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Winston Churchill once said of a political opponent, ‘Occasionally he stumbles on the truth but he picks himself up and carries on as if nothing had happened.’ By using this quotation I do not wish to imply deliberate obtuseness, but it must seem at times to those concerned with changes in education that, despite all efforts, there is an inherent resistance to innovation. We are not likely, then, to see very sweeping changes in the years immediately ahead.

It is extraordinary how little fuss there has been about Britain's new technological universities. How quickly one has become used to seeing advertisements in the press for professors and lecturers at Aston, Brunei and Loughborough, to name some of the first of the eight to get the Royal Charter, and at Chelsea, now a constituent college of the University of London, and the Welsh College of Advanced Technology, soon to become part of the University of Wales. It is a little disappointing to find that of the eight new universities, only two, Bath and Loughborough, have included the word ‘technology’ in their title, although it is not hard to see why the majority preferred a more conventional image.

A recent Oxford University survey has shown that there is some basis in fact for the widely‐held assumption that, in general, only the less able grammar school boys choose to take up technological studies. A more difficult problem has been to discover possible reasons for this antipathy to applied science in schools — the report of the research suggests that it is partly because there is an over‐glamorised public image of the scientist and a correspondingly low esteem of the technologist.

The BP Conferences Mathematics. The first of the BP conferences examined the problems arising in the teaching of mathematics and referred to the use mad: of mathematics, in its widest applications, by industry. It was attended by about 50 mathematics masters from all parts of Great Britain, chiefly from public and grammar schools, but representing also other schools and colleges of technology.

The new system of occupational training proposed by the Common Market Commission in September 1961, and set out in our issues for April and May 1962, has now been before the Council of Ministers since June last year. It seems to be causing a division of opinion.

The tenth Fawley lecture of the University of Southampton was given by Professor Sir Willis Jackson, F.R.S., on the subject of ‘Scientific, Technological and Technical Manpower’. As one would expect from Sir Willis, the argument had a directness, cogency, and one might almost say inevitability, about it — inevitability in the sense that one knew one would end up convinced that what he said was both right and important.

Interpersonal and informal ties and networks, known as wasta in the Arab Middle East region, remain a major force in Middle Eastern societies, determining most economic, social and political outcomes. Yet the literature on informal ties and networks is largely characterized by a lack of contributions from the Arab world, despite the adverse effect that lack of understanding of the wasta phenomenon is having on the effectiveness of expatriate managers and subsequently on business performance. This chapter therefore aims to shed light on the meaning, characteristics, structure, and role of wasta in establishing and maintaining successful business relationships. It ends with recommendations for foreign investors and international managers who wish to establish and maintain successful business relationships in the Middle East on how to capitalize on interpersonal networks within this process.

THE annual election of the Library Association Council for 1946 is over. Of course, only a small part of the Council has been before the electors. The results follow an old‐established precedent, but are nevertheless curious. Why is it that country members seem not to be interested in their selection of candidates who come from the metropolitan area? There were two to be elected for London and those successful were Frank M. Gardner with 572 and Captain Richard Wright with 501 votes; there were five Country Councillors required and Miss M. F. Austin (854) and Messrs. W. A. Munford (831), F. G. B. Hutchings (817), E. Wisker (716) and E. Osborne (601) were elected. Besides the London candidates who were successful by ballot, Mr. W. B. Stevenson (447) and Mr. E. Sydney (360) will serve on the Council for shorter periods in the room of Mr. J. D. Stewart and S/Ldr. J. D. Cowley. It will therefore be seen that there is considerable disparity in the voting for the two parts of the Council. As we say, this is rather curious as it follows a long established tradition. The new members are Mr. Gardner, Mr. Stevenson, Miss Austin, Mr. Munford and Mr. Wisker; this appears to us to be a very interesting and useful team. They have already shown by definite work, mostly in the A.A.L., that they are qualified leaders amongst the younger librarians. We wish them good fortune in the carrying out of their part in the reconstruction period ahead.

Three types of industrial buyer-seller relational process models are available: joining theory, stage theory, and state theory. However, historically, these models have developed based on the knowledge and cultural context of the Western world. Several researchers note that national culture may have an impact on international industrial buyer-seller relationships. Including culture in the models is highly important, especially as the business environment is increasingly more global and different countries have different business cultures. The goal of this paper is to define the most suitable industrial buyer-seller relational process models for describing relationships in various contexts. The paper includes a through literature review and a single case study in order to reach this objective. A new state theory model evolved during the research. It consists of two beginning states: searching and starting; four purely middles states: constant/static, decline, growth, and troubled; and a purely end state: termination. The state of dormant/inert is both a middle state and an end state, that is, when the relational actors are not in contact does not mean that the relationship has ended, but instead, for example, new legislation may have been implemented, which requires the actors to evaluate their relationship and its future. A relationship goes through the two beginning states in the order mentioned above, but after that, any state may occur.