Malcolm Philips was a reluctant bureaucrat. When it was suggested that he give up selling ice-cream and go to work for the council, he protested that it would be full of jobsworths, skivers and crawlers. Truth to tell, however, he quickly fitted in among what his boss described as all the other ‘sods and buggers' at County Hall. The 1960s and 1970s were the halcyon days of local government when rules and regulations multiplied at the expense of common sense and no-one was entirely sure what the person in the next office actually did … or even what purpose their own job served. In these Confessions, Malcolm tells all: his surreptitious visits to the girls in the typing pool, the ingenious fiddles, the arrival of flower power in the computer room, the goings-on in the roof-space after the Christmas party, and the mysterious expenses, such as ‘repairs to elephant'. Some of the ‘sods and buggers’ you’ll meet in this book include Archie, a master of foul language and never without a Player’s No. 6; Vince, who had the power to disrupt machinery just by looking at it, and the Lord of the Stationery Cupboard who refused to issue a new pencil unless the old one had been worn down to a stub. As for Malcolm, he thrived, quickly progressing from his early faux pas in commandeering a chair with arms (only for staff on a higher grade) to being allowed to use the rubber stamp with the chief’s signature on it. What more could a young man desire?

Bureaucracy is a curse – it seems we can’t live with it, we can’t live without it. It is without doubt one of the fundamental ideas which underpin the business world and society at large. In this book, Tom Vine observes, analyses and critiques the concept, placing it at the heart of our understanding of organisation. The author unveils bureaucracy as an endlessly emergent phenomenon which defies binary debate – in analysing organisation, we are all bureaucrats. In building an experiential perspective, the book develops more effective ways to interact with bureaucracy in theory and practice. Empirical material take centre stage, whilst the book employs ethnographic and auto-ethnographic methods to illuminate the existential function of bureaucracy. Taking examples from art, history and culture, this book provides an entertaining alternative academic analysis of bureaucracy as a key idea in business and society which will be essential reading for students and scholars of work and organisation

Booklist Top of the List Reference Source The heir and successor to Eric Partridge's brilliant magnum opus, The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, this two-volume New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is the definitive record of post WWII slang. Containing over 60,000 entries, this new edition of the authoritative work on slang details the slang and unconventional English of the English-speaking world since 1945, and through the first decade of the new millennium, with the same thorough, intense, and lively scholarship that characterized Partridge's own work. Unique, exciting and, at times, hilariously shocking, key features include: unprecedented coverage of World English, with equal prominence given to American and British English slang, and entries included from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, and the Caribbean emphasis on post-World War II slang and unconventional English published sources given for each entry, often including an early or significant example of the term’s use in print. hundreds of thousands of citations from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, and songs illustrating usage of the headwords dating information for each headword in the tradition of Partridge, commentary on the term’s origins and meaning New to this edition: A new preface noting slang trends of the last five years Over 1,000 new entries from the US, UK and Australia New terms from the language of social networking Many entries now revised to include new dating, new citations from written sources and new glosses The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is a spectacular resource infused with humour and learning – it’s rude, it’s delightful, and it’s a prize for anyone with a love of language.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “hilarious [and] invigorating romp for all lovers of literature” (Associated Press), Thursday Next returns to rescue reading from certain destruction—again—the “mind-blowing” (The Seattle Times) fifth installment of the renowned Thursday Next series. “[With a] furiously agile imagination . . . Fforde has shaken up genres—fantasy, comedy, crime, sci-fi, parody, literary criticism—and come up with a superb mishmash.”—The Miami Herald Fourteen years after she pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, Thursday Next is grappling with a host of problems in the Book World: a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes, and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy novels. The Council of Genres is trying to broker a peace deal between certain antagonistic genres: Racy Novel has been recklessly placed between Ecclesiastical and Feminist, and they are at each other’s throats. Meanwhile, back in Swindon, the government is reporting a dangerously high stupidity surplus, and Thursday’s idle sixteen-year-old son would rather sleep all day than follow his destiny as a member of the ChronoGuard. Not only does she captain the ship Moral Dilemma to the very limits of acceptable narrative possibilities, but Thursday also finds she must face down her most vicious enemy yet: herself. Don’t miss any of Jasper Fforde’s delightfully entertaining Thursday Next novels: THE EYRE AFFAIR • LOST IN A GOOD BOOK • THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS • SOMETHING ROTTEN • FIRST AMONG SEQUELS • ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING • THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT

A new breed of HR Professional is needed who can offer the sort of effective people management that can change the way organizations work. They will first have to resolve the legacy left by an absence of professionalism in people management amongst both operational managers and the HR departments that serve them. Much of the problems that currently undermine capitalism and governance today can be traced back directly to insufficient attention being paid to the professional management of human capital. This text offers an objective scale to gauge levels of professionalism that can be applied to management in any sector. Paul Kearns has also developed a clear 10-step guide for anyone looking to develop their HR professionalism in a practical way. With an insightful Foreword by Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer and with these tools, readers will be encouraged to move away from the old world ineffectiveness of people management by looking towards a New Norm and the huge potential it offers for value and wealth. Suitable for managers and students studying HR, Professional HR provides the answer for what could be the next iteration of the capitalist system, with professional, evidence-based people management at its heart.

When Mike Kent started teaching over half a century ago there was no national curriculum, no testing and schools were inspected, briefly, once in a blue moon. Mike has watched primary education spiral through enormous changes over the decades. Some changes have been worthwhile. Many have not. But if he is unhappy with a new initiative, or irritated by an incomprehensible directive from the men in suits, he'll do what he does best... pick up his pen and share it with his readers in a witty, whimsical way. This collection of articles from Mike Kent's popular weekly column in the TES covers a whole range of amusing incidents about daily life in a busy London primary school. From the fire officer who called the children's display work 'hazardous wall substances', to the class that caused the alarm to go off at Hampton Court and the burglar who stayed to play with a train set, Mike's anecdotes chronicle the trials and tribulations of modern primary headship.

This is a compilation of the literary magazine YXSY GLYXSY ( pronounced YXSY GLYXSY ). Included withinare talesabout such heart-warming subjects as ;- gluttony, vicious dogs, perverted sex, alien abduction, drunkeness, debauchery, drug-addled states, slimy monsters, obsessive love, thuggery, the pursuit of power, the futility of existence, the existence of God, the quest for true love ( or at least a one night stand ), and a restaurant review. They are short stories of varied length and quality, but with enough to keep the interest going ( hopefully ).

Repeatedly jamming his fork of curiosity into the live toaster of opportunity, comedian Richard O. Smith captures the experience of living in Oxford in probably the funniest book written about the Dreaming Spires. Collected here are 70 of his best Oxford Examined columns from the award-winning Oxford Times magazine Oxfordshire Limited Edition including several previously unpublished stories. In these unflinchingly truthful columns he meets celebrities (Kate Middleton, Dara O'Briain, the one who plays Phoebe in Friends and a predictably grumpy Alan Sugar), visits the 11th dimension with an Oxford University maths protégée, gatecrashes Encaenia, flirts with a Roman slave girl from 79AD, is ejected from the Oxford Union by burly security, witnesses a comeuppance for a pack of arrogant students, conducts a walking tour for Britain's scariest hen party, moves a library (which transpires to be harder work than moving a mountain), sees Britain's most pretentious theatre production, participates in the UK's national bell ringing championships (yes, that is a thing), allows Oxford University psychologists to experiment on him, rescues four escaped horses in a busy Oxford street (thankfully it wasn't the apocalypse), becomes a crime-fighting superhero, is hospitalised in a serious bike accident, gets chased by a furious revenge-fixated woman dressed as a Friesian cow, strides out of his house one morning and disappears down a giant sink hole, mentors two stand-up comedy virgins, commits a devastating social faux pas and pledges to never use a split infinitive or sentence this long again. 'Right from the introductory preamble, this is pure comedy genius. I dare anybody to read it and not start sniggering out loud. Warning: this may attract odd looks if you are on a bus or anywhere else in public.' --Oxford Times 'Bring together an outstanding comic writer and a city of unlikely people and you'll find the perfect love-match. The wittiest, zaniest, and most truthful guide to a city you'll read: armchair travel has never been so good. Or so funny.' --Susie Dent 'The funniest book ever about Oxford. Pure comedy genius. I read Oxford Examined and laughed so much.' --Gill Oliver, Oxford Mail

Never in the lifetime of most British adults has there been such uncertainty about the future of the political and governing institutions of the state. Brexit has the potential to change everything – from the shape of government institutions, to the main political parties, from Britain's relationship with its near neighbour Ireland to its international trading. The idealists of the Leave campaign won their vote in 2016. But now the realists are gently taking over. Here, Denis MacShane explains how the Brexit process will be long and full of difficulties – arguing that a 'Brexiternity' of negotiations and internal political wrangling in Britain lies ahead.

Manage your projects like a pro Now revised to stay in line with today's unique business challenges and project approaches, Project Management For Dummies, 2nd UK Portable Edition is updated with fresh content, tips, and tactics that cover everything you need to know from a project's start to finish. You'll find out how to make project planning both easier and more effective, manage resources to stay on track and within budget and utilise powerful risk management techniques to keep risks at a minimum during the project. Plus, clear descriptions of who should do what and plain-English explanations of the latest concepts behind best-practice project management techniques make it easy to stay focused and on target throughout the project's life cycle. In today's time-pressured and cost-conscious global business environment, reliable project planning and competent delivery are more important than ever. Luckily, this approachable and on-the-go guide shows you what works and what doesn't, taking the guesswork out of project management and arming with the tools you need to succeed. Includes access to online templates and checklists Shows you how to avoid being part of the 70% project failure statistic Serves as the perfect portable reference to every aspect of project management Covers delivery-focused planning, team motivation techniques, and managing resources Whether you're taking on a project for the first time or a more experienced project manager looking to catch up on the latest thinking and techniques in the field, this fun and accessible guide makes it easy.