Britain’s prison system is in crisis. Prisoners catatonic on Spice, prison officers under extreme stress, overcrowding, riots, fatal stabbings – barely a week goes by without disturbing reports reaching the outside world of life inside our jails. For eleven years, Neil Samworth worked as a prison officer in perhaps the most notorious of all prisons, Strangeways, now HM Prison Manchester. He left in 2016 and, having kept a diary for many years, is ready to tell his story. Strangeways: My Life As A Prison Officer is a no-holds-barred account of one man’s struggle to keep his professional composure and sanity in one of Britain’s toughest jails. From the chaotic, intimidating atmosphere of K wing, which houses more than 200 prisoners spread over three landings, to the healthcare unit where the prison’s most mentally disturbed prisoners are held, Neil has seen it all – cell fires, suicides, terrifying violence. He has had to beat back his own emotions as he deals with psychopathic killers and witnessed the worst of human nature but also the best, and some of the most moving passages in the book recall the embattled camaraderie among his colleagues.

A darkly funny, harrowing and heartbreaking look at the reality of prison life, with first-hand accounts from men who found themselves on the wrong side of the cell doors. Neil ‘Sam’ Samworth spent eleven years as a prison officer at HMP Manchester, better known as Strangeways. He has seen it all: from notorious criminals, dangerous gangsters and repeat offenders to those who simply made the wrong decisions. In this shocking page-turner, he tracks down former prisoners and staff, and uncovers the inside story of what life is really like in one of the UK’s most infamous high-security prisons. We’ll see a prisoner whose unwanted feud with an inmate ends in a fight and the loss of his eye, another who is convicted for theft but leaves addicted to spice, and many who become victims of the Imprisonment for Public Protection system where they find themselves serving indefinite sentences for petty crimes. We’ll see the dark underworld of the prison system, where riots can occur at any time, where the worlds of gangbangers suddenly collide, where class A drugs and contrabands roam. On the other side, we’ll see staff grappling with a failing prison system, while dealing with an inmate who records the highest ever psychopath rating and caring fully for men with mental health issues. In brutally raw and gripping detail, Strangeways Unlocked gives voice to the people behind the bars and exposes a prison system that is failing them, providing an unforgettable account of a life that many can only imagine.

Measurements of natural phenomena are vital for any type of environmental monitoring, from the practical day-to-day management of rivers and agriculture, and weather forecasting, through to longer-term assessment of climate change and glacial retreat. This book looks at past, present and future measurement techniques, describing the operation of the instruments used and the quality and accuracy of the data they produce. The book will be important for all those who use or collect such data, whether for pure research or day-to-day management of the environment. It will be useful for students and professionals working in a wide range of environmental science: meteorology, climatology, hydrology, water resources, oceanography, civil engineering, agriculture, forestry, glaciology, ecology. The first edition received excellent reviews and this new edition has been expanded considerably, through the addition of six new chapters and the extension and modification of many of the existing chapters.

Precipitation plays a significant role in the climate system, and this book is the first to provide a comprehensive examination of the processes involved in the generation of clouds, rain, snow and hail; how precipitation is measured; how its distribution has changed over time; and how we still need to make improvements to the way precipitation is measured. It traces our attempts to understand what clouds are, from ancient Greeks to the present day. It also discusses developments in the measurement of precipitation, from rain gauges to satellite techniques, and how these measurements have enabled researchers to estimate global trends, totals, variability and extremes of precipitation. This will be a valuable and fascinating reference for academic researchers in the fields of environmental science and climatology. It will also be of great interest to professionals in water resource and flood management.

The first in the series featuring a madcap pair of amateur sleuths and a delightful outpouring of upper-class English eccentricities - with the odd murder thrown in! Praise for Andrea Frazer's twisty and compelling crime novels: ***** 'Brilliant book, look forward to reading the others in the series. A great story, loved reading it...' Reader Review ***** 'A very nicely written 'tongue in cheek' story with the most unlikely hero and heroine as aged super sleuths... Very enjoyable read' Reader Review ***** 'Loved this story... Look forward to others in the series' Reader Review ***** 'Loved this book... The characters were absolutely brilliant... Well done Andrea Frazer. Highly recommended' Reader Review ***** ' ...I LOVED it... I have read all Andrea Frazer's books and cannot wait for the next one... Buy all Andrea's books - such fun, you won't be disappointed' Reader Review _________ Lady Amanda Golightly of Belchester Towers is a person in complete contrast to the stereotypical image of one of her breeding. She is short, portly, and embarrassingly forthright. If she wasn't calling a spade a shovel, it was only because she was calling it 'trumps'! On a visit to a local nursing home where an old business partner of her father's is residing, she unexpectedly discovers a long-lost friend, Hugo Cholmondley-Crichton-Crump - and stumbles upon murder as well. Installing Hugo in the more civilised and comfortable surroundings of Belchester Towers, the pair turn to sleuthing after Lady Amanda reports her appalling discovery to the local police inspector and is incensed when he treats her as a silly old biddy with an over-active imagination. Her outrage prompts her to teach the impertinent young whipper-snapper a lesson, and she and Hugo (Zimmer frame in tow) embark upon their first investigation, only for murder to become a distressingly frequent occurrence...