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An editorial is presented on the Editorial Advisory Group for the British Psychological Society (BPS) journals has delighted to present this special issue of landmark papers. Topics include the many different spheres of influence of psychological knowledge, the opportunity to delve outside of your immediate area of interest and read the whole spectrum of papers, and the emphasis on theoretical enhancement and of presenting theoretical interpretations of empirical findings.

In this article I correct previous misconceptions about the London-based Imago Group (1954–71). In doing so I provide the first ever detailed history of the group, and of the role of the composer, Robert Still, in founding it in 1953 as an analysand society geared to its members using their experience of having been psychoanalysed in seeking to understand social issues and improve society. Examples are given of papers presented in this vein during the group's history of monthly meetings beginning in February 1954. Reasons for the group's demise following its meeting in July 1971 are also indicated as are examples of its inspiring similar groups in Canada and in Britain, including the Oxford-based New Imago Forum concerned with psychoanalysing social issues today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family group conferences (FGCs) in child welfare share decision-making with family members by bringing the immediate and wider family together to make a plan to meet a child's needs. This paper reports survey findings on FGC provision in the UK in 2022 and explores whether in England the presence of an FGC service and the rate of FGC provision is associated with the rate of children in care, entering care, in kinship foster care and leaving care. Seventy-nine per cent (n  = 167) of local authorities in the UK provided FGCs to families, and 14 per cent (n  = 29) did not. Services that were more established offered a more diverse range of FGCs. The introduction of FGCs in English local authorities was associated with a higher rate of children in care, but also higher rates of kinship foster care, a key goal of FGCs where it is not possible for children to stay with their parents. Higher rates of FGCs were associated with more children leaving care, possibly due to reunification with birth families. To understand in more detail, the circumstances of children in and leaving care in local authorities with FGCs, individual data linkage studies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations in England. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative mixed-methods approach was applied, including a review of the academic literature, a review of the non-academic literature and a brief semi-structured survey. Respondents of the semi-structured survey included seven healthcare leaders from four different NHS Mental Health Trusts in England. This review applied thematic analysis to the data findings. Findings: Mental health organisations in England have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis of the identified resources found four overarching areas for learning: organisational structures, approaches to practice (working and delivering care), leadership and staff support. Organisational structures refer to structural, systemic and procedural changes that have taken place. Approaches to practice relate to shifts in organisational work and delivery of care. Leadership identifies styles used to manage change and disruption. Staff support refers to measures and interventions applied to meet changing staff needs and well-being. Practical implications: Mental health organisations can reduce the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through continuous improvements in future crisis planning, innovations in clinical practice and a sustained focus on staff well-being. Originality/value: A multi-dimensional exploration into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations was conducted. The review also provides insights into the experience of healthcare leadership in managing change during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution and role of psychologists, psychiatrists or mental health practitioners in working alongside forced migrants may take many forms. The guidance on which this paper is based, came about when several members of the British Psychological Society (including those with lived experience and insight and those who had set up services); became aware of the need for good practice guidance for clinicians working with refugees, asylum seekers including forced migrants across Britain. These guidelines cover a range of areas where clinicians work with individuals in clinical contexts, schools, nurseries, colleges and within community organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) are a statutory requirement in England and Wales, conducted when somebody aged 16 and over dies from violence, abuse or neglect by a relative, intimate partner or member of the same household. While key aims of DHRs are to identify recommendations and lessons learned to eventually prevent further domestic homicides, there is limited evidence globally regarding the extent to which these are followed up or make a difference. This paper explores the barriers and facilitators to the conduct and impact of DHRs to enhance their learning potential. It is based on nineteen qualitative interviews with professionals involved in the DHR process across five Safeguarding Boards in Wales and fourteen Community Safety Partnerships in the North‐West of England, UK. Findings are presented thematically under four section headings: upskilling and democratising the review process; family and friends' involvement; negotiating organisational blame to foster learning; and actioning and auditing recommendations. It is suggested that organisational learning cannot be achieved without accepting organisational responsibility, which could be interpreted as blame. The role and skills of the Chair are perceived as key to ensure a safe, evidence‐based, transparent and learning‐focused DHR process. Developing and actioning recommendations may challenge longstanding prejudices. Promoting the role of families/survivor networks and professionals on an equal footing would support a more democratic process. Learning could be enhanced by thematising recommendations and proactively using lessons from one area to inform another. Participants called for appropriate central regulation and accountability to support the action of recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on the impact of the World Menopause Day in Great Britain which was celebrated on October 18, 2014 and supported by the British Menopause Society (BMS). Topics include the publication of the International Menopause Society (IMS) white paper on the complexities of the effect of various diseases on the menopause, the BMS recommendations, and the place of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a preventive intervention among menopausal women.

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic resulted in the cessation of elective surgery. The continued provision of complex head and neck cancer surgery was extremely variable, with some UK centres not performing any cancer surgery. During the pandemic, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust received high numbers of coronavirus disease 2019 admissions. This paper presents our experience of elective complex major head and neck cancer surgery throughout the pandemic. Methods: A head and neck cancer surgery hub was set up that provided a co-ordinated managed care pathway for cancer patients during the pandemic; the Guy's Cancer Centre provided a separate, self-enclosed coronavirus-free environment within the hospital campus. Results: Sixty-nine head and neck cancer patients were operated on in two months, and 13 patients had a microvascular free tissue transfer. Nosocomial infection with coronavirus disease 2019 was detected in two cases (3 per cent), neither required critical care unit admission. Both patients made a complete recovery and were discharged home. There were no deaths. Conclusion: Performing major head and neck surgery, including free flap surgery, is possible during the pandemic; however, significant changes to conventional practice are required to achieve desirable patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the central place of the list and the associated concept of an identifier within the scaffolding of contemporary institutional order. These terms are deliberately chosen to make strange and help unpack the constitutive capacity of information systems and information technology within and between contemporary organizations. We draw upon the substantial body of work by John Searle to help understand the place of lists and identifiers in the constitution of institutional order. To enable us to ground our discussion of the potentiality and problematic associated with lists we describe a number of significant instances of list-making, situated particularly around the use of identifiers to refer to people, places, and products. The theorization developed allows us to better explain not only the significance imbued within lists and identifiers but the key part they play in form-ing the institutional order. We also hint at the role such symbolic artifacts play within breakdowns in institutional order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting has been viewed, especially through the lens of the recent managerial reforms, as a neutral technology that, in the hands of rational managers, can support effective and efficient decision-making. However, the introduction of new accounting practices can be framed in a variety of ways, from value-neutral procedures to ideologically charged instruments. Focusing on financial accounting, budgeting and performance management changes in the UK central government, and through extensive textual analysis and interviews in three government departments, this paper investigates: how accounting changes are discussed and introduced at the political level through the use of global discourses; and what strategies organisational actors subsequently use to talk about and legitimate such discourses at different organisational levels. The results show that in political discussions there is a consistency between the discourses (largely New Public Management) and the accounting-related changes that took place. The research suggests that a cocktail of legitimation strategies was used by organisational actors to construct a sense of the changes, with authorisation, often in combination with, at the very least, rationalisation strategies most widely utilised. While previous literature posits that different actors tend to use the same rhetorical sequences during periods of change, this study highlights differences at different organisational levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A variety of hip protectors are available, but it is not clear which is the most effective and there is no standard test to evaluate their performance. This is the first study that uses a standard mechanical test on hip protectors. Some protectors perform well but others are almost ineffective, providing little to no protection to the wearer during a fall. Introduction: Each year, over 70,000 patients are admitted to hospital in the UK with hip fractures. There are a variety of commercial hip protectors currently available. However, it is not explicitly clear which is the most effective with regard to maximum force attenuation, whilst still being both comfortable for the user and providing reasonable force reduction if misplaced from the intended position. The numerous test methods reported in the literature have given conflicting results, making objective comparison difficult for users, researchers, and manufacturers alike. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has therefore published an express document (EXP-08-17) with a draft standard test method. This paper presents initial results for a range of hip protectors. Methods: Eighteen commercially available hip protectors were tested according to EXP-08-17. Each hip protector was impacted five times in correct anatomical alignment over the greater trochanter and once at 50 mm displacements in the anterior, posterior, and lateral directions. Results: Considerable differences were identified between individual hip protectors in their ability to reduce impact forces on the femur (between 3% and 36% reduction in peak force). The performance was reduced when misplaced in many cases (maximum reduction only 20%). Conclusions: This is the first study that uses a standard mechanical test on hip protectors. Previous studies have used a variety of methods, making it difficult to interpret results. We hope that these results using a standard test method will facilitate the effective comparison of results, as well as providing useful data for clinicians, users, and purchasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates the relationship between working-class participation in higher education ( HE) in England and social and cultural mobility. It argues that embarking on a university education for working-class people has been construed in governmental discourses as an instrumental means of achieving upward mobility, or of aspiring to 'become middle class'. Education in this sense is thus not only understood as having the potential to confer value on individuals, as they pursue different 'forms of capital', or symbolic 'mastery' ( Bourdieu, 1986), but as incurring a form of debt to society. In this sense, the university can be understood as a type of 'creditor' to whom the working-class participants are symbolically indebted, while the middle classes pass through unencumbered. Through the analysis of empirical research conducted with staff from working-class backgrounds employed on a university Widening Participation project in England, the article examines resistance to dominant educational discourses, which understand working-class culture as 'deficient' and working-class participation in HE as an instrumental means of securing upward mobility. Challenging the problematic notion of 'escape' implicit in mobility discourses, this paper concludes by positing the alternative concept of 'fugitivity', to contest the accepted relationship in HE between creditor and debtor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The management of large non-pedunculated colorectal polyps ( LNPCPs) is complex, with widespread variation in management and outcome, even amongst experienced clinicians. Variations in the assessment and decision-making processes are likely to be a major factor in this variability. The creation of a standardized minimum dataset to aid decision-making may therefore result in improved clinical management. Method An official working group of 13 multidisciplinary specialists was appointed by the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland ( ACPGBI) and the British Society of Gastroenterology ( BSG) to develop a minimum dataset on LNPCPs. The literature review used to structure the ACPGBI/ BSG guidelines for the management of LNPCPs was used by a steering subcommittee to identify various parameters pertaining to the decision-making processes in the assessment and management of LNPCPs. A modified Delphi consensus process was then used for voting on proposed parameters over multiple voting rounds with at least 80% agreement defined as consensus. The minimum dataset was used in a pilot process to ensure rigidity and usability. Results A 23-parameter minimum dataset with parameters relating to patient and lesion factors, including six parameters relating to image retrieval, was formulated over four rounds of voting with two pilot processes to test rigidity and usability. Conclusion This paper describes the development of the first reported evidence-based and expert consensus minimum dataset for the management of LNPCPs. It is anticipated that this dataset will allow comprehensive and standardized lesion assessment to improve decision-making in the assessment and management of LNPCPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As assessment is known to drive learning, this paper looks at the relationship between assessment practice across UK medical schools and graduates preparedness for practice. Materials and methods: It uses data on written and practical assessment at each medical school and the association with students' self-reported preparedness for working as a foundation doctor on graduation, and in particular the preparation related to clinical skills. Results and conclusions: A negative correlation (β= −0.003, p < 0.001) was observed between total duration of written assessment and preparedness, while a positive relationship (β = 0.461, p < 0.001) was seen between "adequately prepared" and the proportion of all assessment time focusing on practical skills. This suggests that graduates from medical schools with a greater emphasis on practical skills in their assessment plan are better prepared to practice as a junior doctor on gradation; something that may be of relevance when designing a national licensing examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the official guideline endorsed by the surgical specialty associations involved in the care of head and neck cancer patients in the UK. This paper summarises the current state of play in the organisation and provision of head and neck cancer surgical services in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on the role of the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) in making nutrition science accessible to the public for the past 50 years. They cite professor and founder Alastair Frazer's vision to encourage nutrition research and education with the collaboration of health professionals and the food industry. The authors assert that BNF will remain actively involved in nutrition research and evidence-based nutrition science education.

Eighteenth-century Britain was a heavily networked domain self-consciously committed to the dissemination of improvement. Clubs and societies of all kinds were deeply invested in this process. They served as nodes in larger networks that crisscrossed the country and reached out to global readers. Town histories frequently pointed to their existence as proof of improvement in itself, but clubs and societies frequently found themselves in internal conflict over their aims and objectives. This special issue investigates networks of improvement as they manifested themselves in a variety of associational forms across the long eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Policymakers such as English healthcare commissioners are encouraged to adopt 'evidence-based policy-making', with 'evidence' defined by researchers as academic research. To learn how academic research can influence policy, researchers need to know more about commissioning, commissioners' information seeking behaviour and the role of research in their decisions.Methods: In case studies of four commissioning organisations, we interviewed 52 people including clinical and managerial commissioners, observed 14 commissioning meetings and collected documentation e.g. meeting minutes and reports. Using constant comparison, data were coded, summarised and analysed to facilitate cross case comparison.Results: The 'art of commissioning' entails juggling competing agendas, priorities, power relationships, demands and personal inclinations to build a persuasive, compelling case. Policymakers sought information to identify options, navigate ways through, justify decisions and convince others to approve and/or follow the suggested course. 'Evidence-based policy-making' usually meant pragmatic selection of 'evidence' such as best practice guidance, clinicians' and users' views of services and innovations from elsewhere. Inconclusive or negative research was unhelpful in developing policymaking plans and did not inform disinvestment decisions. Information was exchanged through conversations and stories, which were fast, flexible and suited the rapidly changing world of policymaking. Local data often trumped national or research-based evidence. Local evaluations were more useful than academic research.Discussion: Commissioners are highly pragmatic and will only use information that helps them create a compelling case for action.Therefore, researchers need to start producing more useful information.Conclusions: To influence policymakers' decisions, researchers need to 1) learn more about local policymakers' priorities 2) develop relationships of mutual benefit 3) use verbal instead of writtencommunication 4) work with intermediaries such as public health consultants and 5) co-produce local evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cardiac Cachexia is a wasting syndrome that has a significant impact on patient mortality and quality of life world-wide, although it is poorly understood in clinical practice. Aim: Identify the prevalence of cardiac cachexia in patients with advanced New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class and explore its impact on patients and caregivers. Design: An exploratory cross-sectional study. The sequential approach had two phases, with phase 1 including 200 patients with NYHA III-IV heart failure assessed for characteristics of cardiac cachexia. Phase 2 focussed on semi-structured interviews with eight cachectic patients and five caregivers to ascertain the impact of the syndrome. Setting/participants: Two healthcare trusts within the United Kingdom. Results: Cardiac Cachexia was identified in 30 out of 200 participants, giving a prevalence rate of 15%. People with cachexia had a significantly reduced average weight and anthropometric measures (p < 0.05). Furthermore, individuals with cachexia experienced significantly more fatigue, had greater issues with diet and appetite, reduced physical wellbeing and overall reduced quality of life. C-reactive protein was significantly increased, whilst albumin and red blood cell count were significantly decreased in the cachectic group (p < 0.05). From qualitative data, four key themes were identified: (1) 'Changed relationship with food and eating', (2) 'Not me in the mirror', (3) 'Lack of understanding regarding cachexia' and (4) 'Uncertainty regarding the future'. Conclusions: Cardiac cachexia has a debilitating effect on patients and caregivers. Future work should focus on establishing a specific definition and clinical pathway to enhance patient and caregiver support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the implementation of a new creative life story work project within a statutory children's services department of a UK Local Authority. The project looks to strengthen the use of life story work within statutory children's social work teams, involving the introduction of a model developed by Professor Richard Rose. Staff training is provided, and creative life story groups with care experienced young people are led jointly by professional artists and children's social care staff. As a social worker, I support the implementation of the project and offer any additional therapeutic support children attending the groups might need, including more in-depth individual therapeutic life story work. I explore here the dynamic nature of life story work in children's social work, including a critical analysis of the use of self, and consider theoretical application and wider critiques of the model. I discuss some of the (often contested) literature in relation to trauma, before employing a psychosocial approach that draws on systemic and psychoanalytic theory in order to understand how creative life story work supports individuals and organisations in recovery from trauma and provides the potential to invite bigger questions in relation to how to reignite creativity and social pedagogy in social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perspective in this study sees "the non-religious" not as people without a religion, but as people with sincerely and seriously held non-religious beliefs. As people who want, and should have, the opportunity to both give and receive like-minded pastoral care. The key elements of good non-religious pastoral care practice are described. While real progress has been made in introducing non-religious pastoral care, huge barriers are preventing its effective development. These include recruitment and communications. Working together to remove these barriers can help to ensure that everyone receives appropriate pastoral, spiritual, and religious care. Forming a care service that is better, fairer, and stronger, one fit for the twenty-first century. A person-centered service, putting patients first; all patients, those with religious beliefs and those with non-religious beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) is a major provider of mental healthcare and community health services. Quality improvement (QI) has become central to its organisational policy and goals for which it has received national and international attention. Design/methodology/approach: This piece reflects on the Trust's transformation and its approach. It provides many examples and discusses several of the associated challenges in building and sustaining QI momentum. It is the result of a range of perspectives from staff involved in planning and building large-scale QI capability. It contextualises QI's current status in UK mental healthcare. Findings: Several key factors were identified: board-led commitment to organisational transformation; investment in training and resources to support staff motivation; clear and realistic project goals in line with the service's over-arching strategic direction; support for service users and staff at all levels to get involved to address issues that matter to them; and, finally, placement of a high value on service user and staff qualitative feedback. Practical implications: Building QI capability represents a significant challenge faced by all large healthcare providers. Sharing experiences of change can assist other organisations achieve the necessary buy-in and support the planning process. Originality/value: Achieving and sustaining lasting organisational change in healthcare is challenging. This article provides a background on QI at ELFT and reflects on the pathway to its present position at the forefront of the application of QI within healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British Nutrition Foundation held a 1‐day roundtable event to gather views from a wide range of stakeholders on the relevance and importance of the concept of nutrient density in supporting and motivating people to make healthier dietary choices. The opportunities and barriers associated with the use of this concept were also explored. The roundtable involved experts from research, public health nutrition, dietetics, retail and nutrition science communication, and this report describes the main themes emerging from the discussions. High obesity prevalence rates indicate that, on average, we are consuming too many calories relative to energy requirements; yet, the quality of our diets, with respect to certain vitamins and minerals and fibre, seems to be falling somewhat short of recommendations. Addressing this issue may require a more holistic approach than the current focus on restricting single nutrients prevalent in public health messaging internationally. Most members of the roundtable felt that communicating the concept of nutrient density may help in encouraging healthier food choices and dietary patterns that are higher in nutritional quality. However, while nutrient profiling has been used to guide front‐of‐pack labelling and in restricting the advertising of less healthy foods to children, there is a lack of consensus on the precise definition of a 'nutrient dense' food or which nutrients should be used as markers of the 'healthiness' of foods/drinks, and the term seems to be poorly understood by consumers and health professionals alike. Therefore, further work is required if tools around this concept are to be developed to try and successfully promote behaviour change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing interest in child sexual abuse occurring in organisations, the perpetration of such abuse by females is largely ignored. This study examined situational factors in 136 cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by women working with children in the UK, Canada and the USA between 2000 and 2016. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis of court reports, professional regulator decisions, media reports and an online sentencing database was used, findings indicating that situational and contextual factors are highly relevant in perpetration. Much abuse occurs away from the organisational environment, particularly in perpetrators' homes and cars, and in virtual environments. However, it also occurs within organisations, generally in unsupervised areas, outside of operating hours and often during mentoring/tutoring or extra-curricular activities. Organisational and local culture can be a facilitator in this abuse and allow it to continue even when concerns are raised. Practical prevention measures are suggested to assist in reducing future abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various aspects of the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation leg ulcer charity as of 2017, and it mentions the author's role as the outgoing Chair of the organization. According to the article, the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation supports a network of over 30 Leg Clubs in Great Britain, Germany, and Australia. Patient satisfaction and wellbeing are addressed, along with the British Department of Health and the Lindsay Leg Foundation's business strategy.

Peer‐led mental health organisations operate through participatory democracy, enabling participants to take an active role in decision making about the running of these organisations. U.K. national policy recommends increased involvement of people accessing statutory mental health services in service development, for example, through co‐production. This study employed a participatory research method to explore participants' perspectives of the democratic processes of a U.K.‐based peer‐led mental health organisation, The Bridge Collective, and the influence of these processes on participant wellbeing. A range of data collection methods were used to gather the perspectives of 16 participants. Participatory thematic analysis identified how the organisations' democratic processes both nurtured and challenged participants' wellbeing. Three main themes captured the influences of the democratic processes on participant wellbeing: (a) negotiating relationships, (b) feeling the responsibility of involvement, and (c) sharing power. The findings identify the value of democratic processes in enabling meaningful social support and empowerment, and also identify the challenges of inclusion and workload management in participatory democracy. These insights may inform the development of co‐production methods and enable The Bridge Collective and other peer‐led organisations to further develop their processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article throws new light on British associational culture in the early 19th century by analysing in detail tory clubs, such as the Pitt Clubs and the Brunswick Clubs. Two major points are made. First, the tory clubs were a powerful and significant political force in opposition to popular radicalism in the 1810s, catholic emancipation in the late 1820s, and the Reform Bills between 1831 and 1832. They were important rallying points for local tories and expanded regional and national networks to communicate with each other. Many of them undertook various political activities: holding public dinners to strengthen their unity and express their political messages; organising public meetings to send petitions to parliament; and printing and distributing pamphlets and broadsides to influence public opinion. In the second place, and crucially, the tory clubs exerted influences predominantly in ways that stayed within the bounds expected of political elites. In fact, these clubs rarely intervened where parliamentary consensus already existed. Over the issues supported by the ministers and a large majority of MPs, the tory clubs stopped short of making themselves united, massive, and effective pressure groups against the executive power of the government and the legislative authority of parliament. They believed that there were two realms of politics, local and national, and were sure that political societies should operate within the local context and not go beyond acceptable boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Lindsay Leg Club Foundation (CRN 1111259) is an evidence-based psychosocial prescribing initiative providing community based treatment, health promotion, education, and ongoing care for people of all age groups who are experiencing leg-related problems. As a third sector "not for profit" organization, the Foundation's role is to ensure that both the resourcefulness.

In this article, the author being chairman of the first editorial board of the journal discusses the journal and completion of 40years of its service. Topics discussed include launch of the journal at a meeting sponsored by British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), editorial in the first issue of the journal by David Williams commenting on the changes in the journal to include antimicrobial drugs and an editorial by professor L. P. Garrod referring to the functions of new journal.

Abstract: ‘Reforming Expectations’ argues that English and British moral reformers’ agendas, including their relation to, and expectations of, parliament, were shaped, and increasingly so, by the world beyond England and Britain from the 17th to the early 20th century. Reformers’ efforts have fallen into three distinct eras of reform activity – the European phase, the Atlantic phase, and the global phase – which each had a distinct emphasis. In the European, early‐modern phase, activists participated in European conversations about the moral regulation and care of the poor, but they worked locally. In the Atlantic phase, from the Glorious Revolution to the American revolution, transatlantic ties supplanted European connections and activists aimed to reform morals both locally and at a distance. With the American revolution and the sustained attention it gave to parliament's role in governing the nation, reformers’ expectations about parliament's role in governing moral life expanded. In the global phase, from the end of the French revolutionary wars to the early 20th century, activists sought to have a worldwide impact. British reformers undertook moral improvement projects aimed at peoples throughout Britain's now more heterogeneous empire. Building on the new expectations of the previous era, they looked to parliament and foreign legislatures to achieve those aims. For over three centuries, English and British moral reformers’ approach to parliament was influenced by interactions with foreign colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the key role played by Augustus Wollaston Franks in the curatorship of Renaissance decorative art in Great Britain in 1840-1900. Also cited are the study and enhancement conducted by Franks to the art collections of the British Museum, Frank's relationships with fellow curators, collectors, and connoisseurs, and the various organizations where Franks was a member including the Cambridge Architectural Society.

Almack's, a mixed-sex establishment run by a group of female patronesses, was a popular meeting place for the aristocracy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Yet, despite its contemporary appeal, the establishment has received little attention from historians. This article addresses this absence, exploring the varying, and often contentious, social, cultural and political functions and meanings the establishment held. Building on recent historiographical developments, this article demonstrates how certain aristocratic women were able to exercise power and influence at the heart of their class. In doing so, it considers the intersections between gender, urban space and political culture. It argues that the activities of the female patronesses were often highly contested, exposing the narrow, and often blurred, line between legitimate and illegitimate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas historically the UK television industry has been characterized by hierarchy and vertical integration of programme production within a few large broadcasters, new neo-bureaucratic temporary organizational forms have proliferated in the industry in the past 20 years. This has been a product of a variety of factors, including globalization, technological change in the industry, deregulation and cost-cutting. This article draws on research involving 75 participants working in the large broadcasters, independents and as freelancers. The temporary form in the industry is an extreme case, in that they can be of very short duration (under a week). This has far-reaching implications for industry coordination and control. However, these forms are far from ‘one-offs’ and they are continuously reinvented and recast. This neo-bureaucratic form is controlled and regulated by the major producers through a set of powerful normative methods, based partly on an evolving custom and practice, but also in the extreme familiarity of people in the industry, across the large broadcasters, the independents and freelancers. The article evaluates how the structures, processes and coordination of these organizations through the manipulation of social capital in the industry are used to regulate and control a set of confused and ‘messy’ temporary arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the significance of citizenship for those working in Citizens Advice, a network of voluntary organisations in the UK that exists to provide peer-to-peer advice and support to those facing problems. Drawing on a recent research study, the article considers the ways in which the ‘citizen in citizens advice’ is imagined and translated into practice. Despite current political and policy moves to shrink citizenship (in terms of eligibility, access and substance), the ‘citizen in citizens advice’ is regularly thought about in expansive ways that draw on other imaginaries of citizenship. We suggest that these everyday discursive practices of citizenship are important both in analytic terms and in reinvigorating a political discussion otherwise focused upon restriction and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A study of involvement initiatives within secure mental health services across one UK region, where these have been organized to reflect alliances between staff and service users. There is little previous relevant international research, but constraints upon effective involvement have been noted. Objective: To explore and evaluate involvement initiatives in secure mental health settings. Design: A case study design with thematic analysis of qualitative interviews and focus groups. Setting and participants: Data collection was carried out between October 2011 and February 2012 with 139 staff and service users drawn from a variety of secure mental health settings. Findings: Our analysis offers four broad themes, titled: safety and security first?; bringing it all back home; it picks you up; it's the talk. The quality of dialogue between staff and services users was deemed of prime importance. Features of secure environments could constrain communication, and the best examples of empowerment took place in non ‐ secure settings. Discussion: Key aspects of communication and setting sustain involvement. These features are discussed with reference to Jurgen Habermas's work on communicative action and deliberative democracy. Conclusions: Involvement initiatives with service users resident in secure hospitals can be organized to good effect and the active role of commissioners is crucial. Positive outcomes are optimized when care is taken over the social space where involvement takes place and the process of involvement is appreciated by participants. Concerns over risk management are influential in staff support. This is germane to innovative thinking about practice and policy in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a significant increase in funding for health programmes in development over the last two decades, partly due to the formation of public–private partnerships. This article examines the impact of public–private partnerships from the perspective of women’s health, asks whether the current culture of funding has led to an increased instrumentalism in women’s health programming and what effects this has on how women’s health is addressed at the level of practice. The article is based on research carried out with UK-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and its conclusions raise further challenges for improving women’s health policies and programmes in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: All health care systems face the need to find the resources to meet new demands such as a new, cost-increasing health technology. In England and Wales, when a health technology is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the National Health Service (NHS) is mandated to provide the funding to accommodate it within three months of publication of the recommendation. Identifying what, in practice, is foregone when new cost-increasing technologies are introduced is important for understanding the effects of health technology assessment (HTA) decisions on the NHS or any other health care system. Our objective was to investigate how in practice local NHS commissioners in Wales accommodated financial "shocks" arising from technology appraisals (TAs) issued by NICE and from other cost pressures.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Finance Directors and Medical Directors from all seven Local Health Boards (LHBs) in NHS Wales. These interviews covered prioritisation processes, as well as methods of financing NICE TAs and other financial shocks at each LHB. We then undertook a systematic identification of themes and topics from the information recorded. The study relates to the period October 2010 to March 2013.Results: The financial impact of NICE TAs is generally anticipated and planned for in advance and the majority of LHBs have contingency funds available to cope with these and other financial shocks within-period. Efficiency savings (defined as reductions in costs with no assumed reductions in quality) were a source of funds for cost pressures of all kinds. Service displacements were not linkable to particular NICE TAs and there appears to be a general lack of explicit prioritisation activities. The Welsh Government has, on occasion, explicitly or implicitly acted as the funder of last resort.Conclusions: Services may be displaced as part of a response to the cumulative impact of all types of cost pressures, including cost-increasing health technologies recommended by NICE, but such displacements were not direct responses to the publication of individual NICE TAs. The additional cost pressure represented by a new NICE TA is likely to be accommodated at least partly by greater efficiency and increased expenditure rather than displacement of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article focuses on feminist activist academics who were instrumental in creating the UK Gender & Education Association at the turn of the twenty-first century. Drawing on my own intellectual biography (David, M. E. 2003. Personal and Political: Feminisms, Sociology and Family Lives Stoke-on-Trent. Trentham Books.) linked to the collective biography and life history of feminism in academia over the last 50 years, Feminism, Gender & Universities: Politics, Passion and Pedagogies (David, M. E. 2014. Feminism, Gender & Universities: Politics, Passion & Pedagogies. Farnham: Wheatsheaf.), I consider how we, as feminist educators, developed our pedagogies and professional approaches to gender and education. In so doing, I also look at three cohorts or generations of feminist academics, from the university pioneers of second-wave feminists like myself, through to those who might be considered third wave feminists. In this it is clear that whilst feminist values of women's liberation and/or gender equality shine through, there are clear differences of emphasis. This is in relation to personal, political and professional values, and approaches to education through teaching or the social sciences. Indeed, neither feminism nor gender was in the lexicon of higher education or public policy when we were starting out, and by the third cohort gender equality had become incorporated into forms of neo-liberalism. In reviewing the developments of feminisms in higher education, I also look towards what might be considered a feminist future in global higher education, given learning from previous waves to new waves of feminists such as fourth wave and beyond. Here I briefly consider the work of our EU Daphne funded research project (2013–2015) into challenging gender-related violence (GRV) through education and training for professionals working with children and young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study is presented on British anti-slavery, or abolitionist, in Holland during the mid 19th century, including the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society's (BFASS's) role in this regard. An overview of British abolitionists' relations with continental European abolitionist movements is provided.

This article develops theoretical understanding of the involvement of wealthy entrepreneurs in socially transformative projects by offering a foundational theory of philanthropic identity narratives. We show that these narratives are structured according to the metaphorical framework of the journey, through which actors envision and make sense of personal transformation. The journey provides a valuable metaphor for conceptualizing narrative identities in entrepreneurial careers as individuals navigate different social landscapes, illuminating identities as unfolding through a process of wayfinding in response to events, transitions and turning-points. We delineate the journey from entrepreneurship to philanthropy, and propose a typology of rewards that entrepreneurs claim to derive from giving. We add to the expanding literature on narrative identities by suggesting that philanthropic identity narratives empower wealthy entrepreneurs to generate a legacy of the self that is both self- and socially oriented, these ‘generativity scripts’ propelling their capacity for action while ensuring the continuation of their journeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically examines recent changes in markets for home (domiciliary) care services in England. During the 1990s, the introduction of competition between private (for-profit and charitable) organizations and local authority providers of long-term care services aimed to create a 'mixed economy' of supply. More recently, care markets have undergone further reforms through the introduction of direct payments and personal budgets. Underpinned by discourses of user choice, these mechanisms aim to offer older people increased control over the public resources for their care, thereby introducing further competitive pressures within local care markets. The article presents early evidence of these changes on: The commissioning and contracting of home care services by local authorities and individual older people., The experiences and outcomes for individual older people using home care services., Drawing on evidence from two recent empirical studies, the article describes how the new emphasis on choice and competition is being operationalized within six local care markets. There are suggestions of small increases in user agency and in opportunities for older people to receive more personalized home care, in which the quality of care-giving relationships can also be optimized. However, the article also presents early evidence of increases in risk and costs associated with the expansion of competition and choice, both for organizations providing home care services and for individual older service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on Muslim participation in the governance of Leicester in the East Midlands of England, this article contests prevalent assumptions about the contemporary politics of multiculturalism. Specifically, it questions two narratives on the subject: first, a descriptive narrative about multiculturalism being in retreat; and second, a normative narrative about multiculturalism undermining national culture. Using interview, ethnographic and archival research, the article shows how a programme of multicultural politics has been implemented in Leicester that, while shifting, has remained firmly in place across national political and policy changes. It also demonstrates how this model of multicultural practice has emphasized civic communitarianism and utilized British national traditions. Using the above methods, the article questions the terms of political debate about multiculturalism, and considers how ‘convivial’ and ‘communitarian’ theoretical approaches to multiculturalism can renew and refashion multicultural political practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]