Download or read book The Myth of Mr Butskell written by Scott Kelly and published by Ashgate Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is often assumed that a general consensus existed between the post-war Labour and Conservative governments in matters of economic policy. This book provides a systematic challenge to this view by examining the economic policy of Hugh Gaitskell from 1950 to 1955. Through a careful examination of the evidence, it is demonstrated that contrary to the prevailing view of this period, there was no consensus about the extent to which the economy should be controlled and how it should be managed, and that there was a sustained argument over the use of physical controls, monetary policy and direct taxation.

Download or read book The Myth of Mr Butskell written by Scott Kelly and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2003: It is often assumed that a general consensus existed between the post-war Labour and Conservative governments in matters of economic policy. Indeed, by 1954, The Economist was able to satirise the situation with the invention of 'Mr Butskell', a fictitious political figure created by an amalgam of the names of Hugh Gaitskell and R A Butler. For decades afterwards the character of Mr Butskell came to personify the idea of a consensus over economic policy that was only broken with the election of the Thatcher government in 1979. The longevity of the Butskell figure suggests that the post-war consensus was a given fact, but on what basis are these assumptions made? The purpose of this work is to reassess the historical basis of Mr Butskell by examining the conduct of economic policy from the moment Hugh Gaitskell joined the Treasury in 1950 as Stafford Cripp's deputy, to Rab Butler's departure in December 1955. Through a careful examination of the evidence, it is demonstrated that contrary to the prevailing view of this period, there was no consensus about the extent to which the economy should be controlled and how it should be managed, and that there was a sustained argument over the use of physical controls, monetary policy and direct taxation. The book examines Gaitskell's economic thought and the underlying economic and political rationales for the positions taken by the Labour and Conservative Parties. In examining the structure of economic policy making, this book demonstrates that ministerial determination of policy is far more important than previous scholars have assumed, which explains why a developing consensus among civil servants about the conduct of economic policy is not necessarily reflected in outputs.

Download or read book The Myth of Consensus written by Harriet Jones and published by Springer. This book was released on 1996-11-12 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This groundbreaking collection of essays challenges the notion that early postwar Britain was characterised by a consensus between the major political parties arising out of the experiences of the wartime coalition government. The volume collects for the first time the views of the revisionist historians who argue that fundamental differences between and within the parties continued to characterise British politics after 1945. Covering topics as diverse as industrial relations and decolonisation, the volume provides a welcome contrast to orthodox interpretations of contemporary Britain.

Download or read book Conservative thinkers written by Mark Garnett and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-19 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book outlines and evaluates the political thought of the Conservative Party through a detailed examination of its principal thinkers from Harold Macmillan to the present. Traditionally, the Conservative Party has been regarded as a vote-gathering machine rather than a vehicle for ideas. This book redresses the balance through a series of biographical essays examining the thought of those who have contributed most to the development of ideas within the party. The chapters benefit from archival research and interviews with leading Conservatives. The recent revival of Conservative fortunes makes the book particularly timely. The book begins with an introductory chapter explaining the role of ideology in the Conservative Party. It then traces the political thought of the Conservative Party through its principal theorists since the 1930s. These are Harold Macmillan, R. A. Butler, Quintin Hogg, Enoch Powell, Angus Maude, Keith Joseph, the ‘traditionalists’ (Maurice Cowling, T. E. ‘Peter’ Utley, Peregrine Worsthorne, Shirley Letwin and Roger Scruton), Ian Gilmour, John Redwood and David Willetts. The book concludes with an overall assessment of the political thought of the Conservative Party and the relevance of past debates for contemporary Conservatism. The book will be of considerable interest to academics and non-academics alike; for those who have a special interest in the Conservative Party but also for any student of contemporary British Politics.

Download or read book Having it So Good written by Peter Hennessy and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007-05-03 with total page 695 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, Peter Hennessy's Having it So Good: Britain in the Fifties captures Britain in an extraordinary decade, emerging from the shadow of war into growing affluence. The 1950s was the decade in which Roger Bannister ran the four-minute mile, Bill Haley released 'Rock Around the Clock', rationing ended and Britain embarked on the traumatic, disastrous Suez War. In this highly enjoyable, original book, Peter Hennessy takes his readers into front rooms, classrooms, cabinet rooms and the new high-street coffee bars of Britain to recapture, as no previous history has, the feel, the flavour and the politics of this extraordinary time of change. 'Utterly engaging ... a treat. It breathes exhilaration' Libby Purves, The Times 'If the Gods gossip, this is how it would sound' Philip Ziegler, Spectator Books of the Year 'A particular treat ... fine, wise and meticulously researched' Andrew Marr 'Stands clear of the field as our best narrative history of this decisive decade' Peter Clarke, Sunday Times 'A compelling narrative ... Hennessy's love of the flesh and blood of politics breathes on every page' Tim Gardam, Observer 'The late Ben Pimlott once described Hennessy as "something of a national institution". You can forget the first two of those five words' Guardian

Download or read book William Armstrong and British Policy Making written by Kevin Theakston and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-23 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a detailed account of the life and career of William Armstrong, the most influential civil servant in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, and one of the most powerful and significant Whitehall officials in the post-1945 period. He was at the centre of the British government policy-making machine for over 30 years – the very incarnation of the ‘permanent government’ of the country. He was the indispensable figure at the right hand of successive Chancellors of the Exchequer, and a reforming Head of the Civil Service. His role and power was such that he was controversially dubbed ‘deputy prime minister’ under Edward Heath. The book also casts light on wider institutional, political and historical issues around the working and reform of the civil service and the government machine, the policy-making process, and the experience in office of Labour and Conservative governments from the 1940s to the 1970s. ;;;;;;;;;;;

Download or read book Land Proto Industry and Population in Catalonia c 1680 1829 written by Julie Marfany and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph makes a fresh contribution to a longstanding but far from exhausted debate concerning the transition to capitalism in Europe. The work investigates key aspects of this transformation: the changes on the land, the origins of the industrial revolution, the modern rise of population and the growth of markets. It does so from a new perspective, however, by focusing on an area of southern Europe, Catalonia. Catalonia's interest as an area for study lies in its precocity within a southern European context, as one of the few regions on the European periphery to industrialise in comparable ways and at the same time as areas of northern Europe. Population growth was similarly rapid. The study engages critically with several important debates in economic and social history, such as the transition to agrarian capitalism, whether or not sharecropping should be viewed as a backwards form of agricultural production, theories of proto-industrialisation and theories of population change. It also questions claims that the nuclear family of north-western Europe was a superior model for industralisation than the more extended family structures prevalent in southern Europe. Not only could the extended family be as dynamic as the nuclear family when required but, more importantly, attention needs to be paid to other institutions and factors that may have conditioned family forms and decision-making processes. The approach taken by this work is a micro-study of one community, Igualada, an important proto-industrial centre but also situated within the viticultural region. It grew rapidly over the eighteenth century from around 1,700 inhabitants in 1717 to 4,900 in 1787 and around 7,700 by 1830. Only at the micro-level is it feasible for an individual study to reconstruct networks of relationships and patterns of decision-making at the household level. At the core of the book, therefore, is a family reconstitution of 8,700 families, supplemented by a wide body of additional sources, such as landholding contracts, tax records, manorial surveys, inventories, marriage contracts and letters.

Download or read book From Rail to Road and Back Again written by Colin Divall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-03 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The coming of the railways signalled the transformation of European society, allowing the quick and cheap mass transportation of people and goods on a previously unimaginable scale. By the early decades of the twentieth century, however, the domination of rail transport was threatened by increased motorised road transport which would quickly surpass and eclipse the trains, only itself to be challenged in the twenty-first century by a renewal of interest in railways. Yet, as the studies in this volume make clear, to view the relationship between road and rail as a simple competition between two rival forms of transportation, is a mistake. Rail transport did not vanish in the twentieth century any more than road transport vanished in the nineteenth with the appearance of the railways. Instead a mutual interdependence has always existed, balancing the strengths and weaknesses of each system. It is that interdependence that forms the major theme of this collection. Divided into two main sections, the first part of the book offers a series of chapters examining how railway companies reacted to increasing competition from road transport, and exploring the degree to which railways depended on road transportation at different times and places. Part two focuses on road mobility, interpreting it as the innovative success story of the twentieth century. Taken together, these essays provide a fascinating reappraisal of the complex and shifting nature of European transportation over the last one hundred years.

Download or read book Taste Trade and Technology written by Richard Perren and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the interactions of producers, sellers and consumers of meat across the world, Richard Perren elucidates aspects of the evolution of the international economy and the part played by the investment of capital and the enterprise of individuals. The study utilises the government reports and papers issued by all countries involved in the meat trade, including North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Beginning in the nineteenth century allows a comprehensive analysis of how an efficient meat exporting industry was built. The industry required investment, which was part of the general process of economic development. Perren focuses on the nature of the firms involved with the trade, the part played in the industry's development by foreign investment and the encouragement given by governments. Close attention is also paid to the stimulus of war, the impact of animal health and food hygiene regulations on producers and the competing demands of interest groups involved in the food businesses. By taking an historical as well as a contemporary approach, the book contributes to the current discussion on the effectiveness of animal and meat inspection in identifying farm livestock diseases such as tuberculosis and BSE. This study advances our knowledge of the process of food distribution in the industrialising and post-industrial economies, and leads to a comprehensive understanding of an important component of the international food chain.

Download or read book Mining Tycoons in the Age of Empire 1870 1945 written by Raymond E. Dumett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The years of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, aptly described by Mark Twain as the 'Gilded Age' witnessed an unprecedented level of technological change, material excess, untrammled pursuit of profit and imperial expansion. Within this dynamic and often ruthless environment many colorful characters strode across the world stage, among them the great mining tycoons, who with the thousands of prospectors, diggers, shift bosses, timbermen, 'blastmen' and 'muckers' in mining enterprise constituted one of the major spearheads of global capitalistic expansion and colonial exploitation. This volume, which carries the epic story to the mid-twentieth century provides a truly international perspective on the role of mining entrepreneurs, investors and engineers in shaping the economic and political map of the globe, in testing management techniques and in setting a vogue for extravagant displays of wealth among the world's rich. Each chapter is loosely focussed on a biographical account of a particular mining tycoon that allows for broad and comparative accounts to be made about the individuals, their business interests, the technologies they employed and the national and international political considerations under which they operated. Furthermore, this structure also allows for consideration of the effect that these tycoons had on the countries and territories in which they worked, particularly the often long-lasting impact on indigenous populations, the environment, transport links and economic development. By approaching the subject matter through this stimulating mix of cultural, social, economic, business and colonial history, many intriguing and thought provoking conclusions are reached that will reward any scholars with an interest late nineteenth and early twentieth century history.

Download or read book The Eclipse of Elegant Economy written by Martin Cohen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-23 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elizabeth Gaskell might have been amused to learn that the Victorian 'elegant economy' she mocked so poignantly in Cranford reached a new apogee in the mid-twentieth century and endured the invasion of its precise antithesis, 'conspicuous consumption'. For Britons of all classes the years of austerity during and after the Second World War were years of disorientation and fears of resurgence of the worst of the interwar decades. They had never had more money in their pockets or less material things on which to spend it. Many took refuge in the 'elegant economy', its creator dubbed 'a sort of sour-grapeism, which made us very peaceful and satisfied'. Constrained by rationing, manufacturing and import controls personal finance could only be disbursed on non-material things - sometimes wisely, sometimes pragmatically and sometimes by throwing all caution to the wind. Here for the first time is the history of these diverse reactions explored through Britain's metamorphosis from austerity to affluence, with consumerism seen through fresh eyes. Today political commentators constantly warn of the encroachment of austerity. This book is a timely reminder of the years of real austerity in Britain: when regardless of financial status everyone suffered its tribulations: when a 'sub-prime' mortgage was unimaginable: when abuse of expense claims by public figures was unthinkable: and when no one dared utter a word critical of their bank or its manager.

Download or read book Eastern European Railways in Transition written by Henry Jacolin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the nineteenth century, railway lines spread rapidly across Europe, linking the continent in ways unimaginable to previous generations. By the beginning of the twentieth century the great cities of the continent were linked by a complex and extensive rail network. Yet this high-point of interconnectivity, was abruptly cut-off after 1945, as the Cold War built barriers - both physical and ideological - between east and west. In this volume, leading transport history scholars take a fresh look at this situation, and the ramifications it had for Europe. As well as addressing the parallel development of railways either side of the Iron Curtain, the book looks at how transport links have been reconnected and reconfigured in the twenty years since the reunification of Europe. In particular, it focuses upon the former communist countries and how they have responded to the challenges and opportunities railways offer both nationally and internationally. Including contributions from historians, researchers, policy makers, representatives of railway companies and railway museum staff, the essays in this collection touch upon a rich range of subjects. Divided into four sections: 'The Historical Overview', 'Under Russian Protection', After the Fall of the Iron Curtain, and 'The Heritage of Railways in Eastern Europe' the volume offers a broadly chronological introduction to the issue, that provides both a snap-shot of current debates and a starting point for further research. It concludes that in an era of increased globalisation and interconnectivity - and despite the rise of air and road transport and virtual methods of communication - railways still have a crucial role to play in the development of a prosperous and connected Europe.

Download or read book The American Reaper written by Gordon M. Winder and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Reaper adopts a network approach to account for the international diffusion of harvesting technology from North America, from the invention of the reaper through to the formation of a dominant transnational corporation, International Harvester. Much previous historical research into industrial networks focuses on industrial districts within metropolitan centres, but by focusing on harvesting - a typically rural technology - this book is able to analyse the spread of technological knowledge through a series of local networks and across national boundaries. In doing so it argues that the industry developed through a relatively stable stage from the 1850s into the 1890s, during which time many firms shared knowledge within and outside the US through patent licensing, to spread the diffusion of the American style of machines to establishments located around the industrial world. This positive cooperation was further enhanced through sales networks that appear to be early expressions of managerial firms. The book also reinterprets the rise of giant corporations, especially International Harvester Corporation (IHC), arguing that mass production was achieved in Chicago in the 1880s, where unprecedented urban growth made possible a break with the constraints felt elsewhere in the dispersed production system. It unleashed an unchecked competitive market economy with destructive tendencies throughout the transnational 'American reaper' networks; a previously stable and expanding production system. This is significant because the rise of corporate capital in this industry is usually explained as an outworking of national natural advantage, as an ingenious harnessing of science and technology to solve production problems, and as a rational solution to the problems associated with the worst forms of unregulated competition that emerged as independent firms developed from small-scale, artisanal production to large-scale manufacturers, on their own and within the separate and isolated US economy. The first study dedicated to the development and diffusion of American harvesting machine technology, this book will appeal to scholars from a diverse range of fields, including economic history, business history, the history of knowledge transfer, historical geography and economic geography.

Download or read book The River Pollution Dilemma in Victorian England written by Leslie Rosenthal and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-17 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nineteenth-century Britain witnessed a dramatic increase in its town population, as a hitherto largely rural economy transformed itself into an urban one. Though the political and social issues arising from these events are well-known, little is known about how the British legal process coped with the everyday strains that emerged from the unprecedented scale of these changes. This book explores the river pollution dilemma faced by the British courts during the second half of the nineteenth century when the legal process had to confront the new incompatible realities arising from the increasing amounts of untreatable waste flowing into the rivers. This dilemma struck at the heart of both Victorian urban and rural society, as the necessary sanitary reformation of the swelling cities and expanding industry increasingly poisoned the rivers, threatening the countryside and agricultural rents and livelihoods. Focusing on ten legal disputes, the book investigates the dilemma that faced the courts; namely how to protect the traditional and valued rights of landholders whose rivers and lands were being polluted by industrial waste and untreated sewage, whilst not hindering the progress of sanitary reform and economic progress in the towns. The case studies considered involve major industrialising centres, such as Birmingham, Leeds, Northampton, Wolverhampton and Barnsley, but also include smaller towns such as Tunbridge Wells, Leamington Spa and Harrogate. The fundamental issues raised remain as important today as they did in Victorian times. The need for the courts to balance a variety of conflicting needs and rights within the limits of contemporary technological capabilities often played out in surprising ways, with outcomes not always in line with theoretical expectations. As such the historical context of the disputes provide fascinating insights into nineteenth-century legal process, and the environmental and social attitudes of the times.

Download or read book Alfred Herbert Ltd and the British Machine Tool Industry 1887 1983 written by Roger Lloyd-Jones and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the beginning of the twentieth century Britain was amongst the world leaders in the production of machine tools, yet by the 1980s the industry was in terminal decline. Focusing on the example of Britain's largest machine tool maker, Alfred Herbert Ltd of Coventry, this study charts the wider fortunes of this vital part of the manufacturing sector. Taking a chronological approach, the book explores how during the late nineteenth century the industry developed a reputation for excellence throughout the world, before the challenges of two world wars necessitated drastic changes and reorganisations. Despite meeting these challenges and emerging with confidence into the post-war market place, the British machine tool industry never regained its pre-eminent position, and increasingly lost ground to foreign competition. By using the example of Alfred Herbert Ltd to illuminate the broader economic and business history of the British machine tool industry, this study not only provides a valuable insight into British manufacturing, but also contributes to the ongoing debates surrounding Britain's alleged decline as a manufacturing nation.

Download or read book National Identity and the Agrarian Republic written by Manuela Albertone and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a few exceptions, historiography has paid little attention to the impact of French economic thought during the American Revolution, focusing instead on the Revolution’s links with Britain. This book outlines how, from the mid-eighteenth to the early-nineteenth century, the political and social dimension of French economic thought, and particularly of Physiocracy, spurred American Republicans to a radical shaping of American agrarian ideology. Such a perspective allows for a reconsideration of several questions that lie at the heart of contemporary historiographic debate: the connection between politics and economics; the meaning of republicanism; the foundations of representation; the role of Europe in the Atlantic world; and the interaction between national histories and global context. In particular, the research methodology adopted here makes it possible to reconstruct how American national identity, conceived as an expression of society in economic terms, emerged through a cosmopolitan way of thinking focused on the uniqueness of the new state.

Download or read book British Entrepreneurship in Poland written by Dr Sarah Dietz and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2015-07-28 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing upon an impressive range of international sources, this book explores the late-nineteenth century partnership between Bradford worsted manufacturers the Briggs brothers and the German merchant Ernst Posselt, and their investment in a factory and workers’ community at Marki, near Warsaw in Poland. Against a backdrop of political instability and social upheaval, which dramatically impacted on business after 1905 and particularly during the interwar period of Poland’s Second Republic, Sarah Dietz examines the fortunes of an extraordinary enterprise which has been little researched in Poland and is largely unknown to British scholars.