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Presents some basic systems theory using an amusing scenario. Centres on the Deming imperative that an appreciation for a system is an integral part of a system of profound knowledge. Clarifies the meaning of “appreciation” and “for” in context. Concludes with observations gleaned from the scenario and a challenge to readers.

Warns that in TQM, there is a danger of losing sight of the original motives that prompted the endeavour in the first place. The TQM initiative can become the end, rather than the means to the end, and the participants’ lives made miserable. Explores some human aspects behind TQM failures. Aims at two categories, the person who is about to start a TQM initiative and the one who has witnessed a failed initiative. Questions the motives for starting a TQM programme.

Written from a customer point of view and using the example of a large DIY chain store, describes how a culture change made a significant narrowing of the gap between desired and perceived customer service. Uses a model described by Parasuraman et al.

An imperative of any quality system is the need for training and development of the people who operate the system. Offers a model of how training and development may be integrated into the system and aligned with the business aim of the company and the personal development of the individual.

When constructing a management system it is possible for the practitioner to lose the overall objective of the system in the wordy and detailed pursuit of conformance to norms. Every picture tells a story. Suggests a simple way of visualizing the interactions and interdependence of individual components of a system. Describes how the system may be cognitive and useful for quality improvement – hence “appreciative”. Particular reference is made to a sales and marketing system, but the lesson may be applied to systems of other specialities by creating models of the desired interactions as part of the specification process.

The aim of this randomised intervention study was to test the use of two counselling styles in reducing alcohol consumption in offenders who were hazardous drinkers and who had been charged with alcohol‐related offences. An additional aim was to evaluate the research process itself before embarking on a larger trial. Participants were recruited from a police custody suite in the south east of England and randomised to receive either a motivational interviewing brief intervention (MIBI) or a standard brief intervention (BI). The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) was used to screen offenders for hazardous drinking. Participants were asked to complete a second AUDIT 12 weeks later. Two hundred offenders with alcohol‐related offences were screened over a 10‐month period. Of these, 182 were alcohol dependent and were therefore excluded from the study. Of the 18 who were eligible to enter the study, six refused to participate. Five were randomised to the MIBI group and seven into the BI group (BI). The mean age of the MIBI group was 25 (SD±3.86) years and the mean age of the BI group was 32.4 (SD±7.9). Audit scores were significantly lower at time 2 compared to time 1 for both intervention groups (t(11) = 17.60; p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the different intervention groups.

HOW DREAR the month of August seemed, bereft as it was of any issue of that influential and deservedly world‐famous organ, the Library Association record. For its masters have now decreed that July and August should be combined into a single issue, which they call ‘Numbers 7 & 8’ (which is cheating—suppose I gave two numbers to each issue of NLW, and then proudly claimed to publish 24 issues per year!).

THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.

IT'S A BAD start if you can't get into your hotel room at ten to two in the afternoon because it's not yet ready sir; then you read in the brochure (presumably provided by the management to improve such unshining hours) that you've booked into the oldest‐established hospice in town and they've had over three hundred years to prepare things. And it doesn't improve your temper to see the rate per night is what you paid in full six weeks ago through the agents, appointed by the Library Association, who promised ‘up to twenty per cent reduction’. Still, I don't know how I would have found my way all those twenty‐five miles to Brighton without the little paper pack marked ‘Precision Tours—Your Travel Documents’.

Notes that the insurance broking industry is unattractive and subject to long‐term change. Cites factors contributing to this such as industry saturation, low entry barriers and low product differentiation. Notes expected responses to such conditions, including those from the large, medium‐sized and provincial or high street brokers. Suggests that the latter are likely to decrease in number, faced with the increasing efficiency of direct writers and attempts by medium‐sized brokers to enter their market to offset losses in the upper levels of the market. Notes that this pattern is reflected in other areas of financial services.