The Concise
Guide to Licensing
Edition: 1st
Authors: by Ian
Webster, Jeffrey Leib and James Button
ISBN: 978-1906221-386
Publishers: Matador Non-Fiction
Price: £21.95
Publication
Date: 01 August 2007
Publisher’s Title
Information
This first concise guide covers the entire key licensing regimes. The book is designed
for the busy licensing officer, practitioner, elected member, statutory
consultee or operator involved in licensing. It explains the entire key
licensing regimes in a clear and concise manner, including the complete
syllabus for the NCLP.
A chapter on policy is designed to help with the development of new policy
under the Gambling Act or the amendment of existing policies, following the
Canterbury decision.
Contents include: the Licensing Act 2003; the Gambling Act 2005; Taxi
Licensing; Animal Licensing; Street Trading; Hearings & Appeals; Other
Premises Licensing; Statutory Duties and Enforcement.
Reviews to date
"A fascinating run through all aspects
of licensing law covering a very wide
range of subjects from amusement arcades to zoos and everything in between. An
excellent introduction to those needing to grasp the essentials quickly."
Gareth Hughes - Barrister (specialising in
licensing), Jeffrey Green Russell.
"As a Licensing Officer I issue about 50
forms of permit consent or licence. I have not found one reference book that
covers the areas I most need on a day-to-day basis until this one. The Concise
Guide provides me with all the information I need at the flick of a thumb. An
excellent book written by three well known and respected licensing
practitioners."
Jim Hunter - Operations Manager (Public
Protection), Taunton Deane BC.
"This book reminds me of the Tardis in
Dr Who, from the outside it is unassuming and appears similar to other books on
the subject, but once you open it you realise that what is inside defies the
size from the outside. Where else can you find Gambling, Licensing, Taxis,
Street Trading, Sex Establishments and much more all in one place and explained
in such a way that anyone can make sense of it, simple answer is here in this
book! A must for anyone involved in licensing."
Myles Bebbington - Head of Licensing
South Combs DC.
"This is an excellent book. The authors
are to be congratulated in packing so much information into a concise guide. I
have been involved in licensing for almost 43 years and yet there is still
information in this book that was new to me. It is an invaluable reference
work. I only wished that it had been available earlier in my career as it would
have saved me a very large amount of research."
David Chambers - Licensing Consultant,
former Head of Licensing Westminster City Council
Behind
the Call of Duty, A Policeman’s Story
Edition:
1st
Author:
Bob Thorogood
ISBN:
1-905237-90-1
Publishers:
Matador
Price
£9.99
Publication
Date: 2006
Publisher’s
Title Information
How
did a little urchin, born in the last months of World War II in the back
streets of Northampton, grow up to eventually occupy the chair of the town's
Police Commander?
This autobiography chronicles a childhood that may be seen as lonely. Forced to live with elderly, unmarried neighbours next door to his true mother, Bob Thorogood soon learnt to become independent and self-reliant. These humble beginnings were to shape this young man, leaving him worldly-wise, unafraid of hard work and with a unique ability to empathise with others.
Starting
work at fifteen as a grocer's errand boy, through serving an apprenticeship as
a builder and marrying at nineteen, he never found his true vocation until
joining Northamptonshire Police in 1969. His early career was in the turbulent
1970s, when policing gained undeserved notoriety for 'fixing' evidence due to a
few national scandals and public expectation of 'The Sweeney' style justice.
With
his wife and family by his side and through thirty years of Police service, the
author relates anecdotes that will have the reader in stitches, and provide an
insight into what really happened in a number of high profile cases, both local
and national.
"A
fascinating journey through Bob's life. I could see how this shaped Bob's life
and his commitment to policing. A good
insight into policing in Northamptonshire." Peter Maddison Chief Constable
of Northamptonshire
The
Author
Bob
Thorogood was born in Northampton, leaving school at fifteen to make his way in
life; starting as a grocer's errand boy, through the building trade and
eventually finding his true calling as a Police Officer. He is married with two sons and a daughter
and still lives in Northamptonshire.
Review
Over the years it has been commonplace to read the
memoirs of former Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police, senior CID officers
on "how I solved THAT murder" and police constables’ experiences with the
members of the public both good and evil, But it is unusual to read a well
written and well-constructed book by a police officer who rose from Constable
to Commander of a provincial force, namely, Northamptonshire. So Bob Thorogood’s ‘Behind the
Call of Duty’ is welcome.
The first part of the book deals with his early years
as a Police Constable and his promotion to Sergeant as he relates stories not
dissimilar to those in other similar publications. However, on his promotion to
Inspector and subsequent ranks, the author changes course and introduces the
reader to less familiar ground, which is rarely chronicled in such detail in
the autobiographies of former Police Officers.
Throughout his career he was transferred back and
forth from uniform to CID and so encountered a variety of different often
difficult situations; at the same time finding sufficient hours in the day or
night to study for examinations and, as and when necessary, to refresh the mind
with legislation relating to a particular case with which he was involved. Some of the incidents were large scale and it was necessary to make
use of the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System (HOLMES). These cases in particular
make fascinating reading. Apart from additional manpower required to man the
computers there were other less recognisable problems needed to be resolved in
order solve the crimes. In addition, as he points out, it is not merely a
matter of solving a crime, but the subsequent paper work and preparation of the
case for the prosecuting barrister and the court hearings that are more often
than not conveniently overlooked in the majority of television cop programmes
that convey the impression that once the offender has been arrested that is the
end of the matter.
He attended courses at the Bramshill Police College
which are described with some aplomb. He was later selected (presumably as his
administrative abilities had been recognised) as an administrator to work for
the Association of Chief Police Officers. One task in particular involved long
deliberations and association with Home Office civil servants, Members of
Parliament and others in Westminster in the formulation of the Police and
Criminal Evidence Bill subsequently known as PACE. An Act which later many members of the public and the press
considered to be a product of political correctness and the means of
transferring bobbies on the beat to bobbies at the desk.
Between his official police duties in Northamptonshire
and courses at Bramshill he decided to study Spanish and later spent six weeks
learning about Spanish Law and Constitution at a European Police Studies Course
in Madrid.
The author was clearly an ambitious man who, with hard
work and dedicated service, achieved his goal. Much has been written about the
Metropolitan Police but little about the achievements of provincial officers
and their participation in PACE and other similar acts of Parliament. This book
could - and should - be an incentive to all future young men and women joining
the police service, that with hard work and commitment they too can climb the
greasy pole.
Iconclast