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The BBC Domesday disc contains an impressive range of socio-economic variables for small geographical areas. This paper outlines the process by which the variables for inclusion on the disc were selected, and the difficulties of obtaining data which provides a comprehensive reflection of the British economy and society. Attention is drawn to the uniquely geographical character of the data contained on the disc--and the fact that information for the 21 major types of data collection area is stored thus permitting scale effects to be investigated by the user. The difficulties of using data obtained from government sources and the facilities available for interpreting data available on the disc are discussed.

supranational allegiance and because of the peculiar nature of international work, personnel policies and processes occupy a place which is even more significant than in national or local administrations. In much of the same way that civil servants in national bureaucracies and hierarchies, whether federal or local, generally exercise increasing power in an age of specialization and technology and are far more influential now and potentially than their 19th-century predecessors and even those of only three or four decades ago, the international civil service, especially in the absence of a sovereign executive power, has gained impressive responsibilities, duties, authority, and power. However, this role cannot be fully understood, much less carefully considered in terms of the future, without more knowledge concerning the social origins, education, mobility, attitudes, and personality structures of international civil servants. Research and assessments are needed, and this symposium represents an attempt to frame some of the questions around which hypotheses can be developed and examined. The articles in the symposium deal with selected issues of interest in the international civil service. They do not attempt to analyze all of the major areas of concern; nor do all of the contributors agree on central issues. While some of the contributors, for example, call for greater centralization and unification in personnel administration in the UN common system, other contributors question the utility of such action. Furthermore, there even are differences in the way in which such terms as "unification" and "centralization" are used in the various articles and in the meanings which different contributors assign to these terms. We do not believe this is critical, however, for our primary purpose is to stimulate and provoke further analysis and clarification. There are those who, in assessing the experience of the past 25 years, view the emerging international civil service with much pessimism and indeed distrust; they point to its many shortcomings in composition, performance, and competence. There are others who adopt a more tolerant stance. They would assert that, especially in certain of the specialized agencies, policy formulation and execution is often very effective, indeed, at times, inspired. Noting that the international civil service is the embodiment of the will of so many diverse cultures, admirers of current practice would express appreciation of so many positive achievements and especially of the promise of even more positive growth and development to come. It will take a future symposium to decide which sets of perceptions are more balanced or whether, indeed, both sets of observations do not have significant measures of merit. For the present, however, the writers of the following articles attempt more directly to reflect upon experience, put forth categories of analysis, highlight certain unresolved problems, and, finally, categorize research needs and requirements.

Analyzes William Cobbett's ideas and their relation to the England of his time, concentrating on his career as a political journalist during the first thirty-five years of the nineteenth century.