Author: Phillip Wood File Type: epub The world is a dangerous and difficult place to live in for most of us most of the time. We all want a peaceful and happy existence, but the path from cradle to grave is rarely smooth for many for some its a downright struggle. As individuals, families and social groups we make single or collective decisions and choices that we hope will influence outcomes and ensure that what we get is what we feel we deserve, or at least that to which we aspire. Choices that we make can be instinctive or informed and often we make our decisions more in hope than in good judgement. Probably, when we look back on our lives before we check out, most of us will think that we could have done better with hindsight. For organisations that want to meet their business aims (usually involving optimising profitability), the correct decisions are important, and normally critically so. Even more important is the fact that, for businesses, hindsight is rarely an effective or desirable management tool and the more proactive and forward-thinking the organisation, the better chance it will have of remaining viable and competitive.Resilient Thinking is not about the mechanics of writing plans. You can download templates from the Internet for that, or even keep on updating existing plans as the organisation develops and the environment changes and affects you. This book is about intelligent approaches and the ability to operate smartly, so that you and your organisation are prepared for the worst, or even the events and occurrences that appear to be insignificant at first and then become nightmares. You wont find any checklists in this book either they are for people who work within mental frameworks and, whilst they have their place, it would be useful if we could agree on the assumption right from the start that its not here. Hopefully, as we go along, it will become clear that there are functionalities and processes which need to be checked off. However, the more valuable processes in the heat of an incident or event and in the periods both preceding and following, it will be those which are flexible and responsive, carried out by a confident, mentally agile and knowledgeable resilience team.

Author: Kenneth O. Morgan File Type: pdf The last century has been a tumultuous one for the culture and politics of Britain. Kenneth Morgans Twentieth-Century Britain is a crisp analysis of the forces of consensus and conflict that have existed in Britain since the First World War. Using a wide variety of sources, including the records of political parties and recently released documents from Britains Public Records Office, Kenneth Morgan covers the full scope of Britains modern history while drawing thought-provoking comparisons with the post-war history of other nations. This penetrating analysis by a leading twentieth-century historian makes for fantastic reading for anyone interested in the development of modern Britain.About the AuthorKenneth Morgan is Research Professor, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and Lecturer in Modern History, University of Oxford. He was Principal, then Vice-Chancellor, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and Professor in the University of Wales, 1989-95. Also, Vice-Chancellor, then Senior Vice-Chancellor, University of Wales, 1993-95.

Author: Francesca Beauman File Type: epub This enchanting, juicy history takes us from the pineapples origins in the Amazon rainforests to its first tasting by Columbus in Guadeloupe and its starring role on the royal dinner tables of Europe. In the eighteenth-century this spectacular fruit reigned supreme despite the fact that, at first, to cultivate just one cost the same as a new coach, every great house soon boasted its own steaming pits filled with hundreds upon hundreds of pineapple plants. As the Prada handbag of its day, a real-life, homegrown pineapple was a powerful status symbol, so much so that at first, it was extremely unusual actually to eat the fruit. The image appeared on gateposts, on teapots, furniture and wallpaper.A new phase opened when growers in the Caribbean began supplying pineapples in the 1840s and later the first canning factory was built in Hawaii. As the story rolls on, through the heyday of pineapple chunks and cocktails, right up to the fashions of today,it touches on pineapples and sex, pineapples and empire, pineapples in art.Why is the pineapple so special? In one surprising sense it is indeed ideal. Made up of hundreds of separate fruitlets, its spirals embody the gradations of the Golden Mean - it is mathematically perfect. But it is more than that - for years a focus of travellers tales, it is a treasure of sight and scent and taste. Packed with fascinating illustrations, this delicious book sees Fran Beauman explore the life and lore of the king of fruits scholarly, witty and fun, it is a true hamper of delights.

Author: Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u File Type: pdf Regional Parallelism and Corruption Scandals in Nigeria is a ground-breaking book that offers fresh perspectives on the character and role of the African media in covering corruption scandals. It explores whether reports regarding corruption stem from the efforts of journalists who employ investigative journalism, or if it is a mere coincidence promoted by the activities of anti-corruption agencies. To that end, the book develops a media systems theory for Africa based on the coverage of corruption scandals in the Nigerian press. This new theoretical paradigm, defined as regional parallelism, argues that African countries are nations within nations, and that therefore any comparative study of the media system should recognize this understanding. The book combines both interviews with journalists as well as qualitative content analysis of newspapers to determine the patterns and issues that influence the reporting of corruption. It also looks at corruption within the media itself, taking into account factors such as regionalism and ethnicity within the practice of journalism. **Review This book tackles pertinent issues such as corruption, conflict and democracy in selected African countries to illustrate that neither the continent as a whole, nor the individual countries within it should be treated as monoliths. Rooted in a historical understanding of African media, the book demonstrates the importance of viewing African media systems as diverse and contested. (Herman Wasserman, Professor of Media Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa) This book offers a timely and much needed critical analysis of Media Systems in Africa and significantly broadens the scope and depth of work on Media Systems theory. Through a nuanced and systematic analysis of the reporting of corruption scandals in Nigeria, Muhammad Jameel Yushau provides students and scholars with a conceptually rigorous and empirically grounded account of how the mediation of corruption scandals in Nigeria signal forms of regional parallelism and partisanship across religious, political and geographical divides. Yushau also helpfully applies his media systems analysis to other contexts, with chapters on South Africa and Kenya, thereby significantly enhancing both the geographical reach of the book and its contribution to African Media Studies and Political Communication more broadly. (John Steel, Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield, UK) A good read, Regional Parallelism and Corruption Scandals in Nigeria details the historical and contemporary roles of media in sub-Saharan Africa. It fills a huge void in the literature of media studies in the continent. (Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar, School of Arts and Social Sciences, City University, London, UK) From the Back Cover Regional Parallelism and Corruption Scandals in Nigeria is a ground-breaking book that offers fresh perspectives on the character and role of the African media in covering corruption scandals. It explores whether reports regarding corruption stem from the efforts of journalists who employ investigative journalism, or if it is a mere coincidence promoted by the activities of anti-corruption agencies. To that end, the book develops a media systems theory for Africa based on the coverage of corruption scandals in the Nigerian press. This new theoretical paradigm, defined as regional parallelism, argues that African countries are nations within nations, and that therefore any comparative study of the media system should recognize this understanding. The book combines both interviews with journalists as well as qualitative content analysis of newspapers to determine the patterns and issues that influence the reporting of corruption. It also looks at corruption within the media itself, taking into account factors such as regionalism and ethnicity within the practice of journalism.