scholarly journals Its scouse soldier’s lad init! An examination of modern Urban street gangs on Merseyside

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Francis Hesketh
Keyword(s):  
Young Women ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Urban Street ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Criminal Involvement ◽  
Organised Crime Groups ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the emergence of the contemporary Urban Street Gang (USG) on Merseyside. In terms of gang scholarship in the UK, Merseyside has been greatly neglected despite regular reports in national mainstream media that suggest Merseyside USGs represent some of the most criminally active and violent members in the UK. Design/methodology/approach A specific methodology has been omitted because the author while providing a viewpoint from Hesketh (2018), also wishes to encapsulate observations from the remaining two pieces of research conducted on Merseyside (Smithson et al., 2009; Robinson, 2018). For this reason, a summary of the methods used in each of the three studies is provided. Findings The paper will highlight observations drawn from all three research studies that were prevalent with USG members throughout the Merseyside county at the time of each study. They include aspects surrounding territoriality, belonging and identity through dress style as well as USG structures and motivation for joining. In particular, the paper will address also address the role of drugs which has transformed the structural make-up of many Merseyside USGs from relatively loosely knit-street corner groups involved in anti-social behaviour (ASB) to more structural-deviant entrepreneurial enterprises. Research limitations/implications The paper calls for more research to be carried out on Merseyside. Limitations would include the omission of young women in each of the three studies. Practical implications The practical implications are as follows: a need to focus on the impact of bridging within excluded communities; a need to focus on emphasising that drug dealing is a crime that carries serious consequences, and not a form of work (grafting); a need to focus on young women and criminal involvement; and a need to concentrate on developing strategies that counter the allure and attraction of risk-taking behaviour. Social implications The paper addresses the impact of social exclusion and the need for equality to counter young people becoming involved in criminality and gangs as well as adult organised crime groups. Originality/value The paper is based on what have been so far the only three in-depth studies carried out on Merseyside.

scholarly journals An uncertain, erratic story: the pandemic in the UK

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-555
Author(s):  
Irvine Lapsley
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Account ◽  
Reform Processes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the pandemic from the perspective of the UK health-care system and risk management. Design/methodology/approach This paper follows a storytelling perspective. The author reflects on his experiences through the lens of research on health care and risk management. Findings The impact of the pandemic has been so massive that it has challenged the capacity of the UKs National Health Service. The political influences at work have not always promoted best practice in risk management and indicate blame-avoidance strategies by politicians. Research limitations/implications A single country experience of COVID-19. Practical implications There are major issues of asset management, of delays in decision-making, of supply chain problems and the need to reform processes of handling of crisis management. Originality/value This is an individual account of experiences of the pandemic.

Fifty years of the UK Misuse of Drugs Act 1971: the legislative contexts

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blaine Stothard
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the history of relevant legislation before and after the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). Design/methodology/approach A chronological narrative of laws and reports with concluding discussion. Findings That UK legislators have not made use of the evidence base available to them and have favoured enforcement rather than treatment approaches. That current UK practice has exacerbated not contain the use of and harms caused by illegal drugs. Research limitations/implications The paper does not cover all relevant documents, especially those from non-governmental sources. Practical implications The practical implications centre on the failure of consecutive governments to reflect on and review the impact of current legislation, especially on people who use drugs. Social implications That the situations of people who use drugs are currently ignored by the government and those proven responses which save lives and reduce harm are rejected. Originality/value The paper attempts to show the historical contexts of control and dangerousness of which the MDA is one instrument.

The changing tax environment for the UK hedge fund sector

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-29
Author(s):  
Dana Ward
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Hedge Fund ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Firm ◽  
Investment Manager ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to summarize the main conditions that a UK investment manager has to meet in order to benefit from a UK tax exemption known as the Investment Manager Exemption (IME) and comment on the key developments introduced in the revised Statement of Practice.Design/methodology/approachProvides background explaining legislation that defines the IME and its Qualifying Conditions and then goes on to explain the impact of the revised Statement of PracticeFindingsThe IME is an exemption for non‐residents trading in certain investments in the UK where that trade is carried on through an investment manager. The IME was introduced in order to promote investment activities in the UK by providing some degree of certainty on the tax treatment of UK managers who manage offshore trading funds. The original Statement of Practice 01/2001 (SP 01/01) was issued by HMRC to provide guidance on the application of the legislation and, more specifically, on how the conditions in relation to the IME are satisfied. The policy aims of the revised Statement of Practice are to improve the IME and also to meet new developments in the investment management industry, thus providing more certainty in relation to the scope and application of the rules.Practical implicationsIt is critical that processes are in place to demonstrate satisfaction of the Qualifying Conditions for the tax exemption; and in particular, contemporaneous and detailed transfer pricing documentation needs to be in place for all but the simplest of structures.Originality/valuePractical guidance from a tax partner of a leading accounting firm.

What is happening to leadership in health care?

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 82-89
Author(s):  
Valerie Iles
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Set ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Healthcare Leaders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the challenges facing leaders in health care, to explore the impact of these on the choices available to healthcare leaders, and to re-visit the nature of leadership in general. It identifies a distinction between care that is a set of auditable transactions and care that is also a covenant, and suggests that leadership too can be practised in these distinctively different ways. It draws on a three year learning set of senior practitioners in the NHS in England. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on the authors own observations over 25 years of educating and developing clinical leaders, and also on the insights of a learning set of senior NHS practitioners over a three period. Findings – The paper provides empirical insights about how both health care and leadership have changed over the last 30 years, and proposes that treating either of them as a set of auditable transactions in a market place results in dissatisfied leaders as well as practitioners, and that a covenant of both care and leadership needs to be understood and established. Research limitations/implications – Observations have been limited to the NHS in the UK although there are indications that the issues are of wider applicability. Practical implications – The paper includes implications for the behaviours of those leading health care organisations, those being led, and those influencing the context. Originality/value – This paper challenges prevailing definitions of leadership and prevailing explanations for difficulties in health care organisations.

scholarly journals The performance of a blended real estate portfolio for UK DC investors

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Moss ◽  
Kieran Farrelly
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Pension Fund ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Real Estate ◽  
Specific Investment ◽  
Risk Return ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Investment Requirement ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the performance implications for UK DC pension fund investors who choose to combine global listed and UK unlisted real estate in a blended allocation relative to a pure unlisted solution. Design/methodology/approach – Blended listed and unlisted real estate portfolios are constructed. Investor risk and returns are then studied over the full 15 year sample horizon and distinct cyclical phases over this period using a number of risk-return metrics. Performance is then contrasted with that of a pure unlisted solution, as well as UK equity market and bond total returns over the same period. Findings – A UK DC pension fund investor choosing to construct a blended global listed and UK unlisted real estate portfolio would have experienced material return enhancement relative to a pure unlisted solution. The “price” of this enhanced performance and improved liquidity profile is, unsurprisingly, higher portfolio volatility. However, because of the improved returns, the impact upon measured risk adjusted returns is less significant. Practical implications – Relatively liquid blended listed and unlisted real estate portfolios create efficient risk and return outcomes for investors. Originality/value – This study uses actual fund rather than index data (i.e. measures delivered returns to investors), has chosen a global rather than single country listed real estate allocation and is focused on providing clarity around the real estate exposure for a specific investment requirement, the UK DC pension fund market.

Energy performance certificates in the context of sustainability and the impact on valuations

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 446-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Turley ◽  
Sarah Sayce
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Minimum Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The Government of UK is committed to reducing Green House Gas emissions by 80 per cent based on the 1990 levels, by 2050. In order to achieve this reduction, the UK Government, along with their European counterparts, have implemented various directives and incentives, which progressively and incrementally are intended to move them towards this target. One such directive is the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which sets the policy for achievement. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper seeks to examine the complexities of these changes when considered against the real world use and operation of buildings, most particularly at lease end. It explores the inter-relationship of landlord and tenant at lease expiry and renewal. Findings – It argues that the Energy Act regulations might have significant impact on the actions of landlords and tenants; both in advance of and shortly after the lease is determined. Practical implications – One of the key mechanisms contained within this directive for the reduction in emissions is the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). An EPC must be produced where a building is being constructed, rented or sold. EPCs rate buildings on their asset energy performance and in conjunction with building regulations are becoming increasingly more stringent to achieve targets. Regulations under the Energy Act 2011, due to take effect from April 2018, will mean that it will be unlawful to let or re-let a building which fails to reach minimum energy performances standards, currently defined as an E rating; further it is intended that the regulations will extend to all lettings from 2023. Originality/value – This paper looks at the inter-relationship of landlord and tenant at lease expiry and renewal with the proposed directives on EPCs.

Windmills in cyberspace

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
Peter Buell Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
Community Institutions ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to stimulate an urgent dialogue about the impact of automated opinion engines (“bots”) on the functioning of public institutions in democratic societies. While the use of political bots may or may not have influenced the recent US presidential election or the UK “Brexit” referendum, it is believed that the implications of the use of political bots are more broadly troubling. There is an urgent need for common standards to prevent the abuse of these powerful digital tools. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a review of recent pieces describing political bots and attempts to extrapolate our learnings from recent political campaigns to the broader context of the discussion of all public issues. Findings It was found that the use of political bots has a powerful ability to manipulate public opinion and could easily infect the totality of public discourse. Research limitations/implications The core data on which the author’s discussion is based are limited to primary research by a small number of data scientists. This pool needs to be significantly expanded. Practical implications The insights the author proposes should serve to stimulate an organized effort to develop common standards for the use of and to prevent the abuse of these automated opinion tools. Social implications Unless an effort along these lines is made, distrust in all democratic and transparent institutions is highly likely to decrease. Originality/value While much has been written about bots in politics, the author believes that this is the first attempt to trace the dangers of bots across a much broader set of community institutions.

Openness and innovation performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Lazzarotti ◽  
Lars Bengtsson ◽  
Raffaella Manzini ◽  
Luisa Pellegrini ◽  
Pierluigi Rippa
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Internal Variables ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Partners ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Focusing on some relevant constructs defined by the open innovation (OI) literature (i.e. determinants of openness; openness choices operationalized in terms of collaboration depth with scientific and business partners; organizational and social context; innovation performance in terms of novelty and efficiency), this paper investigates the relationships among such constructs. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to empirically analyse two types of relationships: between some contextual factors and firms’ openness choices; and among openness choices, a set of organizational-managerial and social factors, and OI performance outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The authors carried out a theory testing survey, involving four European countries (Finland, Italy, Sweden and the UK). The authors applied descriptive statistics and a series of regressions. Findings The authors analysed the impact exerted by external and internal variables on the collaboration depth with scientific and business partners: technological trends are relevant to move firms towards external collaborations, with both types of partners; efficiency goals pursued in collaborations are related to the collaboration depth with both types of partners, while an aggressive innovation strategy is positively related only to scientific-partner depth. Besides, collaboration depths with both partners are positively related to the both sides of innovation performance (i.e. novelty and efficiency), but the organizational-managerial and social contexts emerge as relevant mediator variables. Organizational-managerial and external relational social capital exert a beneficial role on the both types of innovation performance, while internal relational social capital benefits only novelty. Research limitations/implications The work shows important limitations such as the low level of the explanatory values in the regression models. Therefore, the results must be considered as preliminary explorative insights that may be useful to encourage further studies. Practical implications This work serves to raise managers’ awareness on the opportunity of developing organizational-managerial mechanisms, as well as on the importance of social capital to profit from collaborations. Originality/value Although during the last decade many researchers have claimed that we are in the era of OI, empirical works, which provide both a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the phenomenon, are still few. Moreover, the specific action of the context (managerial, organizational and social) as possible mediator of the performance outcomes of openness is empirically under-studied. The authors’ work attempts to fulfil these gaps.

Sociopolitical activist brands

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Joerg Schmidt ◽  
Nicholas Ind ◽  
Francisco Guzmán ◽  
Eric Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Sociopolitical Issues

Purpose This paper aims to shed light on the emerging position of companies taking stances on sociopolitical issues and the impact this has on consumers. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses focus groups, interviews and consumer experiments in various countries, to provide insights as to why brands are taking sociopolitical stances. Findings Consumers expect brands to take a stance on sociopolitical issues. However, to be credible, a stance needs to be rooted in a long-term commitment that aligns with the brand’s strategy and values. Perceived authenticity is key. Research limitations/implications Future studies should aim at broader generalizability and should address various industries. Practical implications Differentiating a brand through a sociopolitical stance requires a strategic approach. Brand managers need to identify which issues they should support, how to engage with them and the risks and opportunities involved. Originality/value While the impact of brands adopting a sociopolitical stance has been discussed in the mainstream media, there has been a lack of empirical evidence to support the arguments. The results of the four studies discussed in the paper provide insights and demonstrate the brand-related opportunities and risks of taking a sociopolitical stance.

Suboptimal financial policies and executive ownership in the UK: evidence from a pre-crisis

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonsina Iona ◽  
Leone Leonida
Keyword(s):  
Cash Holdings ◽  
Financial Policy ◽  
Logit Analysis ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Financial Policies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Target Leverage ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify firms in the UK adopting a policy of high cash and low leverage and investigate how executive ownership contributes to this decision. Design/methodology/approach Firms following this policy are identified both by using a fixed classification approach and the analysis of the distribution of cash and leverage. Logit analysis is then used to estimate the probability of adopting the policy as a function of executive ownership. Findings Extreme financial policies are suboptimal as firms adopting these policies tend to undershoot (overshoot) their target leverage (cash holdings) ratios. The impact of the executive ownership on the probability of adopting this policy is U-shaped, in line with the alignment–entrenchment hypothesis. Practical implications Despite the substantial presence of non-executive directors in the boards and a significant amount of shareholdings by executive directors, the firms under analysis have adopted suboptimal financial policies possibly because poorly governed or because executive ownership is the range where entrenchment is feasible. Originality/value This is the first attempt at recognising policies of high cash and low leverage as being explicitly interdependent. It is also the first study focussing on the UK, a country of interest, because ownership structure is relatively dispersed. Moreover, instead of choosing fixed threshold levels of the variable in defining the extreme financial policy, this paper proposes the analysis of the distribution of cash holdings and leverage and accounts for target levels of cash and leverage.

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