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If ‘income‐poor’ older home‐owners could draw on their housing equity easily and with confidence, then they could afford practical help that would improve their quality of life and make it possible for them to continue to live for longer in their own homes. This article reports on three local authorities that are now piloting equity release schemes, and the plans for monitoring and assessing them.

More than two million older home owners have housing assets worth over £50,000, but incomes so low that they qualify for means‐tested benefits. Drawing on housing equity could improve their quality of life significantly, helping them to live more comfortably in their own homes for longer. But only about 25,000 home owners (of all ages and incomes) conclude equity release deals each year. This paper identifies the obstacles that deter asset‐rich, income‐poor older home owners from drawing on their housing equity, and suggests ways of overcoming them. The focus is on paying for additional care at home, home improvements and repairs.

1 January 1992 is the date that The Library Charges (England and Wales) Regulations come into force and bring the philosophy of the free market into the public library world for the first time. Library authorities will be able to make a charge for, amongst other things, “assisting or instructing a person how to use a computer”, “for providing a room or cubicle on library premises for the purpose of working or studying…” and “for researching and for collating information for and at the request of a person”. Not only that but “the amount and the incidence of any charge made…shall be at the discretion of the relevant authority”. But you will doubtless be relieved to know that basic lending and reference provision will continue to be free in the old‐fashioned sense of the word.

Institutional actors are critical allies for grassroots movements, but few studies have examined their effects and variations within the non-democratic context. This chapter argues that while institutional allies are heavily constrained and unlikely to give open endorsement to grassroot activists, some institutional activists indirectly facilitate movement mobilization and favorable outcomes in the process of advancing their own political agendas. Drawing upon in-depth interviews conducted in 2008 and 2012, I illustrate this argument by examining the Anti-PX Movement – a landmark grassroots environmental movement against a chemical plant – in Xiamen, China. I find that the environmental institutional actors were constrained and divided, yet some still fostered opportunities for movement mobilization and in turn exploited the opportunity created by the protesters to pursue their policy interests, thus facilitating positive movement outcomes. As long as the claims are not politically subversive to the authoritarian rule, this type of tacit and tactical interaction between institutional activists within the state and grassroot activists on the street is conducive to promoting progressive policy changes.

The paper aims to investigate accounting's role as a mediating instrument between the tensions of creativity and control within the price competitive world of the fashion chain store.

The paper employs a case study approach, gathering interview data from key members within a UK fashion chain, and uses Goffman's work on impression management to inform its theoretical argumentation.

Drawing on Goffman, the paper considers the roles adopted by organizational actors within fashion retailing and the actions they pursue in order to maintain a team performance. The authors suggest that accounting, as a form of stage prop, helps to sustain this team impression by mediating between the creativity and control concerns inherent in fashion design. In the process, they also gain some understanding of the use of accounting by actors beyond the confines of an organization's finance function.

Despite the magnitude of the fashion industry and its dominance in the identity construction of both individual and streetscape, the role of accounting within this domain of popular culture has remained remarkably unexplored. This paper attempts to redress such scholarly neglect. It also furthers an understanding of the relatively unexplored role of accounting as a mediating instrument within the complex dialectic of creativity and control.

Within the agri-food sectors of Western countries, there is an increasing interest in alternative food, i.e., organic, local and regional food, artisanal food, short-supply chains, slow food etc. Innovation in food processing is a significant element both in alternative food and conventional food strategies. Alternatives are based on competition on qualities rather than price. A main question in this chapter is to address how alternative qualities are embedded into food products? This question is explored using a study of two alternative cases within the dairy sectors of Norway and Wales. A model of the different modes of designed qualities of food is developed and discussed to explore the complex issue of quality. We find space and technology especially relevant as dimensions of qualities. Our conclusion is that there is a need to nuance the discussion about quality and food. Firms may develop as hybrids within a conventional vs. alternative perspective, and a strong emphasis on the conventional and alternative as a dichotomy tends to give a static and restrictive perspective.

Police training is in a period of transition, requiring new recruits to already have, or work towards, a policing degree. However, recruitment procedures have not significantly changed in the past few decades. With psychometric testing commonplace in North America and Australasia to help ensure the right recruits are selected, this research seeks to understand if police trainers feel there is scope for a similar process in the United Kingdom (UK).

Twenty-five police training staff across four different police forces took part in a total of six focus groups to discuss views on this and other areas of recruitment.

Results indicated that police trainers are concerned about the quality and aptitude of recruits. Support was given for the introduction of formal psychometric testing to prevent unsuitable candidates from successfully joining and/or to give trainers better insight into the personalities of their students.

There was general concern from female trainers that the police environment new recruits entered still bore elements of covert sexism. Trainers' views on reforms to police recruitment, the implications of this and areas for future study are discussed.