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The UK government's 'Industrial Strategy' is a product of a Conservative party in power, coming to terms with a particular set of economic and political circumstances. In contrast, international bodies have commended long-term concepts of 'green growth' rather than conventional industrial development, whilst individual local authorities in the UK and elsewhere have been working towards economic regeneration policies that are both environmentally aware and also related directly to local communities. Taken together, the UK industrial strategy, the reports of international agencies and the efforts of individual local authorities raise the question as to the possible shape of a national strategy that reflects ideas of green growth and applies these ideas to processes of urban regeneration, urban development and planning. This paper gives a brief outline of such a strategy, suggesting that green growth must deal with towns and cities, both as causes of pollution, carbon emissions and resource consumption and as places where people should be able to enjoy a good quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the Internet resource State Papers Online, the Government of Britain, 1509-1714, located at http://www.gale.cengage.com.

This paper gives a short overview of the UK government’s STEM agenda and then considers one aspect in depth – the STEM Advisory Forum. It explains how the Forum operates to draw together views from across the STEM community through online discussions and face-to-face events. Four examples are given of topics that have been dealt with by the Forum. Firstly the topic of engineering, enrichment and engagement is covered through samples of various events and discussions. A major issue covered is the number of young people taking A Level mathematics. The background to the issue is explained and how views expressed on the Forum might have had some influence upon the Government’s advanced level target and may yet impact on admissions behaviour in universities. A third short example of impact on the number of university places for STEM subjects is given and the piece finishes with an example of impact at local level in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents a significant association between the exposure of an individual or area to the UK government's austerity-induced welfare reforms begun in 2010, and the following: the subsequent rise in support for the UK Independence Party, an important correlate of Leave support in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union membership; broader individual-level measures of political dissatisfaction; and direct measures of support for Leave. Leveraging data from all UK electoral contests since 2000, along with detailed, individual-level panel data, the findings suggest that the EU referendum could have resulted in a Remain victory had it not been for austerity. (JEL D72, F15, F60, H53, I38) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responds to comment on the re-interpretation of urban politics in Great Britain, published in a 2001 issue of 'Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.' Taxonoy of contrasts between local governance and government; Analysis of the deployment of a variant of regulation theory.

This paper reviews changes over the last 10 years in the governance arrangements and processes involved in sub-national economic development and cross-boundary collaboration. It begins with a summary of the institutional changes in the main countries of the UK, in the dual context of fiscal retrenchment and neo-liberal deregulation. The picture that emerges is one of a confused patchwork in England; incremental modifications in Scotland; and embryonic developments in Wales. This is then contrasted with a range of experiences in other countries, involving wholesale recentralisation and a sidelining of local and regional institutions at one end of the spectrum, to resistance to restructuring through repurposing, increased mutual collaboration and improved management at the other. However, enhanced economic links and benefits do not automatically flow from any particular form of rescaled governance arrangements. As our original article found, the key ingredients are robust and inclusive political and decision-making processes, a suite of appropriate policy instruments and deployment of sufficient resources to ensure that they have an effect. The paper also concludes that a more comprehensive theoretical framework is needed to advance understanding of what lies behind different forms of state governance rescaling, and what makes a given instance more (or less) effective than another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of research, we still need more long-term evidence of the effects of New Public Management (NPM) and accompanying changes in government over a generation. Looking at UK experience, a key case in NPM and digital-age developments, this paper evaluates administrative data to show what happened to indicators of fairness and consistency and of prudent management through limitation of running costs in public administration over three decades. The analysis shows that running costs rose substantially in real terms (contrary to the cost-cutting stereotype of NPM), while indicators of first-stage formal challenges to government suggest increased dissatisfaction with fairness and consistency in administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research completed as part of an interdisciplinary project entitled 'Tales of the Frontier'; both between the disciplines of geography and archaeology; and on the landscape narratives of Hadrian's Wall. In particular, the paper unravels the currency of race-geographies present in the collaboration, material interpretation and dissemination processes which included the curating of a public exhibition 'An Archaeology of 'Race''. In public museums and popular narratives of Roman Britain, black and African residents and cultures on the frontier are seemingly discordant with narratives of Hadrian and Roman Britain. In the paper, using critical antiquarian and classicist accounts, Roman history and culture as practised in Britain's northern landscape is interrogated and as a result emerges as multicultural, particularly through the re-narration of the Roman heritage of the Wall centred on Emperor Septimius Severus, the African Emperor. This recovered set of narratives sits as counter to narratives along heritage sites at the Wall and perceptions in the public sphere as well as enabling the critique of narratives of archaeology employed in justifications of political ambition, rule and governance of the British Empire, in the 19th century. The postcolonial orientation taken in this paper therefore contributes, first, to an evaluation of narrative as a postcolonial politics of praxis; and second, to a means of critiquing popular accounts of this landscape's history. Here, the postcolonial narrative mode also provides a framework for producing the exhibition and a teaching pack to represent Roman British cultures of citizenship in this landscape. Overall, narrative operates as an important political tool of doing postcolonial history and heritage that is inclusive and that can be used to engage in public geographies, both materially and intellectually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is United Kingdom (UK) government initiatives over the last thirty years, or so, which have been designed to both up-skill the workforce and to improve the country's international competitive position. It also considers the impact which these educational interventions have had on the economic and human capital of the various stakeholders including the government, employers and learners. It comes to the conclusion that, whilst some progress has been made in developing the human capital and the economic capital of the stakeholders these interventions have not significantly improved the United Kingdom's global competitive position. The paper also points to the current political uncertainty in that country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative approach to the decision- and policymaking that has been practiced in most developed countries for more than a quarter of a century. Such policies followed, to a greater or lesser degree, the policies adopted in the UK and the USA since the period of the Thatcher and Reagan administrations, respectively. These policies proclaimed the supremacy of the market and downplayed government intervention in the marketplace. Design/methodology/approach - This paper draws upon earlier research by the authors as well as upon published works of other researchers. Findings - Self-interest governed the way policies are formed and through a process of extreme capitalism financial leaders took ever-increasing risks for which executives received lucrative incentive salaries. The recent crash suggests a failure in such policies and this paper proposes an alternative way of operating - the way of altruism. Selfishness and egoism are argued as endemic in economic rationalism and extreme capitalism, replacing selflessness that engenders policies more aligned to altruism. Research limitations/implications - The research is limited by the ability to examine all the research literature in the field at greater depth. However, the examination that has been possibly indicated that self-interest and greed, endemic in extreme capitalism and economic rationalism, have made significant contributions to the recent subprime and global financial crises. Practical implications - This paper provides government and corporate policymakers with an understanding of an alternative value - selflessness as aligned to altruism - than the values of selfishness and greed that are endemic in economic rationalism and extreme capitalism guiding policies that led to the global financial crisis. Originality/value - The paper fulfils an identified need and supports policymakers seeking to achieve just outcomes for all stakeholders across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the age of twenty-three until his death at the age of sixty-eight, Lord Acton was or sought to be a member of the United Kingdom parliament. Although Acton remains a subject of scholar!y interest, his political career has received relatively little attention. This article examines Acton's search for an Irish parliamentary seat, a search which was twice unsuccessful in 1857, but which resulted in May 1859 in Acton's return as the member for Carlow borough. Although Acton was pushed towards parliament by his family - and particularly his stepfather, Lord Granville - a close examination of Acton's campaigns reveals more dedication to a political career than has previously been accepted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of the phrase 'basic research' as a term used in science policy discussion dates only to about 1920. At the time the phrase referred to what we today commonly refer to as applied research in support of specific missions or goals, especially agriculture. Upon the publication of Vannevar Bush's well-known report, Science - The Endless Frontier, the phrase 'basic research' became a key political symbol, representing various identifications, expectations and demands related to science policy among scientists and politicians. This paper tracks and evaluates the evolution of 'basic research' as a political symbol from early in the 20th century to the present. With considerable attention having been paid to the on-going evolution of post-Cold War science policy, much less attention has focused on the factors which have shaped the dominant narrative of contemporary science policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the development of cooperative relationships in back-channel communication and their impact on intraparty negotiation. It draws on extensive newly available evidence on back-channel communication in the Irish peace process to expand the range of detailed case studies on a topic which is shrouded in secrecy and resistant to academic inquiry. The article analyses the operation of a secret back channel that linked the Irish Republican Army to the British government over a period of 20 years, drawing on unique material from the private papers of the intermediary, Brendan Duddy, and a range of other primary sources. The article finds that interaction through this back channel increased predictability and laid a foundation of extremely limited trust by providing information and increasing mutual understanding. Strong cooperative relationships developed at the intersection between the two sides, based to a great extent on strong interpersonal relationships and continuity in personnel. This in turn produced direct pressure for changes in the position of parties as negotiators acted as advocates of movement in intraparty negotiations. The article finds that this back channel was characterized by a short chain, the direct involvement of principals and the establishment of a single primary channel of communication and that these features combined with secrecy to generate the distinctive cooperative dynamics identified in this article. It concludes that the potential for the development of cooperative relationships is particularly strong in back-channel negotiation for two reasons; first, the joint project of secrecy creates an ongoing shared task that builds trust and mutual understanding regardless of progress in the negotiations. Secondly, as a shared project based on the explicit aim of bypassing spoilers, the process creates structural pressures for cooperation to manage internal opponents on both sides, pressures intensified by the secrecy of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The political impact of 'social acceleration' has recently attracted much attention in sociology and political theory. The concept, however, has remained entirely unexplored in the discipline of history. Although numerous British historians have noted the prominent position of acceleration in the late-Victorian and Edwardian imagination, these observations have never expanded beyond the realm of rhetorical flourish. The present paper attempts to build a two-way interdisciplinary bridge between British political history and the theories of social acceleration that have been posited in the social sciences, arguing that both British political historians and acceleration theorists have much to gain from further dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2007, the UK government announced that all new homes are to be ‘zero carbon’ by 2016. At present, zero carbon dwellings are significantly expensive to achieve, costing up to 40% more in capital costs than conventional building. Delivering the energy through a district energy supply achieves zero carbon at considerably less cost. This paper concluded that district energy using a large wind turbine and community biomass boiler could reduce technological capital costs by £20 000 (70%) per 128 m2 dwelling. It was estimated that a district energy can save £35 000 in capital and running costs over a 30 year life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focuses on the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (UTCCR) 1999, two legislations associated with unfair terms in Great Britain. Outline of the UCTA; Framework of the UTCCR; Implementation of the directives on providing a legislative regime.

The modernisation agenda for local government is based on questionable political assumptions. It has the attributes of a theological concept. This paper examines the concept of modernisation of local government by focusing on three dimensions (1) governance, (2) management and (3) finance. This analysis suggests the modernisation agenda is limited in scope and vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the approach taken by the UK courts to the use of visible, overt police surveillance tactics in the context of political assemblies. Contrasting judicial attitudes to the direct experiences of protesters themselves, the paper argues that the narrow approach taken by the courts to questions of privacy, based on informational autonomy and the 'reasonable expectation of privacy' test, has led to the insufficient recognition of the psychological, social and political harms arising from intensive surveillance operations. The paper argues for a broader view of privacy, or in the alternative, a more robust application of the right to freedom of assembly, to protect protest mobilisations and assemblies from disruptive and intrusive aspects of overt state surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the economic changes effected by the British Conservative government in the 1980s are transparent, there is considerable debate as to whether there was a political dimension to the "Thatcher Revolution." This paper argues that the Conservatives were successful in undertaking social structural reforms that effectively moved the political center of gravity in Britain to the right and toward the government's preferred market-oriented policy agenda. The government's strategy-manifest in the sale of council houses to tenants and of shares in privatized corporations to individuals, and its attack on organized labor-was narrowly targeted on the swing electorate among wealthier members of the lower socioeconomic strata. The Labour party has acknowledged the successes of the Conservatives' structural reforms, and has moved its policy platform, in Downsian fashion, to the right in order to regain electoral competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the character of the nineteenth-century electoral violence in United Kingdom (UK) with focus on England and Ireland. Social impact of electoral violence; Factors which sustained election riots in England and Ireland; Agrarian conflicts; Core of the Home Rule movement aimed at establishing a more sophisticated repertoire of agrarian action and modernizing the electoral process in UK.

The Conservative Party has in the 2015 British general elections won an absolute majority under David Cameron's leadership. Cameron's rule signifies a contested phase in British politics in the 21st century. This paper asks the question: What is Cameronism? Cameron argues that Margaret Thatcher "was a big influence" for him. It is therefore appropriate to study the relationship between Thatcherism and Cameronism. The article revisits theories of Thatcherism and analyses how it is related to Cameronism. Thatcherism and Cameronism are understood as being unities of ideology and policies that want to implement a particular model of society and for doing so, are organised along three dimensions: the economy, politics, and culture. An ideology critique of key speeches, interviews and documents analyses these three dimensions of Cameronism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Lien Social et Politiques is the property of Institut National de Recherche Scientifique (INRS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the development of the 1963 court case brought by the Board of Trade's Restrictive Trading Agreements Office against jute manufacturers, in order to examine the impact of the newly introduced competition policy for government–business relationships. Government's active enforcement of competition marked an important change in the direction of industrial policy in the UK and the jute industry was one of the cases to be examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key discussions emerging from within the centre and centre-left of British politics is the means of combining a commitment to diversity with the aim of achieving social solidarity. While there has been a populist strand to this debate recently with the contribution of writers such as Goodhart who has argued that diversity specifically undermines the willingness of the majority (white Anglo-Saxons) to pay for collective welfare provision, there has also been recognition of the difficulty of promoting difference and unity from within even the more sympathetic elements of the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to consider the nature of this dilemma and to propose a tentative solution. In essence we suggest that the problem lies not in creating a fit between the two elements for the sake of making the new? social democracy work but in rebuilding traditional social democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Teoria y Realidad Constitucional is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

By contrast to major constitutional reforms elsewhere in the UK, in England's eight regions beyond London New Labour has favoured administrative decentralisation. This paper examines these institutional arrangements and assesses their capacity to develop a more integrated approach to territorial development. It confirms a growing awareness of the need to ensure greater coherence between policies to promote economic, social and environmental wellbeing. Nonetheless, a complex regional institutional architecture, inconsistent sector-based strategies, a lack of strategic leadership and blurred accountabilities hamper moves towards policy integration and the delivery of joint outcomes. Moreover, despite ongoing reforms, the absence of a clear regional agenda in a functionally designed Whitehall raises fundamental questions about the ability of sub-national bodies to work collectively to develop and implement a more coherent approach to regional policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Former long-serving political editor of the BBC, Cole suggests that Blair’s attach on the British media – made in a speech as he prepared to vacate 10 Downing Street – was to a certain extent justified. “The recent burst of breast-beating about the loss of trust in the media has mostly been concentrated on broadcasting,” writes Cole. “But when you consider how many newspaper ‘scoops’ are not followed up by other papers, or even by the originator of the story, how many are never heard of again, you wonder whether trust in the printed word is being similarly eroded. Much of the blame for all this is put down to ‘spin’. Certainly the public relations trade, in which I include focus groups and public opinion polls, and not only in politics, but in business, the entertainment industry, and even charities, has gained an unenviable reputation for perverting the truth on behalf of its clients. This is where Tony Blair’s criticism of media obsession with ‘impact’ rings bells. Non-governmental organisation, charities, university researchers have all learned that the first sentence of their press release must contain a story. Sometime it is hyped. When I was news editor and deputy editor of The Guardian, we were very reluctant to print a story that claimed a forthcoming cure for cancer, lest it raised false hopes in patients and their families. Nowadays, researchers seem to claim cures for everything down to in-growing toenails, and gain publicity for them… The media do not operate in a vacuum. If we wonder why life is more strident today, we must look at others, including politicians, but also at ourselves. We have some kind of duty to truth, so far as we can discover what the truth is. But are we taking on the malignant forces that impede the search for truth as often as we ought?” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the youth policy during the days of the 1997 Labour Government and the proposals contained in the 2005 Green Paper, titled "Youth Matters," in Great Britain. Threat made through the Green Paper to services and support for young people; Commitment by the 1997 Labour government to prioritizing education; Origins of the Connexions Strategy, a strategy on youth policy.

The current period of welfare reform in British politics is taking place within a discourse of modernization described in terms of a ‘third way’. The ideas which constitute this discourse resonate with recent developments within human geography, namely a movement to theorizing ‘in-between’ spaces, a turn to culture and to issues of globalization. This paper suggests that welfare reform is a restructuring project which allows the nature of thinking and acting ‘in thirds’ to be questioned. It problematizes the ‘third way’ approach to cultural modernization and economic globalization as a de-politicized discourse, and argues for the cultural politics and political economics which underpin welfare reform to be foregrounded. As a form of political discourse analysis, it points to the developing need for a welfare geography that is attuned to the languages and practices through which dominant systems of social and economic distribution are constituted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1980s existing approaches to union government and democracy came under critical scrutiny. The virtues of decentralized systems were questioned; unions were strongly criticized for failing to represent the interests of women. These debates found clear expression in the negotiations leading to the creation of Unison. This paper examines the negotiations that created governing structures intended to preserve key features of the partner-unions' own democratic traditions and to respond to criticisms of their shortcomings. Most dramatically, Unison introduced a system of proportionality for women. It also provided systems of representation for the lower-paid and for other groups often excluded from union government. The conclusions examine whether the representative but complex system, likely to serve as a benchmark for the future, can live up to its claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Political Science Review is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the political developments in Great Britain between the First and the Second World War. A general election held in England soon after the First World War came to an end, completed the disaster that was already besetting the Liberal Party. Lloyd George became Prime Minister and his cabinet was a mottled one. Its members showed traces of the scars inflicted upon the party during the struggle. The mixture of Tory, Conservative and Liberal-Unionist with the National Liberals and one or two members of the Labor Party seemed to change the character and composition of the House, as it had been known before August 1914. After nearly four years, the national government disappeared and Lloyd George retired from the ministerial scene. There was no one, then, of outstanding ability in any party who was fighting for a seat in Parliament. Indeed, one of the leading London papers spoke of the dearth of men available to put the country on its feet again. The pre-war parliamentarians were an aging lot, it was said, and little could be expected from them after their sore trials of fighting the war from the camp in Downing Street.

The article discusses the British government's co-called response to the Green Paper entitled "Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders" that promised a rehabilitation revolution. It says that the response is simply a brief account of the current plans of the government and not a serious analysis of submissions. Based on the evidence, many penalties hit the poor disproportionately and do nothing to help people avoid re-offending.

Abstract: On 19th January 2004, the UK government published An Independent Review of Government Communications () known as the Phillis Review, and announced that it would implement the recommendations in full. In the early 2000s, under the Government of the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, there was some blurring of the lines between the role of impartial government communicators who were members of the Government Information and Communication Service (GICS) and politically appointed Special Advisors. In 1997, Alistair Campbell, Director of Communication, and Blair''s Special Advisor, had been given the power to direct government communicators and subsequently there were a number of incidents that reinforced the view that propriety lines were being breached. It was felt that the GICS was being increasingly politicised. The Phillis Review led to far reaching change, the most important being the appointment of a Permanent Secretary, a civil servant of the most senior rank to lead GICS. The impact on the GICS was significant. It re-established its independence from political advisors, its numbers increased and it found a renewed confidence and role in Government and public life. This apparent progress came to an abrupt halt in 2010. As part of its austerity measures to address the budget deficit, Government spending on communications was frozen and in January 2011, Matt Tee, the incumbent Permanent Secretary was made redundant and left Government service in March 2011. In June and December 2011, the Government made announcements that there would be far reaching changes to Government communications which will be implemented by the Spring of 2012. This includes the appointment of a civil servant of lesser grade to head the service. So, what does this mean for Government communications? This paper reflects on the changes in Government communications in the first decade of the 21st century and concludes that in many ways it has come full circle – history is in danger of repeating itself. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Human trafficking has been recognized both by the international community and many individual states around the world as a serious violation of human rights. Trafficking is associated with extreme violence and a range of physical, mental, and sexual health consequences. Despite the extreme nature of the harm caused by human trafficking, harm is not a concept that is integrated in the definition of trafficking or in policies to address the health of trafficked people. This paper examines the United Kingdom's response to human trafficking as a case study to explore national policy responses to the health needs of trafficked people and assess the willingness of UK authorities to implement international and regional law in securing trafficked people's health rights. Methods Between 2007 and 2010, data on the development of the UK response to trafficking were obtained through 46 interviews with key trafficking policy stakeholders and health care providers, participant observation at 41 policy-relevant events, and document collection. Framework analysis was used to analyze the data. Results International and regional instruments specifically protect the health rights of trafficked people. Yet, UK engagement with trafficked people's health rights has been limited to granting, under certain circumstances, free access to health care services. Changes to trafficked people's entitlements to free health care occurred following the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, but had limited impact on trafficked people's access to medical care. Conclusions International and regional instruments that provide specific or mandated instruction about states' health care obligations can be effective in furthering the health rights of vulnerable migrant groups. The UK government has demonstrated limited appetite for exceeding its minimum obligations to provide for the health of trafficked people, however, and key principles for promoting the health rights of trafficked people are yet to be fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conducting an exit poll to forecast the outcome of a national election in terms of both votes and seats is particularly difficult in Britain. No official information is available on how individual polling stations voted in the past, use of single-member plurality means that there is no consistent relationship between votes and seats, electors can choose to vote by post and most of those who vote in person do so late in the day. In addition, around one in every six intended exit poll respondents refuses to participate. Methods that were developed to overcome these problems, and their use in the successful 2005 British Broadcasting Corporation–Independent Television exit poll, are described and evaluated. The methodology included a panel design to allow the estimation of electoral change at local level, coherent multiple-regression modelling of multiparty electoral change to capture systematic patterns of variation, probabilistic prediction of constituency winners to account for uncertainty in projected constituency level shares, collection of information about the voting intentions of postal voters before polling day and access to interviewer guesses on the voting behaviour of refusals. The coverage and accuracy of the exit poll data are critically examined, the effect of key aspects of the statistical modelling of the data is assessed and some general lessons are drawn for the design and analysis of electoral exit polls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines evidence that has been used to claim that British foreign secretary Lord William Grenville supported a French royalist plot to assassinate the Directory in the 18th century. Collapse of the British secret service's counter-revolutionary plans in France; Communications difficulties associated with undercover secret service activities in the era.

From the mid-1940s until the mid-1970s, most of Britain's political 'establishment' shared a tacit governing philosophy which embraced a broad commitment to the concept of 'a national system of education, locally administered'. More specifically, it was believed that the tripartite partnership established between central government, local government and the individual schools and colleges involved a network of checks and balances which would ensure the effective distribution of power throughout the system. This partnership survived the local political battles over comprehensive schooling in the 1950s and 1960s, but began to break down in the 1970s when economic dislocation and a national identity crisis ushered in a new era of accountability and sanctions. This 'breakdown' encompassed the trust and confidence that central government had once reposed in the competence of local education authorities. The erosion of confidence in LEA effectiveness intensified under the Thatcher and Major administrations and is further threatened by the privatising agenda of New Labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model of this paper highlights two aspects of credibility: signalling the type of government, which is assumed not to be known; and, for any type, the likelihood that if circumstances are sufficiently unfavourable a devaluation will be impossible to avoid, since not to do so would go against the government's interests. These two factors have opposite implications for the link between unemployment and interest differentials: high unemployment signals a tough government, but also makes it less likely that even a tough government will maintain an existing parity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the role of socialist George Cole in the British Labour movement in 1929-1933. Contributions to the party; Crises faced by the Labour movement; Effects of political events in the 1920s on Cole's political ideology.

The article presents an analysis of several studies on the history of public policy and industrial revolutions in Great Britain since 1850. The estimates of British industrial performance made some years ago by N.F.R. Crafts and T.C. Mills have been subject to more criticism. These estimates, if accepted, are central to any analysis of the performance of the economy over the long run, more especially as they belittle the role of discontinuities such as the industrial revolution and the great depression. P. Newbold and C. Agiakloglou seriously question the CLM approach, arguing that the data offer little support for the CLM conclusions about die trend and cyclical behaviour of the production series, because these data are fully consistent with an alternative model which provides wholly different results. J. Tomlinson looks again at the nature of the debate on economic planning in the 1940s and explains the gap between Labour's rhetoric and practice in terms of the party's commitment to democracy, to union freedoms, to consensus politics, and to the attractiveness of the Keynesian alternative. M. Artis, D. Cobham, and M. Wickham-Jones together examine with some sympathy Labour's record during the 1970s and attack critics from both left and right.

Focuses on several issues discussed during campaign debates of political parties in Great Britain. Emphasis on issues concerning the economy and taxation; Role of education and training in solving the economic decline; Importance of the expansion in training opportunities to reduce unemployment.

The article presents the authors' comments on the relationship between government popularity and approval for the government's record in Great Britain, as examined by political scientist John Hudson. According to them, the relationship approach is justified as it is designed to consider time-series data. They comment that his model implies that Labour Party supporters have a lower critical disapproval point as compared to Conservative Party supporters.