scholarly journals Building the UK vision of a driverless future: A Parliamentary Inquiry case study

Author(s):  
Chris Tennant ◽  
Susan Howard ◽  
Sally Stares

AbstractThe UK Government has endorsed the case for autonomous vehicle (AV) technology and its economic benefits in its industrial strategies since 2013. In late 2016 the Science and Technology Committee in the House of Lords (the legislature’s upper chamber) conducted an Inquiry into the policy. We conduct a content analysis of the text corpus of the Inquiry. Drawing from theories of sociotechnical change we explore how it contributes to building a vision of a future AV world embedded in a national economic and technological project. The technology is framed as a solution to societal grand challenges and the Inquiry corpus is dominated by actors committed to the project. Alternative visions, including sceptical interpretations, are present in the corpus, but rare, reflecting the selection process for contributions to the Inquiry. Predominantly, the corpus represents the public as deficient: dangerous drivers, unaware of promised benefits and unduly anxious about the unfamiliar. Their views are marginal in this Parliamentary Inquiry’s findings. AV technology is one of several possible means to pursue wider mobility policy goals of greater safety, affordability, access and sustainability. Our analysis suggests that the pursuit of an AV future risks becoming a goal in itself instead of a means to these broader societal goals.

Author(s):  
Deborah Peel ◽  
Greg Lloyd

The global connectivity, experience and opportunities afforded by the expansion of modern informational mobility is particularly evident in the sustained expansion of mobile, cell and smart phones which are held to offer important social and economic benefits to individuals, businesses and governments. In practical terms, these are held to provide greater spatial mobility and connectivity, whilst potentially contributing to economic competitiveness, social emancipation, and territorial cohesion. Yet, the invisible connectivity afforded by such devices necessitates a visible physical infrastructure in rural and urban localities. This chapter discusses the technological, environmental and socio-economic implications of providing a mobile telephony infrastructure through a case study of the land use planning regulatory framework in the UK. Specific reference is made to Scotland which introduced statutory planning regulation in the public interest. This chapter explores the theoretical dimensions of the regulatory challenge of mobile telephony from a public and private perspective.


2004 ◽  
Vol 06 (02) ◽  
pp. 189-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK LEMON ◽  
PAUL JEFFREY ◽  
BRIAN S. MCINTOSH ◽  
TIM OXLEY

Participation has become part of the language of environmental management. While this move is positive there remains a danger that overly formalised and restricted participatory procedures, in terms of the information sought, may constrain and hinder dialogue and learning between the public and management agencies. Responses to specific issues are often sought from members of the public without a clear understanding about whether those issues are salient to them, where they are salient or how they fit into multiple and dynamic interpretations of environmental change. This paper uses case study material from the UK to demonstrate a novel Pathways Approach to the recording and analysis of individual perceptions about environmental change. The approach seeks to concentrate on experience and interpretation and is based on the conceptualisation of perceived cause–effect relationships and the pathways that support them. The links between time, space and community are considered within this analysis, as is the potential for improved participation through the provision of policy relevant information to planners and environmental managers operating in complex, multi-perspective situations.


Author(s):  
Michael Hardman ◽  
Mags Adams ◽  
Melissa Barker ◽  
Luke Beesley

With the concept of Urban Agriculture (UA) growing in popularity, more cities and towns are exploring opportunities to enable the practice and transform neglected spaces into havens for produce. This chapter provides an insight into one such town, Todmorden and its Incredible Edible movement, located in the heart of England. This chapter adopts a qualitative approach to critically exploring the IET movement and to understand its impact on Todmorden. We engaged with key actors and the public in order to ascertain views towards the schemes, analysing the positives and negatives of the model. Findings revealed that the scheme has an overwhelmingly positive impact on the town, with social, environmental and economic benefits. Furthermore, it was made clear that IET is helping to create a more just food movement in Todmorden, particularly through its free for all philosophy. However, some negatives were also highlighted during the course of the research, predominately around maintenance issues and a lack of perceived inclusivity in parts. Overall, the scheme was highly valued and seen as a powerful method for growing the wider UA movement; recommendations centred on further replicating the model and helping local food to prosper in similar locations globally.


2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo Russo

Mars Express is the first planetary mission accomplished by the European Space Agency (ESA). Launched in early June 2003, the spacecraft entered Mars's orbit on Christmas day of that year, demonstrating the new European commitment to planetary exploration. Following a failed attempt in the mid-1980s, two valid proposals for a European mission to Mars were submitted to ESA's decision-making bodies in the early 1990s, in step with renewed international interest in Mars exploration. Both were rejected, however, in the competitive selection process for the agency's Science Programme. Eventually, the Mars Express proposal emerged during a severe budgetary crisis in the mid-1990s as an exemplar of a “flexible mission” that could reduce project costs and development time. Its successful maneuvering through financial difficulties and conflicting scientific interests was due to the new management approach as well as to the public appeal of Mars exploration. In addition to providing a case study in the functioning of the ESA's Science Programme, the story of Mars Express discussed in this paper provides a case study in the functioning of the European Space Agency's Science Programme and suggests some general considerations on the peculiar position of space research in the general field of the history of science and technology.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Button ◽  
Chris Lewis ◽  
David Shepherd ◽  
Graham Brooks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges of measuring fraud in overseas aid. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on 21 semi-structured interviews with key persons working in the delivery of aid in both the public and voluntary sectors. It uses the UK Department for International Development as a case study to applying more accurate measures of fraud. Findings – This paper shows there are significant challenges to using fraud loss measurement to gauge fraud in overseas aid. However, it argues that, along with other types of measures, it could be used in areas of expenditure in overseas governments and charities to measure aid. Given the high risk of such aid to fraud, it argues helping to develop capacity to reduce aid, of which measuring the size of the problem is an important part; this could be considered as aid in its own right. Research limitations/implications – The researchers were not able to visit high-risk countries for fraud to examine in the local context views on the challenges of measuring fraud. Practical implications – The paper offers insights on the challenges to accurately measuring fraud in an overseas context, which will be useful to policy-makers in this context. Social implications – Given the importance of as much aid as possible reaching recipients, it offers an important contribution to helping to reduce losses in this important area. Originality/value – There has been very little consideration of how to measure fraud in the overseas aid context, with most effort aimed at corruption, which poses some of the same challenges, as well as some very different challenges.


Author(s):  
Poorna Mysoor

This chapter addresses policy-based implied bare licences. Unlike in the previous chapter, there is no contract in existence and no voluntariness on the part of the copyright owner, and indeed in some cases, no prior relationship between the parties. Historically, English common law has recognised an open-ended power of the courts to restrict or prevent copyright enforcement in the public interest, which has been acknowledged under section 171(3) of the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. The chapter considers how a successful invocation of this provision implies a bare licence to achieve policy goals. Although there is no statutory equivalent of this provision in other common law jurisdictions considered here, the chapter explores if the power has nevertheless been exercised by the courts based on their inherent powers. Since policy-based implied bare licences produce the same effect on copyright owners as the statutory limitations or exceptions, the framework for implying this type of licence draws inspiration from the three-step test and the fundamental rights regime.


Public Law ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 443-482
Author(s):  
Andrew Le Sueur ◽  
Maurice Sunkin ◽  
Jo Eric Khushal Murkens

This chapter looks at the circumstances surrounding two events. The first is the 2005 decision of the UK Parliament to set up a committee to examine whether the constitutional conventions governing the relationship between the House of Lords and the House of Commons should be codified. The second is the decision of the Commons (and the Labour government) to press ahead and present the Hunting Bill 2004 for royal assent despite the opposition of the Lords to the policy of a total ban on hunting wild animals with dogs; the Lords preferred a policy of licensed hunting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 288-310
Author(s):  
Natalie Sedacca

Domestic workers are mainly women, are disproportionately from ethnic minorities and/or international migrants, and are vulnerable to mistreatment, often receiving inadequate protection from labour legislation. This article addresses ways in which the conditions faced by migrant domestic workers can prevent their enjoyment of the right to private and family life. It argues that the focus on this right is illuminating as it allows for the incorporation of issues that are not usually within the remit of labour law into the discussion of working rights, such as access to family reunification, as well as providing for a different perspective on the question of limits on working time – a core labour right that is often denied to domestic workers. These issues are analysed by addressing a case study each from Latin America and Europe, namely Chile and the UK. The article considers impediments to realising the right to private and family life stemming both from the literal border – the operation of immigration controls and visa conditions – and from the figurative border which exists between domestic work and other types of work, reflected in the conflation of domestic workers with family members and stemming from the public/private sphere divide.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (01) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Arih Diyaning Intiasari ◽  
Laksono Trisnantoro ◽  
Julita Hendrartini

The increase in the budget deficit BPJS in the first 3 years of implementation JKN require special attention. One of the problems in the implementation of JKN is high late payment of premiums by the participants of the Non PBI Mandiri. The purpose of this study was to determine the participants' perceptions of Non PBI Mandiri to the recommendations transition strategy JKN premium payer. This study is a policy with qualitative descriptive approach. The study design used policy aims to draw up a recommendation is the Case Study on the phenomenon of late payment of premiums. Depth interviews with 11 informants participants Independent Non PBI done with purposive sampling quota system. The result showed that the presence of positive consequences as the public response to the concept of a transitional strategy premium payer. Participants claimed to be greatly assisted if the program was held because it can ease the burden of their medical expenses when his advanced age and does not have income again, providing peace in the certainty of change of insurer premiums in non-productive age. Conclusion of the study were breakthrough made in a transitional strategy premium payer has received positive responses from the public policy goals.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haider Ilyas ◽  
Ahmed Anwar ◽  
Ussama Yaqub ◽  
Zamil Alzamil ◽  
Deniz Appelbaum

Purpose This paper aims to understand, examine and interpret the main concerns and emotions of the people regarding COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, the USA and India using Data Science measures. Design/methodology/approach This study implements unsupervised and supervised machine learning methods, i.e. topic modeling and sentiment analysis on Twitter data for extracting the topics of discussion and calculating public sentiment. Findings Governments and policymakers remained the focus of public discussion on Twitter during the first three months of the pandemic. Overall, public sentiment toward the pandemic remained neutral except for the USA. Originality/value This paper proposes a Data Science-based approach to better understand the public topics of concern during the COVID-19 pandemic.


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