THE THATCHER GOVERNMENT, THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE, AND THE 'NEW CML SERVICE'

The Thatcher era has been a traumatic one for the career Civil Service, so much so that one leading civil servant has suggested that the order of change is such that a 'new Civil Service' is emerging. This paper examines, first, interpretations of what has happened to the Civil Service under the Thatcher government; next, it reviews the developments relating to the economy programme and the Financial Management Initiative; then it considers the current state of the Civil Service pay and promotion system; finally, it concludes that thus far at least, essentially, the 'old Civil Service' has survived.     

BRITAIN'S ADMINISTRATIVE ELITE: PERMANENT SECRETARIES 1900–1986

This article is based upon analysis of biographical data of those men and women who reached the rank of Permanent Secretary in the career civil service between 1900 and 1986. Among other matters, the article gives details of the schools and universities attended by Permanent Secretaries, their age on, and mode of, entry to the civil service, and their career pattern within that service, including the number of departments served in, the age of appointment to the rank of Permanent Secretary, and the length of tenure in that role. The evidence shows that for the present cadre of Permanent Secretaries the route to the top has been characterized by inter-departmental mobility, private office service, and experience in the key central departments of the Treasury and the Cabinet Office.     

Town Planning in West Africa

This article represents the major part of an address given toa combined meeting with the Royal Empire Society on the 26thJune. From the Chair, Mr. A. R. I. Mellor explained that Mr.Fry will be returning to West Africa to continue the work, eventhough his post as Adviser has expired.     

ROLE OF THE STREET NETWORK IN BURGLARS' SPATIAL DECISION‐MAKING*

Explaining why crime is spatially concentrated has been a central theme of much criminological research. Although various theories focus on neighborhood social processes, environmental criminology asserts that the physical environment plays a central role by shaping people's activity patterns and the opportunities for crime. Here, we test theoretical expectations regarding the role of the road network in shaping the spatial distribution of crime and, in contrast to prior research, disentangle how it might influence offender awareness of criminal opportunities and the supply of ambient guardianship. With a mixed logit (discrete choice) model, we use data regarding (N = 459) residential burglaries (for the first time) to model offender spatial decision‐making at the street segment level. Novel graph theory metrics are developed to estimate offender awareness of street segments and to estimate levels of ambient guardianship, distinguishing between local and nonlocal guardianship. As predicted by crime pattern theory, novel metrics concerning offender familiarity and effort were significant predictors of residential burglary location choices. And, in line with Newman's (1972) concept of defensible space, nonlocal (local) pedestrian traffic was found to be associated with an increase (decrease) in burglary risk. Our findings also demonstrate that “taste” preferences vary across offenders, which presents a challenge for future research to explain.     

THE FULTON COMMITTEE AND THE'PREFERENCE FOR RELEVANCE ISSUE

Early access to the papers of the Fulton committee of 1966-8, and to the still unpublished oral evidence that the committee received, which has been officially granted to the author, enables the issue of 'preferences for relevance' in the directentry recruitment of administrators, which divided the committee, to be studied fully for the first time. This study is complemented by interviews with the surviving members of the committee and with members of its secretariat. It demonstrates that the evidence and the debate about 'preference for relevance' had a different balance from that which the previously published material suggested. The bulk of the evidence was anti-pathetic to 'preference for relevance' with many ministers being among the conservatives. The majority of the committee was radical but a substantial minority favoured 'traditional' arraqgements with professionalized post-entry training. Ironically, what eventually emerged was traditionalism without substantial training which nobody on the committee, and only a small number of those giving evidence, favoured.