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As part of a roundtable response to Peter Andersson's article 'How Civilized Were the Victorians', this paper argues that material culture studies can help us to articulate new historical narratives about the Victorian period. Post-structuralism helped to privilege linguistic analysis to the detriment of direct scrutiny of material culture while approaches aligned to archaeology and anthropology enable us to rediscover the significance of physical matter and those who shaped it. The opportunities for learning how to study material culture are limited but could be enhanced through the heritage sector. As a case study, the paper examines the first selected edition of Tennyson's verse. The covers, layout and design of the book clashed with the poet's ambition of publishing a cheap edition of his poetry for the working classes. The book generated a lot of profit and the selection provides evidence of Tennyson's attempts to be populist and patriotic. The posthumous description of this book, written by the poet's son, misrepresents it as a philanthropic gesture to poor readers while it was in fact a moderately expensive book pitched at middle-class readers. This interpretation of the book is only available though study of the artefact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article provides a list of authors who were contributors in this journal. Information regarding their education, achievements, and published books are included. These authors will include Paul Barker, Lord Asa Briggs, Belinda Brown, Jon Cruddas, Jon Davis, Geoff Dench, Clair Donovan, and Ronald Dore.

A literary criticism of a book "The Age of Improvement" by Asa Briggs is presented which stresses both the underlying unity and the rich variety of the age, and raises fundamental issues about a period of crucial change in British history and the attitudes of politicians towards it.

This article challenges some of the received opinion about the failings of BBC coverage of the Suez crisis. Using a novel focus on radio as opposed to television coverage, it aims to show that despite the factual nature of the radio news bulletins, they did succeed in representing some dissent towards the military action as well as provide evidence of the military build-up. Although the flagship radio current affairs programme, ‘At Home and Abroad’, was tentative in its coverage, it did provide a platform for critical voices and raised important concerns about government policy. It is argued that a close reading of news bulletins and the transcripts of ‘At Home and Abroad’ lends support to the more sympathetic and pro-BBC position of the corporation's official historian, Asa Briggs, while sounding a note of caution regarding Tony Shaw's otherwise exemplary account of Suez and the media. The article also makes the case for the continuing importance of radio in the 1950s despite the growing importance of television. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author comments on the works of Asa Briggs regarding the historiography of nineteenth-century Birmingham, England, focusing on social relations in industry. His model has been considered important in the analysis of class relations in early industrial society. According to the model, industrialization in Birmingham has influenced the rising number of small workshops producing hardware products. Because of this, an identity has emerged between employers and employees. The social cohesion brought about was reflected in the weakness of trade unionism and political movements involving class cooperation. Brigg's extended model had been used to underpin structural-functionalist approaches to social conflict.

The article presents a perspective on the development of hospital nurses in Great Britain after the administration of professors Brian Salmon and Asa Briggs. According to the author, the standard of hospital nurses should also be considered 10 years after the administration of Salmon. It is under great pressure for reasons for which the nursing administrators cannot be held responsible.

The article presents comments from several scholars including André Beteille, Asa Briggs, and Hans Daalder to the article "The Traditions of the University in the Face of the Demands of the 21st Century" by Walter Rüegg in the same issue. Topics discussed include the role of universities in India, the social justice objectives of universities, and the relation between innovation and tradition in higher education.