Beneath the outward appearance of legitimate government and accountable officials there lurk hidden agendas, shadowy personalities and special interest groups seeking to seize control of the nation for their own ends. These 'states within a state', unfettered by legal norms and unworried by public opinion, are known as 'deep states'. In this fascinating account, Ian Fitzgerald examines what a deep state really is and how they have emerged in various places across the world and throughout history. Ranging from the police state of East Germany in the 1950s to the narco states of Latin America in the 1970s to the institutional corruption of 21st century Nigeria, he explores the many ways people have sought to seize the apparatus of power for themselves while remaining out of sight. Now the subject of modern conspiracy theories the world over as a worrying trend toward unelected power emerges, this book is more timely than ever, and helps separate fact from fiction. Looks at deep state conspiracies around the world, including: • the narco-states of Colombia and Mexico - where legitimate institutions have been corrupted by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade • the illicit tax haven of Panama and the 2016 "Panama Papers", history's biggest data leak • the United Fruit Company's involvement in the 1954 coup d'état in Guatemala • the robber barons of the late 19th- and early 20th- century America • the role of intelligence services such as the CIA, FBI and NSA in the US deep state, at home and abroad • the extent to which social media sites such as Facebook influence voters
In the early hours of the morning of 26 April 1986, the nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine exploded, unleashing a storm of radioactive material into the atmosphere and contaminating most of Europe with its fallout. It was a disaster on an unprecedented scale. This is a story of hubris, heroism and tragedy as engineers, firefighters, doctors and government officials all worked to contain the fiasco. In this volume, Ian Fitzgerald reveals the details of how the accident occurred, the desperate response to the situation and the investigation and recriminations that followed. He asks what lessons can be learned - and what, if anything, we are doing to make sure they can never happen again.
Do you need something to do after a day looking at screens, but still find yourself scrolling through social media late into the night? Then it might be time for a digital detox. This fun, interactive activity book for grown-ups will help you switch off your screens and plug in your brain. With quizzes, puzzles, riddles, brain-boosting exercises, mindful moments and even space for mindlessness, this book will calm you down, boost your brain and give you a few new things to think about. Back Cover Text
The eighth book in the Grafton Everest series sees the hapless ex-President of the Republic of Australia, Dr Professor Grafton Everest, caught up in a web of international espionage and intrigue that he is hopelessly ill-equipped to handle. Abandoned to his own inadequate devices when his wife Janet departs on a world tour, with his home invaded by his now broke daughter and son-in-law, Grafton accepts an assignment with the United Nations to investigate electoral fraud in Russia. The reason is not only to get out of the house; an old letter from his mother, addressed to someone in the Soviet Union fifty years ago, suggests that Grafton may not be the only child that he always thought he was. Grafton’s mission to Moscow and his search for this mysterious sibling take him far from the Russian capital, deep into the icy wastes of Siberia and even deeper in a tangled conspiracy whose roots extend back to the Cold War and even as far back as the Russian Revolution.
The bumbling and eternally famished Grafton Everest appointed as the first Australian Secretary-General of the United Nations? A secret game of Australian Rules football skilfully played by Tutsis and Dinkas in a tiny African state? In this novel our hapless hero reaches the culmination of his haphazard career. Despite Grafton’s fervent hope that it will be a purely honorary position, he finds himself forced to actively head an organisation not only made ineffective by its Byzantine organisation, but threatened by a deadly conspiracy within its own ranks. Our woebegone world leader not only endures attempted kidnappings and assassination but finds that a mysterious young woman who has been assigned to write his biography is possibly not who or what she seems. On top of this unwanted intrigue, Grafton discovers that, despite having no desire to save the world, or anything else, he is an essential part of a plan, implemented by a rough-edged Australian diplomat, to avert a looming global disaster – a plan which, strangely, seems to involve Australian Rules football. ‘Pandemonium is a work of comic brilliance, a perfect consummation of the uproarious Grafton Everest series’ – Nigel Marsh, Smart, Stupid Sixty ‘Grafton Everest is a wonderful creation whom I would place without question in the ranks of Phillip Roth’s Portnoy and Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim.’ – Barry Humphries
In this 7th book of the highly acclaimed Grafton Everest Series, our indolent hero, Professor Dr Everest (former lecturer in Lifestyles and Wellbeing at the University of Mangoland) is surprised to find himself President of the newly minted Republic of Australia. Luckily he manages to avoid any actual work or duties, save heading the newly created Department of Wellbeing, and leaves on a goodwill tour of the US. Here, he is courted by both Democrats and Republicans as a possible US Presidential candidate. After further discoveries, including a secret society of retired spies and bionic clones, he returns to Australia to find that the Department of Wellbeing has become a ruthless dictatorship that has brought the nation to a stop. It is now up to Professor Dr Everest to save the country … This is slapstick that tickles the funny bone while the satirical barbs penetrate the shifty shibboleths of today’s progressive orthodoxies!
Bumbling Mangoland academic, Professor Dr Grafton Everest, has been elected to the Australian Senate, without really knowing why, and due to the influx of weird Independents, finds himself holding the balance of power. Despite this, his personal life is a train wreck. A prostatectomy has left him impotent, his daughter is staging a theatrical event with an outlaw motorcycle gang and he suspects his wife is planning to have him put to sleep. On top of it all, Australia is facing natural disaster from Tectonic Change. Can Grafton save his family, his country and himself? Shortlisted for 2017 Russell Prize for Humour. 'Grafton Everest is a wonderful creation whom I would place without question in the ranks of Philip Roth's Portnoy and Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim.' - Barry Humphries 'Grafton Everest [is] a slob making Les Patterson seem a class act. Broad comedy, very rude and, for anyone liking gleefully scabrous humour, very funny as well.' - The Daily Mail (London)
This volume contains the proceedings of Formal Methods 2005, the 13th InternationalSymposiumonFormalMethodsheldinNewcastleuponTyne,UK, during July 18–22, 2005. Formal Methods Europe (FME, www.fmeurope.org) is an independent association which aims to stimulate the use of, and research on, formal methods for system development. FME conferences began with a VDM Europe symposium in 1987. Since then, the meetings have grown and have been held about once every 18 months. Throughout the years the symposia have been notablysuccessfulinbringingtogetherresearchers,tooldevelopers,vendors,and users, both from academia and from industry. Formal Methods 2005 con?rms this success. We received 130 submissions to the main conference, from all over the world. Each submission was carefully refereed by at least three reviewers. Then, after an intensive, in-depth discussion, the Program Committee selected 31 papers for presentation at the conference. They form the bulk of this volume. We would like to thank all the Program Committee members and the referees for their excellent and e?cient work. Apart from the selected contributions, the Committee invited three keynote lectures from Mathai Joseph, Marie-Claude Gaudel and Chris Johnson. You will ?nd the abstracts/papers for their keynote lectures in this volume as well. AninnovationfortheFM2005programwasapaneldiscussiononthehistory of formal methods, with Jean-Raymond Abrial, Dines Bjørner, Jim Horning and Cli? Jones as panelists. Unfortunately, it was not possible to re?ect this event in the current volume, but you will ?nd the material documenting it elsewhere (see the conference Web page).
This title presents the findings of the Policing for London project, an independent investigation into policing in London in the wake of the death of Stephen Lawrence and the subsequent MacPherson Report. The main aim of the project was to identify the factors the police in London needed to consider in order to deliver an equitable and effective service to the people of London in the 21st century. The book sets out the findings of this project in terms of what Londoners wanted and needed for their policing, whether the Metropolitan Police was aware of the public's expectations, whether they met these expectations, and to examine how policing in London could be improved in the future. It also identifies a number of key policy issues in the light of its findings - for example in relation to the centralisation or devolution of decision making, specialisation of function, performance management, policing philosophies and partnership, and the need to regain the confidence of ethnic minority groups. In identifying the key issues facing policing in London this book provides a vital blueprint for addressing the question of police reform in the country as a whole - at a time of intense debate and concern about the future role of the police.
Jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald visited Australia four times in her long career that spanned six decades. This work presents a history of Ella Fitzgerald's Australian tours, and analyses how her concert appearances were received and reviewed in Australian and international media. She first toured in July 1954 as part of Lee Gordon's inaugural 'The Big Show'.Her second tour in December 1960 included Verve stable mate Mel Tormé, who was her supporting act. This tour was arranged by Melbourne night club owner Jim Noall and extended to the capital cities of the eastern seaboard and Adelaide. After completing her Australian commitments in early December 1960, Fitzgerald flew to New Zealand for her first tour there – this leg of the tour was promoted by Harry M. Miller. Her next visit came in November 1970, according to an article in The TV Times, but very little has been discovered about this tour. Her final visit to Australia came in November - December 1978 when she performed in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide, and in Perth for the first and only time in her career. In 1978 all the epithets used in the Australian print media to refer to Ella acclaimed her musicianship – gone was the earlier fixation on her colour and weight. Now she was 'Jazz Queen', 'Ella the great', 'First lady of song', 'world's greatest popular/jazz singer', 'grand lady of jazz', 'majestic', and 'singing legend'. Ella Fitzgerald's 1978 Australian tour was a no-holds-barred celebration of her music and of her life. Australian audiences adulated Ella Fitzgerald. In the major biographies of Ella Fitzgerald, Australia does not feature prominently – in fact it barely rates a mention. The 1954 tour was overshadowed by the racist event that occurred in Honolulu, Hawaii, en route to Australia from California that saw her 'bumped' from her first class airline seat. The 1960 Australian tour received scant attention in Fitzgerald biographies, and only one mentioned it in the context of her appearance at the inaugural gala for president-elect John F. Kennedy. The 1970 and 1978 visits do not receive any mention in leading biographies. The work contains rare photographs, many of which have never been published before.
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