Book 6 of The Speedicut Papers covers Speedicuts reluctant and unsought involvement in a series of British colonial and imperial disasters in Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan. Whilst not ducking shot, shell and spears, Speedicut indulges deeply in such pleasures (usually of the carnal variety) that are on offer. I ony met Speedicut once, in 35, when I took him and my nephew out of school for an educational tea. If Id known he was going to write all this tosh Id have drowned the title bugger in his first print Thomas Flashman, uncle of Harry Flashman

Book 6 of The Speedicut Papers covers the period 1879-1885 during which time Speedicut is reluctantly involved in a series of British colonial and Imperial disasters in Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan. Whist not ducking shot, shell and spears, Speedicut indulges deeply in such pleasures (usually of the carnal variety) that are on offer.

As the subtitle implies, Book 5 of The Speedicut Papers is largely concerned with Speedicuts unsought role as a part-time courtier to Prince Albert Edward, The Prince of Wales, whilst at the same time he tries to track down the traitor in the British establishment. Along the way he witnesses the battle of Isandlwana, is present at Rorkes Drift and is framed for the death of the Prince Imperial.

The Speedicut Papers recounts in very frank detail the life, loves, and adventures of Jasper Speedicutcharmer, sexual libertine, reluctant hero, and friend of the self-styled brigadier general Sir Harry Flashman, VC. Comprising a nine-volume series of linked adventures and anecdotes in memoir format, The Speedicut Papers lifts the lid from a veritable cesspit of Victorian and Edwardian upper-class debauchery that makes Downton Abbey look like a vicarage tea party. It is also a unique account of Speedicuts involvement in some of the greatestand also some long-forgottenevents in the British Empire and beyond during the period of 18211915. In Flashmans Secret, the first volume of the saga, Speedicut throws a searchlight onto some very murky corners of the nineteenth century, including the early careers of the notorious courtesan, Lola Montez, and the demon barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd. New insights are also provided into the formation of the IRA, the first Anglo-Afghan War, and the dubious acquisition by the British crown of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. If this were not enough, Flashmans Secret also reveals Nelsons actual last words and the existence of a sinister and murderous secret society at the heart of the British establishment.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- 1 The city and its regulations: Unexpected margins -- Part I Space and state regulation: The urban interstices -- 2 Markets and marginality in Beirut -- 3 The tremendous making and unmaking of the peripheries in current Istanbul -- 4 Resilient forms of urbanity on the margins? Al-Kherba: A vivid market in a damaged section of the medina of Tunis -- 5 Whose margins? Marginality, poverty and the moral geography of pre-Soviet Bukhara -- 6 On the margins of the city: Izmir Prison in the late Ottoman Empire -- Part II Diversity and moral policing: Making claims through marginalisation -- 7 'Texas': An off-centre district at the heart of nightlife in Odienné -- 8 The Manyema in colonial Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) between urban margins and regional connections -- 9 On the margins: Suburban space and religious deviancy in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur -- 10 Ethnic differentiation and conflict dynamics: Uzbeks' marginalisation and non-marginalisation in southern Kyrgyzstan -- Index

This selection of readings demonstrates the use of both descriptive analysis and quantitative methods in the study of business records. The emphasis, however, is on the role of various quantitative approaches. Part I contains articles that consider a number of questions about the methods to be used and the aims of business history research. How is the subject to be defined? What types of analysis are most useful in research? In what ways can the findings of any research he used? Part II provides a number of examples of business history writing that demonstrate the results of a quantitative approach using both Primary and secondary source material. Some of the papers concentrate on the growth and performance of firms from various sectors of the economy. Some consider features of industrial structure. Others concentrate on techniques of marketing, personnel management and the assessment of profitability. Part III focuses on the techniques of manage meat that have been used to motivate or control the development of business activity. The studies include an analysis of the role of accounting data and other types of information, aids to forecasting, market analysis and the problems of risk and uncertainty in business decision making within various contexts. The editor has not only provided an introduction to the reprinted articles but he has also included, in Part IV, several special appendices useful for future research in business history. There is a section on allowing for changes in the unit of account. Another appendix deals with the merits and limitations of financial ratio analysis. An extensive bibliography is also provided. This authoritative text was first published in 1977.