Commentary

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Philo
Keyword(s):  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Forensic Analysis ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Spatial Inequalities ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Complex Datasets

This chapter reflects upon Danny Dorling’s ‘forensic’ analysis of the spatial dynamics underlying Mrs Thatcher’s impact upon UK society. His innovative cartography, coupled to a remarkable facility with complex datasets, conclusively captures the deepening of socio-spatial inequalities that was integral (not incidental) to the Thatcherite project. The chapter also offers a thumbnail critical appraisal of Mrs Thatcher’s own understanding of ‘geography’. In one register, her approach might be cast as a ‘denying’ of the UK’s overall social geography, but in another it was envisioning a ‘tapestry’ of largely disconnected local social environments admonished constantly to compare and compete. Dorling claims that things could have been otherwise, since many regions of the world did not follow this path of ever-widening internal socio-spatial inequalities. Quite other, alternative visions of more equal and just geographies of the UK, antithetical to Mrs Thatcher’s geographical vision, should continue to feature on a progressive political agenda.

scholarly journals Institutionalisation and schizophrenia in Japan: Social environments and negative symptoms

2003 ◽  
Vol 183 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iwao Oshima ◽  
Yoshio Mino ◽  
Yoshimasa Inomata
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The World ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Psychiatric Beds ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
British Research

BackgroundThe number of psychiatric beds per capita in Japan is the highest in the world, and a replication of earlier British research is needed to identify possible means of improving the mental health system.AimsTo describe the current situation of psychiatric hospitals in Japan and to examine the relationship between negative symptoms of schizophrenia and social environments.MethodIn-patients with schizophrenia were randomly selected from 139 hospitals. Data were obtained for 2758 participants using several scales, including the Manchester Scale and social environment scales.ResultsNegative symptom scales showed a significant correlation with under stimulating social environments in hospitals.ConclusionsThis study confirms the results from the UK and provides evidence for the importance of community-based care and for providing more-stimulating rehabilitation environments.

scholarly journals Diaspora Policies, Consular Services and Social Protection for UK Citizens Abroad

2020 ◽  
pp. 433-452
Author(s):  
Erica Consterdine
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Contentious Issue ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Lifestyle Migration ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Diaspora Engagement

AbstractDespite having one of the largest diaspora in the world, the United Kingdom peculiarly has no diaspora engagement policy to speak of. Policy, not legal right, underpins consular affairs and social protection policies are extremely limited. Such absence stems from a lack of distinctive British national identity in large part due to the UK being multi-national state, a heterogonous and typically prosperous diaspora driven by lifestyle migration, and in turn the assumption that Britons living abroad do not want or need to engage with the homeland state. Policy towards Britons residing abroad is characterised by limited engagement but effective communication leading to a disengaged state that keeps the dialogue open. Whilst social protection policies are rudimentary, the state is a world leader in providing online information in preparing British emigrants for living overseas. Voting rights of overseas citizens (namely the 15 year residency requirement) has and will continue to be a contentious issue following Brexit − and one subject to change − as has pension inflation adjustment. As the effects of Brexit on Britons residing abroad come to fruition, the politics of social protection and the rights of Britons residing abroad will be an imperative issue on the political agenda.

Rescaling Urban Governance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Sturzaker ◽  
Alexander Nurse
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
International Context ◽  
Political Upheaval ◽  
Spatial Inequalities ◽  
The World ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
The Uk ◽  
First Time

In a time of political upheaval around the world, many jurisdictions are making changes to how they govern their cities in an attempt to redistribute (or appear to redistribute) power within those cities. Such changes can occur at a range of scales, with various aims, explicit or implicit. The UK is one such place, having experienced a particularly rapid series of changes over the last 10 years, at every scale from the national to the community levels. This book provides, for the first time, comprehensive analysis of this period, looking in detail at the UK but situated within the broader international context. The book looks in turn at each tier of government/governance, from the national to the community, analysing from top-to-bottom the outcomes of a decade’s worth of reform, explicitly considering whether they can be said to be progressive in nature. The book interrogates the results of changes to governance practices as a means to explore the extent to which power is genuinely being redistributed and spatial inequalities are being addressed. It draws on recent work of the authors and others to explore these issues primarily in the UK, but using international examples to highlight commonalities, suggest ways in which the UK can learn from elsewhere, and, where they can be identified, likewise identify lessons for other places.

International Listening Post report summary: the world at the dawn of 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-124
Author(s):  
Sandy Henderson ◽  
Ulrike Beland ◽  
Dimitrios Vonofakos
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Faroe Islands ◽  
The South ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

On or around 9 January 2019, twenty-two Listening Posts were conducted in nineteen countries: Canada, Chile, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany (Frankfurt and Berlin), Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy (two in Milan and one in the South), Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. This report synthesises the reports of those Listening Posts and organises the data yielded by them into common themes and patterns.

“There is such a situation that Comrade Svoboda is under pressure”. The Soviet leadership and the settlement of relations with Czechoslovakia. May 1969

2019 ◽  
pp. 512-519
Author(s):  
Teymur Dzhalilov ◽  
Nikita Pivovarov
Keyword(s):  
Central Committee ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

The published document is a part of the working record of The Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee on May 5, 1969. The employees of The Common Department of the CPSU Central Committee started writing such working records from the end of 1965. In contrast to the protocols, the working notes include speeches of the secretaries of the Central Committee, that allow to deeper analyze the reactions of the top party leadership, to understand their position regarding the political agenda. The peculiarity of the published document is that the Secretariat of the Central Committee did not deal with the most important foreign policy issues. It was the responsibility of the Politburo. However, it was at a meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee when Brezhnev raised the question of inviting G. Husák to Moscow. The latter replaced A. Dubček as the first Secretary of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia in April 1969. As follows from the document, Leonid Brezhnev tried to solve this issue at a meeting of the Politburo, but failed. However, even at the Secretariat of the Central Committee the Leonid Brezhnev’s initiative at the invitation of G. Husák was not supported. The published document reveals to us not only new facets in the mechanisms of decision-making in the CPSU Central Committee, the role of the Secretary General in this process, but also reflects the acute discussions within the Soviet government about the future of the world socialist systems.

scholarly journals Punishment Strategies across Societies: Conventional Wisdoms Reconsidered

Games ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Ramzi Suleiman ◽  
Yuval Samid
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Public Goods Game ◽  
The Public ◽  
Free Riders ◽  
The World ◽  
Emergence Of Cooperation ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Cost

Experiments using the public goods game have repeatedly shown that in cooperative social environments, punishment makes cooperation flourish, and withholding punishment makes cooperation collapse. In less cooperative social environments, where antisocial punishment has been detected, punishment was detrimental to cooperation. The success of punishment in enhancing cooperation was explained as deterrence of free riders by cooperative strong reciprocators, who were willing to pay the cost of punishing them, whereas in environments in which punishment diminished cooperation, antisocial punishment was explained as revenge by low cooperators against high cooperators suspected of punishing them in previous rounds. The present paper reconsiders the generality of both explanations. Using data from a public goods experiment with punishment, conducted by the authors on Israeli subjects (Study 1), and from a study published in Science using sixteen participant pools from cities around the world (Study 2), we found that: 1. The effect of punishment on the emergence of cooperation was mainly due to contributors increasing their cooperation, rather than from free riders being deterred. 2. Participants adhered to different contribution and punishment strategies. Some cooperated and did not punish (‘cooperators’); others cooperated and punished free riders (‘strong reciprocators’); a third subgroup punished upward and downward relative to their own contribution (‘norm-keepers’); and a small sub-group punished only cooperators (‘antisocial punishers’). 3. Clear societal differences emerged in the mix of the four participant types, with high-contributing pools characterized by higher ratios of ‘strong reciprocators’, and ‘cooperators’, and low-contributing pools characterized by a higher ratio of ‘norm keepers’. 4. The fraction of ‘strong reciprocators’ out of the total punishers emerged as a strong predictor of the groups’ level of cooperation and success in providing the public goods.

scholarly journals Understanding Leisure Centre-Based Physical Activity after Physical Activity Referral: Evidence from Scheme Participants and Completers in Northumberland UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 2957
Author(s):  
Jordan Bell ◽  
Lis Neubeck ◽  
Kai Jin ◽  
Paul Kelly ◽  
Coral L. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Administrative Data ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Ordinal Regression ◽  
World Health ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

Physical activity referral schemes (PARS) are a popular physical activity (PA) intervention in the UK. Little is known about the type, intensity and duration of PA undertaken during and post PARS. We calculated weekly leisure centre-based moderate/vigorous PA for PARS participants (n = 448) and PARS completers (n = 746) in Northumberland, UK, between March 2019–February 2020 using administrative data. We categorised activity levels (<30 min/week, 30–149 min/week and ≥150 min/week) and used ordinal regression to examine predictors for activity category achieved. PARS participants took part in a median of 57.0 min (IQR 26.0–90.0) and PARS completers a median of 68.0 min (IQR 42.0–100.0) moderate/vigorous leisure centre-based PA per week. Being a PARS completer (OR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.61–2.82) was a positive predictor of achieving a higher level of physical activity category compared to PARS participants. Female PARS participants were less likely (OR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.43–0.97) to achieve ≥30 min of moderate/vigorous LCPA per week compared to male PARS participants. PARS participants achieved 38.0% and PARS completers 45.3% of the World Health Organisation recommended ≥150 min of moderate/vigorous weekly PA through leisure centre use. Strategies integrated within PARS to promote PA outside of leisure centre-based activity may help participants achieve PA guidelines.

The Unfinished Sexual Revolution

1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Revolution ◽  
Editorial Note ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
The World ◽  
Control Clinic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Editorial note. March 17th, 1971 was the fiftieth anniversary of the opening by Marie Stopes of her birth control clinic in Holloway, London, the first of its kind in the UK and possibly in the world. In recognition of this notable event, the Board of the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation, in conjunction with the University of York, has established a Marie Stopes Memorial Lecture to be given annually for a term of years. The first of the series was delivered on 12th March in the Department of Sociology, University of York, by Mr Laurie Taylor of that department. In introducing the speaker, Dr G. C. L. Bertram, the Chairman, emphasized the great contribution made by Marie Stopes to human welfare and gave a brief history of the clinic, which was soon moved to Whitfield Street. On Marie Stopes' death in 1958 the Memorial Foundation was set up to manage the clinic, still in Whitfield Street, and as a working monument to a great women.Mr Taylor's script is printed below as delivered and it will be seen that the lecture was a notable one. Not only that, but it was delivered with the verve of a Shakespearean actor and the members of the large and appreciative audience will not readily forget the occasion.

scholarly journals Mapping Digital Diasporas @ BBC World Service: Users and Uses of the Persian and Arabic Websites

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Gillespie ◽  
Hugh Mackay ◽  
Matilda Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Communication Networks ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Transnational Communities ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Service Staff ◽  
The World ◽  
Transnational Communication ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThis article presents research on two key BBC World Service websites, BBC Persian Online and BBC Arabic Online. It draws on in-house BBC data, supplemented by our own semi-structured interviews with online editors and other key World Service staff. It examines where users of the two sites are located, their demographic characteristics and their views on and uses of the sites. The data is analyzed in the context of debates about the politics of diasporic media and communication networks and changing collective identities, the UK government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) strategy of 'digital diplomacy' and the World Service's stated public purpose of fostering a 'global conversation.' Our research has shown how the majority of users of both BBC Arabic and Persian Online services reside outside the geographical areas that the BBC World Service targets and may be defined as diasporic. And these two websites are not exceptional. Diasporic groups make increasing use of the BBC's online foreign language news sites but these transnational communication networks are an unintended consequence of the BBC's activities. We highlight how the internet is changing configurations of audiences and users at the BBC World Service as geographically dispersed language groups can log on to the news services from anywhere in the world. We argue that the BBC World Service can no longer be seen as an international broadcaster pursuing the BBC's motto 'nation shall speak peace unto nation.' Rather, as one of the world's largest news providers, it is implicated in the formation of new kinds of transnational communities and communications which has as yet unforeseen consequences for national identifications and for strategies of public diplomacy.

Policy formation in gamete donation and egg sharing in the UK—a critical appraisal

2004 ◽  
Vol 59 (12) ◽  
pp. 2617-2626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Blyth ◽  
Marilyn Crawshaw ◽  
Ken Daniels
Keyword(s):  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Gamete Donation ◽  
The Uk
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