The covid pandemic poses huge challenges for Scotland – but also a unique opportunity to rethink who we are as a country, where we are heading, and how to restructure our economy, culture, politics and relationships in addressing the deep disparities the virus has exposed. Bringing together the unique voices of some of our best creative writers, poets and commentators, this book makes a significant contribution to rethinking our future. It explores what 'after the virus' could look like, a...

As the battle of words over the future of Scotland as a democracy, nation and society continues, A Better Nation: The Challenges of Scottish Independence aims to go beyond the superficial divisions and media noise in order to address matters of real substance. Drawing on a range of original thinkers from a wide range of backgrounds, it tackles key issues about money, culture, equality, energy, borders, jobs, Europe and other 'big questions' head on. A Better Nation illustrates the high sta...

Politics took a decisive turn twenty years ago with the birth of the modern Scottish Parliament. People in Scotland want to 'make a difference' and build a better future. Scotland the Brave? offers both an acute assessment of where we are today and a route map to the future.Editors Gerry Hassan and Simon Barrow have brought together an impressive array of Scottish and international voices to cover concerns including the economy, environment, social policy, beliefs, human rights, me...

A Nation Changed? Provides the first detailed and wide-ranging analysis of the SNP in office. It looks at how Scotland has changed and not changed during that time, and the challenges that lie ahead. The book examines the SNP's record, its role as a government and as a party, detailed policy issues such as education and health, the Brexit conundrum and independence.Offering insights and suggestions for further action and reform, A Nation Changed? brings together a...

Levels of 'employer brand awareness' are rising fast across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, as leading companies realise that skilled, motivated employees are as vital to their commercial success as profitable customers and apply the principles of branding to their own organization. Starting with a review of the pressures which have generated current interest in employer branding, this definitive book goes on to look at the historical roots of brand management and the practical ste...

Communication is the key to organisational success and nowhere is this truism more apparent than in the influence of internal communication during a transformational process as dramatic as a merger or acquisition. During the complex process of bringing the two sets of employees together, continuous effort is crucial for keeping in touch with how people feel; communicating information clearly across both bidder and target; and beginning the process of creating a new culture for the merged c...

After fourteen years of Conservative government – combined with Brexit, a global pandemic, the rise of a populist far right and the existential threat of climate change – many see Britain as undergoing serious social, economic and cultural decline. This is the context in which Labour have taken office at Westminster after a decade and a half in opposition. With recent ways of doing politics, government and statecraft in crisis, how can a serious, humane alternative emerge? What scale and t...

Attract, recruit, and retain the very best with a strategic employer brandFrom one of the world's leading pioneers in the employer brand discipline and author of the first book on the subject The Employer Brand, comes the long-awaited practical follow-up Employer Brand Management. Talented, motivated employees are a company's best assets, and the techniques in this book help attract, recruit, and retain the very best. A successful employer brand r...

Brexit – a revolutionary moment in British politics. Voters in long-forgotten English towns made their disenchantment clear, overwhelmingly voting to 'take back control' from a remote and defective economic system. Despite this decisive message in 2016, the concerns of these forgotten towns have continued to be all but ignored.David Skelton grew up in Consett, a north-eastern town where the steel industry has deep roots. When the steelworks closed almost forty years ago it lost eve...

'Jane Holgate is a brilliant thinker' - Jane McAleveyIn Arise, Jane Holgate argues that unions must revisit their understanding of power in order to regain influence and confront capital. Drawing on two decades of research and organising experience, Holgate examines the structural inertia of today’s unions from a range of perspectives: from strategic choice, leadership and union democracy to politics, tactics and the agency afforded to rank-and-file members.In the ...

The Richer, The Poorer charts the rollercoaster history of both rich and poor and the mechanisms that link wealth and impoverishment. This landmark book shows how, for 200 years, Britain’s most powerful elites have enriched themselves at the expense of surging inequality, mass poverty and weakened social resilience.Stewart Lansley reveals how Britain’s model of ‘extractive capitalism’ – with a small elite securing an excessive slice of the economic cake – has created a two-century-...

The unexpected outcome of the 2017 UK general election means that the UK Government lacks a clear mandate on Brexit and also that the Scottish Government lacks a clear mandate on holding a second Independence Referendum consequent to the material change in circumstance which will be brought about by Brexit. We are in for a bumpy, unpredictable ride, one with profound consequences for the people of Scotland and the UK.In this collection of essays from a wide range of leading politic...