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Our paper is based on a qualitative empirical study of forced marriage in the UK and offers a multidimensional view which challenges four key points that are currently central in the forced marriage debate. First, the study explores the problematic of current UK and European Union policies on preventing forced marriage which focus on raising the age of sponsorship and marriage age for non-EU nationals migrating to the UK. Second, current conceptualizations of forced marriage focus on consent at the entry point into marriage. In contrast, survivors of forced marriage, and women's organizations experienced in providing services to this group, both attach equal importance to exiting (forced) marriages. Third, within the forced marriage debate, South Asian and Muslim communities are perceived as being largely responsible for forced marriages, whilst our research demonstrates that the range of communities in which forced marriage occurs is much wider. Fourth, forced marriage is often seen as a product of a 'backward' culture or religion in a pathologizing manner. The narratives in our study illustrate the interplay between culture, religion, poverty and state practices including immigration practices which points to the need for a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of forced marriage. We end our paper by outlining measures that could be put into place to support women experiencing forced marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the number of sex workers in Scotland and England who are in contact with specialist services for sex workers. Then, using methods and multipliers derived from the frequently quoted Kinnell study (1999) the paper provides various updated estimates of the wider population of sex workers. We point out the limits of our estimates and the methodological difficulties of estimating the size of this hidden population. The paper argues that many claims about sex work made by politicians and the media are misleading especially where they conflate sex work with trafficking and abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many scholars researching the commercialization of science focus on biomedicine, this paper explores the changing commercial frameworks for meteorology in the UK and the US. The organization of meteorology in both countries increasingly reflects a political-economic approach that treats science as an economic entity in which market-based criteria can be used to allocate scientific resources. The differences are equally significant in terms of the production and dissemination of meteorological forecasts and other data to public and private services. Alongside this commercialization has been the emergence of weather derivatives markets -- financial products that enable trading on weather indices in a way similar to oil or gas futures -- which have re-shaped how some businesses interact with meteorologists. This paper explores how weather derivatives traders engage with, shape, and are frustrated by a commercialized approach to funding meteorological data and forecasts. It highlights how commercial imperatives raise questions about the collection and quality of meteorological data, and how forecasting and weather modelling is being adopted within the private sector to enable trading strategies in the weather derivatives market. The consequences for commercial actors are highly variable, suggesting that any account of commercialization of science, while recognizing extant policy shifts, must be sufficiently nuanced in its interpretation of such effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses urban planning practices in South Yorkshire to reveal how EU strategic spatial ideas and values are reproduced. Specifically, the paper examines how the notion of spatial justice was interpreted as the organising concepts within the European Spatial Development Perspective became situated within a territory severely affected by deindustrialisation in the 1980s, but subsequently a major beneficiary of EU Structural Fund programmes. The analysis reveals how policy-making at this scale used a construct of polycentric urban development that reasserted a model of economic growth based on the indigenous assets held in city centres at the expense of more redistributive measures targeted at the former coal-mining communities in the sub-region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper recognizes the complexity of the debate on informed consent and discusses the importance of the ongoing process of consent for people affected by Huntington's disease (HD). Although written information may not be the most appropriate form of obtaining informed consent in qualitative research, it remains an important part of the ethical approval process for health research in the UK. This paper draws on a study in which the information sheet and consent form were specifically designed to help obtain consent from people who may be impaired by the cognitive and physical effects of HD. The forms were developed by drawing on expert opinion and relevant literature and fall in line with recommendations from the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to encourage people to make their own decisions. The paper describes the feasibility of a method for obtaining consent as an ongoing process with patients affected by HD using information sheets and consent forms specifically designed for people with potential cognitive and/or physical impairments. In conclusion, this paper adds a pragmatic approach to the debate on informed consent by describing the development of a written information sheet and consent form being used in a current social research study. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of written information being adapted according to the needs of potential participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of the second phase of a Research Information Network study, which sought to establish the impact of e-journals on the scholarly behaviour of researchers in the UK. The first phase of the project was a deep log analysis of the usage and information seeking behaviour of researchers in connection with the ScienceDirect and Oxford Journals databases. This paper reports on the second phase, which sought to explain and provide context for the deep log data by taking the questions raised by the quantitative study to the research community via interview, questionnaire and observation. Nine major research institutions took part, six subjects were covered and the behaviour of about 1400 people was analyzed. Findings show that academic journals have become central to all disciplines and that the e-form is the prime means of access. Most importantly the study demonstrates that computer usage logs provide an accurate picture of online behaviour. High levels of gateway service use point to the re-intermediating of the broken chain between publisher and reader. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper (originally presented as the Cultural Geographies 2009 annual lecture) reflects on the agenda set out in Maps of meaning 20 years ago which sought to chart a series of new directions in cultural geography. At the core of that project was an argument about the politics of culture and the idea of cultural politics. Today, that agenda might be re-cast as an attempt to map the intersection of culture and economy or, more precisely, of political and moral economies. This paper will apply these ideas to the geographies of food where, despite relative affluence and food security, consumers in the West (and particularly in Britain) are often described as living through an 'age of anxiety'. Consumer anxieties about food have been provoked by a range of food scares and farming crises. As a result, manufacturers and retailers have struggled to re-establish consumer trust in food and governments have urged a re-connection between food producers and consumers. The paper explores the concept of consumer anxiety and draws on a series of consumer interviews and life histories with people in the British food industry to illustrate the nature of contemporary anxieties about food. The paper concludes with some reflections on the intersection of public and private anxieties as illustrated by these personal and corporate food stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The UK Patient Safety Research Portfolio (PSRP) commissioned 38 studies investigating the threats to patient safety in various clinical settings and evaluating safety-related service interventions. This paper reviews 27 of these studies, drawing out emergent and cross-cutting themes in terms of theory, research methods and thematic findings. Methods: Given the diversity of PSRP studies, the paper takes a narrative approach that allows for qualitative description, interpretation and synthesis of the studies and their findings. Results: The theoretical review shows the majority of PSRP studies draw upon a patient safety 'orthodoxy', developed from the concepts and models associated with the human factors approach. The methodological review shows that a diverse range of research designs and techniques have been utilized. Although many follow in the 'scientific' tradition, interpretative, mixed and innovative methods have been integral to research. The thematic review of findings highlights significant contributions to knowledge in the areas of 'people', 'organizations', and 'technology'. As well as identifying the various sources of risk in the organization and delivery of patient care, the studies also evaluate and make recommendations about service change and improvement. Conclusions: The PSRP has provided the foundations for significant theoretical, methodological and empirical advances in the area of patient safety. The findings and recommendations make important contributions to policy formulation and implementation as well as professional and managerial practice. Through this body of research the PSRP has supported the formation and growth of a thriving research community across academic, policy and professional communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military service tribunals were established in Britain following the passing of the first Military Service Act 1916, to consider applications for exemption from men deemed thereby to have enlisted. The few that were stated upon the ground of conscience have attracted the most, and the most subjective, attention. Modern empathy with pacifist principles has made almost mandatory the depiction of the conscientious objector as a victim of, and even martyr to, the then-prevailing spirit of militarism. By the same token, posterity has judged the tribunals' record as a whole predominantly upon their treatment of these men. Fuelled by the early propaganda of the No-Conscription Fellowship and its successor, the No More War Movement, they emerge as the pharisaic civilian arm of the British establishment at war. The paper tests the sustainability of this perspective by reference to the tribunals' record in one county, Northamptonshire. Unusually, most of the papers relating to the county's appeals tribunal have survived. Together with reports carried in local newspapers, which maintained a voracious interest in tribunals' proceedings throughout the conscription period, they provide valuable insights into the dynamics of a system that has received relatively little, and selective, attention to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 30-40 years, urban change and deindustrialisation in advanced economies have created a legacy of vacant and derelict land that is increasingly seen as a development opportunity rather than planning problem. This paper investigates how the shared challenge of bringing such brownfield sites back into productive use has been interpreted differently in four countries: the US, Canada, Scotland and England. In each case, the particular policy environment has shaped the brownfield debate in distinctive ways, producing a different set of relations between the public and private sectors in brownfield redevelopment. Through this detailed comparison of the North American and British experience, the paper traces the maturity of policy and seeks to discover whether the main differences in understanding and tackling brownfield land can be attributed primarily to physical, cultural or institutional factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principle of autonomy is at the heart of the right of a competent individual to make an advance directive that refuses life-sustaining medical treatment, and to have that directive complied with by medical professionals. That right is protected by both the common law and, to an extent, by legislation that has been enacted in the United Kingdom and many jurisdictions in Australia. The courts have a critical role in protecting that autonomy, both in those jurisdictions in which the common law continues to operate and in those jurisdictions which are now governed by statute, and in which judicial determinations will need to be made about legislative provisions. The problem explored in this paper is that while the judiciary espouses the importance of autonomy in its judgments, that rhetoric is frequently not reflected in the decisions that are reached. In the United Kingdom and Australia, there is a relatively small number of decisions that consider the validity and applicability of advance directives that refuse life-sustaining medical treatment. This paper critically evaluates all of the publicly available decisions and concludes that there is cause for concern. In some cases, there has been an unprincipled evolution of common law principles, while in others there has been inappropriate adjudication through operational irregularities or failure to apply correct legal principles. Further, some decisions appear to be based on a strained interpretation of the facts of the case. The apparent reluctance of some members of the judiciary to give effect to advance directives that refuse treatment is also evidenced by the language used in the judgments. While the focus of this paper is on common law decisions, reference will also be made to legislation and the extent to which it has addressed some of the problems identified in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper is based on a qualitative empirical study of forced marriage in the UK and offers a multidimensional view which challenges four key points that are currently central in the forced marriage debate. First, the study explores the problematic of current UK and European Union policies on preventing forced marriage which focus on raising the age of sponsorship and marriage age for non-EU nationals migrating to the UK. Second, current conceptualizations of forced marriage focus on consent at the entry point into marriage. In contrast, survivors of forced marriage, and women's organizations experienced in providing services to this group, both attach equal importance to exiting (forced) marriages. Third, within the forced marriage debate, South Asian and Muslim communities are perceived as being largely responsible for forced marriages, whilst our research demonstrates that the range of communities in which forced marriage occurs is much wider. Fourth, forced marriage is often seen as a product of a 'backward' culture or religion in a pathologizing manner. The narratives in our study illustrate the interplay between culture, religion, poverty and state practices including immigration practices which points to the need for a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of forced marriage. We end our paper by outlining measures that could be put into place to support women experiencing forced marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on a pilot programme to evaluate the use and effectiveness of design coding. It focuses on the roles and relationships between the different stakeholders in the coding process and compares the preconceptions about coding with actual experiences in use. The paper reveals the gulf in professional cultures that impact on the development process. This is underpinned by the continuing struggle between creative, market-driven and regulatory modes of praxis. The paper is polemical in that it points the finger at approaches that potentially undermine the creation of the built environment as a collective endeavour. It is also propositional in that it draws from the evidence-base provided by the pilot programme to propose that design coding could, if used correctly, positively regulate the essentials of urbanism, whilst leaving room for design creativity and enhanced market value. Effective coding can help to mediate the tyrannies of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I revisit Isabel Menzies's classic 'nursing paper' (I.E.P. Menzies [1960]. A case-study in the functioning of social systems as a defence against anxiety: A report on a study of the nursing service of a general hospital. Human Relations, 13, 95-121). I outline the main findings of the paper and connect it to the major theoretical developments made by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and consider the current relevance of the paper in the contemporary field of health and social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the long-term relationship between property investment and urban economic change which is in turn the consequence of changing transport and industrial technologies. This is exemplified by the decentralisation of economic activities and population suburbanisation that has transformed the spatial structure of cities in the UK over the past 30 years. As part of this process, new property forms have revolved including retail parks and office parks. The paper examines the consequences for the property market and the responses of the planning system and institutional property investors that have traditionally viewed property as a long-term investment medium. The analysis begins by considering the context of urban economic change. The heart of the research examines the changing structure of property portfolios and the development of investment markets for these new property forms. The pace of urban change is shown to be slowed by property investment responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the legal protection of the journalist–source relationship from both sides and the underlying interests involved. The paper begins by analysing why the relationship deserves protection. The position of journalists at common law is analysed with a discussion of the application of the principle established in Norwich Pharmacal v Customs and Excise to journalists. The development of immunity from contempt in s. 10 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 is examined to illustrate the ideological clash between the judiciary and journalists. The impact of the Human Rights Act and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights are analysed to assess whether this will lead to a change in attitudes in the UK. Finally, the potential threat to journalists posed by compelled evidentiary disclosure in criminal cases is reviewed, with a particular look at ‘special procedure' material. The US section begins with an analysis of the law at federal level, the decisions of the Supreme Court, including the leading decision of Branzburg v Hayes, as well as the role the legislature has played. The paper then analyses protections provided at state level, with a case study of the California shield law and a review of Californian jurisprudence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advocates of naturist practice have long celebrated it as the authentic human-nature relationship, a way of rekindling our connections with the natural world, and a means of achieving and maintaining physical, mental and spiritual health. Using Hans Surén's book Man and sunlight (1927) as an example, this paper explores the importance of sensory perception to, and the embodied geographies of, naturism and the particular ways in which early 20th century naturists conceptualized, valued and attached meaning to the relationship between the body and nature. In so doing, the paper outlines the ways in which naturist practice reflected contemporary European-wide debates on urbanism, nationhood, health, and nature, and highlights some of the connections between early naturist philosophy and contemporary phenomenological theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the issue of independent midwives practising without professional indemnity insurance. The paper explains the history of the provision, decline and now absence of insurance for midwives who practise independently. Despite the government's commitment to professional indemnity insurance cover for all health professionals working independently and not covered by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, an exception has been made for independent midwives. The paper questions how the government can maintain its commitment to choices for maternity care yet permit midwives to care for pregnant women and attend at the birth of a baby without requiring insurance. There is no mandatory requirement to insure by the Nurses and Midwives Council (NMC). Without a mandatory requirement to insure the only advice given to midwives by the NMC is that they should inform their patients of the insurance position. The way in which information should be given is not stated and the practice is not consistent. Little information on the implications of lack of insurance is provided to parents considering retaining an independent midwife for the birth of their child. This situation leaves parents and children exposed to a situation where there is a clinical negligence claim no possibility of obtaining damages from an uninsured Defendant of limited personal means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of clinical ethics committees (CECs) in infertility clinics in the UK, focusing on whether they usefully support infertility clinicians' ethical decision-making. The overall aim of the study reported here was to investigate how infertility clinicians approached and handled ethical problems in their everyday practice and this paper reports on one aspect of these data - what they thought about the use of CECs. This paper gives an overview of what arrangements there are for such committees in infertility clinics; considers why the clinicians used CECs; and examines how these committees provided a useful function in the infertility setting and contributed to making 'good' ethical decisions. Finally, the paper examines how the form of ethics support can be developed and strengthened, and concludes with recommendations for a particular model of CECs in infertility units - a designated CEC for each infertility unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islam is a religion of vast dimensions which has inspired great civilizations and today offers many men and women comfort and ethical guidance. In this paper I suggest that the tension between the Qur'an accepted as the perfect timeless word of God and the encultured dynamic Islam of nearly a quarter of the world's population results in contending perspectives of women's role and rights. The Qur'an gives men and women spiritual parity, but there are verses in the Qur'an that some feminists find difficult to reconcile with the modern rights of women. Most Islamic feminists make a clear distinction between cultural practices (what actually happens to embodied women) and the pure word of God. There are profound differences in the status of women within and between predominantly Muslim countries. In some countries it is illegal for women to drive a car, or to move freely outside the home, in others women have become heads of state. The decision to wear the veil, often a sign of empowerment in Europe, is in parts of the Islamic world obligatory. Voices representing an exclusivist, literalist understanding of Islam have entered the mainstream of Muslim lives due in part to the fact that Wahhabism imposes a narrow, sectarian view of Islam, and the Saudi government with its massive oil wealth propagates this puritanical form of Islam across the world. Some traditionalist maulanas and maulvis are concerned above all with women's modesty and enforce customs that refine, purify and protect their chastity. They, like some Islamic feminists, position Islamic rights and roles for women with regard to the exoticized and eroticized 'other' -- in this case Western civilization, Western imperialism and the rise of Western feminism. 'The West' becomes for traditional interpreters a kind of contemporary jahilya. There are also many progressive Muslim scholars who seek to articulate a historically accurate, non-idealized, now challenged, now challenging, view of Islam with an uncompromising emphasis on social justice, equality and pluralism (Safi 2008: 215). This paper argues that the ongoing, postcolonial battle against Western 'imperialism' demands epistemological humility. Nevertheless, women are fighting for basic human rights and freedoms in parts of the Islamic world where the State, religious authorities (the ulema) and the patriarchal family assume the right of legal and moral surveillance. In considering the nature of violence to Muslim women in Pakistan and the UK, I hope to show that accusations of orientalism should not deter us from recognizing the courage of women activists who themselves risk imprisonment and of the struggle of women victims of rape and domestic violence to overcome feelings of shame and dishonour. I argue that both the private and public spheres need to be made safe for all Muslim women, and not just a professional elite. This can only be achieved by a fuller recognition of women's rights encapsulated in law and all aspects of public life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the divergence in the operation of the doctrine of adverse possession which the Land Registration Act 2002 brings about, resulting in a separate approach to registered and unregistered land. The Law Commission justified the new dichotomy by explaining that while adverse possession runs counter to the fundamental concept of indefeasibility which is a feature of registered title, its role in encouraging the owner of land to guard possession is fully compatible with the unregistered title system which is based on possession. It also noted that the doctrine plays a vital role in the investigation of title to unregistered land and concluded that making the requirements for adverse possession of unregistered land too demanding could weaken the security of title to that land. Section II of this paper investigates claims that the doctrine of adverse possession is at odds with principles of title registration. Section III examines the role played by possession and adverse possession in the unregistered conveyancing system. It is submitted that the reasons adduced by the Law Commission for restricting the reforms of the doctrine to registered land do not hold up under scrutiny. Once this is acknowledged, it becomes necessary to consider whether the reforms could be extended to unregistered land in a manner which would not raise concerns about the functionality of the unregistered conveyancing system or the reliability of the Land Register once first registration has occurred. The marketable title legislation which operates in the US illustrates how title defects that may not be revealed by a standard investigation of title may be eliminated without reliance on the doctrine of adverse possession. If England were to borrow the basic premise behind the US approach, requiring the registration of certain older interests in order to preserve their validity, an extension of the veto system to unregistered owners could be contemplated. The paper concludes by discussing the advantages of introducing such reform and suggesting solutions for certain practical difficulties which it would raise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent does the Freirean concept of submerged consciousness contribute towards understanding of tenant participation in housing stock transfers? This paper describes the policy and process of housing stock transfer, noting both its contested nature and the role of tenants in the process. It explores Freire's concept of submerged consciousness, relating it to a cliché common amongst tenants experiencing stock transfer-'better the devil you know'-before applying a Freirean analytical framework to an ethnographic study of a housing stock transfer. The paper concludes that Freire does offer a valuable analytical framework in respect of tenant participation in housing stock transfers, before offering some suggestions for further, related research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the politics of studentification in the UK. It is argued that there is a paradox between New Labour's vision of sustainable communities and the geographical effects of the promotion of higher education—in a similar vein to policies to generate 'positive' gentrification. This contention hinges on the absence of a national policy on the supply of student housing, which dictates how enlarged student populations should be integrated into established communities, or dispersed to other parts of towns and cities. It is asserted that the lack of government policy and the incapacity of institutional actors to intervene or regulate the residential geographies of students are yielding 'unbalanced' populations. This is a factor in the rise of studentification and the fragmentation of established communities. Ironically, some activists argue these 'lost' communities signified lucid exemplars that the sustainable communities policy seeks to engender. These new geographies also obscure the positives of a student population and may foster resentment and conflict between students and established residents. More specifically, the paper illustrates how debates of planning and housing legislation are integral for addressing the challenges of studentification. The paper concludes by considering some possible lessons of studentification for mitigating the negatives of gentrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the use of economic evaluation to inform resource allocation decisions within health care systems about which interventions to reimburse and whether additional research should be funded. A social decision-making view of economic evaluation, that is to maximize health gains subject to an exogenous budget constraint, is adopted. A brief overview of the components of an economic evaluation is presented. Particular attention is paid to how uncertainty is inherent to decisions about resource allocation, the consequences of that uncertainty and how it can be incorporated informatively into economic evaluation. A Bayesian approach to uncertainty is used as it meets the needs of social decision-making, allowing analysts to quantify the probability that an intervention is cost-effective given the available evidence and to quantify the expected value of further research. The discussion covers methods to represent parameter and structural uncertainty and considers the role of formal elicitation of expert judgements. The association between decisions to approve interventions for reimbursement and decisions about future research funding, and how value of information analysis can be used to formalize this link, is explained. Recent developments in the UK highlight the evolving policy environment for economic evaluation, such as the Cooksey report on the funding of UK health research, the review of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme by the Office of Fair Trading and the update of the methodological guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The paper concludes by describing ongoing methodological work designed to meet the challenges of undertaking decision analysis for resource allocation in health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on one example of knowledge transfer conducted by the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme which involved briefing Tony Blair for his December 2006 speech on multiculturalism and extremism. Two key themes in the report prepared for Blair and his speech-writer are described - the nature of contemporary complex multicultures and the 'fragility' of white English identities. These are contrasted with themes in Blair's speech which, in general, celebrated (white) British national character and took a traditional 'divided communities' perspective on UK multiculturalism while introducing further measures to encourage 'integration'. The paper describes the dilemmas and challenges faced in formulating a report for this context, in particular issues about developing a narrative in a highly contested field, complicity with power and credentials to speak. It argues, too, that although ostensibly an exceptional opportunity, more mundane acts of knowledge transfer might be more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hormones and surgery are the mainstay of treatments available routinely for transsexual patients in the UK. The condition and approach to it by mental health professionals are explored within the paper by the author who has run a specialist psychotherapy service for patients with gender dysphoria for eight years at The Portman Clinic in London. In the paper he describes the challenges posed by the therapist in treating these patients and important factors in the treatment to enable psychotherapy to be a useful treatment option. He details some of his experience of treating transsexual patients within a homogenous outpatient slow-open group analytic psychotherapy group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the efforts of a small number of ornithologists and bird surveyors to design and implement a national census for the corncrake (Crex crex), a rare migratory bird, in north-west Scotland. Drawing on concepts and methodologies from the sociology of science and the recent ethological turn in social theory, it follows corncrake scientists as they tune in to the bird's ecology and behaviour and devise and distribute a standardized set of methods for a national census. It examines how these methods were implemented in practice in the field and explores the embodied skills and emotions involved in counting corncrakes. Finally, it follows how, as the outcome of the census, the corncrake was framed for the first time as a dynamic population and given voice through a representing assemblage. The paper concludes with some more general observations about the benefits of understanding the field sciences as affective practices and draws attention to the importance of embodied skill, emotion and an ethical sensibility in the generation of scientific representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, many low-income communities have seen the withdrawal of 'mainstream', high-street-based financial service infrastructure from their local areas since the mid to late 1980s, whilst more costly sub-prime lenders have flourished, often in their place. There has been a developing search for 'alternative', welfare-oriented rather than profit driven solutions to the problem of social and spatial segregation in financial service provision. This paper explores an initiative to create such an alternative, affordable and locally embedded form of personal financial service in a socially disadvantaged urban neighbourhood in the North East of England, Financial Inclusion Newcastle (FIN). This paper reflects on FIN's successes and failures, the potential limitations of such alternative area-based solutions and the lessons that can be learnt from these, through a focus on three key issues surrounding FIN's demise—the FIN model, its internal functioning and, perhaps most important of all, its relationship with the local community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the July 2005 shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube Station. It argues that the action of the police officers who shot and killed Menezes was conditioned by the same logic that informs the prosecution of the war on terror. This logic bares comparison to the humanist conviction that states possess a right of response where they perceive themselves to have a 'fear' of impending injury or assault. This paper explores the historical lineage of this trope in the writings of Alberico Gentili, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and, humanist thought more generally. The aim is to explore the politics of fear at work in Britain in the political climate defined by the war on terror, with a view to ascertaining how deep it runs and whether a politics of trust might offer a possible remedy to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetics holds the key to understanding normal human biology and possibly many of the major causes of human disease and impairment. Research into human developmental genetics seems, therefore, to be both necessary and justified. However, such research requires the use of embryonic and fetal tissue obtained from spontaneous abortions and elective termination of pregnancy. This paper examines the arguments in favour of using tissue from elective terminations and the evolution of regulatory frameworks for this research. The paper argues that the recent statutory and regulatory reforms in the UK have not properly addressed the issue of ethically obtaining postimplantation human embryos for research. It is argued that the recent reforms have left the Polkinghorne guidelines untouched but that these are now unequal to the task. A practical suggestion for reform of the approach to the informing and consent of potential donors is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing commitment within science centres and museums to develop exhibitions that engender new forms of participation that contribute to the public's understanding of science. Information and communication systems play an important role in this regard, enabling new forms of 'interaction' with and around exhibits. In this paper we consider how visitors respond to these exhibits and explore the forms of interaction that arise within these new exhibition areas. The analysis addresses the ways in which these so-called 'interactives' create highly constrained sequences of action that prioritize the individual user while undermining the opportunities for co-participation and collaboration. It examines the ecologies of participation that arise with, around and within different types of exhibit and exhibition. The paper suggests that many 'interactive' exhibits rely upon a model of 'interaction' and the 'user' that pervades computer-based systems, a model that has been subject to sustained criticism over some years. In other words, the paper points to the ways in which 'interactivity' is conflated with social interaction and how the seemingly innovative and entertaining exhibits may fail to engender the coparticipation and collaboration that is seen as critical to learning and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The right to roam adopted in the UK as part of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 increased the public's ability to use private lands, some of which include sensitive natural resources. This paper first compares UK public access law to that the US, including constitutional limitations. The paper then analyses the historical, cultural, and legal differences that result in the two countries' divergent views on how to provide for countryside access. Finally, the paper will compare US and UK mechanisms to protect the environment while providing for public recreation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successive governments have encouraged both the marketization and the privatization of the residential and nursing care sector. This paper describes how the large corporate providers continue to increase their share of the market through a continual process of mergers, takeovers and acquisitions. Market analysis suggests that this trend is set to continue. The name given to this phenomenon in this paper is 'caretelization'. The process of caretelization is examined in the context of New Labour's public sector modernization agenda. The paper raises questions of whether continued caretelization is more or less likely to help New Labour achieve certain aims of modernization. For example, New Labour often talks of 'putting people themselves in the driving seat of the public services'. It is argued that, with caretelization, not only is public accountability diminished, but key principles such as consumer choice and user involvement are likely to be compromised by allowing ownership of residential and nursing care to be dictated by market forces. Such developments raise questions about both New Labour's desire and its capability to manage the forces of neo-liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the issues surrounding White Paper's uncovering of the proposal to reforming the health professionals' Trust, Assurance and Safety regulation in Great Britain. The White Paper expressed that to reform, the importance of perceptions must be rightly emphasized as public needs to perceive that the regulatory system is operating in the interests of patients. It also stresses that the General Medical Council's (GMC) four functions must be integrated in the regulatory framework.

This paper reports findings from part of an evaluation study of the Communication Aids Project (CAP), a government-funded project in England which provided communication aids to school-aged children. The paper focuses on parents' views of the CAP process and the impact of the aid. Fourteen parents were interviewed twice over the telephone: once before or just as their children received communication aids and again six to eight weeks later. Parents expressed satisfaction with the impact of the aid on their children's lives and showed they had realistic expectations concerning potential short- and long-term benefits. They raised two main concerns regarding the provision of aids, namely the timescale involved and access to accurate information and advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'User Involvement' has become the new mantra in Public Services with professionals constantly being reminded that 'user knows best'. The purpose of this paper is to ask where the preoccupation with 'the User' comes from and to pose some questions about what 'User Involvement' actually means. Within our paper we see three issues as central within this. The first is a consideration of the historical antecedents of the discourse of 'User Involvement', focusing in on the struggles over British welfare that took place around tile late 1970s--early 1980s. This forms the context from which we seek to understand and critique the New Labour project in relation to the massive expansion of regulatory frameworks. We argue that, far from enabling the delivery of high quality integrated services that truly reflect the interests of current and future users, these policies represent the further commodification of basic human needs and welfare. Finally, it has become apparent the current 'User' discourse has assumed contradictory manifestations, in particular the emergence of groupings of 'professional users' who participate in the formation of state policy as 'expert consultants'. We conclude by arguing for an approach in which user perspectives are neither privileged nor subjugated, but are situated in a process of creative critical dialogue with professionals, which is linked to the development of a concept of welfare driven by emancipatory rather than regulatory imperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Qualitative research is increasingly valued as part of the evidence for policy and practice, but how it should be appraised is contested. Various appraisal methods, including checklists and other structured approaches, have been proposed but rarely evaluated. We aimed to compare three methods for appraising qualitative research papers that were candidates for inclusion in a systematic review of evidence on support for breast-feeding. Method: A sample of 12 research papers on support for breast-feeding was appraised by six qualitative reviewers using three appraisal methods: unprompted judgement, based on expert opinion; a UK Cabinet Office quality framework; and CASP, a Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool. Papers were assigned, following appraisals, to 1 of 5 categories, which were dichotomized to indicate whether or not papers should be included in a systematic review. Patterns of agreement in categorization of papers were assessed quantitatively using κ statistics, and qualitatively using cross-case analysis. Results: Agreement in categorizing papers across the three methods was slight (κ =0.13; 95% CI 0.06–0.24). Structured approaches did not appear to yield higher agreement than that by unprompted judgement. Qualitative analysis revealed reviewers' dilemmas in deciding between the potential impact of findings and the quality of the research execution or reporting practice. Structured instruments appeared to make reviewers more explicit about the reasons for their judgements. Conclusions: Structured approaches may not produce greater consistency of judgements about whether to include qualitative papers in a systematic review. Future research should address how appraisals of qualitative research should be incorporated in systematic reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst there has been a resurgence of interest in community in many fields in the UK this has been singularly missing in relation to domestic violence. Relatively little is known about informal community networks and their responsiveness to survivors of domestic violence and the intersections of these with formal agency networks. This paper argues that (mis)understandings of domestic violence, a focus on agency/state responses and the traditional association of discourses of caring with women have all been important contributory factors here. Drawing on an empirical study on the informal support of survivors in the north of England in the mid 1990s and current research with survivors in the south of England this paper reviews the evidence for arguing that, whilst community-based work against domestic violence raises particularly complex challenges, it is nevertheless essential to explore this as an additional strategy in tackling domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses primarily on New Labour's public services 'modernization' agenda, raising questions about recent shifts in governance, local government finance and the relationship between the commercial sector and the provision of welfare. It argues that this agenda is being embraced by the Scottish Executive through its commitment to Public- Private Partnerships (PPPs) and an increased role for market-based solutions to the problem of poorly performing public services. It examines PPPs in an education context by focusing principally on the experience in Glasgow and argues that PPPs in education and elsewhere in the public sector are part of a broader New Labour agenda to present itself as the 'party of business', in Scotland as well as in England, and in spite of the potential for policy divergence opened up by the devolution process. This paper locates PPPs in the context of other privatization-type reforms and explores New Labour's ideological commitment to opening up public services across Britain to market forces in the context of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are substantial inequities within the current National Health Service (NHS), with people in lower socioeconomic groups (SEGs) using a wide range of services less relative to their needs than people in higher SEGs. These inequities are likely to arise due to factors on both the demand and the supply side of the system. On the demand side, they could arise from differences in patients' beliefs, knowledge, costs, resources and capabilities. On the supply side, professional beliefs and attitudes, and risk selection or cream-skimming by providers may result in inequities. This paper discusses whether these factors are at play within the English NHS and analyses whether current policy to extend patient choice of provider is likely to reduce or increase these inequities. It shows that extending patient choice may leave unchanged inequity due to differences in health beliefs (because choice does not affect these directly), increase inequity due to unequal resources (because patients may have to travel further), and decrease inequity due to unequal capabilities (because the poor will have access to a new and, for them a more effective, source of leverage over health service professionals). On the supply side, there will be little change. The paper then discusses policy options for dealing with factors that contribute to greater inequity on the demand side. It proposes a package of supported choice whereby individuals from lower SEGs would receive assistance in making choices, including an identified key worker to act as patient care adviser and help with transport costs. The paper concludes that policies for extending patient choice can enhance equity – so long as they are properly designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Logo’ is the name for a philosophy of education and for a continually evolving family of computer languages that aid its realization. Developed in the USA in the late 1960s, it became the material embodiment of a radical educational philosophy and a potential vehicle for the transformation of education. In the early 1980s, Logo was introduced into mainstream education in both the USA and the UK. Within an increasingly conservative social and political context with different education policy priorities, Logo was gradually stripped of its radical potential, marginalized and, where it survived, remoulded as harmless to the mainstream educational system. This paper draws on empirical research that explored the evolution of Logo between the late 1960s and the late 1990s. The paper focuses on the social processes involved in the initial development and evolution of Logo. It shows that these processes were heavily contested. Logo was the product of complex social, technical, political and economic decisions, and the product of negotiation shaped by the concerns of the social players involved. The evolution of Logo was not linear or even primarily technical. Rather, it was a seamless web in which the technical was interwoven with the social, economic and political in ways that illustrate the dialectical interaction between historical contingency and the intentions and aspirations of individuals and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares changing patterns of science news over a period of 50 years. The study analyses a biannual corpus of 2800 news articles in Britain (the Daily Telegraph) and 5800 in Bulgaria (Rabotnichesko Delo), and shows divergent and convergent trends. Britain carries considerably more science news than Bulgaria all through the period, while the coverage shows parallel swings: increasing intensity during the 1950s, a turning point in the early 1960s, declining into the 1970s, and rising again in the 1980s and 1990s. Media coverage in both countries shows similar swings in public appeal. The trends in the medicalization of science news, the reporting of controversy and the evaluation of science diverge in the two contexts. The paper concludes with speculative explanations of these results. Similarities and differences in these long-term trends point to common factors and specific differences at work on either side of the (former) 'Iron Curtain'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sketches some conceptual tools by which cultural geographers might advance geographies of architecture. It does so by thinking specifically about one architectural form: the modernist residential highrise, which is the 'big thing' of this paper. The paper draws on recent developments in material semiotics in order to interrogate features often uniquely associated with the highrise, such as its global reach, uniformity, and scale. The paper first rethinks how cultural geography has traditionally explained the movement of built forms, explicitly turning from diffusionist accounts to the notion of translation. It then offers a reconsideration of the way geographers might think about scale in relation to a 'big' and 'global' thing like the modernist highrise, arguing that scale is produced relationally and in specific contexts. Finally, it offers a template for cultural geographical scholarship which takes seriously the technical work entailed in things, like a highrise, materialising or de-materializing. It does so by way of two illustrative stories: one about the productive social science of highrise suicides in Singapore; the other about the destructive role of the inquiry into collapse of Ronan point in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade or so geographers have been arguing for more performative, practice-oriented and non-representational accounts of the ways in which people encounter, move through and inhabit landscapes, spaces and places. In this paper I argue that these theoretical concerns should also prompt geographers to explore the fairly long history of critical commentaries and aesthetic interventions by writers, artists, film-makers and landscape practitioners who have shown a sensibility to movement and embodied practices in the landscape. The paper then examines how landscape architects focused their attention on the movements, speed and visual perspective of vehicle drivers in their arguments for the landscaping and design of motorways in early postwar Britain. During the 1940s the Institute of Landscape Architects pushed for the involvement of their members in the landscaping and planting of all future roads, and prominent landscape architects criticized the tendency of local authorities and organizations such as the Roads Beautifying Association to plant ornamental trees and shrubs which would interrupt the flow of the landscape and distract drivers travelling at speed. Landscape architects such as Brenda Colvin, Sylvia Crowe and Geoffrey Jellicoe argued for a focus on simplicity, flow and the visual perspective of drivers, and the government's Advisory Committee on the Landscape Treatment of Trunk Roads applied similar criticisms to the work of Sir Owen Williams and Partners in designing and landscaping the earliest sections of Britain's first major motorway, the London to Yorkshire Motorway or M1. The paper examines how landscape architects pushed for a functional modernism to be constructed around the movements and speed of motorists, and it concludes by discussing how an admiration for foreign motorways was tempered by calls for a British motorway modernism reworked in regional and local settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with the basic premise that noise is an inescapable feature of modern life and considers how inadequate sound insulation exacerbates the problems associated with noise pollution. The obvious mechanism for ensuring that buildings are constructed so as to provide sufficient sound insulation is the building control regime contained in the Building Regulations. The paper proceeds to analyse the building regulations and highlights the deficiencies which seriously inhibit their efficacy in terms of providing protection from excessive noise. The central issue therefore, is the extent to which the law of nuisance (both common law and statutory) is capable of providing an effective remedy in situations where the Building Regulations are in-applicable. It will be contended that following the House of Lords decision in Baxter v London Borough of Camden, the utility of common law nuisance has been radically undermined as a solution and this has a knock on effect in relation to statutory nuisance where the term ‘nuisance’ is given its common law definition. For a period of time it did seem that section 70(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, relating to the state of premises, provided a solution to external noise but statutory and case law developments have seriously undermined the effectiveness of section 70(1)(a) in this regard. It is therefore submitted that if the law of nuisance is to have any utility as a remedy for inadequate sound insulation it is essential that the courts adopt a definition of the phrase ‘prejudicial to health’ which is sufficiently wide to cover the adverse psychological effects of noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Community cohesion' is widely regarded as the 'new' framework governing race relations policy in the UK. It emerged in government discourse following the civil disturbances that occurred in several northern UK towns in 2001, and has rapidly become absorbed within local government and related organizations to replace previous attempts of multiculturalism. This paper examines several key characteristics of this agenda. In particular, I explore 'slippages' in language within and around discourses of 'community cohesion'. I demonstrate how `community' is central to the community cohesion agenda, and suggest that whilst the concept of 'community' is highly ambiguous, it has continuing resonance in New Labour policymaking. The concept of `community' has particular implications for processes of race and gender. Talking about 'communities' enables for language to become deracialized, whilst at the same time the language of community cohesion draws upon earlier discourses of assimilation through notions of 'integration'. The community cohesion agenda is also gendered, and as suggested in this paper, has specific implications for women and the construction of 'cultures'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the relevance of police independence in light of developments in police accountability mechanisms in the UK that encourage the police to be more locally responsive. It presents an argument concerning the need for balance in police governance between competing claims and interests. The paper notes the danger of exaggerated forms of accountability arising as a consequence of the inherent tensions within police governance, if the importance of a particular concern is overstated inappropriately at the expense of others. The current focus on being responsive at the expense of recognising the importance of police independence is presented as an example of such a danger. The paper acknowledges the extent to which traditional arguments in support of police independence have been criticised and accepts the need for the police to work interdependently with other bodies within the community. However, it is argued that this should not be interpreted to mean that police independence is redundant. Indeed, it is argued here that the more responsive the police are, the more important their independence becomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines evidence provided by quantitative and qualitative measurement of second language (L2) proficiency by elementary-level learners of French, following participation in a school foreign exchange visit. Based on a study consisting of a controlled analysis of test results from 68 pupils studying French at three secondary schools in England, the paper discusses the short-term impact on performance in the four language skills as well as longer-term correlations with the pupils' results in the public GCSE examination. In addition, the paper attempts to define the profile of improvers in each language skill (as four separate subgroups) through analysis of their results in the four tests and through correlation with their reports on linguistic support provided by their exchange partner and host family. The findings suggest that the exchange had greatest impact on the strengthening of proficiency in listening comprehension and in writing performance (in relation to communicative content and fluency, but not with respect to grammatical accuracy). The paper also presents a more qualitative account of the writing test data, reporting on the output in terms of variety of tenses used and instances of expressive language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on an evaluative, ethnographic case study of an English language and cultural immersion programme for Hong Kong university students. Prior to a five-week sojourn in England, the 15 English majors completed a survey and interview to determine their expectations and concerns. While in Oxford, they took courses in an English Language Centre, investigated a cultural scene of their choice, visited cultural/literary sites, took part in informal activities with international students, and lived with a British family. They reflected on their experiences across cultures, including stressful or confusing encounters, in a diary. During the sojourn, the researcher (their ethnography teacher) observed, photographed, and recorded their behavior in field notes and gathered additional information by way of informal discussions. Post-sojourn, the students filled in a questionnaire and offered their perceptions about their experiences in interviews and a series of debriefing sessions. The analysis of the triangulated data helped to understand the sojourn better from the students' perspectives and suggested specific issues that should be addressed in future pre-departure intercultural communications seminars. The paper aims to illustrate the valuable role that ethnographic research can play in programme evaluation and enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial cross-national differences in poverty alleviation are well documented. But the extent to which different parts of the social transfer system account for this variation is still relatively unexamined. This paper analyses the redistributive effects of specific social policy institutions in a comparative perspective. The main question is to what extent non-means-tested entitlements and means-tested benefits reduce relative economic poverty in different institutional settings. It is shown that the structure of non-means-tested benefits is more important than that of means-tested benefits in explaining differences in poverty alleviation across countries. The paper also presents a new method for estimating the anti-poverty effects of separate parts of the social transfer system. This method decomposes the anti-poverty effects of a set of social transfers into independent and combined effects, which produces more valid results than prevalent methods used to assess the impact of a particular transfer on poverty. The countries included in this study are Canada, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The empirical analyses are based on data from the Social Citizenship Indicators Programme (SCIP) and Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) describing the situation in the mid-1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]