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In a paper presented to the U.C.E.A. Conference on Thought and Research in Educational Administration held in honour of Professor Dan Griffiths, Professor Donald Willower drew the participants' attention to the existence of evidence of a special brand of humour in educational administration subcultures. Willower categorised this humour as the “war story” variety, and suggested such humour may turn what could be considered a personal attack on the administration into a less threatening, amusing incident and, when expressed in meetings with the members of the subculture, seemed to evoke shared ordeals, common meanings and social support. Wood, in studying coping mechanism in a British high school, concluded that humour and laughter played a major role in coping strategies of teachers and students alike. The positions raised by these authors prompted certain questions regarding humour and its importance to school communities and became the stimulus for the study reported here into the relationship of humour to the role of the school principal, and the implications of such a relationship for research in education. This article outlines the rationale for studying the humour of principals, the methodology of the study, its findings and conclusions.

In recent years, a number of significant Australian initiatives in schools have focused on a deeper understanding of the process and the role of leadership in cultivating and promoting the core work of the school – teaching and learning. This chapter reports the research findings of the Leaders Transforming Learning and Learners (LTLL) Program (2004–2009) and in particular on how teachers experienced the changed approaches to leadership and the resultant ownership and commitment to the various learning projects utilized to implement a new framework for learning. The purpose of the project was to develop and implement with nine schools a professional learning program to assist schools and teachers transform their teaching and learning processes through leadership practices that emphasised sharing. The program was premised on a strong view that transformative learning must be the objective of all schools and a critical element of the responsibilities of leaders in those schools. A framework for leadership and learning highlights the importance of moral purpose for learning innovations, teacher leadership as the core imperative for school change and the critical elements of authentic learning and educative leadership that contribute to successful linking of learning and leading.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the development of a national curriculum for Australia. The paper challenges stakeholders to interrogate the question of national curriculum, its purpose, values and potential for delivering the type of education Australia wants for its citizens in the twenty‐first century.

The paper provides a general review of the literature, research and opinion associated with the politics, purpose, leadership and potential for change associated with national curriculum innovation.

The national curriculum looms as the largest educational change in Australia's history and requires a thorough examination by stakeholders of the purposes and values underpinning it and how such a centralised curriculum can build the learning capacity of the nation. Authentic engagement of teachers, “buy in”, bottom‐up and top‐down strategies, extensive time for negotiations and the engagement of educational and political leaders are seen as important for community ownership of the product.

The paper challenges political and educational leaders to conduct the national curriculum building dialogue at the local, state and national level and to open up previous “givens” to interrogation. It calls for a long‐term process to protect the authenticity and moral purpose of the process and maximise its ownership and potential for change.

The paper addresses the greatest challenge yet to face Australian education, to deliver a national curriculum that delivers authentic learning for the future needs of Australians and Australia. It presents a case for stakeholders to engage the challenge through a professionally informed and morally defensible approach.

During the year the officers of the Board of Customs and Excise have taken numerous samples at the ports with a view to giving effect to the provisions of Section 1 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899, and Section 5 of the Butter and Margarine Act, 1907, as to the importation of butter, margarine, milk, condensed milk, cream, and cheese.

This paper aims to consider “spoofing”, “layering” and “short reports” in the context of market manipulation and, in particular, a recent controversy involving a short-selling attack on a major UK listed company that was considered by the High Court.

The very demanding legal and evidential prerequisites and practical difficulties, involved in bringing both criminal and regulatory actions in such cases are identified and discussed, as is the role of the Financial Conduct Authority.

These challenges help explain why so few actions of this type are brought.

This is the first paper to consider the implications of Burford Capital Limited v London Stock Exchange Plc [2020] EWHC 1183 (Comm).

We understand that at the Annual Meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute it was decided to expel all the alien‐enemy members of that body. In commenting upon this action The Engineer observes that it is some time since the name of the German Emperor was removed from the list of honorary members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, but that up to the present time ordinary alien‐enemy members of this Institution have not been expelled. The same observation applies to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.