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The article focuses on the 4th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference. Going to Manchester for the Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference is a nice experience. One receives all of the session papers well in advance at home. Papers are not actually presented by the authors themselves. Instead, they are introduced by discussants who summarize and comment on them after which the authors have the opportunity to answer, before the audience is given the chance to participate. In this conference about sixty papers were presented in parallel sessions and thirty in workshops. Five sessions run throughout the conference. Environmental accounting received considerable attention, too. Gender issues were also addressed in such papers as one by Christine Cooper on the deconstruction of sex in accounting, a paper by Sara Reiter on feminist economics, and a paper by Jane Broadbent and Richard Laughlin on the prospect of women's participation in an ideal speech situation within accounting.

This article identifies new arrangements between the state and non-state actors in the public sector, one that extends current understandings of education privatisation, the transformation of public services 'by substitution' and, specifically theories of the 'shadow state'. Drawing on data from the Political Economy of Teacher Education (PETE) project, the paper's context is the current situation of post-qualification teacher development in England and its point of departure the Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund (TLIF) initiative, in the wider context of Conservative political interests in promoting 'social mobility' through enhancing 'teacher quality'. Through a political economy analysis of public records, course information, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and interviews, the paper offers an emerging typology of enterprises to describe the organisations that won TLIF funding to provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers in designated 'Opportunity Areas'. Further, the paper extends available theorisations of the shadow state by identifying three kinds of shadow state structure – autonomous, intermediate and co-created – in relation to CPD provision under TLIF. This provisional identification is offered for critical examination beyond the immediate context of English CPD policy. The paper argues that these different relations of power and interdependence represent a new political economy of teacher development in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the connections between American institutionalists and a number of 'non-Marshallian' British economists and social scientists, several of whom were associated with the Fabian Society or the London School of Economics or both. Specifically, the links between institutionalists such as Walton Hamilton and Wesley Mitchell and British social scientists such as John A. Hobson, Henry Clay, R.A. Tawney, William Beveridge and Graham Wallas. It is argued that these connections were related to common views on the importance of institutions, compatible methodological views, common interest in questions of social value, shared policy concerns (particularly unemployment and the coal industry), shared interests in the development of new institutions for education and research in economics and shared connections with the funding activities of the Rockefeller Foundation. These connections were much more extensive than has usually been realized. Some reasons for this British group not to form into a movement similar to American institutionalism are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The City and Hackney Primary Care Psychotherapy Consultation Service is an innovative, public sector service designed to support GPs in meeting the needs of patients with complex psychological/physical health issues throughout the London Boroughs of Hackney and the City. This paper provides an account of how this new model for the National Health Service (NHS) developed in the context of psychotherapy provision within the NHS, within the national and local context in the UK and gives an overview of some the service's key features and how it differs from other services operating in primary and secondary care. A linked paper, in this journal, explores the reality within which the service functions and describes clinical outcomes, health economic data, the modifications to the original model and prospects for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is a case-study analysis of methylated spirit drinking in England in the 1920s and 1930s, focussing in particular on moral panic about deviant consumption and the development of policy-making. During the interwar years there emerged a statistically minor, but socially significant, culture of drinking methylated spirit - an industrial denatured alcohol - in socio-economically deprived urban communities. In the wake of (often hyperbolic) discourse about the considerable physical damage caused by methylated spirit consumption, and associated concerns about the perceived moral deviancy of drinkers, policy-makers developed a variety of regulatory strategies aimed at curbing consumption. Overall, this paper reveals the complex matrix of legislative, judicial and administrative regulation which framed responses to this widely vilified form of alcohol consumption, and in doing so points to some of the varied pressures and influences which informed harm-reduction policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the myth of the Blitz spirit in British newspaper discourses of the City and economy after the London bombings on 7 July 2005. The Blitz spirit is a popular story of Britain during the Second World War, uniting together with defiance and resilience to overcome the threat of invasion from Nazi Germany. Through Barthes’ model of myth, this paper discusses the myth of the Blitz spirit in memories of wartime London. A critical discourse analysis then explores the ideological impact of Blitz spirit discourses in hyperbolised coverage of City traders and the economy in 2005. I argue that the ideological complexities of Western economics and the free market were suppressed by a myth that sought to bind social classes together through evocations of British, wartime solidarity and defiance. But, this paper also argues that Blitz spirit evocations among City traders were contradicted by discourses that discussed British citizens as consumers through anxieties about the economy after the bombings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers how local areas become stuck in poverty traps and develops models exhibiting thresholds, where deprivation has to fall to a certain level before taking off. Using aggregate data for local authorities, the paper models cross-section movements of house prices to identify the threshold level of poverty. The paper argues that the resource requirements for bringing the most deprived areas to the take-off point are likely to be high. But for areas that are already close to the threshold, regeneration can be successful. Therefore, identifying the thresholds is important. Testing for thresholds is not straightforward, but the paper provides empirical evidence. The implications for policies concerned with social mixing are not encouraging. However, mixing may be more successful in areas that lie close to the threshold. For example, few high-income households want to live in the most deprived areas if the expected capital gains are low. But capital gains are maximised close to the take-off points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon a unique large-scale data source (n=5,004) and motivated by the time allocation model of consumer demand in economics, this paper critically analyses the relationship between the expenditure from, and duration of, same-day visits that comprise a large component of the domestic tourism market in England. It focusses on the contribution of activity sports tourism as a component of same-day visits. Three-stage least squares (3SLS) instrumental variable estimation is employed to account for the simultaneous determination of duration and expenditure as implied by economic theory. Controlling for socio-economic characteristics and general trip behaviours, the research identifies that although total expenditures and trip durations are positively related, there are trade-offs between these when focussing on the direct effects of the activities undertaken. However, accounting for the interrelationship between the duration of visits and the expenditures on them, it is found that walking reduces the expenditures on trips and their duration. Field sports increase them both. No effects are identified for running and cycling, as land-based activity sports tourism, or swimming and water sports, as water-based activity sports tourism. The key drivers of expenditure, which also increase the duration of trips, are visiting attractions and hospitality. The research provides a theoretically informed and empirically robust foundation for a more nuanced and targeted activity sports tourism strategy, which might have implications for how activity sports tourism may contribute to health and well-being and local economic development to better inform tourism planning and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the recent literature concerned with the impacts of factory closure refers to closures occurring in the 1980s and 1990s and affecting heavy industry - coal, steel and shipbuilding. It also tends to focus on employment and labour market impacts assessed through the subsequent experience of workers made redundant following closures. It also tends to assume that these impacts are localized. Because of this much of the discussion of policy implications relates to the workers made redundant and to a very local economy. This paper refers to the closure of the MG Rover factory in Longbridge, Birmingham, UK. This closure was regarded as presenting a crisis for government and the local community. The paper responds to arguments in the research literature and explores the spatial and economic impact of the MG Rover closure in more detail. It complements other research which has focused on the experience of those made redundant in 2005 by referring to the loss of employment over a longer time period and identifying a wider impact spatially and socially. The paper draws upon different sources of evidence and concludes with a discussion of implications for policy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper explores notions of cosmopolitanism and the ‘cosmopolitan city’ to interrogate how difference is constructed and treated in the contemporary entrepreneurial city. This is achieved through a grounded case study of the operationalising of notions of cosmopolitanism in Manchester, UK. This is examined in two ways. First, the construction of notions of the cosmopolitan city in the private-sector place marketing of a new ‘cosmopolitan city-centre lifestyle’ are analysed to reveal how urban reimaging creates a geography of difference in which certain forms of difference are valued or pathologised and fixed in space. Secondly, the analysis explores the contested ways in which the new city-centre ‘cosmopolitan’ residents understand and reproduce notions of cosmopolitanism and how this links to the treatment of difference in the city. The paper concludes by evaluating how interrogating notions of cosmopolitanism through a grounded urban case study, linking the textual analysis of urban imagery produced by the private sector to the political economy of the city, and investigating what actually happens in these new cosmopolitan city spaces contribute to the understanding of difference in the contemporary city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the treatment of ontology offered by critical realism. It addresses much of the material elaborated upon in two editions of this journal. Three main groups of criticisms are made here of the critical realist treatment of open systems. It is argued that critical realism, particularly in the project in economics emanating from Cambridge, UK, tends to define systems in terms of events. This definition is shown to be problematic. The exemplar of a closed system provided by critical realism of the solar system is shown to be flawed in that it is not closed according to the closure conditions identified by critical realism. Second, the negativity of the definitions adopted is problematic for heterodox traditions attempting to build positive programmes. Furthermore, the dualism of the definitions is also inconsistent with Dow's approach, which has ramifications for the coherence of post Keynesianism. Third, the definitions tend to polarize open and closed systems and ignore the degrees of openness evident in reality. The polarization of systems leads to polarized methodology and unsustainable arguments to reject so-called “closed-systems methods.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst an earlier paper (Part 1) in this journal describes the historical, political and economic drivers behind the creation of the City and Hackney Primary Care Psychotherapy Consultation Service (PCPCS), this paper (Part 2) focuses on exploring the context within which the service functions. The paper provides an overview of its operational model and is organised into 10 sections. The first section outlines the service's clinical practice, whilst the second addresses the value of GP consultations as a core part of the PCPCS's provision. The third section addresses how the service, as departure from a more ‘pure’ psychoanalytic tradition of providing longer-term therapy, has managed its provision of brief treatments. There is a description of how the service manages its team of multi-disciplinary clinicians and their work in a variety of micro-cultures, conveying some of the challenges faced by the service and the team since its inception. Thereafter, the quantitative and qualitative evidence for the service's clinical and cost effectiveness is assessed, including outcome results and findings from a health economic evaluation. To illustrate some of the service's work in practice, some disguised clinical vignettes are presented. The paper also summarises the service's recent clinical innovations, as well as its contribution to the field of research, audit and training. Finally, the way forward for the service is considered in the context of current and emerging trends in psychological provision in primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to the journal is presented which explores topics such as the effects of the 2008 global economic crisis on public education in England, the challenges of practicing interdisciplinary research, and the relationship between a person's education and his or her life opportunities.

This paper analyses the working lives of contemporary craft makers1 in England and their contributions to the country's cultural sector, and reflects on the enabling role of public sector investment in maximising this economic contribution. First, the types of project and role undertaken by contemporary craft makers are investigated, with a focus on makers who adopt portfolio working patterns. Identified trends include role diversification and an increasing embeddedness within creative industry supply chains, with makers increasingly providing services as well as products and working to supply other businesses as well as consumers. Second, the distinctive contribution made by makers working in this way is analysed, and the centrality of craft knowledge, skills and working practices to innovation, user-centred design and the creation of expressive value is asserted. The value of portfolio working as a business strategy is articulated both in terms of enhancing makers' commercial sustainability and creative growth, and of producing significant contributions for industries including architecture and design, tourism and heritage, advertising and events, and film and television. Third, factors influencing makers' successful adoption of portfolio working patterns are identified, with new recognition given to the valuing of creative dynamics between collaborative and solo working, and between different elements of a portfolio practice. Tensions and challenges for portfolio working makers are also elicited, with the need to achieve an appropriate balance between opportunity, income generation and creative focus identified as a critical challenge for many. The influence of public investment in higher education and professional development programmes under the New Labour government is considered, in the context of a changing UK political climate. As craft, design and the wider cultural sector respond to economic, social and political change, the paper provides a timely analysis of shifting patterns of work and creativity in transition to a new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data for England from the national census can provide the socio-economic background of individual pupils and therefore the intake of schools. In many respects, this is more useful than the conventional measure of 'free school meals', which has historically been used in the UK as a proxy measure for disadvantage. Prior to the advent of the English Pupil-level Annual School Census in 2001, using census data for research concerning schools was problematic as the immediate location of the school is often socio-economically different to areas in which the pupils live. Now and in future, working with the national census is considerably more attractive as data on individual pupils can be matched and information aggregated to school level to provide measures that reflect intake rather than immediate location. Purpose: This paper discusses the details, merits and uses of this approach. It considers whether derived census data for England can replace or augment the traditional proxy measure for disadvantage, eligibility for free school meals. Sources of evidence: Statistical comparisons of derived data from the 2001 England national census and the free school meals measure were used to clarify strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches. A literature review concerning the measurement of socio-economic disadvantage for educational research provided background to the discussion. Educational researchers at the UK's National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) provided details of what variables from the 2001 national census would be useful to derive. Data descriptions provided with the English Pupil-level Annual School Census and the 2001 England national census formed the basis of the data derivation. Main argument: Eligibility for free school meals has a number of problems when used as a proxy measure for disadvantage. The use of derived national census data to illustrate the socio-economic background of pupils and schools' intake is free of these problems. However, it has its own collection of setbacks that should determine how and when it is used. Conclusions: Derived national census data should be used in conjunction with eligibility for free school meals to enhance our knowledge of the important part background has to play in the education of children in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global tourism demand has been subject to fluctuation in recent years, and London as a tourist destination has recently had to cope with both the significant forces at play in the wider environment and radical change in the way that tourism is to be managed across the UK. The purpose of this paper is to review the post-disaster destination marketing activity conducted by London in its attempt to regain its position as a premier destination for domestic and international visitors, set within the wider context of the devolution of tourism across the country. A number of the issues arising from London's post-disaster marketing campaign are identified, and a set of guiding principles for any future such action are discussed. The paper concludes that diversification of both the product and market is necessary if London is to retain its position as one of the world's leading 'iconic' city destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For transport systems the issues of pricing, service quality, funding and investment in urban areas are inextricably interdependent. The paper first argues that no policy can be set for any of these aspects of transport in isolation from any other. Transport planners and urban policy-makers can choose to tolerate congestion, or build new capacity or introduce road user charging. These issues are explored and analysed in the context of London—Europe's most obviously resurgent city and the one with the most recent experience of road pricing in the form of the Congestion Charge. However, despite the evidence that in the centre, where it applies, the Congestion Charge has had broadly the effects economic theory would predict, there is still a growing problem for the rest of London and the UK caused largely by the combined effects of rising real incomes and the improving fuel efficiency of cars which reduces the impact of fuel taxes. This suggests a growing pressure for a national system of road pricing. To date ‘prices’, in the form of fuel duty (over £0.50 out of each £0.80 for a litre of fuel) have been set on the basis of historical precedent or political expediency. The paper sets out a regionally based model to analyse the implications of setting alternative levels of congestion charging and environmental taxes covering the whole of England. This includes modelling the implications for other transport modes and the net changes accruing to drivers and the Exchequer. Having presented the implications of some alternative policies, the paper discusses a number of the issues of political economy that would have to be resolved. While there seems to be little alternative to user charging in some form sooner or later, the sooner it can be introduced the more good it can do. However, the difficulties are real, less tractable than some people appear to believe and they have to be identified and dealt with. Perhaps the most significant unresolved problem is not the technical feasibility of such a system of national road pricing, but finding an appropriate, accountable and acceptable method for overseeing and administering the funds such a system would generate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring assumption is that undeclared work is market-like and motivated by monetary gain and thus that participants make a rational economic decision to engage in such an enterprise. In consequence, the predominant public policy response has been to seek to deter this work by ensuring that the expected cost of being caught and punished is greater than the economic benefit of participating. Here, however, and drawing upon evidence from 861 face-to-face interviews conducted in England, an alternative reading of undeclared work is presented more appreciative of the heterogeneous work relations and motives involved and its variable meanings. This identifies how although some undeclared work is market-like and conducted for monetary gain, there is also undeclared work conducted under social relations and for motives more akin to unpaid mutual aid. The paper then explores the various policy options that could be adopted and their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kari Polanyi Levitt has commented that her father's writing was met with a 'deafening silence' in England, a silence which she suggests is 'yet to be explained'. Given The Great Transformation was purposefully, situated in England Polanyi Levitt's point is an interesting one, and one which still deserves attention. But the last two decades have witnessed an intensification of interest in Karl Polanyi's methodological approach and theoretical insights, from England as well as elsewhere, and representing a range of disciplines. This raises a string of associated questions: interest from who? Why now? And how? Further we could ask: Does this new interest have the potential to redress the Polanyi Levitt charge without falling prey to an opposite one of misusing or abusing the Polanyi legacy? This paper contributes to the much larger agenda of examining in a serious way the usefulness and applicability of Polanyi's key ideas and methods, particularly as they apply to the burgeoning interest in markets and exchange within New Economic Sociology (NES). A sub-set of this agenda is to explore whether Polanyian insights provide a more nuanced and critical understanding of competitive processes and innovation than is currently available within Economics, Sociology or indeed Economic Sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the conceptualizations of social justice embedded in the education action zones (EAZ) policy which has recently been implemented in England. Drawing on distinctions developed from Nancy Fraser's work, it argues that zone populations suffer three forms of social injustice – economic injustice, cultural injustice and associational injustice. Documentary analysis of the discourse surrounding the policy and of a sample of EAZ applications reveals that while the initiative may be based on a more complex understanding of social injustice than many preceding policies, this understanding remains inadequate. Economic injustices are recognized, but cultural and associational injustices are inadequately acknowledged. In addition, there is a mismatch between the remedies proposed in the bids and the problems they are designed to address. Although there are some redistributive and associational measures, these are likely to be superficial. For the most part, it is cultural remedies that are proposed – but the nature of the cultural 'problem' to be dealt with is either unacknowledged or misrepresented. The paper concludes by arguing that while policy pronouncements and zone applications do not determine practice, it is difficult to see how some of these injustices can be tackled if they are not acknowledged or tackled at a discursive level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK retrofitting, or ‘retrospective refitting’ has become a central strategy in reducing energy inefficiency and carbon emissions. However, whilst implementation has increased, research shows that there are still several problematic barriers to the full implementation and embedding of energy efficiency retrofit policies. Likewise, international ecological commentators, developers and policy-makers have also pointed to the growth of retrofitting ideas and policies in modernising nations such as China; however, as investigations are beginning to show, the full implementation of retrofitting practices in modernising countries is also difficult, with local policy-makers and developers showing much more interest in newbuild, as opposed to retrofitting existing buildings and/or heritage sites. Taking the UK and China as two key examples of earlier and more recent retrofitting cultures, this paper reflects on the different barriers to retrofitting historical buildings for energy efficiency in these countries and explores the potential drivers for retrofitting in each of these contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the equity aspect of the educational reform in English secondary education. By using data from the School Performance Tables in the North West region of England, two indices of equity measurement, the 'dissimilarity index' and the Gini coefficient, are calculated. From the results, it is found out that the disparity between schools in the region has not been a serious problem so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volunteer trainee teachers (trainee teachers who teach on an unpaid basis and not on a pre-service course) are present in a number of institutions across the lifelong learning sector (LLS) in England, giving the opportunity to gain entry into the teaching profession to those who might otherwise face difficulties in accessing paid teaching. Whilst statistics on volunteer trainee teachers are not collected, it is difficult to determine whether the numbers of such trainees are a constant across the sector or if they are a minority or a substantial proportion of total trainee numbers. However, the backdrop of a severe economic recession and consequent public expenditure cuts to education, resulting in real or perceived threats to employment for teachers in the LLS (IFS 2011), may have increased the numbers of volunteer trainee teachers. The paper explores the introduction of voluntary teaching practice in a large university/college partnership and raises questions about the consequences for the organisation and teacher educators in terms of the profile, motivation and experience of the volunteer trainee teachers and any differing perceptions of their teacher educators. These include tensions around the professionalisation agenda, the equality of access (including those with disabilities) agenda, and whether voluntary teaching opportunities facilitate this. Questionnaires and interviews with volunteer trainee teachers, teacher educators and mentors were undertaken. This study contributes to the discussion about the evolution of professionalism within the context of increased pressures on staff arising from cuts and strains on the present teaching qualification system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors describe the incremental approach to the marketisation of the English National Health Service (NHS) since the introduction of an 'internal market' in 1990 until the 2010 White Paper, 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS', and the subsequent Health and Social Care Bill published in January 2011. The introduction of a competitive market for a universal, tax-financed health system requires fundamental changes in regulation in order that market bureaucracy can be substituted for direct management. The components of reform are insufficiently captured by the framework of hierarchies and networks in new public management theories of decentralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the impact of the recession on the delivery of design quality in England and Wales. It does so against the background of numerous positive policy developments as regards planning and design over the past decade, but the rather uneven delivery of better design outcomes. The focus is principally on housing development as the development sector with the most impact on the built environment, but other forms of development are also considered. Two brief case studies are presented to illustrate the short-term responses of developers to the credit crunch and their design implications, and then the policy responses of the New Labour government and their agencies to the crisis are critically examined. Future policy priorities and their potential impact on design quality are explored. The implications of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government responses to the recession, and their programme of dramatic cuts in public expenditure, are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the commercial exploitation of ethnic diaspora-based networks. Using qualitative data from four London minority-owned enterprises, diaspora-based linkages in the UK and beyond are examined and the implications for policy discussed. We conclude that, under certain conditions, diaspora-based networks enable higher levels of business competitiveness. They facilitate access to resources and markets by minority-owned businesses, particularly for those supplying ethnic goods and services,. Exploiting diaspora-based networks effectively depends not only on business owners' capabilities and motivations to do so but also on diaspora structures—their size, geographical and sectoral locations—and the resources and opportunities they make available to business owners. Conversely, in certain circumstances, engagement with diaspora-based networks can constrain business competitiveness, particularly where this restricts the resources and markets available. Diaspora-based networks are potentially important influences on business competitiveness but do not negate the importance of class resources such as property, education and skills in processes of business formation and development among minority groups. The implications for existing theory and for policy are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing importance attached to entrepreneurship as a policy concept in European Union (EU) agriculture, little assessment has been made of its practical application. This paper makes a preliminary consideration of the issues in relation to on-farm diversification. First the literatures on agricultural diversification and innovation are reviewed to establish entrepreneurial traits in (1) business change processes, and (2) business enterprise characteristics. The business enterprise characteristics are then used to identify entrepreneurial diversified businesses from a sample of 118 agricultural enterprises in England. Some 15 entrepreneurial farm businesses were identified and their managers interviewed to reflect on the underlying change processes that they had adopted during 1997-2001; the effects of diversification in terms of socio-economic benefits at business and regional levels; and the effectiveness of agricultural business advice services in supporting entrepreneurial behaviour. Respondents confirmed the importance of networking processes to managing change in their businesses. Importantly all had benefited from diversification, through increased net income, reduced dependence on agricultural subsidies and greater income stability during the survey period. Regional economic benefits were more difficult to quantify, although positive employment generating effects were evident among businesses. Importantly respondents commented on their disengagement from sectoral extension agencies in contrast to their enthusiastic use of generic business support. Consequently, consideration is made of adjustments in extension and advisory provision to enhance on-farm entrepreneurial diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a preliminary comparative longitudinal analysis of the impact on workers made redundant due to the closure of the Mitsubishi plant in Adelaide and the MG Rover plant in Birmingham. Longitudinal surveys of ex-workers from both firms were undertaken over a 12-month period in order to assess the process of labour market adjustment. In the Mitsubishi case, given the skills shortage the state of Adelaide was facing, together with the considerable growth in mining and defence industries, it would have been more appropriate if policy intervention had been redirected to further training or re-skilling opportunities for redundant workers. This opportunity was effectively missed and as a result more workers left the workforce, most notably for retirement, than could have otherwise been the case. The MG Rover case was seen as a more successful example of policy intervention, with greater funding assistance available and targeted support available, and with more emphasis on re-training needs to assist adjustment. However, despite the assistance offered and the rhetoric of successful adjustment in both cases, the majority of workers have nevertheless experienced deterioration in their circumstances - particularly in the Australian case where casual and part-time work were often the only work that could be obtained. Even in the UK case, where more funding assistance was offered, a majority of workers reported a decline in earnings and a rise in job insecurity. This suggests that a reliance on the flexible labour market is insufficient to promote adjustment, and that more active policy intervention is needed especially in regard to further up-skilling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on research to determine the impact of the high-speed train (HST) network made possible by the Channel Tunnel on socio-economic development in South East England. A detailed literature review has been carried out assessing the impacts of HST, which includes reviewing computable general equilibrium models, accessibility and ex-post monitoring studies. Data on economic activity rates, population changes, planning consents and land values are collated and related to changes in accessibility. Detailed case studies are provided for one location with long established HST services for which ex-post analysis is possible (Ashford), and for locations where HST services are being planned, or have recently been opened, and ex-ante analysis can be undertaken (e.g. Stratford and St Pancras, respectively). The case studies show that the wider economic benefits of HST are difficult to detect, as they are swamped by external factors, but they are more likely when large changes in accessibility are complemented by supportive planning policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the example of the Dearne Valley in South Yorkshire, England, a notion of multifunctionality, and its potential to be utilized in post-industrial regeneration is explored. Multifunctionality is defined as an integration of different functions within the same or overlapping land unit, at the same or overlapping in time, and is a framework whereby a holistic view of a landscape can be examined. The multi-criteria analysis approach to mapping potential in the landscape highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in this part of post-industrial England. The graphical format enables the elements of the landscape to be identified and this offers potential for a basis of consultation in the process of regeneration. By examining the place of post-industrial sites in the context of the landscape in which they are situated will enable their potential to be realized, rather than viewing them as individual problems. The paper concludes by examining how a concept of multifunctionality can address some of the shortcomings in the current regeneration delivery environment, and suggests that this approach may bring about post-industrial landscapes that are not only new, but better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now broadly accepted in the literature that in-migrants make a disproportionately positive contribution in the creation of new ventures in rural England. However, to date, there have been precious few advances in our understanding of either the characteristics or, more importantly, the degree of embeddedness of in-migrant entrepreneurs. This paper aspires to address this gap in the literature, drawing upon the findings of an extensive fieldwork investigation in rural Cumbria.1 It is argued that the attributes of entrepreneurial individuals who are not born locally enable them to follow distinct routes to starting and/or running a business, working in contexts that allow them to break away from the confines of rurality. They appear to rely less upon the local setting for the supply of materials and capital, as well as a market for their products/services and to have closer relationships with national and international sources of information than their locally-born counterparts. Thus, in-migrant entrepreneurs emerge as a key instrument in enhancing the integration of rural economies in the national and global markets as well as diminishing the strength of local ties. Weak local ties also mean that growing in-migrant entrepreneurship may be linked with the demise of rural localities as integrated entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the current state of costs of medical and clinical education. The author comments on the expenses associated with healthcare professional education and describes studies conducted as to the costs of such education in Great Britain. The relationship between educational equality and costs is examined and new systems are proposed.

The purpose of this paper, however, is not to consider the normative implications of the Tiebout model itself, but to assess the degree of fiscal mobility that is present in household migration flows between local authority areas, within one region of the UK. The remainder of the paper is in three sections. The first reviews the methodologies of previous attempts to assess the extent of fiscally induced migration, noting the dominance of American studies, and outlines a choice-theoretic structure within which it is possible to model human migration patterns. Section III considers the problems inherent in modelling migration flows, and Section IV presents results for a Compound Poisson analysis of migration between local authority areas within the four counties of the North West region of England, as well as an assessment of the prevalence of fiscal mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a model for describing how paradigms of political economy were engendered in England, 1647-c. 1690. It is submitted that 1 a paradigmatic distinction can be drawn between an atomistic perspective and a corporatist one; 2 the two perspectives were simultaneous, and engendered by alternative theories of sovereignty as presented by political discourse; 3 the connection between economic and political freedom was the opposite of what is commonly assumed. Free trade in any sense was endorsed by champions of absolute royal sovereignty, and state intervention in the economy was a common outcome of the way economic activities were conceptualized by supporters of a free constitution or a mixed monarchy. No historical narration follows the model, but some evidence for its historical plausibility is provided in sections 2 and 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the annual conference of the International Network for Economic Method in Leeds, England. Keynote speaker; Topics discussed; Quality of research pursued in contemporary economic methodology.

The profits of the Liverpool slave trade are infamous, if somewhat more realistically represented in recent literature. Contemporaries and historians have posited that these higher profits were required to entice merchants into the trade because of the higher risks. However, there is very little work which investigates whether the risks of the slave trade really were higher than other similar opportunities. This article uses the case study of Liverpool slave traders to investigate the risks within the slave trade compared to other Atlantic ventures, and how Liverpool merchants managed those risks. It will argue that the slave trade was indeed a relatively risky trade in comparison with other Atlantic ventures, but that Liverpool merchants not only understood these risks, but actively embraced them, allowing them to manage them extremely well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using experimental data from Nottinghamshire, U.K., the process of stockless organic conversion and the first three years of organic production is examined to analyse the economic legacy of seven stockless organic conversion strategies. Focusing upon the impact of the conversion strategies on the second (bean) and third (oat) organic crops, but also considering the economics of the two-year conversion period and the first organic crop (wheat) the paper provides strategy recommendations to growers considering conversion. Gross margin results indicate that conversion strategies containing fertility building phases provide the highest overall gross margin returns, with the clover-seed - red-clover ryegrass strategy returning an average annual gross margin in the absence of subsidies of £459 ha-1; the second best strategy being the two-year red-clover ryegrass strategy providing an annual average gross margin of £357 ha-1. The influence of the factors that drive economic performance of the bean and oat crops, as measured through the productivity of land, are captured through the estimation of a land quality index (LQI) using regression analysis. The average and marginal economic values of the factors influencing land quality are presented and highlight the importance of weed control in organic production. For a risk-averse grower, the recommended conversion cropping plan based upon the overall average gross margin, the associated agronomic attributes and the value of controlling weeds post-conversion, is the two-year red-clover ryegrass strategy. This strategy recommendation reinforces previous research findings whilst the LQI and associated input-output measures provide an explanation for the underlying factors behind this strategy recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs about a symposium on the role of experiments in economics. The purpose of this symposium is to encourage debate about these issues. The focus of attention is not on defining good practice in running experiments, but on the roles that experiments do and should play in economics. The origin of the symposium was a workshop held at the University of Nottingham in September 2003. It was organized as part of a research project on the methodology of experimental economics. The workshop was designed to generate open and frank discussion among a group of researchers, selected to include practitioners of experimental economics, economic theory and experimental psychology.

We explored employer uptake and perceptions of workplace human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing delivered to employees as part of Healthy Hub Roadshow, a multi-component general health check. Intervention included health checks with tailored advice delivered to 776 employees at 20 events hosted by 11 different workplaces (29 approached, 38% employer uptake). Delivery partners were third sector organisations with significant expertise in HIV testing and support. Health checks included optional HIV test (using 4th generation Insti finger prick rapid tests), Body Mass Index (BMI), blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Mixed-methods evaluation included post-event online survey and qualitative interviews with participating employers. Declining employers were invited to complete an online feedback survey. Workplace HIV testing was positively received by all participating organisations, although 78% (14/18) of declining organisations did not provide their reasons for non-participation. Factors of importance to employers included the perceived trustworthiness of delivery partners, being able to provide engaging opportunities for employee health, offering HIV testing as part of a wider health check, and having visible top-level managerial support. Concerns about hosting the events were rare and related to having limited budgets for future events, and the potential loss of productivity related to attendance during work time. Employers indicated that they would not actively seek out workplace HIV testing as part of health promotion efforts, but they were highly receptive to its inclusion in workplace health and wellbeing provision by credible external delivery partners. In conclusion, workplaces are an untapped arena for HIV awareness raising and testing in the UK. Employers should be encouraged and supported to offer opt-in HIV testing as part of a wider workplace health and wellbeing provision for employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare the 3-year cost in the NHS in England of continued aflibercept injections with that of switching to a single fluocinolone acetonide (FAc) intravitreal implant in phakic patients with chronic diabetic macular edema (DME); that is, DME that persists or recurs despite treatment. Methods: A cost analysis model was developed. This accounts for the overall direct cost of treatment in phakic eyes, including the costs of the drugs, administration, monitoring, additional interventions required, and adverse event management. Results: This model shows cost savings for patients with a phakic lens when they are switched to FAc following initial aflibercept monotherapy. Using NHS list prices, the total treatment cost over a 3-year period per phakic eye is £15,413.23 with continued aflibercept monotherapy and £14,485.06 with a switch to FAc - resulting in a cost saving with FAc of £928.17 per eye over a 3-year period. Conclusions: This cost analysis showed that switching patients with an initial suboptimal response from aflibercept to FAc was associated with a cost advantage compared with continued aflibercept injections. With increasing demand for intravitreal therapies, the true benefit of treatment with FAc may be its potential as a suitable and effective option to increase clinic capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marginal spaces are increasingly being taken up for commercial use in London. This includes railway arches, which are appropriated for many different social and economic activities. This article presents the findings of a study on 165 arches in three London neighbourhoods (Hackney, Bethnal Green and Bermondsey), which found the arches to host a disproportionate amount of manufacturing, in addition to concentrations of sectors such as food and drink; and taxi services. Despite being part of Britain's industrial heritage, the arches have proved highly adaptable 'hybrid' spaces supporting office, retail, wholesale and production. They are also modular - businesses move into neighbouring arches as they expand. The arches are therefore well-suited to the postfordist economy of the inner city, which incorporates a highly networked system of small-scale manufacturers and retailers that require flexible and affordable small spaces close to commercial centres. Being arranged side-by-side, and open onto the street, they support knowledge-sharing between firms, while also bringing life to neighbourhoods. The arches have a spatial/functional configuration that might be copied in new forms of industrial development. Indeed, they suggest the possibility of a new spatial form - 'industrial streets' as opposed to industrial estates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on aspects of international serials and electronic resource management. Updates are offered on the awards granted by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the publication of "Output of the NISO Alternative Assessment Project" by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO)," the Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) program, and the 2017 ALPSP conference in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

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England is investing aggressively in its apprenticeship system. Indeed, it has been expanded significantly. But while some of these programs are effective, the author is concerned that they don’t emphasize learning skills adequately. This becomes epically relevant now that there is a new levy on business to support an expanded apprenticeship system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In England, personal budgets are offered to eligible people with severe mental health problems to enable them to purchase what is helpful for their quality of life or recovery. However, in-depth insight into people's own perceptions of the outcomes is lacking. Aims: To investigate people's own reporting of outcomes from using personal budgets in relation to social care needs arising from severe mental health problems. Method: A convenience sample of 47 individuals receiving personal budgets was recruited from three English local authorities. In-depth semi-structured interviews were subject to thematic framework analysis. Results: Most participants identified positive outcomes across domains interconnected through individual life circumstances, with mental health and wellbeing, social participation and relationships, and confidence and skills most commonly reported. Some needed more support than others to identify goals and make use of the personal budget to take a more active part in the society. Conclusions: Personal budgets can enable people to achieve outcomes that are relevant to them in the context of their lives, particularly through enhancing their wellbeing and social participation. Consideration should be given to distinguishing those individuals potentially requiring more support for engagement from those who can engage more independently to identify and pursue their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers alcohol policy development in England and Wales under the coalition government after 2010. With a particular focus on minimum unit pricing, it examines why policy departures based on supply-side controls drawn from public health models were abandoned in favour of a restoration of policy equilibrium. This article adopts a historically informed political science perspective, drawing upon insights from John Kingdon's policy streams approach, with a focus on how the 'alcohol problem' is defined and framed by policy actors. It argues that while the restoration of policy equilibrium was significantly attributable to industry lobbying, also important were the inconsistent framing of policy proposals, lack of departmental synergy, ideological tensions and a lack of coherence in the communication of evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, over 61% of adults and 30% of children are obese; sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are acknowledged to be a contributor to this obesity epidemic due to their high sugar content and lack of nutritional value. This study focussed on a secondary school in the North West of England, with the aim of evaluating pupil's exposure to, and opportunities to buy SSBs on their journeys to and from school and during the school day, along with their purchasing behaviours. Data were collected using mapping exercises and focus group interviews. Results showed that SSBs could be purchased very cheaply within the school fringe. All participants in the focus groups claimed to consume SSBs, although the frequency of consumption varied. Taste was the most important factor when purchasing drinks. Although the selection of beverages for sale varied, the majority were found to contain high levels of sugar, with very few low or non-sugar options available. Participants were largely unaware of the sugar content in SSBs. The study highlights the need for a multi-factorial approach in order to decrease the consumption of SSBs in children and young people. Recommendations include health promotion in schools around the detrimental health consequences of excess sugar intake, working with local authorities to restrict SSB retailing close to schools and homes, working with retailers to improve the provision of healthy beverages in their stores and addressing the issue of price, potentially by the implementation of a sugar tax. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author focuses on the business of trading up institutional leaders in the U.S. and Australia. The relates his experience when he became chief executive at the University of Brighton and Green Templeton College (GTC), Oxford, England where he observed equality issues, like low-wage economy. He mentions the number of students and staff in the two schools which contribute in the reduction of complexity in the institution.

Enhancing choice and control for people using services is a mental health and social-care service priority in England. Personalisation is a new policy and practice for delivery of social-care services where eligible adults are allocated a personal budget to spend to meet their agreed support needs. To describe approaches to introducing personal budgets to people with severe and enduring mental health needs, and to identify facilitators or barriers encountered. Within four English local authority (LA) areas, purposively selected to provide maximum variation, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 58 participants from LAs, NHS trusts and third-sector organisations. An Interpretive Framework analysis considered within- and across-site insights. Issues arising from the implementation of personalisation for people with mental health needs are presented under two general themes: "responsibility and power" and "vision and leadership". Key challenges identified were complexities of working across NHS and LAs, the importance of effective leadership and engagement with service user representatives. Implementing personal budgets in mental health requires effective engagement of health and social-care systems. Change processes need strong leadership, clear vision and personal commitment, with ownership by all key stakeholders, including front-line practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]