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The purpose of this paper is to look again at the ideas set out in the author's 1994 anthology, The Poetry of Business Life.

This paper is based on a large sample of poems on business themes by a variety of “professional” and “practising managerial” poets. It supplies a spontaneous, empirical first taxonomy (organised as “Cantos” in the eventual 1994 anthology) of the areas of “economic life” where the domains of “poetry” and “business” seem most to intersect. Such spontaneous classification yields important but mainly unsurprising “topic cells” (Cantos) – “Money”, “Work”, “Markets”, “Corporate life”, “Politics and power”, “Technology” etc. – each requiring further research. The residue of less predictable themes, however, includes “Travel and movement” as an important but (by analysts) relatively neglected, obsessive source of metaphor and poetic focus.

Across these “vertical” structures of topic and theme the paper points towards the more generic “lateral” implications for all of them of the differences between the “language of poetry” (evocation, relational) and the conventional “language of business” (information, measurement, separation). This is the author's main area of future interest.

The paper confirms the need to pursue critical analysis of “business poetry” by the exacting criteria of poetry generally rather than merely as an esoteric, separate sub‐category.

At a time when youth gangs and gang policy feature significantly in the discourse on UK youth, it is judicious to critique the framework and evidence upon which these policy developments have originated. The political focus on gangs was heightened, in part, by the English riots in 2011. The reaction to the riots was a “concerted all-out war on gangs” and led to the development of the national Ending Gangs and Youth Violence (EGYV) strategy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors use Manchester as a case study to illustrate what the they argue to be the misplaced focus of the current EGYV strategy and provide a detailed critique of the strategy to date.

The paper suggests that government funded gang interventions are currently bereft of a “what works” approach and should only be implemented when the authors have significantly developed the knowledge and understanding of gangs in a local context.

The paper calls for a stronger evidence based policy approach to tackling gangs.

AS J. L. Hobbs shows so clearly in his recent book, the interest in local history is growing enormously at present. The universities, training colleges and schools, as well as the institutions of further education, are all making more use of local studies—geographical, economic, social and historical—in their regular courses, in their advanced work, and in their publications.

The final report of the Departmental Committee on the Production and Distribution of Milk was issued on January 2nd. It is pointed out that the importance of pure milk in securing health for the nation's children is still insufficiently recognized, and that few people realize how far we are from attaining not only an adequate supply, but a pure supply, or the inherent difficulties in securing both at a price within the reach of the poorest consumer.—High prices designed to maintain production during the war, it is stated, have checked consumption and offer no permanent solution to the problems before the dairying industry. The committee have appreciated from the first that it is not high prices that the farmer requires or desires, but a reasonable profit on a very arduous industry; and that by steady development on the lines of advanced and scientific agricultural knowledge production can be increased and its cost greatly diminished, prices lowered, and reasonable profits maintained. The recommendations of the Committee are interesting and important. Under the heading of national policy it is submitted that the aims of an enlightened milk policy should be to bring about the utmost possible economy in production in order that the consumption of milk may be increased to the desired level; that an adequate supply of milk may be brought within the reach of the poorest families, that the hygienic quality of milk should be improved; that the total supply should be increased in order to meet the extended consumption1 that should follow improved quality and the education of the public with regard to the nutritive properties of milk, and that the exploitation of the producer or the consumer by any trust or combination, either of a provincial, national, or international character, should be prevented. In regard to education and research it is suggested that the development of research in dairying should be assisted to the fullest extent; that provision should be made for adequate itinerant instruction in every county with regard to the production, management, and utilization of milk, that longer and better proportioned courses of training should be provided for teachers of dairying; that educational centres should demonstrate the best method of farm and dairy practice; and that courses of instruction in dairy factory management should be provided. It is also proposed that further instruction should be provided for farmers and herdsmen as to the best methods of feeding and management of dairy herds and of handling milk intended for human consumption, and that further financial assistance should be given to dairy research institutes to enable them to carry out investigations into the efficacy of milking machines. To attain a reduction in the cost of production of milk it is proposed that systems of herd management should be improved ; only bulls of a good milking strain should be used; economical and scientific feeding of dairy cattle should be studied; pastures should be improved by suitable manuring; the practice of co‐operative purchase should be developed; and a suitable system of account‐keeping adopted. The keeping of milk records is advocated, and for this purpose it is submitted that the staff of the Board of Agriculture should be increased so as to facilitate the formation of new milk record societies, that courses of training should be provided for intending milk recorders, and that the information collected by the milk recording societies should be analysed by the agricultural colleges and the results published in a simple and concise form.

THE enterprise of two London newspapers, the Tribune (for the second time) and the Daily Chronicle, in organizing exhibitions of books affords a convenient excuse for once again bringing forward proposals for a more permanent exhibition. On many occasions during the past twenty years the writer has made suggestions for the establishment of a central book bazaar, to which every kind of book‐buyer could resort in order to see and handle the latest literature on every subject. An experiment on wrong lines was made by the Library Bureau about fifteen years ago, but here, as in the exhibitions above mentioned, the arrangement was radically bad. Visiting the Daily Chronicle show in company with other librarians, and taking careful note of the planning, one was struck by the inutility of having the books arranged by publishers and not by subjects. Not one visitor in a hundred cares twopence whether books on electricity, biography, history, travel, or even fairy tales, are issued by Longmans, Heinemann, Macmillan, Dent or any other firm. What everyone wants to see is all the recent and latest books on definite subjects collected together in one place. The arrangements at the Chronicle and Tribune shows are just a jumble of old and new books placed in show‐cases by publishers' names, similar to the abortive exhibition held years ago in Bloomsbury Street. What the book‐buyer wants is not a miscellaneous assemblage of books of all periods, from 1877 to date, arranged in an artistic show‐case and placed in charge of a polite youth who only knows his own books—and not too much about them—but a properly classified and arranged collection of the newest books only, which could be expounded by a few experts versed in literature and bibliography. What is the use of salesmen in an exhibition where books are not sold outright? If these exhibitions were strictly limited to the newest books only, there would be much less need for salesmen to be retained as amateur detectives. Another decided blemish on such an exhibition is the absence of a general catalogue. Imagine any exhibition on business lines in which visitors are expected to cart away a load of catalogues issued separately by the various exhibitors and all on entirely different plans of arrangement! The British publisher in nearly everything he does is one of the most hopeless Conservatives in existence. He will not try anything which has not been done by his grandfather or someone even more remote, so that publishing methods remain crystallized almost on eighteenth century lines. The proposal about to be made is perhaps far too revolutionary for the careful consideration of present‐day publishers, but it is made in the sincere hope that it may one day be realized. It has been made before without any definite details, but its general lines have been discussed among librarians for years past.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how young people who offend with others define delinquent and criminal groups and consider the social risk factors associated with gang membership and criminal exploitation.

The sample consisted of 15 young people who were purposively sampled from a group of 14- to 17-year-old males who had been identified as at risk of gang involvement and referred to a community-based programme. Using a social identity framework, a thematic analysis was undertaken to investigate how the participants viewed their role in offending as part of a group.

The participants identified peer groups, street gangs and the involvement of adult criminals as distinct categories of offending groups. Unlike prior models for gang involvement, some members of the sample were involved in multiple groups to perform different categories of crime. Importantly, participants displayed an awareness of exploitation and described successful exit strategies from criminal groups.

Understanding how young people who are involved in delinquent behaviour and offending define gang and group offending.

The implications for gang and group offending prevention and intervention programmes are discussed.

The literature on child criminal exploitation and UK drug markets is in its infancy. This paper offers further evidence for the processes of joining and leaving delinquent and criminal groups.

The purpose of this paper is to consider what the author might call the evolution of the evolutionary argument about gangs and, while acknowledging its explanatory power, suggests that gangs may develop in very different ways depending on the available opportunities, pre-existing forms of criminality in the areas in which gangs emerge and global change.

It is based on a review of the relevant literature and interviews with purposive samples of research, criminal justice and social welfare professionals and young people involved in or affected by gang crime. Findings were triangulated with data held by the police and other public authorities.

The term “street gang” includes a wide variety of groupings all of which are involved in some form of crime but with differential levels of organisation and commitment to purely instrumental goals. Gangs may form but not necessarily evolve. Gangs appear to develop in very different ways depending on the available opportunities, pre-existing forms of criminality in the areas in which they emerge and global changes in drugs markets.

The originality of the paper consists in its interrogation of the concept of “gang evolution” and its discussion of the variety of forms and evolutionary trajectories of gangs.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of HM government’s gang strategy from 2011 to the present. It considers why an initial emphasis upon the “troubled family” as the progenitor of gang violence has given way to more tightly focussed modes of intervention in which concerns about gang violence are conflated with other policy concerns.

The paper draws on a range of policy documents over the relevant period to demonstrate a shift in rhetoric and focus and assesses this trajectory against the evidence base suggested by other relevant literature.

The argument contained in the paper attributes this shift in focus to a combination of the insights provided by new research, dwindling budgets and the reformulation of the original policy objectives in terms of recent policy priorities.

It is suggested that in times of austerity, policy initiatives are reformulated to fit available resources but changes are presented as an improvement on what went before.

The paper uses secondary sources to develop and original analysis and argument.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to disseminate street gang research by Hesketh (2018) that has identified young people’s perceptions between employment and criminality in areas of Merseyside becoming blurred. In particular, disenfranchised young males are turning to involvement with drug dealing street gangs as a substitute for employment.

The research involved the use of a hybrid design using an adapted version of Wengraf’s (2001) biographic narrative interpretive method as the means for data collection with Strauss and Corbin’s (1995) grounded theory approach as the means of analysis.

Such is the demand for Class A drugs in night-time economies that street gangs in areas close to such economies are adding a dark business-like dimension for which Hesketh (2018) has termed “Deviant Entrepreneurship”. This can range from selling drugs on behalf of adult organised crime figures (known on the streets of Liverpool as “grafting”) to self-employment as sole trading deviant group enterprises having several “grafts” that recent research by Robinson, McLean and Densley (2018) has noted, has extended into the annals of Criminal Child Exploitation.

Data were derived from a sample of young males, thus, no observations can be made about females involved in gangs.

The research highlights the need for more gang interventions that focus on building opportunities within marginalised areas. It also suggests as Andell (2019) points out a need for a fresh approach to countering gang culture.

The paper concludes by suggesting that Merseyside is only one in many marginalised areas of the UK facing a similar problem as young people involved in street gangs attempt to realise their potential not through legitimate employment means but through dark entrepreneurial techniques learnt from older peers and adult figures.

The findings are taken from a PhD thesis by Robert F. Hesketh University of Chester.