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The transformation of France under De Gaulle from the “sick man of Europe” with governments changing every few months, to one of the world's strongest economies, holds lessons for us all. Of course France's virtual self‐sufficiency in food and fuel always ensured an eventual resurgence under a strong and stable government. We thought of this recently on a trip to Western Provence, the oldest part of France and one off the beaten tourist track. It was one of the earliest provinces of Imperial Rome and in each settlement the Romans tried to reproduce a petite Rome, with arena, theatre, baths and villas, so that many Provencal towns have as many Roman antiquities as Rome itself. In its beauty of line and colour, its architecture, clustered villages on hilltops and the tall Lombardy pines, the countryside looks Italian, but the people seem unlike the Italian, Spanish or French. We thought them descendants of the ancient Gaul, whose tribes settled all over Western Europe, from the shores of the Mediterranean to Galway Bay.

Consideration of the fast‐growing number of food hygiene prosecutions up and down the country, almost all of them of a most serious nature, shows that it is the food preparing room, the kitchen, which is indeed the hub of the matter. Most of the charges result from its condition and the practices carried on within its walls, all‐too‐often enclosing a cramped space, ill‐equipped and difficult to keep clean. Its state in many prosecutions clearly contrasts badly with the soft lights and alluring elegance of the dining rooms in hotels and catering establishments. Yet, who would say that the kitchen is not the most important room in the home, in the hotel and every food‐preparing place? It has been so from time immemorial. House design has suffered severely with the need to cut building costs and the kitchen has suffered most; in small houses, it seems little more than a cupboard, a box‐room, an alcove. Is it surprising, then, that age‐old kitchen arts have degenerated? In the farmhouse, the country homes of the affluent, the “downstairs” of the town house, the kitchen was among the largest rooms in the house, as befitted all the activity that went on there. In the USA, the modern, comfortable home even of relatively humble folk the kitchen is phenomenally large; room for everything and everyone.

The ability of manufacturing companies to adapt to their changing environment is frequently a key to long‐term success. As a consequence the strategic flexibility of manufacturing operations has become an increasingly important issue for organisations. There have been much theoretical work and some case studies in this domain. This paper reports part of a major study in the area. A key stage in this work has been an empirical study of UK manufacturing to investigate a broad range of issues surrounding manufacturing operations and strategic flexibility. In part this has been carried out through a questionnaire survey. This paper summarises some of the principal findings. These include respondents’ descriptions of their business strategies, the part played by manufacturing, the interfaces with customers, and the role of the information system and its contribution to manufacturing. This is complemented by a summary of 32 interviews/case histories which allow these issues to be explored further and which provide the input to the subsequent stages of the overall project.

Charitable Choice Policy, the heart of President Bush’s Faith‐Based Initiative, is the direct government funding of religious organizations for the purpose of carrying out government programs. The Bush presidential administration has called for the application of Charitable Choice Policy to all kinds of social services. Advocates for child‐abuse victims contend that the Bush Charitable Choice Policy would further dismantle essential social services provided to abused children. Others have argued Charitable Choice Policy is unconstitutional because it crosses the boundary separating church and state. Rather than drastically altering the US social‐policy landscape, this paper demonstrates that the Bush Charitable Choice Policy already is in place for childabuse services across many of the fifty states. One reason this phenomenon is ignored is due to the reliance on the public‐private dichotomy for studying social policies and services. This paper contends that relying on the public‐private dichotomy leads researchers to overlook important configurations of actors and institutions that provide services to abused children. It offers an alternate framework to the public‐private dichotomy useful for the analysis of social policy in general and, in particular, Charitable Choice Policy affecting services to abused children. Employing a new methodological approach, fuzzy‐sets analysis, demonstrates the degree to which social services for abused children match ideal types. It suggests relationships between religious organizations and governments are essential to the provision of services to abused children in the United States. Given the direction in which the Bush Charitable Choice Policy will push social‐policy programs, scholars should ask whether abused children will be placed in circumstances that other social groups will not and why.

Reports of a number of countries imposing a limited ban on the use of D.D.T. have appeared from time to time in the B.F.J., but in the last few months, what was a trickle seems to have become an avalanche. In Canada, for example, relatively extensive restrictions apply from January 1st, permitting D.D.T. for insect control in only 12 agricultural crops, compared with 62 previously; there is a reduction of maximum levels for most fruits to 1 ppm. Its cumulative properties in fat are recognized and the present levels of 7 ppm in fat of cattle, sheep and pigs are to remain, but no trace is permitted in milk, butter, cheese, eggs, ice cream, other dairy products, nor potatoes. A U.S. Commission has advised that D.D.T. should be gradually phased out and completely banned in two years' time, followed by the Report of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and Other Toxic Chemicals recommending withdrawal in Britain of some of the present uses of D.D.T. (also aldrin and dieldrin) on farm crops when an alternative becomes available. Further recommendations include an end to D.D.T. in paints, lacquers, oil‐based sprays and in dry cleaning; and the banning of small retail packs of D.D.T. and dieldrin for home use in connection with moth‐proofing or other insect control. The Report states that “domestic users are often unaware that using such packs involve the risk of contaminating prepared food immediately before it is eaten”.

OF THREE senior staff who retired this summer from Strathclyde University's Department of Librarianship in Glasgow, one is going to Italy, one to Wales and one to work. The latter is Dr W R Aitken, who admittedly is confining his ‘work’ to an external examinership at the Aberdeen school of librarianship and membership of the Library Cooperation Committee of the National Library of Scotland, but it is a pleasure to know that this most charming and scholarly librarian will continue to involve himself directly in professional affairs.

The chapter describes a four-year research project, the objective of which was to design and develop an intervention tool to assist middle school students in their information seeking when engaged in an inquiry-based learning project.

Bonded design method was used to design a proof-of-concept (POC) low-tech Guide, and focus group and Informant Design methods were utilized to develop a Web Guide.

In creating an intervention tool, whether low-tech paper-based or high-tech websites, different methodologies that relied heavily on the participation of students in the design process were successfully utilized.

The research shows that participation of children and adolescents in designing the content of technology for educational use is imperative.

This is a long-term research project, which is unparalleled and unique in its scope, duration, breadth, and depth. Having access to the grade eight classes in a single school over a four-year period has proven to be a remarkable research opportunity, seldom reported in the literature.

Several recent developments (notably, the breakdown of traditional distinctions between different types of financial activity, the globalisation of financial markets and increasing emphasis on systemic stability as a regulatory objective) have prompted policy‐makers to search for an ‘optimum’ regulatory structure that is adapted to the new market environment. Further impetus has been given to this debate by the radical overhaul of regulatory structures, along quite different lines in Australia, the UK and Japan, and the ongoing deliberations within the US Congress over structured financial reform. This paper examines alternative ways of organising the regulatory function in the context of the new financial market environment. The first section reviews the objectives, targets and techniques of regulation. The second section describes the new market environment and the restructuring of the financial services industry. The third section assesses the implications of this new environment for the structure of regulation. The fourth section addresses the international dimension. The final section provides a summary and conclusion. The paper is based on a presentation made at the World Bank Conference, El Salvador, June 1998.