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  How to Be a Parliamentary...

  Robert Dale

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  To some, they are the graduates grasping the first rung on the ladder to power, to others, the unsung heroes of the British parliamentary system. But whether your notion of parliamentary researchers is more The Thick of It than The West Wing, more Yes Minister than House of Cards, there is no doubt that these individuals play an essential role in keeping the giant (and, let's be honest, slightly creaky) machine that drives British politics from juddering to a halt. Branded bag-carriers while actually performing vital duties like drafting speeches and Parliamentary Questions, handling the media and engaging with constituents online, parliamentary researchers do the dirty work behind the scenes, allowing their bosses to focus on their main job - performing. With the help of case studies and guest writers, Robert Dale, himself a former parliamentary researcher, tells the fascinating story of how the MP's office has developed over recent decades, and combines practical advice with acute personal observations on how to get ahead as a researcher. If you're a graduate looking to take your first step into politics, or simply interested in the job around a third of our current Cabinet had before becoming an MP, How to Be a Parliamentary Researcher offers a compelling insight into how the British political system really operates.

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  1984 And The Spanish Civil War

  Paul Read

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  In 1937, George Orwell spent six months witnessing the rise and fall of a popular revolution on the streets of Barcelona and Catalonia. Alone amongst his contemporaries, Orwell understood what the success or failure of that Spanish Revolution would mean for the rest of the world.  
  1984 And The Spanish Civil War explores the background to the Civil War and the hidden anarchist revolution within a revolution. As Orwell arrives in Catalunya, he observes something bright and new in the world. But when Orwell returns from fighting on the front, he is confronted by the Communists conducting a misinformation campaign against this revolutionary spirit and he is forced to flee from their purges. He returns home to England, where he begins to write his account, but finds few are prepared to listen. In order to tell his story, he writes literally (Homage to Catalunya), then when that fails, he adopts the structure of allegory (Animal Farm) and finally that of a dystopian fictional Britain in 1984.  
  Yet publication is a constant struggle for Orwell in a world that refuses to criticise the role of the USSR. Though he dies in despair, his words are not lost, for their message is picked up once more on the streets of the same country he fought for back in the 1930's.  
  Praise for 1984 and The Spanish Civil War: 
  "Paul has achieved in a concise volume what others have failed in far more voluminous accounts." 
  "An interesting read if you are new to Orwell or the Civil War in Spain...Highly recommended". 
  The Forgotten Stories from Spain Series brings you accounts of human bravery and spirit at a moment of unleashed cruelty during the Spanish Civil War. Stories of co-operation that have a universal message, as relevant to the world today, as it was in Spain during the 1930's.

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  Chaos Under Heaven - The...

  Gordon Thomas

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  The story behind the struggle for democracy in China and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, still the subject of widespread government censorship efforts. The first complete book on the Tiananmen Square tragedy reveals how diplomats from the United States, Britain, and Europe knew exact details of the impending massacre of the students in Tiananmen. In a vivid narrative window into secret meetings in the Oval Office, CIA headquarters, and the private compound of China’s leaders, more than one hundred interviewees contribute to an untold story.Chaos Under Heaven reveals America and the West’s betrayal of the children of China, who, for a brief moment in history, brought democracy to their homeland. In this stunning book, Gordon Thomas takes readers inside the tragic drama of those fifty-five days when the young people of China, crying out for freedom, rebelled against the old men of the Long March. At stake were America’s and the world’s roles in the future of China. Once castigated by Karl Marx as a “carefully preserved mummy in a hermetically sealed coffin,” China has become the superpower of the Pacific. As the students’ demand for democracy escalated, the Western nations realized that their carefully cultivated ambitions for China were at risk. Their goal was to preserve the status quo.

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  Suicide of a Superpower - Will...

  Patrick J. Buchanan

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  Pat Buchanan's latest polemic—and his first since Obama's election—exposes the risks America faces today and what those dangers will mean for the country's future. 
  Since Obama took office, conservative pundits have been mainstays on the bestseller list. And now, the bestselling author and political legend Pat Buchanan weighs in with a warning against not only the dangers that the country faces under Obama, but the risk of sliding into irrelevancy that the Republican party faces if it chooses to forget its core values.  
  As he shows in Suicide of a Superpower, liberal policy-making and unhindered globalization have eroded America's economic strength. Changing demographics and declining faith portend a future in which the Republican Party and Christianity will become irrelevant. If things continue unchanged, Buchanan warns, in a few short decades our country will be unrecognizable.  
  But, there are alternatives. And Buchanan finds signs of hope for conservatives and outlines plans for a very different future that the newly ascendant Republicans and Tea Partiers can use in Congress and nationwide.  
  A major force in conservative opinion and a longtime political commentator, Buchanan's strident and impassioned argument against the direction in which America is heading will find an eager audience in today's high-pressure political climate.A Macmillan Audio production.

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  Sex Lies and the Ballot Box - 50...

  Philip Cowley

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  HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED... ... what emotions really influence where your cross goes on the ballot paper? ... whether people are claiming to vote when they haven't? ... which party's supporters are the kinkiest in bed? In the run-up to the most hotly contested and unpredictable election in a generation, this exhilarating read injects some life back into the world of British electoral politics. Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box sheds light on some of our more unusual voting trends, ranging from why people lie about voting to how being attractive can get you elected. Each of the fifty accessible and concise chapters, written by leading political experts, seeks to examine the broader issues surrounding voting and elections in Britain. It is not just about sexual secrets and skewed surveys: it illustrates the importance of women and ethnic minorities; explains why parties knock on your door (and why they don't); and shows how partisanship colours your views of everything, even pets. This fascinating volume covers everything you need to know (and the things you never thought you needed to know) about the bedroom habits, political untruths and voting nuances behind the upcoming election. 'This book is such an utterly brilliant idea it is ridiculous that no one has thought of it before ... I cannot recommend it highly enough.' John Rentoul

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  The Secret War With Iran - The...

  Ronen Bergman

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  In the years since 9/11, the U.S. war on terror has focused on al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Coverage of Iran has been devoted almost exclusively to its nuclear ambitions. Yet, as Ronen Bergman's groundbreaking reporting in this vital investigative history reveals, for thirty years, Iran has been the world's leading sponsor of global terror and stands as the most formidable sponsor of terror in the world today.Bergman, one of Israel's top investigative reporters, gained unprecedented access to extraordinary sources from top to bottom in the Mossad and intelligence agencies around the world. Based on over ten years of research and more than 300 exclusive interviews with key intelligence figures, he reveals that Iranian terrorist masterminds have crisscrossed the globe, conducting bombings and assassinations with impunity-even renting apartments and planning bombing attacks in New York City. Iran's proxy, Hizballah, has virtually taken over southern Lebanon and threatens Israel with high-powered weaponry supplied by Iran. Iran and Hizballah worked closely with al-Qaeda and other Sunni terrorist groups in developing their terrorist operations, and Iranian commandos trained Iraqi insurgents in the crafts of suicide bombing and the building of the roadside bombs that have killed so many U.S. troops in Iraq.In response, and largely beneath the public's radar, a vast clandestine war has been fought with Iran and Hizballah on one side and the CIA, Israel's Mossad, and their European counterparts on the other. The full story of that secret war, told for the first time here, will fundamentally change the debate about U.S. national security priorities.A new axis of evil is emerging from Iran and spreading around the world, and Bergman shows that the CIA and the Mossad have so far been unable to thwart it. The Secret War with Iran is riveting and urgent.

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