones, provoking resistance and hostility from some parents, the wider community and on social media. This is the darkly funny, moving story of how, together, teachers and their - often troubled - pupils rebuilt a school and community, with an inspirational head at the helm. Charming, touching and full of brilliant leadership advice, this is the diary of the woman the Daily Mail labelled Britain's strictest head teacher.

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Elizabeth Thorpe, codenamed Cynthia, was a glamorous American socialite recruited by MI6 to obtain intelligence from the Polish Foreign Ministry and from the Italian and Vichy French embassies in Washington. Her method was to seduce whatever targets could provide her with vital intelligence, a practice in which she hardly ever failed, enabling her to secure first the French and then the Italian naval codes. In the landings in North Africa, she was credited with having saved the lives of hundreds of Allied soldiers. This unique account by a British spymaster of his relationship with Cynthia, detailing his subsequent involvement with Kim Philby and the Cambridge spies and his dealings with his counterparts in the CIA and French intelligence, was entrusted by him to a junior colleague on the basis that it was not to be published until everyone in it was dead. Necessarily anonymous and impossible to fully verify, though most of it undoubtedly did happen and is part of the historical record, A Spy Called Cynthia provides a special insight into the world of intelligence and one of its most effective practitioners.

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Our political leaders spend their careers spinning their images and polishing their achievements; Michael Cockerell has spent his professional life stripping off the gloss. Over fifty years, he has gained unrivalled access to the secret chambers of Westminster and Whitehall. Here, he reveals in illuminating and often hilarious stories what our top politicians are really like behind the mask. Drawing on his unique experience of having filmed all the past ten Prime Ministers, Cockerell tells how he manages to lull some of the most wary people in the land into candour, and shows how questions of sex are never far from the surface in Westminster. Amongst much else, he recounts: how Margaret Thatcher flirted with him on screen but attacked him by name in the Commons; how Tony Blair said he would willingly 'pay the blood price' in Iraq; how David Cameron learned from Enoch Powell always to make a big speech on a full bladder - and how Boris Johnson admitted to doubts about his ability to be Prime Minister. Revealing how our politicians have reacted during some of the most pivotal events in our recent history, Unmasking Our Leaders also provides a compelling insight into a career working in political television and foreign reporting, where tensions, rivalries and life-threatening danger are all part of the package.

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'For God's sake, bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country!' HOME SECRETARY REGINALD MAUDLING, RETURNING FROM HIS FIRST VISIT TO NORTHERN IRELAND IN 1970 In the early years of the twentieth century, simmering discontent began to boil over on the island of Ireland as the nascent IRA took its guerrilla campaign against British rule to the streets. By 1921, Britain had beaten a retreat from all but a small portion of the country - and thus Northern Ireland was born. Kevin Meagher argues that partition has been an unmitigated disaster for Nationalists and Unionists alike. As the long and fraught history of British rule in Ireland staggered to a close, a better future was there for the taking but was lost amid political paralysis, while the resulting fifty years of devolution succeeded only in creating a brooding sectarian stalemate that exploded into the Troubles. In a stark but reasoned critique, Meagher traces the landmark events in Northern Ireland's century of existence, exploring the missed signals, the turning points, the principled decisions that at various stages should have been taken, as well as the raw realpolitik of how Northern Ireland has been governed over the past 100 years. Thoughtful and sometimes provocative, What a Bloody Awful Country reflects on how both Loyalists and Republicans might have played their cards differently and, ultimately, how the actions of successive British governments have amounted to a masterclass in failed statecraft.

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For more than 300 years, Kensington Palace has played host to a colourful cast of kings, queens and assorted aristocratic hangers-on. A stone’s throw from the bustling streets of central London, this grand building has served as the stage for some of the most dramatic and bizarre events in the history of the royal family. It was here that the young Queen Victoria was held a virtual prisoner for eighteen years; and it was here that George II installed both his wife and his mistress, giving the latter rooms so damp that there were said to be mushrooms growing on the walls. More recently, the palace has witnessed an extraordinary series of scandals, from Princess Diana’s bombshell TV interview with a journalist smuggled into the palace disguised as a salesman, to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s shock departure – first for Frogmore Cottage, and then for America – amid rumours of a rift with William and Kate. With exclusive interviews with palace staff past and present, fascinating historical details and a fully updated postscript considering what life after Kensington holds for Harry and Meghan, Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle offers a rare behind-the-scenes insight into one of Britain’s most iconic residences.

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According to most of the media, the left and the political establishment, Donald Trump was a racist, sexist, dangerous man who debased the office of US President, embarrassed his country and brought it to the brink of civil war. Throughout his administration, the contempt in which the billionaire businessman and TV personality was held across the Western world led to sneering at any alternative view. And yet Trump came within inches of re-election, and had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic he almost certainly would have succeeded. Undeterred by all the noisy vilification, more than 70 million Americans formed their own view – and they liked what they saw. Now, determined to redress the balance of a fiercely partisan debate, Simon Dolan, a multi-millionaire British businessman and entrepreneur, looks behind the hyperbole to offer a very different take on Donald J. Trump. Just what were the achievements and personality traits that appealed to voters in their millions? Trump: The Hidden Halo sets out to reconsider this most divisive figure through the eyes of those who supported him. Looking to his economic record, the impact of ‘America First’ and the effect of his bombastic approach to foreign policy, this timely consideration of Trump’s appeal to the masses presents the man in a new light: did he have a hidden halo after all?

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It's the nineteenth century. As America prepares for civil war, five men living within ninety miles of one another will change the course of history. The invention and refinement of the repeating firearm-the precursor to today's automatic weapons-means life in America and beyond will never be the same again. In this riveting work of narrative history, veteran reporter John Bainbridge, Jr. vividly brings to life the five charismatic and idiosyncratic men at the heart of the story: the huckster and hard-living Samuel Colt; the cunning former shirt-maker Oliver Winchester; the constant tinkerer Horace Smith; the resilient and innovative businessman Daniel Wesson; and the skinny abolitionist Christopher Spencer. As the men competed ferociously, each trying to corner the market for repeating weapons, invention and necessity collided in a perfect storm: America was crashing violently towards furious sectarianism, irrevocable tensions, and, of course, bloodthirsty war. Though capable of firing many times without reloading, astonishingly, the new guns faced a government backlash for using too much ammunition. Sold directly to soldiers, sometimes just as they were walking into battle, they quickly became coveted possessions, both during the Civil War and in the conquering of the West-and thus America's romance with personal firearms was born. Wide-ranging and vividly told, this is a gripping story of tenacity, conviction, innovation, and pure heartless greed.

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Surgeons cut, but physicians... what do physicians actually do? And is it true that other doctors really call them 'the magicians'? John Quin worked for thirty-three years as a physician for the NHS in both Scotland and England, specialising in endocrinology. He was told the subject was easy because 'hormones - well, they just go up and down'. This, it turned out, was something of an over-simplification. Days on the wards were uproariously funny one minute, infinitely tragic the next. From tackling fraudulent medical students to trying and failing to induce hypoglycaemia in Glaswegian alcoholics (all in the name of research), Dr Quin, Medicine Man is packed with vividly told tales of the joy and reward of getting the diagnosis right, the disaster of getting it wrong. Chasing Chekhov's two rabbits of medicine and writing, meanwhile, Quin sought solace in literature, art and music, applying the lessons of Bulgakov's country doctor to 1980s Glasgow, where none of the patients seemed to have a full complement of fingers, and to 21st-century Brighton, dealing with the consequences of a decade of austerity measures. Darkly amusing and with a keen eye for the absurd, this sharply observed memoir is not only an acute insight into the farcical frustrations and tensions of working in a chronically underfunded system but also a timely reminder of the humanity of the NHS staff who care for us.

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Katharine Campbell's father Sholto Douglas was the hero of her childhood, an unconventional senior commander in the Royal Air Force, described as 'a gloriously contentious character'. Following childhood abandonment and poverty, Sholto rose through the ranks of the fledgling RAF in the First World War before taking on a crucial role in the Second as head of Fighter Command and going on to serve as military governor in Germany in the war's devastating aftermath. But when Katharine was five years old, he began to be stolen away by strange night-time wanderings and daytime distress - including vivid flashbacks to his time signing death warrants in post-war Germany. The doctors called it dementia, but decades later, Katharine started researching her father's story and realised that she had observed the undiagnosed consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a hot topic today. We're aware of the front-line soldier suffering from 'shell-shock' - but what about the senior officer giving the orders, who may be carrying hidden wounds accumulated over many years? We don't expect our military leaders to have PTSD, nor is it something they often recognise or acknowledge in themselves, yet this secret burden likely affects a surprising number of those making important tactical decisions. A thought-provoking insight into the damage done by military conflict, Behold the Dark Gray Man is the story of a daughter's search to understand the impact of war upon one of its most charismatic senior commanders.

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From the Industrial Revolution to the internet, capitalism has been a great engine of human progress. But now it stands accused of allowing the greedy few to run riot over the rest of society, exploiting workers and suppliers and recklessly damaging the planet in pursuit of profit. Where did these accusations come from – and are they true? In this lively critique, Spectator business editor Martin Vander Weyer argues that capitalism has indeed lost its moral compass, has lost public trust and is in urgent need of repair. But this is no far-left analysis seeking to champion a thinly veiled Marxist platform. Written from the point of view of a deep admirer of entrepreneurship and private-sector investment as a proven path to innovation and prosperity, The Good, the Bad and the Greedy argues that businesses always operate in a social context and that a ‘good’ business in a moral sense can also, in a perfect world, be a business that richly rewards its creators and backers. From the writer whom Boris Johnson called ‘the most oracular and entertaining business commentator’ in London, this thoughtful critique of 21st-century capitalism formulates core principles that separate the good from the bad and the greedy and warns that the system must be reformed and faith in it restored – before the next generation commit the ultimate act of self-harm by rejecting capitalism in favour of something worse

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What does press freedom mean in a digital age? Do we have to live with fake news, hate speech and surveillance? Can we deal with these threats without bringing about the end of an open society? In a fast-moving narrative, Heawood moves from the birth of print to the rise of social media. He shows how the core ideas of press freedom emerged out of the upheavals of the seventeenth century, and argues that these ideas have outlived their sell-by date. Heawood draws on his unique experience as a journalist, campaigner and the founder of the UK's first independent press regulator. He describes his own crisis of faith as his commitment to absolute press freedom was rocked - first by phone hacking at the News of the World, and then by the rise of social media. Nonetheless, he argues powerfully against censorship, and instead sets out the five roles that democratic states should play to ensure that people get the best out of the media and mitigate the worst.

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FORWEWORD by David Cameron Fleeing Idi Amin’s regime, seventeen year-old Ugandan Indian immigrant Dolar Popat landed at Heathrow in 1971 with just £10 and a cardboard suitcase to his name – but with everything to prove. Fuelled by a tenacious entrepreneurial spirit, a sharp talent for finance and an unparalleled drive for success, Popat worked relentlessly to pay his gratitude to the country that offered him a fresh start: Great Britain. With this same passion, he tells the incredible story of his journey from Wimpy Bar waiter to business magnate to member of the House of Lords. Despite battling prejudice, he found allies in the Conservative Party and, with guidance from David Cameron and his spiritual leader, Morari Bapu, has become one of the most influential people in commerce and politics today. Full of life lessons and business wisdom, A British Subject is a timely testament to the importance of integration in Britain. A love letter to his adopted country, this is the inspirational tale of how the barefoot boy from the streets of Tororo now treads the corridors of Parliament.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg is one of the most prominent and controversial figures in contemporary British politics. He is a man who divides opinion in his own party, in Parliament and across the country. An arch-Brexiteer with significant business interests and a large personal fortune, he has long been a vocal critic of the European Union and of Prime Minister Theresa May’s attempts to negotiate a Brexit deal. As chairman of the powerful anti-EU organisation the European Research Group, he has also been a thorn in the side of those seeking to dilute Brexit. While many people mock him for his impeccable manners and traditional attitudes – he has been dubbed `the Honourable Member for the eighteenth century’ – an equally great number applaud him for his apparent conviction politics. Undoubtedly, Rees-Mogg stands out among the current crop of MPs and his growing influence cannot be ignored. In this wide-ranging unauthorised biography of the Conservative Member of Parliament for North East Somerset, Michael Ashcroft, bestselling author of Call Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography of David Cameron, turns his attention to one of the most intriguing politicians of our time.

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In 2016 Labour burst into new life. The Westminster beltway of political insiders, pollsters, commentators and newspaper proprietors were left with egg all over their faces. Few took the trouble to ask how or why Labour, almost alone amongst parties on the left in Europe, had re-grouped, revived and successfully turned its back decisively on Tony Blair and Bill Clinton's 'third way'; how it had four times as many members as it had a few years before, and at last was appealing to the young. Labour England wasn't dead. It had been sleeping. For thirty years it had been kicked into near oblivion, first by Margaret Thatcher and then by Tony Blair. That strange, sentimental, almost mystical mix of the trade unions, adult education institutes, powerful Labour councils, the local comprehensive school and the local Co-op that sustained Labour governments for thirty years from the 1940s to the 1970s had been in full retreat. Now, against all the odds, it was back. Francis Beckett and Mark Seddon have been around Labour politics too long to be blind to the downsides of Corbynism. But they say that the Corbyn phenomenon has revived the spirit of Labour when it was on the brink of extinction and that Corbyn will be a Prime Minister in the best traditions of Labour England. And that those, in the Labour Party and elsewhere, who want only for an end to it, are on the wrong side of history. In this book they chart the forty-year decline of the Labour Party, and its extraordinary revival.

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How does the machinery of government respond when a King steps out of line? The relationship between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson created a constitutional crisis that has fascinated the public for decades. Unwilling to accept the idea of the twice-married American as future Queen of England, the government was determined to pressure the King into giving up Mrs Simpson and, when that failed, into giving up his crown. The King's phone lines were tapped by his own government, dubious police reports poisoned Mrs Simpson's reputation, and threats to sabotage her divorce were deployed to edge the King towards abdication. The hopeless attempts of the King's allies, particularly Winston Churchill, to keep him on the throne were dismissed as sinister conspiracy, whilst the King wrecked his own chances with wildly unrealistic goals and ill-thought-out schemes that served only to frame him as erratic and unreliable as a monarch. As each side was overwhelmed by desperation and distrust, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin fought to steer events to a smooth conclusion. In this fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the royal abdication crisis of 1936, Adrian Phillips reveals the previously untold story of the hidden political machinations and insidious battles in Westminster and Whitehall that settled the fate of the King and Mrs Simpson.

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Chris Rennard's long relationship with the Liberals, and later the Liberal Democrats, began when a compassionate Liberal candidate helped his disabled mother receive her widowed mother allowance. By his 20s Rennard was the most successful election campaigner his party has ever known. He helped the Liberal Party win power in Liverpool in the 1970s and campaigned for Shirley Williams and Roy Jenkins in famous by-elections which helped the Liberal SDP Alliance to compete for power before its acrimonious collapse in the late 80's. He was then responsible for a series of spectacular by-election victories that rescued his party's fortunes and he oversaw a huge increase in the party's number of MPs and elected representatives. Liberal leaders Paddy Ashdown, Charles Kennedy, Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg would all rely on him as the party grew to the peak of its success. This volume of memoirs spans his first 30 years in politics (to 2006) and includes the highs and lows of his party during the leaderships of Paddy Ashdown (including his hopes for coalition with Tony Blair) and Charles Kennedy, (including the latter's enforced resignation after revealing publicly his problem with alcohol). There will never be a better inside account of a political party, or contemporary history of the Liberal Democrats. Winning Here is a record that shows how election campaigns are really fought and won and how party leaders change and parties develop. Similarly, there will never be a commentator better placed to tell this story.

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An important new book by one of the Britain's great liberal thinkers, Hearts and Minds is part memoir, part political history and part history of ideas. In it, former Cabinet minister Oliver Letwin explains how the central ideas and policies of the modern Conservative party came into being, how they have played out over the period from Mrs Thatcher to Mrs May, and what needs to happen next in order to make the country a better place to live. Far from being a sugar-coated version of events, Letwin tells a story that he hopes will persuade readers that politicians are capable of recognising their mistakes and learning from them – and will show that social and economic liberalism, if correctly conceived, are capable of addressing the issues that confront us today. The book also describes Letwin’s own journey from a remarkable childhood with American academic parents, via Margaret Thatcher’s policy unit, into the very centre of first the Conservative—Liberal Democrat coalition, and then the Cameron government, where, as Minister for Government Policy and then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, every piece of government policy crossed his desk. It includes Letwin’s personal reflections on two devastating electoral events: the EU referendum and the general election of June 2017.

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Once at the centre of the American conservative movement, bestselling author and radio host Charles Sykes is a fierce opponent of Donald Trump and the right-wing media that enabled his rise. Sykes presents an impassioned, regretful and deeply thoughtful account of how the American conservative movement came to lose its values. How did a movement that was defined by its belief in limited government, individual liberty, free markets, traditional values and civility find itself embracing bigotry, political intransigence, demagoguery and outright falsehood? How the Right Lost its Mind addresses key issues that face American conservatives under a Trump presidency. It asks why so many voters are apparently credulous and immune to factual information reported by responsible media. And why did conservatives decide to overlook, even embrace, so many of Trump's outrages, gaffes, conspiracy theories, falsehoods and smears? Can conservatives govern, or are they content merely to rage? And central to Sykes's discourse is the question of how can the right recover its traditional values and persuade a new generation of their worth.

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Micky Adams has a football CV as long as your arm, having put in 438 appearances as a full-back - for teams such as Gillingham, Leeds, Fulham and Southampton, followed by a management career that took in over a dozen clubs at every tier of English football. As a manager, Adams took the helm at some of the biggest clubs in the English football, including Leicester City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Nottingham Forest, Coventry City, Port Vale and Fulham, winning four promotions and a league title, as well as a reputation for bringing success and stability in often difficult environments. In this extraordinary autobiography, written with veteran sports writer and long-time friend Neil Moxley, Micky Adams reveals the truth behind incidents on and off the pitch, including what really happened at La Manga, where three Leicester City players were accused of sexual assault during a mid-season training break, and what it was like to play with Alan Shearer and Matt Le Tissier in one of the most enduring careers in football.

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FOREWORD BY PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY When Constance Markievicz stood for election as MP for Dublin St Patrick's in 1918, few people believed she could win the seat - yet she did. A breakthrough in the bitter struggle for female enfranchisement had come earlier that year, followed by a second landmark piece of legislation allowing women to be elected to Parliament - and Markievicz duly became the first female MP. A member of Sinn Fein, she refused to take her seat. She did, however, pave the way for future generations, and only eleven months later, Nancy Astor entered the Commons. A century on from that historic event, 491 women have now passed through the hallowed doors of Parliament. Each one of these pioneers has fought tenaciously to introduce enduring reform, and in doing so has helped revolutionise Britain's political landscape, ensuring that women's contributions are not consigned to the history books. Containing profiles of every woman MP from 1918 to 1996, and with female contributors from Mary Beard to Caroline Lucas, Ruth Davidson to Yvette Cooper and Margaret Beckett to Ann Widdecombe, The Honourable Ladies is an indispensable and illuminating testament to the stories and achievements of these remarkable women.

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British Foreign Policy after Brexit by David Owen and David Ludlow is, perhaps surprisingly, a book written by two people from different generations who voted on opposite sides in the 2016 referendum. One a politician, the other a former diplomat, they both have significant business experience in world markets. The authors demonstrate how Britain's global role and influence can be enhanced rather than diminished post-Brexit, with a diplomatic, security, development and trade agenda based on hard-headed realism, including a review of budgetary priorities. As a firmly European country, they see the UK as a key player with Germany and France in the wider Europe, and a leader in security issues threatening the continent's stability. They do not regard the relationship with Moscow as inevitably confrontational, but believe strengthening NATO is essential and a top priority to contain Russia. In the wider world, a reinvigorated UK-US relationship will be critical, but must accommodate differences in some core areas, e.g. in dealing with China.Furthermore, they see the UK's new aircraft carrier at the heart of a UN Rapid Reaction Force drawn mainly from Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand, and supporting operations around the globe.

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What was lost when Kids Company imploded last summer? More than reputations. The charitys founding vision, that there is a gap called love in how the state responds to abused and abandoned children, also vanished. In this book, the founder of Kids Company lays out the thinking behind a model of care that broke the cycle of neglect for thousands of vulnerable children. She reveals the true scale of Britain's failure in children's services, making public two decades of candid exchanges with prime ministers and senior politicians to explain why the sector has not improved since Victorian times. She also reveals the deceits used by local authorities to stop the magnitude of the problem becoming known. This is a book of hope, however. Calling on a plethora of moving case histories, it presents the science that gives cause for optimism; proof that even the most troubled young lives can be turned around. Looking forward rather than back, the book shows how a new model of support could be cheaper and far more effective than existing provision. Kids Company has gone. And yet something like it must be the future.It is imperative that the breakthroughs in understanding that came from its work are now shared with the widest audience. This book is an unusual collaboration between two outstanding individuals. One author is Camila Batmanghelidjh, who spent thirty years working with troubled families. The other is an award-winning journalist, Tim Rayment, who was sent to investigate Camila but decided instead that the real public interest lay in hearing her vital, life-changing message.

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As the horror of Nazism tightened its grip on Germany, Jews found themselves trapped and desperate. For many, their only hope of salvation came in the form of a small, bespectacled British man: Frank Foley. Working as a Berlin Passport Control Officer, Foley helped thousands of Jews to flee the country with visas and false passports, personally entering the camps to get Jews out, and sheltering those on the run from the Gestapo in his own apartment. Described by a Jewish leader as 'the Pimpernel of the Jews', Foley was an unsung hero of the Holocaust.But why is this extraordinary man virtually unknown, even in Britain? The reason is simple: Foley was MI6 head of station in Berlin, bound to secrecy by the code of his profession.Michael Smith's work uncovering the remarkable truth led to the recognition of Frank Foley as Righteous Among Nations, the highest honour the Jewish state can bestow upon a Gentile. Foley is a story of courage and quiet heroism in the face of great evil - a reminder of the impact that one brave individual can have on the lives of many.

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On 21 December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 departed London Heathrow for New York. Shortly after take-off, a bomb detonated, killing all aboard and devastating the small Scottish town of Lockerbie below. Only one man has ever been convicted of the crime: Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, though few believe that he acted alone.In 2009, a request was made by Libya for al-Megrahi's release from prison on compassionate grounds after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The decision to grant or deny that request fell squarely and exclusively on the shoulders of one man: Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's Justice Secretary from 2007 to 2014.Detailing the build-up to the atrocity and the carnage left in its wake, MacAskill narrates the international investigation that followed and the diplomatic intrigue that saw a Scottish court convened in the Netherlands. He describes the controversial release of al-Megrahi, explains the international dimensions involved and lays bare the commercial and security interests that ran in the background throughout the investigation and trial. Finally, he answers how and why it happened - and who was really responsible for the worst terrorist attack to have occurred on British soil before or since.

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'The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer,' said Fridtj of Nansen, who personally repatriated more than 400,000 prisoners of war after World War I and helped save millions of Russians from starvation. Albert Einstein prudently advised, 'Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts' and Cseslaw Milosz warned, 'In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.' Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been the hallmark of genius, but Nobel laureates tend to be more than merely brilliant - their idealism, courage and concern for humanity have also made them sources of inspiration and wisdom. Contrary to the notion that geniuses are absentminded eccentrics, many Nobel laureates have been social activists and political leaders, and some have been polymaths whose interests and talents were diverse, such as Philip Noel-Baker, winner of the 1959 Peace Prize, who ran in three Olympic Games. The quotations here are grouped by such themes as achievement, truth and falsehood, war and conflict, technology, and most have never been anthologised previously.

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THE ERA OF WIN AT ALL COSTS, WHETHER LEGAL OR ILLEGAL , IS UPON US. THIS IS THE ERA OF THE SLAPP CASE. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs, are designed to censor, intimidate and silence critics of the powerful and wealthy by burdening them with aggressive opposing lawyers, heavy legal costs and deeply intrusive - and sometimes illegal - private investigations until they abandon the case. The UK has the unenviable accolade of being the number one destination for such cases. Billionaire oligarchs, often ex-convicts and linked to organised crime, come here to launder their reputations through suing for libel - even when what's been written about them is entirely true. Even worse, more often than not they either win their cases or scare their opponents into self-censorship, in a devastating blow to investigative journalism, media freedom and the public interest. In this timely, insightful and often shocking book, David Hooper, veteran media lawyer, explores how the power of money enables the very wealthy - including Robert Maxwell, Nadhim Zahawi and McDonald's - to crush their critics through SLAPP tactics. From billionaire oligarchs to powerful corporations, from corrupt politicians to super-rich businesspeople, Hooper describes how those with something to hide tried to stop you knowing about it, how their lawyers were willing to help them and - most importantly - what the government urgently needs to do to stop them.

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Britain's 2016 vote to leave the EU divided the nation, unleashing years of political turmoil. Today, many remain unreconciled to Brexit whilst, in a tragic irony, some of those most committed to it are angry and dissatisfied with what was delivered. In this clear-headed assessment, Chris Grey argues that this painful legacy was all but inevitable, skilfully unpacking how and why the promise of Brexit dissolved during the confusing and often dramatic events that followed the referendum. Now fully updated with an afterword covering each element of the Brexit debate since the end of the transition period in 2021, this new edition remains the essential guide to one of the most bitterly contested issues of our time.

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