AbstractThis paper reviews a number of themes or subject areas in British industrial relations which attained a particular level of prominence in 1991. The leading themes covered are wage determination in the context of recession, public‐sector industrial relations, union recognition and derecognition developments, training, HRM competitive strategy and international joint ventures. Among the personal observations and comments made are that derecognition is far from being the most important indicator of management opposition to unions, that some criticisms of HRM are rather misplaced, and that the growth of international joint ventures warrants more attention from industrial relations researcher