For the rest of the decade deputy editors Mostyn Lloyd and G. D. H. Cole struggled to combine academic careers with re-establishing the discredited New Statesman as the voice of the left. Success was to come only under the leadership and inspiration of a new editor, Kingsley Martin, and a new chairman, John Maynard Keynes, following the paper's symbolic take-over in 1930 of the Liberal weekly, the Nation.

Nyman's rise to international prominence during the last three decades has made him one of the world's most successful living composers. His music has nevertheless been criticized for its parasitic borrowing of other composers' ideas and for its relentless self-borrowing. In this first book-length study in English, Pwyll ap Siôn places Nyman's writings within the general context of Anglo-American experimentalism, minimalism and post-minimalism, and provides a series of useful contexts from which controversial aspects of Nyman's musical language can be more clearly understood and appreciated.

Austen and Woolf are materialists, this book argues. 'Things' in their novels give us entry into some of the most contentious issues of the day. This wholly materialist understanding produces worldly realism, an experimental writing practice which asserts egalitarian continuity between people, things and the physical world. This radical redistribution of the importance of material objects and biological existence, challenges the traditional idealist hierarchy of mind over matter that has justified gender, class and race subordination. Entering their writing careers at the critical moments of the French Revolution and the First World War respectively, and sharing a political inheritance of Scottish Enlightenment scepticism, Austen's and Woolf's rigorous critiques of the dangers of mental vision unchecked by facts is more timely than ever in the current world dominated by fundamentalist neo-liberal, religious and nationalist belief systems.

Britain experienced two stunning developments in the late 1970s. Post-war Keynesianism and big government fell out of favor, and, for the first time, British voters chose a female prime minister. When Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, she was the first leader to oppose the consensus views of both the Labour Party and centrist Tories who, in varying degrees, accepted Keynesianism and state ownership of industry. The author argues that with her faith in monetarism, Thatcher paved the way for a significant realignment of the Conservative Party and British politics. With her traditional conservatism stretching back to her childhood years and her receptiveness to free-market arguments that revealed the economic shortcomings of Keynesianism and socialism, she developed a strong case against government management of the economy. The author explains that Thatcher’s fight for economic change had both dramatic and subtle stages. In the end, the issue of inflation altered British economics and politics and Thatcher was there to take advantage of the moment and score a victory over “socialism.”

Owen Barfield - philosopher, author, poet and critic - was a founding member of the Inklings group, the private Oxford society that included the leading literary figures C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams. C.S. Lewis, who was greatly affected by Barfield during their long friendship, wrote of their many heated debates: `I think he changed me a good deal more than I him.' Simon Blaxland de Lange's biography - the first on Owen Barfield to be published - was written with the active cooperation of Barfield who, before his death in 1997, gave numerous interviews to the author, as well as lending a large quantity of his papers and manuscripts. The fruit of this collaboration is a book that penetrates deeply into the life and thought of one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. It studies the influences on Barfield by the Romantic poet Coleridge and the philosopher Rudolf Steiner (founder of Anthroposophy), and focuses on Barfield's profound personal connection with C.S. Lewis. The book also features a biographical sketch in his own words (based on the personally conducted interviews), and describes his strong relationship with North America and his dual profession as a lawyer and writer.

Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists is written to inform, instruct and inspire journalists on the investigative possibilities offered by the Freedom of Information Act. Covering exactly what the Act is, how to make FOI requests and how to use the Act to hold officials to account, Matt Burgess utilises expert opinions, relevant examples and best practice from journalists and investigators working with the Freedom of Information Act at all levels. The book is brimming with illuminating and relevant examples of the Freedom of Information Act being used by journalists, alongside a range of helpful features, including: • end-of-chapter lists of tips and learning points; • sections addressing the different areas of FOI requests; • text boxes on key thoughts and cases; • interviews with leading contemporary journalists and figures working with FOI requests. Supported by the online FOI Directory (www.foidirectory.co.uk), Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists is a must read for all those training or working as journalists on this essential tool for investigating, researching and reporting.

The legacy of Blair and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan continue to loom large for the Labour Party, whether in opposition or in government, giving rise to fierce debates over Labour's attitude and posture towards the wider world. This book considers the idea of Labour's international identity, examining how world events and Labour's response to them have helped to shape ideology, political culture and domestic agendas from the 1920s until the Iraq War. It provides a fascinating and original exploration of Labour both on the world stage and at home - from the influence of the Soviet Union on political thought in the interwar years to the international student revolts of the 1960s, and from media in the 1990s to Kosovo and New Labour Interventionism. This is essential reading for scholars of modern British politics, as well as anyone interested in the motivations and influences behind the Labour Party's actions on the world stage.