As Trainor shows in his article in the book reviewed here, the notion that this was a period of decline from the 'golden age' of the late 19th century, simply will not do. There were some clues in this collection, though perhaps not spelt out fully. The articles that looked at regulatory professional bodies and arbitration boards were 19th century based but not as tangential to the book as Doyle implies. Such agencies were probably increasingly important for power and decision making in the 20th century city, hence these studies have lessons for the historian of the 20th century. It is easy to see the period after 1920 as more of the same with local authority housing and planning added in and there was considerable continuity.
Discontinuity tends to have a less specific urban focus.
This is evident in some of the newer the agencies of governance. The journey from the poor law to the NHS and DHSS is one worth reflecting upon. There is a need to identify the new but this is problematic because the new tended to lack identity with the specific urban place. Technology and media presents other problems for the urban historian. When Newcastle United Football Club won the FA cup in 1924, the crowds in Newcastle gathered around the newspaper offices to hear the score from the telegraph, whilst in 1932 Jack Allan's dad was doing his delivery round and people ran out of their houses to tell him that his son had scored the winning goal.