Agenda Publishing Books

Description: The first edition of The Price of Football quickly established itself as the go-to guide to understanding football club finance for the serious fan. Kieran Maguire, one of the UK's top football finance analysts, shows how professional clubs operate as businesses and explains, in non-technical language, how to read, understand and interrogate club accounts. As a clear-headed analysis and presentation of the financial imperatives and challenges facing football clubs across the English and Scottish Leagues, it has become a welcome resource not only for students of the industry, but by a wider constituency of supporters looking to understand their club's latest transfer deal, or season ticket price. This fully revised and updated edition includes analysis of the most recent club accounts, the latest legal rulings on club affairs, as well as the impact of Covid-19 on the game's finances.

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788213264

Description: The 2020 World Happiness Report ranked Finland, for the third year running, as the world's happiest country. The Nordic Model has long been touted as the aspiration for social and public policy in Europe and North America, but what is it about Finland that makes the country so successful and seemingly such a great place to live? Is it simply the level of government spending on health, education and welfare? Is it that Finland has one of the lowest rates of social inequality and childhood poverty, and highest levels of literacy and education? Finland clearly has problems of its own - for example, a high level of gun ownership and high rates of suicide - which can make Finns sceptical of their ranking, but its consistently high performance across a range of well-being indicators does raise fascinating questions. In the quest for the best of all possible societies, Danny Dorling and Annika Koljonen explore what we might learn from Finnish success. Agenda Publishing Finntopia - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788212168

Description: Economic policymakers use various macroeconomic models, but how reliable are they in real-world conditions? Starting from the premise that all models are wrong, but some are useful, Matteo Iannizzotto introduces and explains the workings of the key economic models available for policymaking. He shows that the inconsistencies and contradictions evident in the real world require the economist to make choices about which models to adopt in certain circumstances and when not to rigidly adhere to a single approach. The book uses a clear and critical step by step analysis to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each model, in a way that enables students to develop their own critical engagement with macroeconomic policymaking. In so doing, the book provides an understanding of the world economy's fluctuations since the global financial crisis that embraces the uncomfortable fact that inconsistency and the need for a multiplicity of models is central to macroeconomic policy choices. For the many students bewildered by the disconnect between the models in their textbooks and the policy choices so hotly debated in the press, the book will be essential reading. Agenda Publishing Macroeconomic Policy Since the Financial Crisis - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 0.00

ISBN: 9781788216555

Description: Modern political life is a confusing and disorientating terrain of competing ideologies. Jason Blakely offers readers a lively, fresh and insightful guide through the labyrinth of conflicting and competing ideas in order to better understand why ideology in the modern era can be so divisive. Lost in Ideology sets out from the conviction that the current disorientation engulfing the world's liberal democracies is in no small part ideological in origin. People feel confused because there are multiple ideological maps, so to speak, each marked by dramatically different points of interest, rivers, summits, roads, and total topographies. Ideology in the modern era has the paradoxical effect of orienting millions even as it disorients millions. This leads us to the present-day predicament in which individuals of every imaginable political stripe confidently declare: 'I have a theory - but you? You have an ideology!".

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788216630

Description: Nudging is a controversial technique for changing people's behaviours. It burst into public consciousness in the early 2000s with the launch of 'nudge units" and departments in government. Its use as a policy tool is particularly polarizing as it raises moral and constitutional issues about freedom of choice and coercion. Mark Whitehead and Rhys Jones consider how the nudge as a mechanism for policy implementation came about and why it gives rise to such strong feelings. They explain what a nudge is, how it differs from other behavioural prompts, and consider whether we should use them and, if so, when and where they are best deployed. In particular, they explore how the proliferation of digital media throughout our lives has given nudging a new impetus and sphere of operation, which can be both harder for consumers and citizens to detect and more contentious.

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788217279

Description: Crisis after crisis has beset the European Union in recent years - Greek sovereign debt, Russian annexation of Crimea, unprecedented levels of migration, and the turmoil created by Brexit. An organization originally designed to regulate and enforce rules about fishing rights, wheat quotas and product standards has found itself on the global stage forced to grapple with problems of identity, sovereignty and solidarity without a script or prompt. From Paris to Berlin, London to Athens, European leaders have had to improvise on issues that the Union was never set up to handle and which threaten to engulf this unique political entity. And they have had to do so in full view of an increasingly disenchanted and dissonant public audience. In this candid and revealing portrayal of a Europe improvising its way through a politics of events and not rules, Luuk van Middelaar makes sense of the EU's political metamorphosis over its past ten years of crisis management. Forced into action by a tidal wave of emergencies, Van Middelaar shows how Europe has had to reinvent itself by casting off its legal straitjacket andconfronting hard issues of power, territorial borders and public authority. Alarums and Excursions showcases the fascinating relationship between the Union and the European heads of government, and the stresses it must withstand in dealing with real world events. For anyone seeking to understand the inner power play and constitutional dynamics of this controversial, but no less remarkable, political institution, this book provides compelling reading.

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788212779

Description: Pushed by the Covid-19 crisis, the UK government has borrowed massively to save jobs, businesses and the economy from collapse, making a mockery of the austerity policies that it had championed for a decade. As a result, the role of the state is now in sharp focus. The contributors to this volume assess what that role should be and how it should be harnessed for the good of the British people in all four of its nations. Together they present policy proposals capable of generating a new social settlement and a long-term, equitable economic recovery post-pandemic. It offers both a vision of a future Britain and a roadmap to getting there. Agenda Publishing The Return of the State - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788213295

Description: Human rights and economics are not often spoken about in the same breath. Yet increasingly, human rights actors are calling for a shift towards a rights-based or human-rights economy. One that puts the economy truly at the service of communities contending with extreme social and economic inequality, climate catastrophe and corporate abuses. The economies we live in structure our daily experiences and represent systems which can profoundly affect our ability to enjoy our rights to decent work, adequate healthcare, political participation, freedom from violence and more. This book systematizes academic and practitioners' analyses and experiences, drawing from different epistemologies, literatures and case studies, to flesh out what a rights-based economy would look like, and the tools and actions - economic, legal, environmental and social - needed to get there. Agenda Publishing Righting the Economy - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 0.00

ISBN: 9781788216876

Description: Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a war long in the making and is the latest in a series of military interventions that have showcased Vladimir Putin's deadly imperial ambitions and the ruthless and bloody strategies that serve his vision of a greater Russia. Putin's Russia wants its empire back and it has taken the events in Ukraine for the West to finally realize it. Alex Bellamy examines the road to Ukraine 2022 and charts the path from Chechnya, Putin's first war which helped propel him to the presidency, through to conflict in Georgia, Crimea, the South Caucasus and Syria. He shows the central role war has played in Putin's rule and how it has helped craft a new social contract between president and people grounded in a shared vision of Russian national identity. For anyone wanting to understand the hows and whys of the war in Ukraine, Alex Bellamy's clear and insightful analysis is a must-read. Agenda Publishing Warmonger - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788216470

Description: Political Racism conceptualizes a distinctive form of racism - intentional, organized hostility mobilized by political actors - and examines its role in the Brexit conflict and in the rise of a new nationalist politics in the UK. In a compelling analysis the book argues that Powellite anti-immigrant racism, reinterpreted in numerical terms, was combined with anti-East European and anti-Muslim hostility to inform the Vote Leave victory. This type of racism, which has a special significance in societies where racism has been delegitimized, is shown to have further shaped the form of EU withdrawal and also the government's post-Brexit policies.

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788215084

Description: Football has been largely exempt from the development of the regulatory state and has been left to govern itself. However, new media have raised the profile of the game and globalization has created new pressures as football clubs become pawns in the ambitions of states, consortia and wealthy individuals. Clubs offer an important sense of identity for fans, but the impersonality and distance of ownership can set up new tensions. In addition, corruption in the international governing body has been a significant problem and the sport's symbiotic relationship with gambling continues to be a concern. Wyn Grant examines the political economy of football and its uneasy relationship with the market. There are no off-the-shelf solutions for regulation, he argues, but the complexities of the game and its economic size demand more attention from government. Agenda Publishing Political Football - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788213516

Description: From the moment that the New Labour government left office in 2010, it became a bone of contention for the party. Ed Miliband was styled as the moving on leader, Jeremy Corbyn set himself up as its antithesis, Keir Starmer has begun a counter-reaction, embracing New Labour and particularly Tony Blair. Why has the party been seemingly unable to move on from this period in its history? Particularly given the tumultuous and eventful period of politics since 2015, with Brexit and Covid dominating parliamentary time for most of the last decade. Karl Pike argues that it is impossible to understand the Labour Party today without an appreciation of how people in the party have reacted to the New Labour legacy. He unpicks the efforts each of the three leaders have made in reforming the party's ideology, its democracy and organization and their political style and approach to the leadership. . Agenda Publishing Getting Over New Labour - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788217200

Description: British society is increasingly divided into the haves and the have-nots. Housing epitomizes this division with spiralling rents, exorbitant prices, lack of council provision, poorly maintained stock, and polluted cities with ever decreasing green space. Daniel Renwick and Robbie Shilliam provide a recent history of squalor culminating in the Grenfell Tower fire. In doing so they reveal a profound political failure to provide fair and just solutions to shelter - the most basic of human needs. Renwick and Shilliam argue that agents of change exist within those populations presently damned by a racist and class-riven system of housing provision. Agenda Publishing Squalor - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788213882

Description: Running down 'do-gooders" has become a popular pastime in recent years. Journalists and academics alike have lampooned and criticized philanthropists and big donors for their charitable activities, which are often characterized as a means of self-aggrandisement or tax evasion. Yet, it is widely acknowledged that philanthropy - from the establishment of Carnegie libraries in the nineteenth century to the recent global health interventions of the Gates Foundation - has played a critical role in both developed and developing societies. In an impassioned defence of the role of philanthropy in society, Beth Breeze tackles the main critiques levelled at philanthropy and questions the rationale for undermining and disparaging philanthropic acts. She contends that although it might be flawed, philanthropy is a sector that ought to be celebrated and championed so that an abundance of causes and interests can flourish. Agenda Publishing In Defence of Philanthropy - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788212618

Description: Stephen Sterling is a pioneer in sustainability education. This collection of his essential writings is freshly curated by the author and offers a new overview and chapter by chapter introductions that link together his thinking. Sterling's work offers a compelling and stimulating perspective on the critical issue of how learning and education can make a decisive difference to securing the future in an increasingly uncertain and threatened world. Together these essays provide a critical perspective on the historical context of the role of education and learning with respect to the possibility of securing the future against current negative trajectories. They offer a commentary on current debates on rethinking education in the light of multiple global crises and lay out the key elements of educational thinking and practice based on ecological and relational principles that offer a way forward. These essays inform the growing and urgent debate on the role and nature of education appropriate for these unprecedented times and are essential reading for educationalists and sustainability advocates. Agenda Publishing Learning and Sustainability in Dangerous Times - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788216913

Description: Social democracy emerged in the late nineteenth century and has become a leading political ideology in Europe. This short history approaches the evolution of this ideology as a body of political thought and political practices. It expounds the development, transformation and practice of European social democracy through the analysis of four key moments in its history: its origins and rise as a key political force in European politics, the second revisionist phase with the embrace of capitalism in the postwar period, the Third Way of the 1990s and the contemporary crisis of social democracy in an era of fragmented politics. The book offers a fresh and engaging discussion of one of the most enduring ideologies of the European political sphere and its manifestations in different countries of the region. Agenda Publishing Social Democracy - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788216166

Description: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed Europe into a new strategic era. The knock-on effects of the war have combined to open a period of reordering across the European continent. European governments and the European Union collectively have begun to fashion policies for this shift, recognizing this to be a pivotal historical moment. Richard Youngs unpacks the different dynamics that have come to characterize European policies in the wake of the war: the nature of EU integration, geopolitical power, defence priorities, European borders, liberal values, the green transition and economic sovereignty. The book looks to the future and outlines the issues and choices with which European governments still need to grapple. Youngs develops the notion of geoliberalism as a way of addressing these challenges and guiding European governments and the EU into the fragile order taking shape in the shadow of Ukraine's war. Agenda Publishing Geoliberal Europe and the Test of War - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788217248

Description: A call to arms, How to Save the City invites the reader to engage with the challenges of living and working in cities at a time when several conflating emergencies have become more pressing and connected. While the climate crisis is the most urgent, we also face deep social crises in housing, gender and race inequalities, the breakdown of our natural world, our energy consumption, and the deep ripples resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. These emergencies are playing out in acute ways in urban areas. Locked in to high-energy, high-resource use, cities are responsible for about three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, have ecological and carbon footprints far bigger than their city limits, and are the beating heart of our pro-growth, unequal, consumer-saturated way of life. The city has to change, but how and by whom? Paul Chatterton engages, inspires and empowers the reader to take action to make cities more sustainable, liveable and safer places. He guides the reader through a sequence of challenges, strategies, players, moves and practical tactics of how to save their city.

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788214780

Description: Almost everyone agrees on the need to transition the global economy to net zero. But how do we do it? And how do we do it faster? If you feel demoralized, depressed or confused about the climate crisis this book will provide answers - and ones that don't involve punishing lifestyle changes, the end of capitalism, or a much higher tax bill. Supercharge Me is grounded in relentless realism about how governments, businesses and individuals actually behave. It draws lessons from what has worked so far: extreme positive incentives and smart regulations. Through a series of fast-paced dialogues, the authors introduce practical ideas for change that will embolden activists, reinvigorate the disheartened, and reframe the climate crisis as an opportunity.

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788215190

Description: How do we, as individuals, accommodate a pessimistic and misanthropic view of the world? If the human condition is impossible to ameliorate, then how should we live? How do we bring about the wellbeing and happiness we seek in the face of such overwhelming evidence that our condition is and will remain very bad indeed and owes significantly to our own entrenched failings? In this thoughtful and insightful book the philosopher David E. Cooper explores this fundamental dilemma. He rejects an activist commitment to radical improvement of the human condition, and instead advocates quietism as a way to live as well and as happily as we can. This quietist position, which draws on Buddhist and Daoist ideas as well as those from western philosophy, is supplemented by finding refuge from the everyday human world in a place both other and better than that world. Such places of refuge, Cooper argues, are best found in natural environments. Refuge in nature, whether a garden or a wilderness, cultivates an attunement to, or a sense of, the way of things, and thereby invites assurance of being in the truth and the enjoyment that such assurance fosters. The quietist who finds refuge in nature lives as well as and as happily as anyone can do who accepts the negative verdict on the human condition. Agenda Publishing Pessimism, Quietism and Nature as Refuge - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk

Category: Books

Delivery cost: 2.99

ISBN: 9781788217705