Yes. They are free-standing but link together to present a multi-layered analysis of the ideas, structures, people and processes which go to shape the world of politics. The focus is largely but not exclusively on the UK. Where appropriate, examples and illustrations are drawn from around the world including the USA and Europe. The material is designed to be accessible to students at all levels from beginners to university students. ‘Aims,’ ‘Contents’ and ‘Learning Outcomes’ are specified at the start of every text and each concludes with an overview summary and a set of review questions for independent learning.

Six have been published so far on Smashwords and many linked platforms. They are:
1. The Purpose of Politics (what is politics and what function does it serve?).
2. Political Systems (to do politics we need a variety of structures and processes - what are they and how do they work?).
3. Popular Democracy (what is democracy, what are its guiding principles and how does it function?).
4. Liberal Democracy (what is liberal-democracy, what does this two-part term mean and how are the two words related?).
5. Political Ideology and the Liberal Centre (what is political ideology, how can we characterise and catalogue it and why is liberalism the core ideology of the modern world?).
6. Political Ideology: Politics on the Right (what does right-wing mean, what distinguishes right-wing from left-wing ideologies, and what ideologies do we find on the Right?).
More are planned on left-wing ideology, the European Union (EU) and global governance.

When I first went to university as a mature student. I began with the usual student essays and once appointed a teaching post I began to write and to publish extensively.

I felt I would like to share my knowledge and insights gathered over a lifetime of teaching government politics with a wider audience. I hope I spark interest and understanding in a fascinating topic - how we govern ourselves and learn to live with others.

I like to get ideas and arguments clear in my head and then convey these, communicate them, to others with the greatest clarity possible. Now that's an achievement!

By offering a fantastic platform providing access to so many possible readers and audiences.

Mostly history and biographies. I've just finished (January 2016) Thomas Asbridge's 'The Greatest Night' which is the story of William Marshall born in the Twelfth Century who rose to become the most famous medieval knight and to serve seven Plantagenet kings. Lots of politics there - mostly of the 'Game of Thrones' kind!

They make all the hard work worthwhile!

Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Sebastian Faulks, Joseph Conrad, Author Conan Doyle, Doris Lessing, Philip K Dick. Gosh! the list goes on....

Life.

I enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction - the latter mostly biographies and history. I am a regular cinema goer and enjoy walking and talking and meeting new people and new ideas.

I like order but in practice find it hard to achieve. So, my desk is full of books and papers which periodically get swept away and tidied up only for the process to start over again.

Read, sit, think, read again, sit think and at some point something like the opening paragraphs take shape and a pathway through the material opens up.

I remember the first academic article - it was the operation of the Health Ombudsman in the UK.

Because the subject takes us to the heart of a core human problem - how do we live together and reach collective decisions on what is to be done? Politics has been well-defined as the process of 'deciding who gets what, where and when'. It's a fundamental activity this choosing, this deciding and it makes social, collective life possible. There are though many ways we can go about this deciding, many different uses and abuses of politics, many different political systems. So not only does the subject take us to the heart of a common human dilemma - who gets what where and when - it introduces us to a wide variety of political traditions, cultures and mechanisms.