Silas Bloodstock is just an ordinary teenager, or so it seems. He enjoys listening to rock music and spending time with his friends, but he's hiding a secret from most of them: he is the son of two powerful magicians. In Silas' world, there are factions of ogres and fairies, who use magic for good or evil. But these creatures are unknown to ordinary mortals like you and me. Enter Magnus Black, a dark sorcerer who seeks to rule the world and plunge it into chaos. Only one person can stop hi...

This book draws on the latest and best social science to explain how and why social policy change occurs. Focusing on the policy making process as the key to change, it uses core concepts of policy analysis, one in each chapter, to build up a fully worked explanation of social policy change and to equip readers with knowledge that can be applied to any aspect of welfare policy and public and social policy more generally. This second edition of the book updates the bestselling first edition...

Welfare states globally have been subjected to reform agendas that have stressed economic competitiveness but how has global competition reshaped welfare states in practice?Providing a new cross-national and international narrative this book captures the complexity of social policy reform process that have taken place over the past 25 years. Drawing on data relating to multiple countries the authors examine global, cross-national and local cases in order to shed light on the impact...

Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, patterns of change to the former communist nations of Europe are now discernible in a way that was impossible to see in the initial years. This insightful book focuses on the case of changes in housing based on evidence collected from across the Central and Eastern European region. The volume adopts a conceptual framework and provides cross-regional analysis, amongst which is situated a series of more focused case studies. Issues examined includ...

The privately rented housing market has largely catered for young, mobile people and students since it was deregulated in the UK. In this volume, key writers provide timely insights into this rapidly evolving market. This volume is based on new, original research which brings together specialists in housing policy and legal studies, with their common and increasingly interdependent knowledge base about the privately rented sector and its future direction. The collection opens with an overv...

The emergence of Britain as a fully fledged home-owning society at the end of the 20th century has major implications for how houses are used not just as a home but as an asset. The key debate in this important and timely book is whether social policy and people's homes should be so closely connected, especially when housing markets are so volatile. It will be essential reading for all students and practitioners of housing and those concerned with how social and public policy is being shap...

The emergence of Britain as a fully fledged home-owning society at the end of the 20th century has major implications for how houses are used not just as a home but as an asset. The key debate in this important and timely book is whether social policy and people's homes should be so closely connected, especially when housing markets are so volatile. It will be essential reading for all students and practitioners of housing and those concerned with how social and public policy is being shap...

An essential book for students of economics as well as economists and policymakers. The twelfth edition of this enduring and popular book surveys all major changes in the Irish economy in the past fifteen years, with particular emphasis on the last five years. In this new edition, the authors examine: - The broad historical context to a study of the Irish economy. - Ireland's hard landing, recovery and prospects for economic growth and employment in the years ahead. - The changing role of ...

In recent years, the United Kingdom has become a more and more divided society with inequality between the regions as marked as it has ever been. In a landmark analysis of the current state of Britain’s regional development, Philip McCann utilises current statistics, examines historical trends and makes pertinent international comparisons to assess the state of the nation.The UK Regional–National Economic Problem brings attention to the highly centralised, top down governa...

The book aims to give non-economists a detailed understanding of how macroeconomic policy works in modern economies, and the issues it faces. The world has recently been through a huge economic crisis and thinking people everywhere have reason to wonder whether something is not seriously wrong with the policy regimes underlying these dramatic events in the major economies, and whether changes should be made. The author reviews the history of the successive regimes tried and found wanting i...

Originally published in 1988, this book offers the first comprehensive and critical analysis of the privatisation of public housing in Britain. It outlines the historical background to the growth of public housing and the developing political debatea surrounding its disposal. The main emphasis in the book, however, is on the ways in which privatisation in housing links to other key changes in British society. The long trend for British social housing to become a welfare housing sector is r...

Given the huge impact of the 2008 financial crash and post-crash austerity on so many people’s lives, there is a need for a concise, accessible guide to its causes and its longer-term significance. Written by an expert in political science and straddling finance, economics and political science, this entry-level summary demystifies global finance and puts the financial crisis in its historical context. It also outlines the policy responses of Western governments to the crash and the ensuin...