Rogues of the Racecourse

This article focuses on the reporting of racecourse crime, exploring the shifting cultural contexts in which the press constructed outbreaks of metropolitan gang-related crime. The first part of the article looks at the extended coverage of what became known as the ‘racecourse wars’, concentrating on three key themes which permeate the accounts of racecourse crime between 1920 and 1925: the organisation of crime, the use of firearms and the mobility of criminals. The coverage of these events, which can be traced across a number of different newspapers, was often described in ways that reflected concerns about the organisation and professionalisation of crime. After 1925, despite continuing outbreaks of violence and racecourse-related crime, the press coverage subsided. However, in 1936 the racing men once again became ‘folk devils’, and the final part of the article explores the re-emergence of press reportage by considering the responses to the Lewes Racecourse Affray in June 1936. In this latter period, the rising influence of the American gangster film (as well as coverage of events in American cities such as New York and Chicago) meant that a newer language of gangsterdom would become increasingly embedded in British cultural forms.     

Assistant/deputy principals: what are their perceptions of their role?

The roles and aspirations of Assistant/Deputy Principals (AP/DPs) have received attention for a number of decades. In contrast to much of the reported research that either highlights the administrative and management tasks or foregrounds principal succession, we explore levels of satisfaction that play into DP/APs’ interpretations of the realities of their professional experiences during everyday work. Job choice theory provided us with the theoretical resources for the exploration. Our study found that half of all participants perceived their job as a legitimate terminal career. They expressed immense satisfaction in the role, perceived the role as offering a sufficiently high level of challenge without the demands of ultimate leadership responsibility and identified interpersonal relationships, particularly those within the senior leadership team, as the most significant dimension in the role. However, the study has also highlighted that without the support of induction programmes, mentoring support and in-depth leadership training, for many AP/DPs ‘on the job’ training is the only means of learning available to support their professional development in the AP/DP role.