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Inspections have been made during the year at the majority of the principal food importing ports in England and Wales in connection with the administration of the Public Health (Foreign Meat) and the Public Health (Unsound Food) Regulations, 1908.

The purpose of this paper is to review the challenges of teaching values and ethics in mental-health, explore the differing perspectives of the key stakeholders and stimulate further questions for debate in this area; leading to a proposal of an alternative approach to educating mental-health professionals on values and ethics.

In current mental-health care settings, very few professionals work with homogeneous populations. It is imperative that mental-health education and training ensures health professionals are competent to practice in diverse settings; where ethics and values are bound to differ. Establishing professional practice not only involves considering concepts such as values and ethics, but also equality, diversity and culture. Incorporating values-based practice and cultural diversity training holds promise to education and training, that is truly reflective of the complexity of clinical decision making in mental-health. Further research is needed as to how these two frameworks can be unified and taught.

This article considers the effectiveness of two one‐day events designed to raise awareness of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) in BME communities. The events were held using specially developed materials and were evaluated with the help of a 12‐item questionnaire. The results of the evaluation showed that there was an increase in the proportion of correct responses for 10 of the 12 questions after attending awareness‐raising events. The total score for all correct responses on the 12‐item questionnaire significantly increased after attending the awareness‐raising events. Collectively, the findings suggest that the awareness‐raising events were able to improve awareness of the MCA among representatives of BME communities. Such awareness‐raising events should be encouraged by health and social care providers

Western societies have been shaken by the economic crisis brought on by ‘casino capitalism’ and the recklessness of the financial institutions. Once esteemed financial institutions, like Lehman Brothers, are now shown to have used dubious accounting methods to cover losses; and accountants, regulators and governments have come under scrutiny. In public life, the scandal of MPs' expenses at Westminster and the blockages in legislative assemblies in the US are compounded in England by reports of deficient and degrading care in acute hospitals, where organisational considerations appear to have taken over from the prime mission of patient care. At this time, a new, or perhaps rediscovered, form of leadership is required. One that taps into the spirit, the animating and motivating force within individuals and groups, and uses values to create a better public service for all.

OWING to the comparatively early date in the year of the Library Association Conference, this number of THE LIBRARY WORLD is published so that it may be in the hands of our readers before it begins. The official programme is not in the hands of members at the time we write, but the circumstances are such this year that delay has been inevitable. We have dwelt already on the good fortune we enjoy in going to the beautiful West‐Country Spa. At this time of year it is at its best, and, if the weather is more genial than this weather‐chequered year gives us reason to expect, the Conference should be memorable on that account alone. The Conference has always been the focus of library friendships, and this idea, now that the Association is so large, should be developed. To be a member is to be one of a freemasonry of librarians, pledged to help and forward the work of one another. It is not in the conference rooms alone, where we listen, not always completely awake, to papers not always eloquent or cleverly read, that we gain most, although no one would discount these; it is in the hotels and boarding houses and restaurants, over dinner tables and in the easy chairs of the lounges, that we draw out really useful business information. In short, shop is the subject‐matter of conference conversation, and only misanthropic curmudgeons think otherwise.

FROM 5th to 8th October, 1951, Aslib was fortunate in holding its Annual Conference again at Ashorne Hill, near Leamington Spa, and our thanks are due for the third time to Colonel and Mrs. J. H. Alexander and their staff for the excellence of the catering and domestic arrangements. The weather also co‐operated and sunshine displayed all the autumn beauties of the garden and countryside.