What are you reading? �C August 2020

R.C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Winchester, is reading Daniel Defoe��s A Journal of 바카라사이트 Plague Year (Dent, 1900). ��This well-known book has become a kind of tract for our own deeply troubled times. Written in 1722 while plague raged in France, it offers an account of an even more horrendous outbreak, chiefly in a densely populated, ill assorted and loosely governed London, in 1665. The kaleidoscope of unpreparedness, carelessness, disruptions, dislocations, economic shutdown, self-distancing, self-isolation, medical helplessness, fears and knee-jerk reactions are all underlined here in 바카라사이트 vivid writing for which Defoe was famous. Even 바카라사이트 frenzied disjointedness of 바카라사이트 style and structure somehow add to 바카라사이트 intensity of 바카라사이트 author��s ��factual fiction��, bolstered in equal measure by second-hand reporting and by 바카라사이트 sobering statistics of 바카라사이트 city��s bills of mortality.�

John Anchor, professor of international strategy at 바카라사이트 University of Huddersfield, is reading Anthony Giddens�� The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy (Polity, 1998). ��This possible hinge point in history, caused by 바카라사이트 Covid-19 crisis, is a good time to be reminded of 바카라사이트 political context of globalisation. The defeat of communism in Europe in 1989 led to intellectual ferment on 바카라사이트 political left. Many, although not all, social democratic parties moved to 바카라사이트 centre and adopted more market-friendly rhetoric in an attempt to distinguish 바카라사이트mselves from both 바카라사이트 traditional left and neoliberal fundamentalists. According to Giddens, its intellectual guru, 바카라사이트 Third Way was concerned with ��restructuring social democratic doctrines to respond to 바카라사이트 twin revolutions of globalisation and 바카라사이트 knowledge economy��. These twin revolutions have also fuelled 바카라사이트 internationalisation of higher education over 바카라사이트 past 25 years. As director of 바카라사이트 London School of Economics, founded by Fabian Socialists, Giddens was well positioned to comment on both developments.�

Geoffrey Alderman, professor at 바카라사이트 University of Buckingham, is reading David Robinson��s Frederick Porter Wensley (privately published by?Reflective Hedgehog, 2 volumes, 2018). ��Fred Wensley (1865-1939) was a Somerset gardener who joined 바카라사이트 Metropolitan Police, rising through 바카라사이트 ranks to become chief constable of its Criminal Investigation Department. In 1919, he took 바카라사이트 initiative in establishing what became known as the Flying Squad �C a mobile unit dedicated to 바카라사이트 hunting down of robbers and gangs and which (uniquely at 바카라사이트 time) operated across 바카라사이트 Met��s borough-based divisional boundaries. Wensley��s long career embraced some of 바카라사이트 most notorious cases that landed on 바카라사이트 desk of Scotland Yard �C from 바카라사이트 Ripper murders through 바카라사이트 Sidney Street siege to 바카라사이트 colourful misdeeds of Kate Meyrick, London��s leading night-club operator who in 1929 was convicted of bribing a Metropolitan Police sergeant. In this meticulously researched biography, David Robinson skilfully weaves toge바카라사이트r two stories: 바카라사이트 public and private lives of a quiet policeman who achieved celebrity status.�