Introduction

This chapter introduces the book as the first of a two-volume study which seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of devolution in the UK. It focuses on the period from 1997 to 2007, addressing the origins and introduction of the original devolution settlements, and the subsequent decade of their development until the end of the Blair government in 2007. In these years, the original devolution reforms followed extensive debate in the 1980s and 1990s, including in Northern Ireland a peace process and talks that led ultimately to the historic 1998 Belfast Agreement. Referenda in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were held in 1997. The subsequent development of devolution up to 2007 included the move to start at least a debate about further reform in Scotland, as well as more immediately a second Government of Wales Act in 2006. In Northern Ireland, the 2006 St Andrews Agreement reset the terms of the original 1998 settlement, and enabled the resumption of devolution in 2007, after the Northern Ireland Assembly had spent more time suspended than in session. A referendum on an elected assembly for the North East in 2004 ended in a 'no' vote, but the powers of central government offices in the English regions, Regional Development Agencies and indirectly elected regional assemblies nevertheless increased.

The att and War Profiteering: the Case of the UK

The Arms Trade Treaty is intended to prevent arms supplies likely to be used to violate International Humanitarian Law or human rights, or exacerbate conflict. Yet, some of the countries who most strongly championed the ATT have continued to supply arms in the face of clear evidence that they are being misused, most notably at present in the war in Yemen. This article addresses this apparent paradox in the case of the UK – the first major arms producing nation to publicly support the ATT. The article situates UK support for the ATT, under the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the context of the domestic political considerations of the Blair Government; in particular, the desire to restore the UK’s image as a “force for good” in the world in the wake of the Iraq War. At the same time, the high dependence of the UK arms industry on exports, in particular to Saudi Arabia, drove the government to fail to robustly implement ATT commitments – as well as those from the earlier EU Common Position, and to allow UK arms companies to continue to engage in “war profiteering” in Yemen and elsewhere.

White Working-Class People and Voting

What are white working-class voting trends over time? The Clinton presidency and Blair government marked parallel pivots in the trajectory of the Democratic and Labour parties—a pursuit of what has been termed a “Third Way.” Since the 1930s, the parties had been associated with unionism,...

Persecution complex: I am getting one over electronic patient records!

The electronic patient record (EPR) is a core organisational document in which integrated health and social care records and secondary care processes can be stored. EPR was the brain child of the NHS’ National Programme for Information Technology, under the Blair government. 1 Since then, attempts have been made to install EPR in secondary care – a typical example being the installation of specialist imaging systems in hospital trusts. 2 The primary aim of EPR was to make the NHS services efficient via digitised patient records that could be viewed, discussed and transferred electronically between clinicians and/or trusts. 1 , 3 Other anticipated uses of EPR were to provide easy patient access to services such as e-referrals and e-prescriptions, as well as appointment systems. 3 , 4 Here, we discuss EPR and information technology in plain language, and assess the impact of EPR on NHS secondary care orthodontic services.