Listed by the Sunday Times as one of the five best political books of 2015 Welfare states have spread across the globe transforming modern civilisation But the take-over is often going badly In Marseilles armed drug gangs dominate the social housing estates In America an outstandingly rich country 45 million people are dependent on food stamps In Britain the NHS has one of the worst records for cancer care in the advanced world Many countries are raising more in taxes but nevertheless getting deeper into debt because of their burgeoning welfare states All around the world behaviour is being damaged by welfare state dependency while governments become more & more like Big Brother telling us what we must do James Bartholomew travelled around the world seeing how cultures & lives are being changed
- seeing what is going wrong but also looking for countries where they are making a better job of it His book is an unparalleled investigation in which he tells the story of the people & places he visited He takes the reader on a journey which

Includes:: burnt-out cars in France a tough-minded benefits office in Singapore & innovative hospitals in Spain The narrative is supplemented with many photos & graphs that demonstrate & explain The book is like a window on the modern world


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Welfare states vary across nations & change over time & the balance between markets & government; free enterprise & social protection is perennially in question But all developed societies have welfare states of one kind or another
- they are a fundamental dimension of modern government & even after decades of free-market criticism & reform their core institutions have proven resilient & popular This Very Short Introduction describes the modern welfare state explaining its historical & contemporary significance & arguing that far from being 'a failure' or 'a problem' welfare states are an essential element of contemporary capitalism & a vital concomitant of democratic government In this accessible & entertaining account David Garland cuts through the fog of misunderstandings to explain in clear & simple terms what welfare states are how they work & why they matter ABOUT THE SERIES The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly Our expert authors combine facts analysis perspective new ideas & enthusiasm to make interesting & challenging topics highly readable
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The impossible has happened The Lord Ruler is dead has been vanquished But so too is Kelsier the man who masterminded the triumph The awesome task of rebuilding the world has been left to his protege Vin; a one-time street urchin now the most powerful Mistborn in the land Worryingly for her Vin has become the focus of a new religion a development that leaves her intensely uneasy More worryingly still the mists have become unpredictable since the Lord Ruler died & a strage vaprous entity is stalking Vin As the siege of Luthadel intensifies the ancient legend of the Well of Ascension offers the only glimmer of hope But no-one knows where it is or what it can do ...

The impossible has happened The Lord Ruler is dead has been vanquished But so too is Kelsier the man who masterminded the triumph The awesome task of rebuilding the world has been left to his protege Vin; a one-time street urchin now the most powerful Mistborn in the land Worryingly for her Vin has become the focus of a new religion a development that leaves her intensely uneasy More worryingly still the mists have become unpredictable since the Lord Ruler died & a strage vaprous entity is stalking Vin As the siege of Luthadel intensifies the ancient legend of the Well of Ascension offers the only glimmer of hope But no-one knows where it is or what it can do ...

December in Glendara Inishowen & solicitor Benedicta ' Ben' O' Keeffe is working flat-out before the holidays; the one bright spot on her horizon is spending her first Christmas with Sergeant Tom Molloy But on a trip to Dublin to visit her parents she bumps into Luke Kirby
- the man who killed her sister
- freshly released from jail He apologises to her; remorseful conciliatory but as she walks away he whispers something that chills her to the bone Back in Glendara there is chaos The Oak pub has burned down & Carole Kearney the Oak's barmaid has gone missing & then on Christmas morning while walking up Sliabh Sneacht Ben & Molloy make a gruesome discovery a body lying face-down in the snow Soon it becomes clear that these events are part of a plan for revenge that will have devastating consequences for Glendara's residents

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The complete & enhanced edition This edition contains extra information & archival material that tells the fascinating story behind The Well's controversial publication trial & ban in 1928 As a little girl Stephen Gordon always felt different A talent for sport a hatred of dresses & a preference for solitude were not considered suitable for a young lady of the Victorian upper-class But when Stephen grows up & falls passionately in love with another woman her standing in the county & her place at the home she loves become untenable Stephen must set off to discover whether there is anywhere in the world that will have her ...

New to Penguin Modern Classics the seminal work of gay literature that sparked an infamous legal trial for obscenity & went on to become a bestseller The Well of Loneliness tells the story of tomboyish Stephen who hunts wears trousers & cuts her hair short
- & who gradually comes to realise that she is attracted to women Charting her romantic & professional adventures during the First World War & beyond the novel provoked a furore on first publication in 1928 for its lesbian heroine & led to a notorious legal trial for obscenity Hall herself however saw the book as a pioneer work & today it is recognised as a landmark work of gay fiction This Penguin edition

Includes:: a new introduction by Maureen Duffy' The archetypal lesbian novel'
- Times Literary Supplement' One of the first & most influential contributions of gay & lesbian literature'
- New Statesman Radclyffe Hall was born in 1880 After an unhappy childhood she inherited her father's estate & from then on was free to travel & live as she chose She fell in love & lived with an older woman before settling down with Una Troubridge a married sculptor Hall wrote many books but is best known for The Well of Loneliness first published in 1928 She died in 1943 & is buried in Highgate Cemetery in London Maureen Duffy was born in 1933 & educated at Kings College London She became a full-time writer in the 1960s & has since written numerous screenplays poetry & novels A lifelong campaigner for gay rights & animal rights Duffy is also president of the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society




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Introduction & Notes by Jane Thomas University of Hull The Well-Beloved completes the cycle of Hardy's great novels reiterating his favourite themes of man's eternal quest for perfection in both love & art & the suffering that ensues Jocelyn Pierston celebrated sculptor tries to create an image of his ideal woman
- his imaginary Well-Beloved
- in stone just as he tries to find her in the flesh Powerful symbolism marks this romantic fantasy that Hardy has grounded firmly in reality with a characteristically authentic rendering of location the Isle of Slingers or Portland as we know it Overt exploration of the relationship between erotic fascination & creativity makes this novel a nineteenth-century landmark in the persistent debate about art aesthetics & gender This volume breaks new ground by including in full the 1892 serialised version of the novel
- The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved


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The Well-Tempered Clavier is published as part of ABRSM's ' Signature' Series
- a series of authoritative performing editions of
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This is a classic work by a gardener who combines a passionate love of his subject with a critical intelligence & a good helping of wit THE WELL-TEMPERED GARDEN is packed with the sort of information keen gardeners crave
- from planting weeding & the pleasures of propagation to annuals water lilies & vegetables Hailed as a masterpiece when it was first published THE WELL-TEMPERED GARDEN is as fresh enlightening & necessary for gardeners in the 21st century as it was when it first appeared more than 40 years ago
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