However, little is currently known about how beginning teachers themselves use agency, efficacy and resilience (AER) when taking up their initial appointments. This study partially addresses this gap in research, focusing on the experiences, perceptions and feelings of a particular group of novice teachers during initial year of teaching. Their experiences were recorded as conversational entries on a self-initiated group email site over the course of a single year. The participants' exchanges documented their experiences as they journeyed through five discrete phases of development, those of anticipation, survival, disillusionment, rejuvenation, and reflection, that typify a teacher's first year (Moir, 1999).

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This article contributes to a burgeoning literature on political leadership, offering an interim assessment of Jeremy Corbyn's tenure as leader of the UK Labour party. At the time of writing, the candidate of the party's Left had been leader for a mere seven months. Media commentators and pundits have been critical of Corbyn's platform and performance, gleefully predicting his imminent demise. On the other hand, the 'Corbynistas' who swelled Labour's ranks in the aftermath of the 2015 defeat have remained steadfast and committed supporters. Their hope is not only that Labour will win the next election, but that Corbyn can recast the landscape of British politics by challenging the economic and political establishment which has assented to the growth of inequality and austerity.

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Those policy-makers and practitioners who have contact with civil servants and Ministers need to comprehend the more fluid and unpredictable policy environment that is emerging at various tiers of UK governance, shaped by a multiplicity of actors sitting within, and outside, the formal boundaries of the state. The diverse ecology of policy-making institutions includes think-tanks, research institutes, non-governmental organisations, charities, community groups, management consultancies, and professional services companies, all of whom are involved to an unprecedented extent in directly providing policy advice to Ministers. The 'monopoly' over policy-making traditionally enjoyed by the Whitehall civil service can no longer be taken for granted. A subtle but perceptible shift is occurring whereby elected politicians and their advisers are gaining greater control over the policy-making processes of the UK state.