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The massive human and economic impact of the Asian tsunami in later 2004 is mirrored in the aftershocks felt among humanitarian organisations, development agencies, and policy makers. This paper raises a number of these troubling, fundamental issues. Firstly, the call for an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system raises fundamental issues about what warning systems can, and cannot, do. Secondly, one is also forced to consider why in the first place so many people live on exposed coasts today, vulnerable not only to tsunamis but tropical storms and rainy season flooding among other hazards. Thirdly, one is challenged to question the very meaning of “recovery”. Such massive damage has been done and so many people and their livelihoods have been dislocated, is it actually possible to imagine a return to the status quo ante? Fourthly, reconstruction of the magnitude now underway in the affected areas raises many difficult questions about accountability, transparency, and the unevenness with which the international community responds to crises. The paper finishes with some recommendations.

This article examines the construction and operation of a service industry information system in the early years of the twentieth century. It sets the operations of the Birmingham, UK, company of Mitchells & Butlers in the context of the brewing industry and the operation of public houses. The surviving records are used to construct a picture of a complex and sophisticated information system, which not only used accounting records to control managers but also used the same managers as sources of information about the broader context. The apparent success of this system is set against the reluctance of other brewers to adopt it. This is seen to relate in part to the very complexity of the information system created, but also in part to the broader perceptions of brewers about the nature and status of their trade.

To provide a brief illustration of how the circumstances of economic underdevelopment and ecological decline are reciprocally linked, we can begin by tracing the post‐World War II history of Africa. Political histories of the post‐war period abound for almost all parts of the continent, since it was during this era that many African colonies struggled for and won political independence. Detailed ecological histories of colonialism and the post‐colonial states, however, are just beginning to be researched and written. Nevertheless, several broad patterns and general trends of this history are now becoming apparent, and they can be set forth in rough narrative form even though detailed histories have yet to be compiled.

Content analysis was used to determine how a sample of 32 gay and lesbian novels for young adults were treated in 158 reviews from five prominent reviewing journals. Findings indicate that most reviews (84.8 percent) were favourable, many (79.7 percent) contained clear reference to the homosexual content, and there were few differences between the individual reviewing journals. Some reviews contained cautions and warnings about the gay and lesbian content, some denied or downplayed it, some justified the content if it was used to teach a lesson, and most described these stories as “problem” novels. Analysis also showed that gay and lesbian fiction is now regarded as a distinct genre of young adult literature. While librarians wishing to identify gay and lesbian fiction for collection development will be able to do so through the reviewing media, ambivalence about this literature and the young adults it represents was also evident in the reviews.

Britain's environmental overlord Peter Walker—in an exclusive interview with Richard Brooks—insists that pressure groups do not influence him greatly. In this article, following on from last month's feature on the way such American‐style groups are developing here, Walker and industrialists defend the company role.

Team leaders require enthusiasm and commitment from their team members to enable them to be agile, adaptable and responsive. This paper uses results from a longitudinal study of a successful building construction project delivered using a project alliancing approach. Results presented use a model pioneered by the US academic Peter Senge. This helps explain the system dynamics that generated the necessary enthusiasm and commitment to support collaboration and co‐operation within and between project teams. It became clear that enthusiasm and commitment can be achieved on construction projects provided that a collaborative and co‐operative workplace environment is carefully nurtured and crafted, which not only supports drivers for enthusiasm and commitment, but also addresses barriers that inhibit those values. Experience gained from studying the exemplar project illustrated in this paper provides the basis for a model of how to create and maintain the necessary workplace environment.

The October edition of Industrial Management featured the Nader‐style ‘consumerism’ building up in Britain with pressure groups harassing companies over the pollution issue. In November, this was followed by interviews with Environment Secretary Peter Walker, and with senior management men, defending the company role in the environment. Continuing the theme, five leading industrialists have written to Industrial Management, commenting on the articles. Here are their views.