Book excerpt: This student text brings together and discusses different principles and ideas that are used in the description of policy making and administration in Britain. These include Collective Responsibility, Individual Ministerial Responsibility, Arms Lenght Control, Organisation by Function, Judicial Review of Administration. The problem for those advancing these concepts and those receiving them, is that there is a massive gap between theory and practice. Grant Jordan reassesses the tool kit of terms to help students achieve a more practical understanding of modern British administration.