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John Jackson was born in 1929 in rural Devon, England, close to where he lives today. He is an established author, lawyer, businessman and political and constitutional campaigner, but he is probably still best known as one of the founders, and former chairman, of the Countryside Alliance.
First published in 1979, a welcome reissue of John Jackson’s description of life on a Kent small-holding. With his wife and three children (all more or less enthusiastic about the move), they buy a house high in the North Kent Weald. Almost immediately the animals started arriving revealing the family’s genius for naming them. They didn’t need to do the self-sufficiency thing, they wanted to and this account is all the more believable as we read of just as many successes as failures. The family manages to balance the financial side of farming with care and good management; they don’t always manage to keep the animals under control, their decision to breed animals like Jacobs sheep that are able to jump and evade fencing don’t make things easy. Why do we still not use odd corners of the land for crops and grazing as the Jacksons did, why not run sheep with a lone horse at pasture, a mutually beneficial practice, small ways that make the most of the land, this is an enjoyable read that we can still learn from. A 'Piece of Passion' from the author... 'This book tells a tale of how a family - my family - living in a sliver of countryside in Kent in London's commuter belt, came over some ten years, to make itself, in its 'spare time' self sufficient in its requirements for milk, meat, eggs, vegetables and some fruit.My then wife Ann and I had each grown up in the countryside and we had missed the connection with the land we had known then. As child, I had lived in a former fisherman's cottage in Dorset when self sufficiency was a matter of necessity. My father was on the dole, of which there was not much in the 1930's, and my mother was in poor health. We lived on what we could grow or forage and if the tide was right what we could get out of the sea. I remember how a conger eel caught by my father would provide us with fish cakes for a week! But the book is also about more than the activities of a family and their animals. It is an attempt to make a small statement about people's relationship with the land they live on and the importance of that relationship. I have long believed that the 'health' of a nation is better and its communities and their cultures stronger, the more it cleaves and values the land it lives on.' Like for Like Reading Spotted Pigs & Green Tomatoes: A Year in the Life of Our Farm, Rosie Boycott Tales of the Country, Brian Viner
It is now some forty years since the term `Second Generation EMU' entered rail industry parlance. The British Rail (BR) Class 313 heralded a new era back in 1976/77 with BR's first order of suburban passenger trains with both a pantograph (for 25Kv AC) and shoegear (for 750V DC `third rail'). These units continue to see daily service both on north of London commuter services and on Sussex's Coastway services. Since those early days, over forty classes of EMU have entered traffic throughout what is now, of course, a privatised railway. More and more operators are able to opt for their use over DMUs as more of the country benefits from installation of an electrified railway. This book offers a look at all the classes found in the UK, as well as a look at the country's electrified lines.
The Midland Main Line (MML) links London's St Pancras station to the East Midlands cities of Leicester, Derby and Nottingham. It then heads northwards through Chesterfield to Sheffield. Along the way, its southern section sees an extensive service of chiefly commuter services linking Bedford, Luton and St Albans both into the capital and south of it. Bedford also marks the northern end of existing electrification, although the route remains a candidate for this to be extended throughout. The iconic diesel High Speed Train fleet operates the longer distance services alongside the much newer Class 222 Meridians. With a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, John Jackson concentrates on the variety of traffic that can be seen along the MML. The branches to Corby and Matlock, which just survived the Beeching Axe, are also included. This book looks at both passenger and freight workings and the wide variety of activity on this important and busy line.
The last twenty years have seen an unprecedented rise in the use of secret courts or `closed material proceedings' largely brought about in response to the need to protect intelligence sources in the fight against terrorism. This has called into question the commitment of legal systems to long-cherished principles of adversarial justice and due process. Foremost among the measures designed to minimise the prejudice caused to parties who have been excluded from such proceedings has been the use of `special advocates' who are given access to sensitive national security material and can make representations to the court on behalf of excluded parties. Special advocates are now deployed across a range of administrative, civil and criminal proceedings in many common law jurisdictions including the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Australia. This book analyses the professional services special advocates offer across a range of different types of closed proceedings. Drawing on extensive interviews with special advocates and with lawyers and judges who have worked with them, the book examines the manner in which special advocates are appointed and supported, how their position differs from that of ordinary counsel within the adversarial system, and the challenges they face in the work that they do. Comparisons are made between different special advocate systems and with other models of security-cleared counsel, including that used in the United States, to consider what changes might be made to strengthen their adversarial role in closed proceedings. In making an assessment of the future of special advocacy, the book argues that there is a need to reconceptualise the unique role that special advocates play in the administration of justice.
This book focuses on the rules-based multilateral trading system established by the World Trade Organization, with particular emphasis given to the rich and detailed jurisprudence developed by the WTO's Appellate Body. After introductory chapters on international economics, international law, and US and EU constitutional and institutional issues relating to international trade regulation, the book explores the WTO's structure and takes a detailed look at its dispute settlement system. The heart of the book then treats the basic GATT rules on (i) trade liberalization (tariffs and quotas), (ii) non-discrimination (MFN and national treatment and the exceptions for FTAs, health and conservation), (iii) standards and (iv) trade remedies (safeguards, dumping and subsidies). Additional chapters cover trade in services, intellectual property issues, investment issues and several other trade-related issues. The new 6th edition offers a basic understanding of the international economic syste
The latest figures reveal that just under 100 million passenger journeys are made annually from over 350 stations in Scotland, but services from these stations vary widely. The heavily populated belt linking Glasgow and Edinburgh enjoys frequent services. Remote outposts such as Oban, Mallaig and Kyle of Lochalsh, meanwhile, cling to limited services that connect them to the rest of the rail network. Historically, much of Scotland's rolling stock has been hand-me-downs from elsewhere in the UK. But that is changing. The newly electrified Edinburgh to Glasgow line will see new units. In addition, there is a planned cascade of HSTs to link Scotland's other major cities. Serco is planning new rolling stock for its sleeper services to the south and Virgin East Coast will also shortly introduce new trains. Author John Jackson has travelled extensively across Scotland and here takes a look at the diversity of stations served by a variety of rolling stock before these proposed changes become reality. It also includes a look at the remaining freight traffic on offer.
The city of Peterborough stands about 75 miles north of London on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). It is one of the railway's most important interchanges for both passenger and freight traffic; the services north and south are complemented by one of the most important east-to-west links, taking a variety of workings from Leicester and Nottingham to the cities and ports of East Anglia. It is a location where rail enthusiasts can be entertained by a variety of workings with the unexpected a possibility. Looking at both passenger and freight workings, John Jackson documents the rail movements around one of the key locations and most enduringly popular enthusiast spots on the East Coast Main Line.
It is now more than thirty years since two words synonymous with Diesel Multiple Units became part of railway parlance - `Pacers' and `Sprinters'. The Class 142 Pacers were introduced in the mid-1980s and, despite almost continuous criticism as to their lack of comfort, these `nodding donkeys' remain in revenue-earning service. From these beginnings in the 1980s our rail network has seen a total of twenty or so classes of Second Generation DMUs enter service. Indeed, they are the mainstay of secondary passenger services on non-electrified lines right across the network. This book takes a closer look at these units in action with each class on display. From examples of ScotRail Class 158s and 170s on services out of Inverness to the Great Western Railway's Class 150s and 153s working services in Devon and Cornwall, this book is also a whistle-stop tour of non-electrified lines across the UK. These lines have survived into the twenty-first century and the second generation DMU has played an important part in this.
Dr Beeching's infamous 1963 report recommending cuts to a number of Britain's railways has long been etched into the consciousness of the British public, but a look at the rail map of Britain today reveals some survivors. These survivors avoided the chop for various reasons - and their future today is probably as secure as could ever have been hoped for. The original plans included the closure of lines that many today would find surprising - Leicester to Peterborough; Derbyshire's Hope Valley and Buxton lines; and the world-famous Settle to Carlisle line. Towns as contrasting as Ilkley and Skegness would have been removed from the rail map altogether. Lines such as Kettering to Corby, Nuneaton to Coventry and Nottinghamshire's Robin Hood line linking Nottingham to Mansfield and Worksop were closed and subsequently reopened. Indeed, at one time Mansfield had the dubious distinction of being the largest town in England with no rail connection. But not so today. This book takes a look at some of these survivors, from the Island Line on the Isle of Wight to the branches of Devon and Cornwall, the Far North line in the Scottish Highlands and many more in between.
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