This study assessed the applicability of the grief process to job loss. A pilot study of 10 unemployed men was used to establish a structured interview, and its content analysis, based on a description of the grief process derived from studies of bereavement. Other measures assessed the degree of attachment to the former job. The main study involved 60 men who had lost their jobs during the previous eight years. Individual grief items were found in some of these people, varying in frequency from 10 to 80 per cent. Principal components analysis revealed a general grief component, representing most of the specific items. Twenty-seven per cent of the sample fulfilled a criterion for a clear grief-like response. An overall grief score based on the interview answers was significantly correlated with three different measures of job attachment, and also with questionnaire measures of depression and anxiety. These measures were unrelated to the length of time since job loss, apparently providing no support for stage theories or for more general assumptions of adaptation. However, the cross-sectional nature of the sample complicates this conclusion.

The authors contest a politician's claim that the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) in English primary schools has been an undisputed success with no contribution from educational researchers. First, the key role of researchers and research in the development of the NNS is outlined. Then there is a description of the Leverhulme Numeracy Research Programme, a linked set of research studies combining a largescale longitudinal survey and qualitative case studies. Results suggest that the NNS had a positive but small effect on numeracy standards, but that there are many schools, children and areas of mathematics for whom the effect has been negligible or negative. The discussion of reasons for this relates to evidence from the Leverhulme Programme and elsewhere about the effects of different factors on attainment. Finally, there is some question of whether government and government agencies are being completely open about the evidence of effectiveness of the NNS.

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