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The authors in this volume are collectively engaged with a historical puzzle: What happens if we examine the decade once we step out of the shadows cast by Thatcher? That is, does the decade of the 1980s as a significant and meaningful periodisation (equivalent to that of the 1960s) still work if Thatcher becomes but one part of the story rather than the story itself? The essays in this collection suggest that the 1980s only makes sense as a political period. They situate the 1980s within various longer term trajectories that show the events of the decade to be as much the consequence as the cause of bigger, long-term historical processes. This introduction contextualises the collection within the wider literature, before explaining the collective and individual contributions made. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This introduction describes the rapidly expanding history of non-state humanitarianism in terms of three themes. First, it argues that we should think about humanitarianism less in terms of ruptures or breaks, and focus more on the moments of acceleration and the continuities that shaped that narrative: how the relationships among local, national and international discourses were played out in the shift between imperial and post-colonial worlds, in the dialogue between religious and secular traditions, and in the transformative processes of decolonization, de-regulation and globalization. Second, we suggest the need to re-think the geography of non-state humanitarianism. Drawing attention to the transnational contexts and traditions in which ideas of humanitarianism have been articulated not only adds to our understanding of transnational action and the strength of global civil society beyond the West, we argue, it allows us to better appreciate the myriad languages and practices of humanitarianism employed in a global context. Finally, this introduction also re-visits the question of motivation. By looking beyond the state, we argue, we can better understand the variety of motives that shaped the act of giving: from compassion to capturing markets, the search for efficiency, and the construction of local, national and international identities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article offers a history of the working practices of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Based on extensive interviews with former members and on research into a new archive of the Centre, housed in the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham, it argues that cultural studies as practised in the 1970s was always a heterogeneous subject. The CCCS was heavily influenced by the events of 1968 when it tried to develop a new type of radical and collaborative research and teaching agenda. Despite Stuart Hall's efforts to impose a focused link between politics and academic practice, the agenda soon gave way to a series of diverse and fruitful initiatives associated with the ‘sub-groups’ model of research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An interdisciplinary and international group of clinicians and scientists gathered in Philadelphia, PA, to attend the fourth International Research Conference on Multiple Hereditary Exostoses (MHE), a rare and severe skeletal disorder. MHE is largely caused by autosomal dominant mutations in EXT1 or EXT2, genes encoding Golgi-associated glycosyltransferases responsible for heparan sulfate (HS) synthesis. HS chains are key constituents of cell surface- and extracellular matrix-associated proteoglycans, which are known regulators of skeletal development. MHE affected individuals are HS-deficient, can display skeletal growth retardation and deformities, and consistently develop benign, cartilage-capped bony outgrowths (termed exostoses or osteochondromas) near the growth plates of many skeletal elements. Nearly 2% of patients will have their exostoses progress to malignancy, becoming peripheral chondrosarcomas. Current treatments are limited to the surgical removal of symptomatic exostoses. No definitive treatments have been established to inhibit further formation and growth of exostoses, prevent transition to malignancy, or address other medical problems experienced by MHE patients, including chronic pain. Thus, the goals of the Conference were to assess our current understanding of MHE pathogenesis, identify key gaps in information, envision future therapeutic strategies and discuss ways to test and implement them. This report provides an assessment of the exciting and promising findings in MHE and related fields presented at the Conference and a discussion of the future MHE research directions. The Conference underlined the critical usefulness of gathering experts in several research fields to forge new alliances and identify cross-fertilization areas to benefit both basic and translational biomedical research on the skeleton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers an abridged text of a witness seminar concerning the voluntary sector in Great Britain in the 1980s, held at the British National Council of Voluntary Organisations in London, England on December 11, 2009. It examines the policies of Great Britain's Conservative Party and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Charity Commission, and the Home Office. Speakers included Nicholas Deakin, Richard Fries, and Julia Unwin.

The article explores the nature of activism in a consumer society during an age of consumption. A case-study of those organizations which engaged with the products and culture of affluence, and a history of consumer activism as an international or transnational phenomenon are offered. An overview of the rise of consumer testing organizations in North American and western Europe is taken. The global dimensions of consumerism during a period of increasing economic and political globalization are also emphasized. Developing world consumer activism is also focused.

Discusses the significant role of Michael Young, founder of the Consumers' Association (CA), to the history of organized consumerism in Great Britain during the 1950s. Background on Young's first introduction to consumer ideas during the late 1930s; Career background; Accomplishments of Young as director of CA.

The article focuses on the impact of mass market and how economic changes in mass manufacturing affected the distribution of tobacco products in Great Britain. The trading methods and ideology of nineteenth-century specialist tobacconists were fundamentally different from those of their counterparts in the twentieth century. The article refuses to accept the inevitability of the success of mass marketing methods and focuses on the strategies adopted by specialist traders to combat the huge commercial forces transforming the structure of distribution. It studies the history of the specialist tobacconist from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. These independent retailers moved from a position of skilled artisan traders in which they not only sold commodities but played a major role in the direction of consumption to one in which they merely formed the intermediary between the two greater cultural forces of the producer and mass of consumers. Despite various efforts to re-install agency into their trading role, their history mirrors that of many other institutions in a society which became increasingly polarised between the perceived masses and the emerging economic and cultural elites.

The article discusses the process of collecting and documenting materials associated with the foundation of the Centre for Contemporary Studies (CCCS) at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham, England. It addresses the efforts of cultural studies academics to contribute to the collection, organisation of the collection's resources, and the establishment of archiving policies.