Busman’s stomach and the embodiment of modernity

This paper examines the relationship between the gastric illness, ‘busman’s stomach’ and the Coronation bus strike of May 1937 in which 27,000 London busworkers walked out for better working conditions and a seven-and-half-hour day. It explores the way in which new patterns of somatisation, gastroenterological techniques, psychological theories and competing understandings of time worked together to create new political institutions and new forms of political action in inter-war Britain.     

Shropshire Folklore of Yesterday and Today

ENGLISH FOLK LORE. By CHRISTINA HOLE. Messrs. Batsford Ltd. 10s. 6d. Reviewed by L. F. Newman.

CROYANCES ET COUTUMES PERSANES, suivies de Contes et Chansons populaires, by HENRI MASSÉ, Paris, 1938. Librairie Oriental et Américaine. G. P. Maisonneuve, éditeur, 198 Boulevard Saint-Germain. 2 vols, of 593 pages together, 50 frs. each volume. Reviewed by H. T.

KERIS AND OTHER MALAY WEAPONS. By G. B. GARDNER. 4to, pp. 138. Singapore, 1936: Bernard Quaritch. 6s. 6d. J. H. Hutton.

DANISH BALLADS. Selected and with an Introduction by AXEL OLRIK. Translated by E. M. Smith-Dampier. Princeton University Press. London: Milford. 17s. 6d. Reviewed by Britta Mortensen.     

Book reviews

Bernard Arps (ed.). Performance in Java and Bali: studies of narrative, theatre, music, and dance,xi, 244 pp. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1993. £10.

C.D. Grijns. Jakarta Malay: a multidimensional approach to spatial variation. 2 vols.: xx, 292 pp.; vi, 161 pp., 35 maps. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1991. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde, 149.) Guilders 100.     

Changing partnerships: Firms and the French state

Lindblom's hypothesis that in market‐oriented systems businessmen predominate over statesmen is tested in relation to the way French firms have switched partners since the 1980s. Instead of a dirigiste—style special relationship with government, they have formed multinational partnerships. The implications of the new competitive context, under the pressure of delocalisation panic, are considered, prior to the examination of the effects of nationalisation and privatisation on the national identity of firms. The virtual bankruptcy of Crédit Lyonnais is examined as an example of state‐dependent capitalism, and the impact of EC competition policy is considered. The partial industrial disengagement by the French government in favour of market competition reinforces the applicability of Lindblom's hypothesis to the relations between firms and state in France.