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75.6% of land comprising Hong Kong remains undeveloped according to the special administrative region's planning department. In turn, Hong Kong's constricted real estate, now estimated to be the world's costliest, has created eye-popping living arrangements historically and contemporarily. Denizens' colorful reputation and imagination for flouting city ordinances, zoning laws, and spatial management stand emblematic of tenacious self-sufficiency and a free-spirited brand of runaway capitalist initiative. Why is this conspicuous trademark of Hong Kong's societal fabric very much alive in the 21st Century? Why does this matter in a rapidly urbanizing world witnessing the ascension of mega-urban centers alongside ever-widening socioeconomic chasms? This paper intends to illuminate the peculiar origins and longevity of the KowloonWalled City, an urban monolith of notoriety and autonomy that blossomed in a semi-legal grey zone unencumbered under British protectorate rule for nearly a century. Parallels will connect the linear trajectory between Kowloon's hardnosed living to today's comparable Chungking Mansions and the hundreds of thousands of cage homes appearing in all corners of the city. This paper aims to answer why these residential paradoxes continue to function with efficiency and relevancy, posing solutions for indigent housing while exacerbating the stigma of social and economic ostracism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the adoption of mixed-race children in Great Britain from formerly colonised or dominion territories after the Second World War with a focus on the late 1950s and early 1960s. It explores the ways in which mixed-race children and their biological, as well as their adoptive families, were treated in the adoption system in order to explore the tensions that arise between adoption and questions of racial belonging. As adoption and its related processes have the ability to profoundly interfere with the most private realms of human cohabitation—the family, this positions the history of adoption right at the interface of the private and the public sphere, offering an ideal background to look at the public as well as the private perception of the (decolonising) British Empire. By taking this specific group of children into focus, it is possible to illustrate the immediate and deeper effect of the race/colour question in adoptions as if under a magnifying glass. In the context of adoption processes, deeply colonial and inherently racist patterns of thought can be found, particularly in adoption records, but also in advice literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the relations between the Kingdom of Serbia / Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Great Britain with special emphasis on their 'encounters' in the field of music and culture during the First World War and then between the two wars, which drew the two fairly mutually distant and insufficiently known 'worlds' closer. That music was an integral part of all major social and state events staged by the two countries at different moments and in different situations throughout the mentioned historical periods can be observed. The paper also shows that research into the role and significance of music in the relations between the two countries and its influence on them was continuously permeated, like a particular 'red thread' - which sublimated the most significant mutual effects of Serbian-British music relations in those times - by the creative work and enthusiasm of Oxford graduate Kosta Manojlović. There is no doubt that all this contributed to a more profound mutual understanding of these peoples and their countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George Aptal's life destiny reflects the conditions on the Mediterranean in the beginning of the eighteenth century, which called for individuals of different ethnic background to try their best to fit in. Although he was of Greek origin, from Izmir, in their youth, George Aptal and his brother had been preordained for the career in one of the most important of the factories (merchant colony) of the Levant Company in the very Levant itself. After a short-termed sojourn in Britain, during which he had obtained his education at Gloucester Hall in Oxford, and after a series of adventures, Aptal returned to Izmir in 1704, since he had been bound by contract to the Levant Company. There are no reliable data of his life and ventures in several following years. However, Aptal rose the interest of the diplomatic circles, when in 1713 he robbed the goods of the Tunisian merchants, having killed a number of them. From that moment on, the British authorities considered Aptal a pirate. Aptal's activities influenced the British representatives in Italian and Levantine ports, who tried to dissociate themselves from the case, with raising the issue of compensation of the losses to the Tunisian merchants. The better times arrived for George Aptal when the Porte decided to declare the war to Venice at the end of 1714. The same decision presented an introduction in a much larger confrontation, when in April 1715 the Court in Vienna declared the war to the Porte. Using the new events, Aptal decided to become a pirate in the service of the Papal state, thus becoming a mercenary of Vatican. Documents from the National Archives in London, together with the press that covered the ongoing incidences in the Apennine Peninsula and Europe (Avisi Italiani), point to this event. The decision of the Porte meant for Aptal that he had escaped the punishment of the British authorities, since Britain had no mechanisms to pressure the Papal State to extradite George Aptal. The tensions in the British-Ottoman relations, caused by the Aptal's piracy were resolved in 1719, owing to the successful actions of the new British ambassador to the Porte, in the person of Abraham Stanyan. This signifies ceasing of interests in George Aptal, who most probably had decided to remain in Italy, where he was protected for a time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, a significant number of Polish citizens have not only left the country but also moved away from the religious traditions in which they were brought up. The article sheds light on the phenomenon of religious conversions and identity reconfigurations within the Polish community in Great Britain. It delves into the intricate processes of religious self-transformations and their impact on other forms of identity among Poles who have embraced Islam in the context of migration. It also assesses the processes of converts' distancing themselves from the elements of ethnicity and religion in which they were born and adopting new ones amid an atmosphere of increased anti-Muslim sentiments and stigmatisation. The paper draws from fieldwork data carried out amongst Polish Muslim converts living in different British cities between 2014 and 2016. It analyses their relations with the Polish community in the United Kingdom, the British Muslim population, as well as their larger sending and receiving societies. It argues that the processes of religious conversion and migration are frequently interrelated, as a significant proportion of the over 2,000 Polish Muslims in Britain embraced Islam either after their arrival in the country or elsewhere before coming to the UK. The paper also shows how the change of religious identity leads to the adoption of new traditions and habits and to a process of at least partial distancing from non-Muslim relatives and elements of non-Muslim Polish culture. The converts thus engage in construction of hybrid identities, linking elements of Polishness with super-diverse British Muslimness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of Great Britain, onshore wind provides the most cost-effective method of renewable electricity generation. However, projects often face opposition to development based on social issues, and there are concerns that existing geospatial modelling approaches fail to fully integrate these effects into their assessment. Building upon previous statistical analysis, this paper presents a geospatial multi-criteria decision analysis that integrates the technological, legislative and social constraints to determine suitable sites for onshore wind turbine development in Great Britain. The findings suggest that the capacity estimates for wind are less than 5% of what was previously estimated, yet opportunities remain for further exploitation of this resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews the 'Palestinian issue' in Anglo-American diplomacy after the end of World War II (1945- 1948). The author examines activities of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine and reveals the nature of Anglo-American controversy as to the Palestinian issue for the purpose. The operation of the above Committee resulted in identification of principles of the future structure of Palestine, which implied equitable coexistence of the Arabs and the Jews within one territory controlled by Great Britain, with two autonomous provinces to be subsequently set up under the control of the High Commissioner of Palestine. Since neither the principles developed by the Committee nor the follow-up plans on settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict were never implemented due to sharp criticism of both countries participating in the settlement, resolution of the Palestinian issue was referred to the competence of the UNO in 1947. A new Commission was set up, which comprised representatives of neutral states, who put forward a so-called 'plan of the majority' (which implied a partition of Palestine, based on setting up an Economic Union and turning Jerusalem into an international zone) and a 'plan of the minority' (a federal structure of Palestine, with its capital in Jerusalem, in a plan of three year transition period). The paper examines the political confrontation of the USA and Great Britain as to those plans, which came to an end in November 1947 when the UNO adopted a resolution on the rights of both peoples who lived in Palestine to set up two independent states. By pointing out the complexity and contradictoriness of the Palestine issue in the Anglo-American relations, the author concludes that a constant cause of the split-up between the USA and Great Britain was the loss by London of a decisive role in the global balance of military and political forces. Further, in pursuing their pragmatic objectives, both countries themselves often provoked large-scale Arab-Israeli conflicts, thus departing far from the official goal of their 'settlement'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma-rays from naturally occurring radionuclides are a major component of background radiation. They are an important tool for geology and are also important for radiation protection. In this paper we use over a quarter of a million geochemical measurements of concentrations of potassium, thorium and uranium in soils and in stream sediments to estimate outdoor gamma-ray dose rates across Great Britain. The soil concentrations are generally at a depth of 5–20 cm with some at 35–50 cm. Soil measurements will give spatially relatively precise estimates, but as soil data are not available for much of Scotland, stream sediment data are used there. Kriging methods are used to estimate surface concentrations of K, Th and U and dose rates are imputed from these concentrations. Our results are compared with measurement surveys of both outdoor and indoor gamma-ray dose rates. Recently there has been interest in exploring the carcinogenic risks of low dose radiation by investigating associations between childhood cancer rates and doses from natural background gamma radiation. To achieve adequate statistical power, such studies must be so large that it is impractical to assess exposures by direct measurements in the homes of study subjects. Instead the exposures must be modelled. The results presented here will be an important input to such work. • Geochemical data used to estimate outdoor gamma-ray dose rates across Great Britain. • Results compared with measurement surveys of outdoor and indoor gamma-ray dose rates. • New data will be used in future childhood cancer modelling epidemiological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular flow diagram, whether in its limited form in macroeconomics, or broader form in ecological economics, depicts a duality of flows – physical resources in one direction with financial transactions in the opposite. Biophysical models of the economy can be constructed based on the physical flows and their associated stocks. In previous work, I demonstrated how the accumulation of wealth – measured by the capital stock – can be established using a biophysical model. With capital, energy use, and the distribution of labour determined by biophysical economics, here I investigate the range of potential distributions of wealth – profits versus wages – that follow in the political economy. The analysis is conducted using a four-sector model of Great Britain's economy from 1760 to 1913, including agriculture, coal mining, construction & materials, and production of goods and services. Energy price is a key variable in the model, influencing the distribution of income between different sectors. Taking the price of coal at historically observed values, the distribution of total factor income per worker is plotted as a trade-off between annual wages and profits per worker for example years of 1761, 1817, and 1871. The plots reveal how possible alternative distributions of income might be achieved under different political-economic regimes, subject to the same biophysical constraints. Conclusions are framed in the context of the grand challenges faced by ecological economists of developing environmentally sustainable economies with a just and equitable sharing of resources. [Display omitted] • The paper frames the challenge of wealth distribution subject to biophysical constraints. • Prices, wages, and profits are added to a biophysical model of the Industrial Revolution. • The distribution of total factor income per worker is posed as a trade-off between wages and profits per worker. • Changes in energy price are shown to impact the distribution of income between and within sectors. • The influence of the political economy on the biophysical economy is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Event-based methods are used in flood estimation to obtain the entire flood hydrograph. Previously, such methods adopted in the UK have relied on pre-determined values of the input variables (e.g. rainfall and antecedent conditions) to a rainfall–runoff model, which is expected to result in an output flood of a particular return period. In contrast, this paper presents a method that allows all the input variables to take on values across the full range of their individual distributions. These values are then brought together in all possible combinations as input to an event-based rainfall–runoff model in a Monte Carlo simulation approach. Further, this simulation strategy produces a long string of events (on average 10 per year), where dependencies from one event to the next, as well as between different variables within a single event, are accounted for. Frequency analysis is then applied to the annual maximum peak flows and flow volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the three legally defined property areas that lie in the coastal zone in Great Britain (land, foreshore and seabed), and considers the mechanisms used by the two legal systems that operate on the mainland (Scots and English law) to cope with natural processes of erosion and accretion. The two legal systems are shown to be slightly different in how they accommodate erosion and accretion. However, they both have difficulty in coherently addressing the issues of coastal mobility and land ownership, which raises important questions of social justice, as they are based on the perceptions of judges in historic cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first population genetic database proposed in the world was the Icelandic Health Sector Database in 1998, followed by the Umangenomics proposal in Sweden, the Eesti Geenivaramu in Estonia and the UK Biobank. These genetic databases have been established with the primary goal of carrying out genetic research on populations to determine the functionality of genes, as well as the relationships between genes, lifestyle and environment. Population genetic databases contain DNA samples, personal information from interviews and medical records, as well as genealogies and family histories on whole populations for genetic research. This variety of information and the issues that are raised by its use, such as ownership, consent, feedback, genetic counselling, benefit sharing and access to the database, have caused a heated debate in many countries. This paper compares the way in which the law deals with these issues in each jurisdiction through specialist legislation and how these issues challenge existing legal precedents. The conclusion reached is that these issues are not currently addressed by the law across these jurisdictions in a coherent manner and we are some way from achieving a uniform legal structure for population genetic databases across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much discussion about the changes introduced by the Government in 1989 in the hospital sector of the British National Health Service. In contrast, the changes in the primary health care sector have gone largely undebated. This paper's contention is that these may turn out to be equally if not more important. The changes mean that general practice doctors are now subject to greater accountability than ever before through new management and finance systems, while new pay structures have shifted the emphasis of the service itself towards preventive health interventions. The new fundholding scheme, which allows some practices to apply to hold their own budgets and buy services for their patients, could alter the balance of power between the hospitals and general practice. In all, the emphasis of Government policy has been placed squarely on better pay for more and better work from general practice doctors while at the same time enabling patients to choose more freely where to register for primary health care. The changes in general practice could therefore achieve radical and permanent changes in the structure of the National Health Service and in the relationship between the State and the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to set the current changes in the British National Health Service in historical perspective. The NHS was born in 1948 amid controversy, both political and professional; but in the 50s and 60s a consensus was reached which won it the support of patients and doctors. But in the 70s and 80s it has undergone the stress of successive reorganizations, in the attempt to meet the economic strains imposed by an ageing population and expensive medical advances. The present changes aim to bring about an "internal market," regulated by contract between "purchases" and "providers." Reasons are given for the view that this artificial arrangement will impair the coherence of the NHS, will add administrative expense and complexity, and will impair the important role of general practitioners as "gate-keepers." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the current strategic dilemmas of Great Britain and their relation with the international ambitions of that country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After Japan was forced to open its ports to the western powers, by the threat of western navies, it was further compelled to sign unequal treaties with the Great Powers. This triggered a sonnō jōi movement led by young samurai, who criticized the ruling Tokugawa regime for its concessions to the foreigners. They therefore sought to expel the Westerners and close the country to their trade. Their second task was to bring the downfall of the shogunate and the restoration of the Imperial rule. In order to achieve this, many radical samurai mounted murderous attacks against the foreigners. One of the most serious of these incidents occurred in September 1862, when British merchant Charles Lennox Richardson was murdered by samurai from the Satsuma domain. Apart from the previous attacks this time the culprits could be identified. British minister to Japan Colonel Neale therefore demanded the punishment of the assailants and an indemnity from the bakufu for its inability to secure lives and safety of British nationals. The Tokugawa government tried to resist and resorted to delaying tactics because of its fear of internal impact, if it yielded. It was only after the British representatives demonstrated, that they are willing to use the naval forces at their disposal, that bakufu submitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]