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Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor and chief executive, University of Sunderland, is reading Philip Augar¡¯s The?Bank that Lived a Little: Barclays in the Age of?the Very Free Market (Allen Lane, 2018). ¡°Philip Augar is currently busy leading the independent review of post-18 education. In his ¡®day job¡¯, he is a respected writer and commentator on banking and finance. He has recently turned his attention, with devastating effect, to Barclays. A microcosm of the fundamental changes that have taken place since the ¡®Big Bang¡¯ in 1987, Barclays went from being a conservative, family-led institution to being among the largest of the global players. Yet Augar¡¯s is a nuanced account. He eschews a simplistic ¡®heroes and villains¡¯ approach to help us understand the economic forces at work, and the complicated motivations of the protagonists involved. Banking may not be an obvious page-turner as a topic, but this is a book written with pace and verve.¡±

Dr [name withheld], former vice-chancellor, Poppleton University ¨C as communicated by Mrs Dilworth ¨C is reading John Henry Newman¡¯s The?Idea of a University (Digireads, 2014). ¡°When I became a vice?chancellor, friends suggested that I read this extended essay, first published in 1852. I read it hoping to find guidance on how to deal with that most uncooperative section of any university, the academic staff. Instead I got an extended reflection on the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and ¡®The University¡¯. Sadly, there is little of practical usefulness to be found anywhere in the book. It also seems to me that Newman was sympathetic to the idea of ¡®academic freedom¡¯, a concept now widely regarded as outdated, if not fundamentally flawed. I finished his book believing that the cardinal could have learned a lot from the business-friendly, customer-orientated ethos of a modern university.¡±

R. C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history, University of Winchester, is reading King Cotton: A?Tribute to Douglas A. Farnie (edited by J. F. Wilson; Crucible Books, 2009). ¡°With 16 well-researched chapters by friends, colleagues and former students, this is an extended memorial to Manchester economic historian Douglas Farnie (1926-2008). The contents deal chiefly with different aspects of the Lancashire cotton industry ¨C product diversification; marketing and international competition; the labour force ¨C and with textile factory communities and the different kinds of building, including commercial and domestic, connected with the cotton industry in different periods. By way of contrast, there is a chapter on Spanish cottons and two on Japanese cotton spinning and weaving. With few exceptions, all contributions are grounded in the 19th and 20th centuries, Farnie¡¯s own area of expertise. Historiographically, he is securely placed within the context of the Manchester History School and its distinguished past. The absence of an index, however, is regrettable.¡±