Attitudes toward Alcohol Policy in Six EU Countries

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Örjan Hemström
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Control Policy ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Alcohol Control ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Representative Samples ◽  
Attitudes Toward Alcohol

This study explores differences between Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy regarding public attitudes toward alcohol control policy (measured by a statement that the government has a responsibility to keep down how much people drink). Cross-national representative samples of around 1,000 respondents 18–64 years old in each country were analyzed. A large majority of people in Italy and Sweden (about 75%) supported governmental responsibility for alcohol control. This was the case for 60% in France and for 48% in the UK, whereas in Finland and Germany those who were supportive constituted a minority (38% and 29%). After controlling for social factors in logistic regressions, this pattern was unaltered and clearly significant. The attitude was strongly related to alcohol consumption: in all six countries, non-drinkers and low consumers were most supportive and high consumers least supportive. Limitations of the data and potential explanations of the findings are discussed.

Informal Alcohol Control in Six EU Countries

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 577-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Örjan Hemström
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Family Members ◽  
European Countries ◽  
High Likelihood ◽  
Informal Control ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Alcohol Control ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
Representative Samples

This article describes differences between Finland, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy regarding having influenced someone to drink less alcohol. Representative samples of around 1,000 respondents 18–64 years old in each country were analyzed. Informal alcohol control was measured by questions on whether the respondent reported having influenced someone in any of eight categories of family members and friends to drink less. People in Italy significantly more often reported having pressured someone to drink less (38%) compared with the average rate (32%). In multivariate logistic regressions, people in France and Sweden were significantly less likely to report this. The higher rate in Italy was due to Italian men's high likelihood of trying to persuade both friends and family members to drink less compared with men in other countries. Differences among these six European countries regarding informal control of alcohol appear to be greater among men than among women.

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.

The ‘Pillared-Privatisation’ of Pension Provision in the European Union: The Case of the United Kingdom

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Ring ◽  
Roddy McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
World Bank ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Means Testing ◽  
The Road ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
National Governments

Across the European Union, national governments are re-assessing the institutional mechanisms through which pension provision is delivered. This articles sets the debate within the wider context of the ‘pillared’ structural analysis often adopted by international institutions when discussing pensions reform. It then sets out a detailed discussion of developments in the UK, arguing that the UK is moving towards a model of reform akin to that promoted by the World Bank – referred to here as ‘pillared-privatisation’. The themes of this model indicate more means-testing, greater private provision, and a shift of the burden of risk from the government to individuals. An assessment is then made of the implications of UK developments for other EU countries. It is suggested that while there are strong reasons to think that other countries will not travel as far down the road of ‘pillared-privatisation’ as the UK, this should not be taken as a ‘given’.

scholarly journals Does political discourse matter? Comparing party positions and public attitudes on immigration in England

Politics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Leruth ◽  
Peter Taylor-Gooby
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Public Deficit ◽  
Net Migration ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Large Group Discussion

The 2015 UK General Election campaign was mostly dominated by the issues of immigration, public debt, and income inequality. While most political parties adopted austerity-led programmes in order to reduce the level of public deficit, their stances on immigration vary significantly despite the two main parties converging on a welfare chauvinist frame. This article compares party positions to policy recommendations formulated by participants in a democratic forum as part of the ‘Welfare States Futures: Our Children’s Europe’ project in order to determine whether recent party pledges on immigration are being used by citizens in a large group discussion over the future of welfare policy in the United Kingdom. The analysis shows that while participants are committed to tougher policies in order to reduce existing levels of net migration, most of the policy priorities formulated do not match those of the two mainstream parties (i.e. the Conservative Party and the Labour Party) but rather those of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). It also demonstrates that participants’ individual political preferences do not seem to match their own positions on immigration and that there is little difference between left-leaning and right-leaning voters.

Private Dentistry after COVID-19 – A Clinician’s Personal Experience

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reginald O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Dental Care ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Dental Practice ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Dental Services ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

Face to face dental care in the UK was largely suspended from March until June and beyond is very limited still in many cases. Both NHS and Private dental services in the four nations of the United Kingdom aligned with the government in lockdown and dental emergencies could be accessed face to face in specific urgent centres only (UDC’s). Return to dental practice has been challenging for the profession with a lack of clarity from regulators and a gulf between financial support of private practice (almost none) and National Health practice (at 100% of their contact value pre-COVID). Dramatic changes to the provision of dental care are likely to persist and the COVID crisis may precipitate significant change to both private and NHS dental services.

Englishness

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ailsa Henderson ◽  
Richard Wyn Jones
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Political Life ◽  
British Politics ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
English Nationalism ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Different Parts

For a topic that until recently was presumed not to exist, English nationalism has transformed into an apparently obvious explanation for the Brexit result in England. Subsequent opinion polls have also raised doubts about the extent of continuing English commitment to the union of the United Kingdom itself. Yet, even as Englishness is apparently reshaping Britain’s place in the world and—perhaps—the state itself, it remains poorly understood, in part because of its unfamiliarity. It has long been assumed that nationalism is a feature of political life in the state’s periphery—Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—but not its English core. Another barrier to understanding bas been the relative lack of public attitudes data with which to explore the nature of English nationalist sentiment.This book draws on data from a survey vehicle—the Future of England Survey—specially established in 2011 to facilitate the exploration of patterns of national identity in England and their political implications. On the basis of these data, Englishness offers new arguments about the nature and effect of English nationalism on British politics, as well as how Britishness operates in different parts of Britain. Crucially, it demonstrates that English nationalism is emphatically not a rejection of Britain and Britishness. Rather, English nationalism combines a sense of grievance about England’s place within the UK with a fierce commitment to a particular vision of Britain’s past, present, and future. Understanding its Janus-faced nature—both England and Britain, as it were—is key not only to understanding English nationalism, but also to understanding the ways in which it is transforming British politics.

scholarly journals Covid-19 and labour law in the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-346
Author(s):  
David Mangan*
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Union Member ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
European Union Member States

2020 had been marked as a significant year for the UK with its departure from the European Union. The coronavirus pandemic quickly became the most important issue facing the Government under a third Prime Minister since the 2016 referendum. From the start, problems have dogged this Government in meeting the monumental challenges posed by Covid-19. The UK approached the work implications of this pandemic in some distinct ways, as compared to European Union Member States. This piece is longer than other country reports in this volume as a result of critically engaging with these differences.

Righteousness or the right to drink? The debate on the ration book in Sweden and Finland during the 1950s

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-370
Author(s):  
Matti Peltonen
Keyword(s):  
Control Policy ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Swedish Version ◽  
Alcohol Control ◽  
Political Left ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

Sweden and Finland reviewed their alcohol control policies in the 1950s at more or less the same time. Sweden abolished its ration book system and lifted restrictions on the sale of medium strength beer, Finland in turn revised its mechanisms for controlling the purchase of alcohol, a version of the Bratt system. In Sweden, alcohol consumption increased sharply and the number of drunkenness offences doubled. In Finland, by contrast, nothing happened. Why? History provides one possible source of explanation. The Swedish version of the Bratt system was much stricter (with monthly rations allocated on the basis of social class and sex) and therefore there was greater pressure towards a liberalisation of alcohol policy than was the case in Finland. During the war and in the post-war years Finland had a strong labour movement, which was keen to underline and demonstrate that the working class were in every respect decent and upright people. The debate that was touched off by the General Strike in 1956 is particularly interesting. On the political right, workers were frequently portrayed as heavy drinkers; the political left worked hard to fend off this propaganda attack. In this kind of atmosphere it was impossible to seriously call for a liberalisation of alcohol control policy in Finland.

Spain’s budget majority promises political stability

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Significance The minority Socialist Party (PSOE) - Unidas Podemos (UP) government needed the support of several left-wing and pro-independence parties to get the budget through. Its approval makes early elections unlikely and gives the government a better chance to shape the COVID-19 economic recovery and implement some of its 2019 electoral pledges. Impacts Spain’s poor record in absorbing EU funds suggests it will struggle to make the most of the EU recovery fund. The weakening of the UK currency will hurt Spanish exports to the United Kingdom, especially with fewer UK tourists coming to Spain. Greater political stability will enable Spain to pursue a more assertive foreign policy.

Welcome to the Umma: The British State and its Muslim Citizens Since 9/11

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby Archer
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Muslims ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Security Questions ◽  
British State

British Muslims are citizens of the United Kingdom and also part of a worldwide community, the Umma, the Muslim community of the faithful. British Muslims have both national and transnational allegiances and on the part of the British state this has necessitated new ways of governing its Muslim citizens. Concerns over both terrorist violence and societal security questions regarding Muslims in the UK are both internal and external to the state. The government has had difficulties in finding transnational policy responses that go beyond the old division of internal and external security. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, security was the main reason why the British state sought to engage Muslims, but this has been transformed into the wider agenda of ‘community cohesion’. In tracing the Muslim groups that the government has engaged with since 2001, I show how the issue of governing Muslims has gone beyond concerns just about terrorism and violence to a wider agenda that accepts British Muslims as citizens, yet at the same time still reflects the fears of Muslim ‘otherness’. I consider how this otherness is seen as a threat to societal security, and how the government’s attempt to create policies to deal with such threats is best understood as the ‘politics of unease’.

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