Chris Austin – författare

At its zenith, there were 21,000 route miles of railway in Britain. Today the country's railways deliver more passenger miles than they did at their greatest extent despite a drastic reduction in the size of the network. Those cuts were the result of a campaign by a number of individuals who believed, erroneously as the passing of time has shown, that railways were a thing of the past and an impediment to progress. Although the process of railway closures started early, it gained momentum in the 1950s and in the harrowing years following the publication of the Beeching report. However, as the original research by the authors of this book reveals, it could have been much worse and there were plans to reduce the size of the network even more drastically, to the point where only a few lines would have survived. An understanding of what happened in the past is vital to understanding how today's railways struggle to meet the demands imposed on them. Trimming at the margins remains an attractive option for some policy makers who do not comprehend what happened in the past and the risk remains that previous errors may be revisited. Now available in paperback for the first time, this book shows how close Britain's railways came to being eviscerated and how the dangers of closure by stealth still exist, even today

Mid-sized law firms in today''s legal marketplace are often given three choices: merge, grow, or die. That''s accepted wisdom. Mid-sized firms may try to compete for profitable corporate litigation, deals and other bread-and-butter work, but everyone knows they (1) don''t have the IT and other systems heft to innovate with the big players (2) don''t have the scale to market and compete for global business and (3) can''t attract the talent they need to go head-to-head with Big Law on major work. But what if that''s wrong? What if mid-sized firms are in an ideal position to fix what''s wrong with law practice today? Competitive Strategies for Mid-Sized Law Firms - a collection of essays by and about mid-sized firms - offers a new perspective.

Mid-sized law firms in today''s legal marketplace are often given three choices: merge, grow, or die. That''s accepted wisdom. Mid-sized firms may try to compete for profitable corporate litigation, deals and other bread-and-butter work, but everyone knows they (1) don''t have the IT and other systems heft to innovate with the big players (2) don''t have the scale to market and compete for global business and (3) can''t attract the talent they need to go head-to-head with Big Law on major work. But what if that''s wrong? What if mid-sized firms are in an ideal position to fix what''s wrong with law practice today? Competitive Strategies for Mid-Sized Law Firms - a collection of essays by and about mid-sized firms - offers a new perspective.

A hundred years on from the legislation that grouped Britain's private railway companies into the 'Big Four,' this book explores the often fraught relationships between government, parliament and the railway. The 1923 grouping closely followed the creation of the Ministry of Transport in 1919 and marked the start of the political intervention that continues to this day. Signals Passed at Danger traces the stormy relationships between politicians and railway people, the origins of mistrust which led to constant political interference in the industry, and the unending upheaval caused by frequent reorganisations as various political theories were tried and found wanting. The story begins with the undue parliamentary influence wielded by railway directors in the nineteenth century and continues with the broken promises of governments after two world wars to recompense the railways for the depredations of war, to the irresponsible experiment of privatisation in the 1990s along with the subsequent attempts to deal with the consequences. The authors have both worked in the front-line of the relationships between government and railway, drawing on their experience as well as meticulous research, they paint a broad canvas, but one illustrated with local detail to show the consequences of high level political decisions. This is a companion to the award winning Holding the Line, which dealt with the politics of railway closures, and Disconnected! that told the story of reopened lines and stations. It will be essential reading for historians, economists, railways managers, civil servants, political researchers and students as well as the many thousands who have an interest in the rich history of railways in Britain.