The Complaints

Nobody likes The Complaints -- they're the cops who investigate other cops. It's a department known within the force as The Dark Side, and it's where Malcolm Fox works. He's a serious man with a father in a nursing home and a sister who persists in an abusive relationship, frustrating problems about which he cannot seem to do anything. Then the reluctant Fox is given a new case. There's a cop named Jamie Breck, and he's dirty. The problem is, no one can prove it. As Fox takes on the job, he learns that there's more to Breck than anyone thinks -- dangerous knowledge, especially when a vicious murder takes place far too close to home. In The Complaints, Rankin proves again why he is one of the world's most beloved and bestselling crime writers, mixing unstoppable pacing with the deeper question of who decides right from wrong.

'Unmissable Rankin, as gripping and involving as any Rebus story' CHOICE; 'A brilliant book' GUARDIAN From the No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES 'On the evidence of THE COMPLAINTS it looks as if Fox will be just as sure-footed a guide to the city as his grizzled predecessor' DAILY EXPRESS. Nobody likes The Complaints - they're the cops who investigate other cops. Complaints and Conduct Department, to give them their full title, but known colloquially as 'the Dark Side', or simply 'The Complaints'. Malcolm Fox works for The Complaints. He's just had a result, and should be feeling good about himself. But he's middle-aged, sour and unwell. He also has a father in a care home and a sister who persists in an abusive relationship. In the midst of an aggressive Edinburgh winter, the reluctant Fox is given a new task. There's a cop called Jamie Breck, and he's dirty. Problem is, no one can prove it. But as Fox takes on the job, he learns that there's more to Breck than anyone thinks. This knowledge will prove dangerous, especially when murder intervenes.

In Complaint! Sara Ahmed examines what we can learn about power from those who complain about abuses of power. Drawing on oral and written testimonies from academics and students who have made complaints about harassment, bullying, and unequal working conditions at universities, Ahmed explores the gap between what is supposed to happen when complaints are made and what actually happens. To make complaints within institutions is to learn how they work and for whom they work: complaint as feminist pedagogy. Ahmed explores how complaints are made behind closed doors and how doors are often closed on those who complain. To open these doors---to get complaints through, keep them going, or keep them alive---Ahmed emphasizes, requires forming new kinds of collectives. This book offers a systematic analysis of the methods used to stop complaints and a powerful and poetic meditation on what complaints can be used to do. Following a long lineage of Black feminist and feminist of color critiques of the university, Ahmed delivers a timely consideration of how institutional change becomes possible and why it is necessary.

"With language that's as simple as it is musical, Di Piero sets dazzling moments amid plainsong."--New York Times Book Review For more than three decades, W. S. Di Piero's poems have reveled in the gritty realism of cities, often drawing from his childhood in South Philadelphia. The award-winning poet, writer, and art critic returns with his twelfth volume of poetry. The Complaints is a book of fortunes, laments, and celebrations--and about pulling the extraordinary ordinary. These sensuous poems speak of the ways we're hostages to chance and circumstance. Whether Di Piero writes about cranes migrating, city scavengers, diners, bars, bad weather, or movies and the memories they make, he reminds us how "We bone and tissue creatures stir up embers / of fiery wish."

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study of the conflicts and tensions in the role of NHS complaints managers. The thesis sets out to explore the contradictions inherent in the role of complaints managers and the ways complaints managers deal with these contradictions. The interdisciplinary theoretical underpinning of the research is informed by conceptualizations of the complaints manager in the specific socio-legal sense of 'complaints handler'/ third-party dispute handler;' a broader public administration framework, of 'administrator'/ bureaucrat, and finally a wide-ranging sociological/ social psychological framework, as 'social actor'. Thus the thesis draws on an eclectic range of literature from socio-legal studies, public administration, sociology, and social psychology. It also draws on non-theoretical social policy literature in relation to the policy context of the thesis. In relation to methodology, the research uses a qualitative approach. It is based on in depth telephone interviews recorded with thirty NHS complaints managers, which were transcribed verbatim and are the focus of systematic analysis. The complaints managers' interviews are supplemented with documentary analysis of job descriptions and person specifications of NHS complaints managers and email interviews with 'NHS complaints experts' (who are not complaint managers) who have a specialist knowledge of the complaints manager role. Three key areas emerged as the principal findings of the research: *The complaints manager's role encompasses inherent contradictions, regardless of the personal style or individual approach of the complaints manager; *Complaints managers exhibited opposing stances (that is very different responses/ reactions) to the inherent contradictions in their role in relation to 'organization orientation' versus 'complainant orientation'; *There were different types of complaints managers. Accordingly, a typology of complaints managers was generated with specific reference to their responses and reactions to the inherent contradictions in their role, in terms of complainant orientation versus organization orientation. In conclusion, the thesis argues that there are without doubt fundamental contradictions in the role of NHS complaints managers in terms of reconciling complainants' rights with organizational requirements. However, ultimately, individual complaints managers respond and react very differently to the inherent contradictions in their role.