Translator, Traditor: The Interpreter as Traitor in Classical Tradition

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL MAIRS
Keyword(s):  
Legal Action ◽  
British Government ◽  
Protection Scheme ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Press ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Subsequent Withdrawal ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Special Protection

In recent years, a series of reports have appeared in the British press about the fate of Iraqi interpreters employed by the British forces in Basra. As well as the day-to-day risk of death or injury in the course of their work, interpreters have been vulnerable to reprisals from insurgents who view them as collaborators and traitors. There have been a large number of documented cases of Iraqi interpreters being murdered, often in an especially brutal manner. Many other cases have gone undocumented, in part because of the tendency for interpreters to work under pseudonyms and even wear masks to conceal their identity, making it difficult to identify a particular victim as an interpreter. The issue of protecting interpreters came to a head in 2007 with the handover of Basra to Iraqi administration and the subsequent withdrawal of British troops. A special protection scheme was set up, whereby those who had worked for the British forces for twelve months would be eligible for resettlement in the United Kingdom. The issue, however, has remained a contentious one: many interpreters were ineligible for resettlement or did not want to move to the UK, and many of those who did accept resettlement found themselves economically disadvantaged and socially marginalized. One group of Iraqi interpreters have taken legal action against the British government.

scholarly journals Rhetorical uses of precise numbers and semi-magical round numbers in political discourse about COVID-19: Examples from the government of the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 095792652110131
Author(s):  
Michael Billig
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
British Government ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Round Numbers ◽  
Magical Power ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The 19Th Century

This paper examines how the British government has used statistics about COVID-19 for political ends. A distinction is made between precise and round numbers. Historically, using round numbers to estimate the spread of disease gave way in the 19th century to the sort precise, but not necessarily accurate, statistics that are now being used to record COVID-19. However, round numbers have continued to exert rhetorical, ‘semi-magical’ power by simultaneously conveying both quantity and quality. This is demonstrated in examples from the British government’s claims about COVID-19. The paper illustrates how senior members of the UK government use ‘good’ round numbers to frame their COVID-19 goals and to announce apparent achievements. These round numbers can provide political incentives to manipulate the production of precise number; again examples from the UK government are given.

EU signals flexibility over Northern Ireland protocol

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Legal Action ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Notable Change ◽  
The Uk

Significance However, there has been a notable change in the EU’s tone. In July, the European Commission unexpectedly paused legal action against the United Kingdom for an alleged breach of the NIP, and when London announced on September 6 that it was suspending key elements indefinitely, the EU’s response was muted. Impacts France is so deeply aggrieved over AUKUS that any further UK breaches of the Withdrawal Agreement could prompt a bad-tempered response. The possibility of an early assembly election in Northern Ireland would complicate EU-UK attempts to resolve the NIP issue. The exclusion of high profile, pro-EU politicians in the UK cabinet reshuffle shows how important the Brexit agenda remains for London.

Trabeculectomy bleb needling and antimetabolite administration practices in the UK: a glaucoma specialist national survey

2017 ◽  
Vol 102 (9) ◽  
pp. 1244-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Mercieca ◽  
Brett Drury ◽  
Archana Bhargava ◽  
Cecilia Fenerty
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Injection Technique ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Treatment Room ◽  
Corneal Toxicity ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Standard Techniques ◽  
Current Practices

AimsTo evaluate, describe and quantify the diversity in postoperative antimetabolite administration and bleb needling practices among glaucoma specialists performing trabeculectomy surgery within the UK and Ireland.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was distributed to all consultant glaucoma specialists who are on the United Kingdom and Eire Glaucoma Society (UKEGS) contact list. Participants were asked specific questions about their current practices for post-trabeculectomy antimetabolite administration followed by questions directly related to bleb needling procedures.Results60 (83%) of UKEGS glaucoma subspecialty consultants completed the survey. 70% of respondents administered 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in their clinic room while 30% used a separate treatment room. Doses of 5-FU varied considerably but 70% used 5 mg as standard. Techniques used to reduce corneal toxicity included precipitation with amethocaine (44%) or benoxinate (14%), saline wash (14%) and modified injection technique (8%). Topical antibiotics and/or betadine were used to prevent infection following 5-FU injection in just over 50%. Bleb needling was exclusively performed in operating theatre by 56% of respondents and solely at the slit lamp in the clinic room by 12%. A further 30% used a combination of both theatre and outpatient clinic rooms. Anti-metabolites used were 5-FU (72%) and mitomycin C (22%) with 12% using either of the two substances.ConclusionsThere is a significantly wide variety of current practices for antimetabolite administration and bleb needling within the UK and Ireland. This may be influenced by a glaucoma surgeon’s specific experience and audit results as well as particular clinical set-up, availability of antimetabolite and clinic room space.

scholarly journals (Re)imagining the ‘Backstreet’: Anti-abortion Campaigning against Decriminalisation in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pam Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
International Health ◽  
Moral Regulation ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Parliamentary Debate ◽  
Serious Injury ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk

The risk of death or serious injury from ‘backstreet abortions’ was an important narrative in the 20th century campaign to liberalise abortion in the UK. Since then, clinical developments have reduced the overall health risks of abortion, and international health organisations have been set up to provide cross-border, medically safe abortions to places where it is unlawful, offering advice and, where possible, supplying abortion pills. These changes mean that pro-choice campaigns in Europe have often moved away from the risks of ‘backstreet abortions’ as a central narrative when campaigning for abortion liberalisation. In contrast, in the UK, anti-abortion activists are increasingly using ideas about ‘backstreet abortions’ to resist further liberalisation. These claims can be seen to fit within a broader shift from morals to risk within moral regulation campaigns and build on anti-abortion messages framed as being ‘pro-women’, with anti-abortion activists claiming to be the ‘savers’ of women. Using a parliamentary debate as a case study, this article will illustrate these trends and show how the ‘backstreet’ metaphor within anti-abortion campaigns builds on three interconnected themes of ‘abortion-as-harmful’, ‘abortion industry’, and ‘abortion culture’. This article will argue that the anti-abortion movement’s adoption of risk-based narratives contains unresolved contradictions due to the underlying moral basis of their position. These are exacerbated by the need, in this case, to defend legislation that they fundamentally disagree with. Moreover, their attempts to construct identifiable ‘harms’ and vulnerable ‘victims’, which are components of moral regulation campaigns, are unlikely to be convincing in the context of widespread public support for abortion.

Gender Equality at the Test of Sharia Councils in the UK

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-86
Author(s):  
Louisa Perreau
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
British Government ◽  
Family Services ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Abortion Laws ◽  
The Uk

As the saying goes ‘good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere!’, whose origin is uncertain, sometimes attributed to American actress and screenwriter Mae West, sometimes to editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurvey Brown, it was taken up as a slogan by feminists who denounce the sexual norm imposed on women by religions. At a time when the influence of religious fundamentalism on State policies seems to be gaining ground (retreat on abortion laws in the United States, in Poland; Sharia courts in Great Britain, etc.), the object of this research note will be to question the articulations between British Muslim women, State multiculturalism and legislation. In Britain, since the 1980s, a network of sharia councils has developed to resolve disputes between Muslims, including resolving family problems. Sharia councils thus reveal the place of Muslim women in the United Kingdom on the issue of divorce. Extremely patriarchal, rarely feminist, often undemocratic, the sharia councils appear as places of power. The latter are often compared to Islamic courts, so-called ‘counseling’ religious services or ‘Islamic family services’ to which Muslims wishing to respect divine law and their religious precepts go – especially women. What does this mean for British Muslim women who use these services? How is the British government responding?

scholarly journals Politics and the media in Australia and the United Kingdom: parallels and contrasts

2018 ◽  
Vol 167 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Ivor Gaber ◽  
Rodney Tiffen
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
British Broadcasting Corporation ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Media ◽  
British Press ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
The Uk

Australia and Britain share many common aspects in their democratic political and media systems, but there are also important differences. Perhaps the single most important media difference is that television has been a much more important element in the UK political communication system than it has been in Australia. The British Broadcasting Corporation is a much bigger and more central institution than the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and commercial TV in Britain has a much stronger public service mandate. The British press has a national structure which can give it a substantive collective role, although its right-wing dominance means it has been a less-than-benign influence on public life. Both countries are facing rapid changes, with partisan political divisions in flux and the digital environment disrupting traditional media models. In this article, we seek to interrogate the commonalities and differences between the media and political systems operating in Australia and the United Kingdom. After tracing some important differences in their institutional structures, the dominant theme of our later analysis is that in both systems, and in both countries, the overarching narrative is one of disruption. And we pose the question – Will the current disruptions widen or narrow these differences?

The National Institute of Oceanography

Polar Record ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 6 (41) ◽  
pp. 88-90
Author(s):  
G. E. R. Deacon
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Marine Biology ◽  
National Committee ◽  
British Government ◽  
Marine Biological ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Biological Aspects ◽  
Set Up

In 1944 Vice-Admiral Sir John Edgell, K.B.E., C.B., F.R.S., then Hydrographer of the Navy, advised the British Government that in its contribution to research in oceanography this country had fallen seriously behind other countries, including many which had no comparable traditions of interest in the oceans and their navigation, and that an oceanographical institute should be set up in Great Britain. The subject was referred to the Royal Society, and the Oceanographical Sub-Committee of the National Committee for Geodesy and Geophysics showed itself, in a report which was accepted by the Society, to be strongly in favour of setting up a national oceanographical institute. It urged the primary need for researches of physical character because marine physical investigations had taken a secondary place to marine biology ever since the Challenger Expedition of 1872–76, and because the biological aspects were well looked after by existing authorities such as the Marine Biological Associations of the United Kingdom and Scotland, the Fisheries Laboratories at Lowestoft and Aberdeen, the Discovery Investigations, and marine biological laboratories associated with universities.

Focus: Fit for work?

English Today ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-53
Author(s):  
Angela P. Cheater
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Group ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Private Business ◽  
Eu Legislation ◽  
Track Record ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Press ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Medium Businesses ◽  
The Eu

‘UK school leavers a dismal failure’: conclusion of a survey of employer opinion on communicative and related skills. Most of the text (unadapted) of a British press release sent to ET in Nov 05 by the Forum of Private Business (FPB), a pressure group formed in 1977 that represents c.25,000 UK-based small and medium businesses (SMEs) employing over half a million people, for which it lobbies in both the United Kingdom and the European Union at large. The FPB claims ‘a track record of positively affecting [EU] legislation prior to its introduction in the UK’ (and elsewhere in the EU).

MODELLING STATE-CONTINGENT FISCAL RULES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

2020 ◽  
Vol 254 ◽  
pp. R41-R53
Author(s):  
Jamie Rush
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Fiscal Rules ◽  
Output Gap ◽  
Gdp Growth ◽  
British Government ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Solution Methods ◽  
Binding Constraints ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Occasionally Binding Constraints

I assess a novel rule that was introduced in the UK in 2015. It gave the British government fiscal flexibility whenever GDP growth warranted it. This rule lasted just a year, but it had features worth exploring. I apply solution methods for models with occasionally-binding constraints to assess the demand stabilisation properties of state-contingent fiscal rules. First it is shown that fiscal flexibility can make recessions shallower. Second, it is suggested that GDP growth, rather than measures of the output gap, is a better indicator for triggering fiscal flexibility.

scholarly journals Greenhouse gas measurements from a UK network of tall towers: technical description and first results

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran M. Stanley ◽  
Aoife Grant ◽  
Simon O'Doherty ◽  
Dickon Young ◽  
Alistair J. Manning ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
First Results ◽  
Gas Measurements ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Tall Tower

Abstract. A network of tall tower measurement stations was set up in 2012 across the United Kingdom to expand measurements made at the long-term background northern hemispheric site, Mace Head, Ireland. Reliable and precise in situ greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis systems were developed and deployed at three sites in the UK with automated custom-built instrumentation measuring a suite of GHGs. The UK Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (UK DECC) network uses tall (165–230 m) open lattice telecommunications towers, which provide a convenient platform for boundary layer trace gas sampling. In this paper we describe the automated measurement system and first results from the UK DECC network for CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6, CO and H2. CO2 and CH4 are measured at all of the UK DECC sites by cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) with multiple inlet heights at two of the three tall tower sites to assess for boundary layer stratification. The long-term 1-minute mean precisions (1σ) of CRDS measurements at background mole fractions for January 2012 to September 2015 is

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