We Brits

John Agard has been subverting British poetry for the past 30 years with his mischievous, satirical fables which overturn all our expectations. In "We Brits", the Guyanese-born word magician gives an outsider's inside view of British life in poems which both challenge and cherish our peculiar culture and hallowed institutions. Some explore hidden connections in British history, while others are wildly inventive forays into comic territory: Shakespeare addresses the tabloids, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed arrive in Britain at Gatwick, Heathrow and Dover, and all the foreign words flee the English dictionary.

Written by a team based at one of the world's leading centres for linguistic teaching and research, the second edition of this highly successful textbook offers a unified approach to language, viewed from a range of perspectives essential for students' understanding of the subject. Using clear explanations throughout, the book is divided into three main sections: sounds, words, and sentences. In each, the foundational concepts are introduced, along with their application to the fields of child language acquisition, psycholinguistics, language disorders, and sociolinguistics, giving the book a unique yet simple structure that helps students to engage with the subject more easily than other textbooks on the market. This edition includes a completely new section on sentence use, including an introduction and discussion of core areas of pragmatics and conversational analysis; coverage of sociolinguistic topics, introducing communities of practice; a wealth of new exercise material and updated further reading.

Why Are We Always Indoors? (...unless we're off to Barnard Castle) is a personal chronicle of the strangest and darkest football close season in modern history. Having studied politics at university, Paul Armstrong spent much of his career running BBC TV's Match of the Day, then wrote the memoir Why Are We Always On Last? which was published in 2019. In March 2020, he embarked on a journal of London lockdown life against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. This eventually spanned the 105 days between MOTD's Premier League highlights being removed from the schedules and returning in June. Musings and anecdotes about sport, TV, music and life under lockdown became increasingly overshadowed by the mounting tragedy, and a sense of despair and anger at how the crisis was handled at the highest level. This was informed by a lifetime of studying and following politics and by a network of contacts from television and sport, and in various other affected walks of life. A first-hand account of a slice of living history, conveyed with dark humour and a sense of urgency and immediacy.

This book takes an intimate look at the lives of British migrants in Sitges, an affluent coastal tourist town in Northern Spain and investigates ideas of gender, sexuality, and national identity as they are brought to life through the voices of British lifestyle migrants. Situating Sitges as a specifically affluent and "middle-class" location representing a particular form of "lifestyle migration," this rich and detailed study explores how the experiences of British migrants re-inscribe culturally specific understandings of the relationship between space, place, culture and identity. What ultimately emerges is an account of the complex structural constraints of identity, as British migrants find themselves stuck within the stereotype of badly-behaved Brits Abroad and entangled in highly conservative conceptualisations of gender and sexuality, that leave them unable to live the kind of cosmopolitan lifestyles that they so purposefully sought. This is a fascinating study suitable for researchers in gender and sexuality studies, tourism, sociology, and anthropology.

For some time now, I’ve wanted to write a book which would answer the sort of questions that you don’t even find asked elsewhere – let alone answered. Obviously, in the interests of eclecticism, I’ve also included some of the more mundane, workaday questions – what you might call the curriculum for a book of this type – but even here, I have at least tried to bring a fresher less reverent approach to bear. Still, there’s no disguising the fact that it’s the more esoteric questions that really grabbed my interest and these are, inevitably, the ones to which I have devoted the most energy. That’s because I really do need to know why the word 'bastard' is only ever used as a term of abuse to men, whether it’s dangerous to suppress a fart, you can actually lose weight by eating celery, whether it’s possible to knock yourself out using just your own fist, why men don't use electrolysis to remove their beards, what would happen to aeroplane passengers if someone opened the emergency exit while it was in the air and why, of course, girls can’t throw.

Just before she turns 50, Molly marries Daniel and moves from sunny Radford Virginia in the pristine Appalachian Mountains of Virginia on the Mid-Atlantic eastern seaboard of America to gray Lancaster in the northwest of England and finds herself in a very different culture. As Molly travels for work across England, she often takes a train through the idyllic village of Giggleswick in the beautiful and mournful Yorkshire Dales. It is during these train trips that the Big Idea of Home comes knocking at Molly’s door and demands her attention. Giggleswick is a novel about home. Giggleswick considers what home means to us when the ground under us trembles and fault lines are hurled through what we once thought was our safe harbor. During the time Molly muses about home, she also faces several challenges. Giggleswick is a portrayal of fortitude and a reminder that we are all dealing with more than we share. Giggleswick weaves a tapestry of past and present; adversity with the ordinary and humorous. Giggleswick is a celebration of the richness of the inner world of an ordinary character. Giggleswick is an anthem to the examined life of a fifty year old working class woman who is more often invisible in literature and life.

Ivor's Poetry is a feast of poetry covering many subjects including fantasy, trips within one's mind, spirituality and life's experiences with an ever present message of having fun, enjoying life and making the most of the hand life dealt you to travel the pathways of life. It is coloured by his being brought up in a large military family, his teenage years living on the island of Penang in Malaysia and the trials and successes he has encountered throughout his lifetime. Avenues of the mind, depression, laughter, death, disability, religion and spirituality are all unfolded here in a most surprisingly entertaining fashion. The clear message of having fun whilst rising from the ashes of depression, redundancy and personal loss have never before been presented in such a personal and open manner that makes one feel that just reading his work could guide you towards one's own personal fulfillment.

Parents and families are busier than ever—and so are you—but partnering with them is as important as ever. So how do you do that? Author Phil Bell has taken his 20 years of experience and created a playbook to help you come alongside parents. This isn’t a plan to make your ministry look like someone else’s. These are proven ideas you can weave into the things you’re already doing. These practical ideas work whether you’re full-time, part-time, or a volunteer. And you can add them on to your own timeline. Partnering with parents isn’t about just getting them to come to you. It’s about a ministry that meets in the middle—where you are and where they are—creating a stronger ministry and stronger families. Topics include: • Taking care of yourself and your own family first • Key strategies for effective communication • Ideas for resourcing and equipping parents • Ways to reach unengaged parents • Turning parents into your ministry’s greatest promoters • Fostering a community of parents that makes everyone stronger