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Work undertaken in collaboration with BPICS, Cincom (UK) Ltd and ICI Engineering supported by funding from the EPSRC (CDP). The project reviewed planning and scheduling procedures in over 30 industrial companies over a two‐year period to establish best practice in shop‐floor scheduling and to identify the key factors for scheduling success. Outlines the research approach briefly to provide a framework for the analysis of scheduling performance by industrial sector and by scheduling tool. This includes a powerful method for the performance measurement of supply‐chain management systems which allows the comparison of effectiveness in different operating environments and when using a variety of scheduling approaches. Important elements of the project were the review and comparison of scheduling performance in conventional MRPII environments (usually a manual activity based on expediting or the use of shop floor control) with that of more recent finite capacity‐based tools and a classification of scheduling approaches. Some clear lessons have been learned. Concludes by presenting these along with an outline of the success factors which underpin effective scheduling performance in the range of best practice companies identified.

Investigates the efficiency of finite capacity scheduling tools within companies which employ them. Presents research findings of the Liverpool STS Research Group into “best practice” in short‐term scheduling. Concludes with a list of key points drawn from the research.

Discusses the relationships between finite schedulers which operate on output from a higher level in a conventional MRPII system, and so‐called stand‐alone schedulers which essentially operate directly on orders. Presents two graphical models – a demand flow model and a flowpipe model – which help to explain the differences between such schedulers and are used to illustrate the key features of each. Coupled schedulers tend to work on demand which has already been smoothed or planned in some way and can be described as planning‐led, whereas stand‐alone schedulers work from unfiltered data, with the operator reacting to schedule quality (due‐date performance, resource activation levels, etc.) and thence adjusting resource and rerunning. Ascribes the growth of the stand‐alone scheduler, at least in part, to the greatly increased computing power available quite inexpensively on modern equipment.

Kenworthy Heads BISRA Committee. L. KENWORTHY has been appointed chairman of the Corrosion Committee of the British Iron and Steel Research Association. Mr. Kenworthy joined the Admiralty 20 years ago from the British Non‐Ferrous Metals Research Association. He has recently completed two years as chairman of the Corrosion Group of which he is now vice‐chairman. He was also chairman of the Scientific Committee of the First International Congress on Metallic Corrosion held in London in April, and will be the editor of the proceedings of this congress which will be published by Butterworths very shortly. As general secretary of the Admiralty Corrosion Committee he attended an inter‐naval corrosion conference held in British Columbia earlier this year.

The report of the Chief Veterinary Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries which records the proceedings taken under the Diseases of Animals Act for the year 1929 has just been issued. It indicates clearly the enormous amount and complexity of the work which devolves on the officers of the Ministry. They may very well say with John Wesley, “ All the world is my parish.” For instance in seven outbreaks of anthrax “ which …. occurred a few years ago,” the cause was found to be infected bone meal used as a manure and imported from an Eastern country (p. 43); another outbreak was traced to beans that had been imported from China (p. 44); again, special measures have been taken, at the instance of His Majesty's Government, by the Governments of Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentine to prevent the introduction of foot‐and‐mouth disease into this country by chilled or frozen meat (p. 46); an outbreak of foot‐and‐mouth disease at Los Angeles, California, led to an embargo being placed on the importation of hay and straw from that State (p. 52); while an outbreak in Southern Sweden led to similar steps being taken (p. 52). It is unnecessary to give further instances, but it is evident that the complexities of modern commerce and the development of rapid means of transport imposes world‐wide duties on the Ministry of a nature that were by no means contemplated when in 1865 the Veterinary Department of the Privy Council—of which the present Ministry is a lineal descendant—was instituted as a result of the outbreak of cattle plague which had ravaged the country. Table I. (p. 94) gives the total number of cattle in Great Britain for the five years 1925–1929 inclusive, each year ending in June. The percentage variation in the number of cattle during that time appears to be four per cent., so that the Ministry is responsible under the Act for about 7¼ millions of cattle, the 1929 return gives 7,190,539. The census and the subsequent co‐ordination of the returns made is in itself a task of no inconsiderable magnitude. In addition to this, however, veterinary skill of a high order is demanded, not only in the interests of a trade whose dimensions are indicated by the figures just given, but in the interests of public health in relation to notifiable cases, under the Act, of bovine tuberculosis. The number of cows and heifers in milk or in calf is given as 3,166,292 or 44 per cent. of the total number of bovine animals. It is of course from these that we derive our supplies of fresh milk, so that on their health our own health to a certain extent depends, and to a greater extent the health of invalids and children to whom milk is a prime necessity. It is therefore scarcely possible to over‐rate the weight of responsibility resting on the Ministry when the relation of its duties to the incidence of bovine tuberculosis is considered. Two important facts, however, demand attention. The first is that the Tuberculosis Order of 1925 was, as the Report points out, neither designed nor expected to eradicate bovine tuberculosis. The disease is widespread, and it is to be feared somewhat firmly established in our herds—an evil legacy from the past. The most that can be done at present is by means of the Order to remove as far as possible the danger to human health from the ingestion of the milk of infected animals and to reduce the number of these animals. Any attempt which might be made to completely eradicate the disease would in our present state of knowledge lead to a serious depletion of our herds throughout the country, and large expenditure in compensation (p. 23). In the second place while the Order of 1925 requires certain forms of the disease to be reported, no steps are at present taken or can be taken to search out the disease. An organisation designed so to do would be costly, as it would in the first place involve “ a considerable extension of periodical veterinary inspection of all dairy cows, coupled with the application of the biological test ” (p. 23). Hence leaving out of consideration our deficient knowledge of the disease, though its effects are horribly evident in our national life, the old conflict of public health versus public pocket is presented to us in an acute form.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a context for the compilation of papers and commentaries included in this International Journal of Organizational Analysis special issue on “Scripting the next wave of exigent issues for service‐learning in our unscripted future: when technology, globalism, and community engagement collide.”

The authors of this paper are the Guest Editors for the special issue. As such, in this paper, they provide a brief history of why the special issue was created and how it serves as an extension to the first special issue (Vol. 17 No. 1, 2009).

There are five papers and six commentary pieces included in this special issue. Each raises a charge, or challenge, to the reader in terms of moving forward with service‐learning in the uncertain, complex, and highly unscripted environments.

The practical implications of this paper are those that relate to future research and practice in the service‐learning domain. This is contextualized as part of the collective challenge as the author move forward in a world where local, regional, national, and international connectedness intersects with social, economic, and technological pressures.

As the introduction, this paper is unique in that it provides an overview of the contents for the entire special issue.

Another Christmas month is upon us, following it seems quickly on others that have been. Such is the relativity of Time, it is not yesteryear, but could be yester‐month or even yester‐week. The seasons pass like youth, all too soon. Our minds return to other Christmas months of yore — “Memories are like Christmas roses!”, the old saying goes. The children, singing much‐loved hymns and carols, happy family settings, a birth, christening, so much to look forward to in the new year. There are not always such happy memories, but memories just the same — Christmas in war‐time, Earth's joys growing dimmer each year, change and decay, life drawing to a close for many a soul; old folk tend to see Christmas as a time of passing, of leaving the world behind.

In 2008 a dual diagnosis service was set up within the forensic services of East London NHS Foundation Trust. This paper provides an outline of the service as it currently stands, and a description of the multidisciplinary staff roles within the service. Each staff member reflects on the success and challenges over the year that the service has been operational. Pointers to our future plans and strategy development are made.