Things Can Only Get Better

A personal account of a comedy writer and Labour supporter who survived 18 miserable years of Conservative government, these are the hilarious confessions of someone who has helped the Labour party lose elections at every level.

*FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CALLING MAJOR TOM* ''I loved it. Nostalgic without being saccharine, hopeful, real characters with edge. A brilliant book.'' - Hayley Webster ''I adored it! Truly uplifting. Exactly what people want and need to read right now.'' - Daisy Buchanan For elderly churchwarden Arthur Calderbank, there''s no place like home. His home just so happens to be a graveyard. He keeps himself to himself, gets on with his job, and visits his wife everyday for a chat. When one day he finds someone else has been to see his wife - and has left flowers on her grave - he is determined to solve the mystery of who and why. He receives unlikely help from a group of teenage girls as he searches for answers, and soon learns that there is more to life than being surrounded by death. Set during the 90s, when we were all just common people believing things could only get better, this is an uplifting story about the power of a little kindness, friendship and community. For readers who enjoy Sue Townsend, Ruth Hogan and Joanna Cannon.

Minnie Talbot is positive that her boyfriend Dom is about to spring a surprise proposal on her, so she has a surprise up her sleeve for him too. Only things didn’t quite work out the way she planned it. When poor Minnie discovers her day has turned into the crappiest one she has ever had and so much for it being the best. This story follows the hilarious antics of a modern working woman whilst finding out how she copes with disappointment. Only to take on a few favours and projects just to please other people, even if they don’t always appreciate her efforts. Until Minnie finally realises that the one person she can always rely on, is herself. So stay strong, tits out and carry on no matter what becomes her motto. If you enjoy a British comedy novel filled with plenty of cringe worthy laugh-out-loud scenes and the odd F-bomb thrown in for good measure, then this is the book for you.

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

Two journalists embarking on a year's adventure in Greece just as the country faces economic collapse seems foolhardy—but it's their decision to bring their crazy Jack Russell to a crisis-weary country with zero dog tolerance that tips the plan into actual madnessAfter an Arctic winter, a recession, and a downturn in the newspaper industry, two journalists and their dog embark on an adventure in the wild and beautiful southern Peloponnese. A perfect plan, except for one thing—Greece is deep in economic crisis. And if fiscal failure can't overturn the couple's escapade in rural Greece, perhaps macabre local customs, a scorpion invasion, zero dog-tolerance, health scares, and touchy expats will. This is a humorous and insightful journey through one of the last unspoiled regions of Greece. It is full of encounters with warm-hearted, often eccentric, Greeks who show that this troubled country still has heroes, if not euros. In a hillside village in the Mani, the locals share their lives, their laughter, and their stories, and help chart the couple's own passage back to happiness. They even find a place in their hearts for their Greek nemesis—the local pungent goat cheese. Things really can only get feta.

'Hilarious, insightful and has that rare quality of making politics fun. A brilliant book everyone should read, whoever you vote for.' Owen Jones, author of The Establishment Where Did We Go Right? is the personal story of one political activist helping Labour progress from its 1997 landslide to the unassailable position it enjoys today. Along the way, he stood for Parliament against Theresa May but failed to step into her shoes; he was dropped from Tony and Cherie’s Christmas card list after he revealed he always sent their card on to a friend from the SWP; and he campaigned for a new non-selective inner-city state school, then realised this meant he had to send his kids to a non-selective inner-city state school. The long-awaited sequel to the best-selling Things Can Only Get Better is for everyone who could use a good laugh after Brexit, Boris and Trump. A roller-coaster ride through the last two decades via the very best political jokes (excluding the ones that keep getting elected).

The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

*FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CALLING MAJOR TOM* 'I loved it. Nostalgic without being saccharine, hopeful, real characters with edge. A brilliant book.' - Hayley Webster 'I adored it! Truly uplifting. Exactly what people want and need to read right now.' - Daisy Buchanan For elderly churchwarden Arthur Calderbank, there's no place like home. His home just so happens to be a graveyard. He keeps himself to himself, gets on with his job, and visits his wife everyday for a chat. When one day he finds someone else has been to see his wife - and has left flowers on her grave - he is determined to solve the mystery of who and why. He receives unlikely help from a group of teenage girls as he searches for answers, and soon learns that there is more to life than being surrounded by death. Set during the 90s, when we were all just common people believing things could only get better, this is an uplifting story about the power of a little kindness, friendship and community. For readers who enjoy Sue Townsend, Ruth Hogan and Joanna Cannon.