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Residential care services are under increasing pressure to lower service provision costs while maintaining quality of care. Using a translog cost function, this paper examines the relationship between cost, quality and output in England's learning disability (LD) residential care sector. It finds genuine but diminishing economies of scale in LD residential care services vis-à-vis output (i.e., care weeks). However, some variation exists: higher-quality LD residential care homes appear to have larger economies of scale than lower-quality ones. Supplementary regression analysis, examining quality-size, further finds quality (a) is negatively associated with LD care homes of six or fewer beds; (b) shows no association with homes of more than six beds. These findings enhance residential care literature and raise the possibility that, by promoting the establishment of larger high-quality care homes, cost savings may be achieved without sacrificing quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first spatial analysis of racial disparities in the UK welfare sanction regime. As part of their austerity programme, the UK government tightened the conditionality of welfare programmes and intensified the use of financial penalties against welfare claimants who failed to demonstrate compliance with these conditions. Analysing Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) data from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Office for National Statistics between 2012 and 2019 we draw attention to the spatially uneven and highly racialised geography of welfare sanctions in England. Claimants from racially minoritised backgrounds are consistently more likely to be referred for a sanction by Jobcentre caseworkers and receive an adverse decision at the hands of institutional decision‐makers. Within this, however, there are important scalar and spatial differences that warrant critical attention. In rural England, the risk of being sanctioned is substantially higher for all groups, but especially for Mixed heritage and Black/Black British claimants who in some areas are over twice as likely to be sanctioned as their White counterparts. Since ethnicity data have not been published for Universal Credit sanction decisions, the presented evidence offers critical insight into the potential persistence of racial injustice in applying welfare sanctions. We identify 'hotspots' of racism in the sanction regime, most of which are in rural areas, before offering three interpretative frameworks through which spatial and racial disparities might be explained. Any suggestion that such disparities simply derive from the behaviour of DWP staff fails to adequately account for deeply entrenched histories of welfare racism, rural racism and the role of welfare sanctioning in dynamics of racial capitalism: that is, disciplining and impoverishing racialised populations in ways that generate conditions for capital accumulation. By contributing new empirical and theoretical insights to the often neglected study of rural austerity and welfare, the paper calls for scholarship to investigate the variegations of welfare, austerity and racial capitalism in diverse rural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving successful multi‐stakeholder collaboration for sustainable outcomes is complex. This paper provides key principles for future co‐design projects aimed at fostering an inclusive approach to research. These have been developed based on a novel methodology that co‐designed the essential components of a long‐term, collaborative agreement for a nature recovery scheme in England. Using an assortment of iterative, deliberative participatory methods, this research engaged a wide variety of stakeholders to produce a template agreement for an agri‐environmental policy. We demonstrate that a flexible, highly reflective approach resulted in positive engagement with previously marginalised stakeholders. The approach also successfully navigated the unequal power dynamics seen both within and between groups. Finally, multiple feedback loops allowed participants to continually build on previous interactions as they developed and reviewed the agreement. By drawing out the complexities of the co‐design process, this paper explains how co‐design efforts can produce potentially transformative outputs. We hope that the principles introduced here offer a useful starting point for those planning to undertake multi‐stakeholder co‐design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper outlines a pilot of a new memory aide for breastfeeding conducted in the Northeast of England and North Cumbria between April and August 2023. The United Kingdom has some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding, particularly in the Northeast of England, and as such more needs to be done to support mothers to breastfeed for as long as they would like to. Good support from health professionals can be effective in influencing decisions to breastfeed as well as helping to ensure initiation and continuation of breastfeeding but there is evidence to suggest that professionals and students do not always feel adequately trained and it is here, where memory aides may have value. Methods: Key breastfeeding practitioners and educators were brought together to select one of two memory aides for principles of attachment for effective breastfeeding. The selected memory aide, LATCHS, was piloted with 57 participants with a key role in promotion and support of breastfeeding in the Northeast of England and North Cumbria. Results: Participants conveyed mixed views about the proposed memory aide with more experienced staff reporting more favourable opinions than student midwives and early years practitioners. Experienced staff felt the new memory aide would complement an early memory aide, CHINS, which focused on principles of positioning. Discussion: Findings of the pilot indicate there is a role for a mnemonic to help practitioners understand, recall, and retain theory around attachment for effective breastfeeding and that memory aides can play an important role in complementing existing approaches to education and practice. The participants felt the proposed memory aide had some limitations and suggested important ways for it to be improved, particularly in adding an E to reflect the expecting wording. This produced the final memory aide: LATCHES. Conclusion: Using data from the pilot, the memory aide was refined, and the final version LATCHES agreed for wider dissemination. Future research is needed to understand the value of LATCHES on the wider breastfeeding workforce and whether any future improvements can be made to enhance its utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting individuals' social care needs is a core element of UK social policy. However, the conceptualisation and operationalisation of 'unmet need' remain a challenge. This paper advances our understanding by incorporating a temporal dimension into the conceptual framework on unmet need to investigate the dynamics of met and unmet need for social care over time. Using data from Waves 8 and 9 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this paper examines five possible trajectories among individuals with a social care need for bathing or dressing at baseline: (a) no longer having such a need; (b) having continued needs met; (c) delayed needs met; (d) newly arisen unmet needs; and (e) repeated unmet needs. The results indicate that amongst those with need at baseline, unmet need has decreased over time – indicating that some needs for social care may be fulfilled with a delay. However, a significant proportion of older people experienced repeated unmet needs, particularly those who were younger, with no spouse or civil partner, and those whose activities of daily living index scores worsened over time. Understanding the dynamics of unmet need can support policy makers in better ensuring that those facing an elevated risk of repeated unmet need over time do not fall through the social care safety net. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020–2021, 94% of undergraduates in England took out government-backed loans to fund their higher education. The growing and widespread use of student loans in England, mounting student debt, and governments' increasing dependence on tuition fees underwritten by loans to finance public higher education raise important questions which this paper seeks to address. Specifically, the paper asks how do graduates respond to student loan debt and what does this tells us about the nature of the relationship between the graduate debtor and the state lender? We also question the usefulness of symbolic violence as a sociological lens to better understand graduates' different patterns of responses and reactions to student loan debt and their relationship with the state lender. Our analysis draws on 98 in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with English graduates between 2020 and 2021. We conclude that a more comprehensive explanation requires an exploration of both symbolic violence and structural violence and a re-appraisal of the word 'violence' to better represent the wide range of graduates' responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses data from the 2021 Scottish Election Study to apply both established and relatively rare or unique approaches to understanding the interrelationships between personal national identities, attitudes regarding the (Scottish) nation and independence, and people's own/family migration histories. Analysis broadly substantiates previous research in Scotland on the effects of birthplace, parentage and length of residence on national identities, and similarly highlights that previously established 'non-alignment' between national identities and position on Scottish independence extends to how the latter is associated with personal and family migration histories. The paper also makes at least three distinctive contributions. First, it highlights the significance of socialisation in Scotland, particularly in early childhood, for migrants' personal national identities and attitudes to Scottish nationhood and independence. Second, it suggests only limited variation in the degree to which personal biographical characteristics are associated with perceptions that Scotland has distinct values compared to other parts of the UK. Third, it demonstrates that social connections to England via birthplace, family and/or prior residence do not invariably affect national identities and attitudes to Scottish independence, but that those with the strongest associations to England are substantially less likely to prioritise a Scottish identity or support Scottish independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the study which explored the learning and teaching of the topics of climate change, sustainability and disaster risk reduction in secondary-level teacher education programs in England and Japan. Through interviewing teacher educators, the study particularly probed how teacher education programs used local knowledge and collaboration in discussing the above topics. Geography tends to be the main subject area for these global agendas, but its crammed curriculum is "an ongoing challenge" for teacher education. Some researchers demonstrate that university-based initial teacher education has "ignored" training teachers on how to implement environmental and sustainability education at schools. Besides, the inquiries into how initial teacher education equips geography teachers for the learning and teaching of disaster risk reduction are still scarce. This paper aims to fill this gap by bringing together the fields of geography education, climate change and sustainability education, disaster risk reduction education and initial teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies for biodiversity no net loss and net gain underwrite narratives for green growth through advancing reparative logics to ongoing habitat impacts. By enabling offsetting practices that risk accommodating rather than averting land change developments, net principles are said to resemble modes of 'accumulation by environmental restoration'. Biodiversity net principles are frequently depicted visually as a diagram of the mitigation hierarchy for communicational ease and have proliferated over recent decades despite little evidence for their ecological effectiveness. This paper combines economic sociology, visual media analysis of the net diagram and political ecology to account for the stabilisation of net principles in policy frameworks. It highlights the upstream imaginative work that this visual tool and its wider assemblages perform to support offsetting and habitat banking practices on the ground. The paper positions the NNL diagram as a conceptual and ideational technology. It traces the practices through which biodiversity is rationalised by the Cartesian coordinates of an XY schematic, and en-framed as a measure of numerical value on a vertical scale. The effect is to engender coherence to the idea of netting out differences in aggregate sums of biodiversity unit value, making nature conceptually offset-able. I develop this account through a history of the diagram as well as the broader processes that have shaped the policy and its arrival in English planning frameworks. Observers increasingly question how biodiversity offsetting and no net loss/ net gain have become so popular when their empirical foundations are so weak. This paper proposes that within the wider assemblages of actors, one answer is located in the potency and mobility of conceptual technologies such as diagrams of no net loss or net gain of biodiversity and the logic of balance-sheet accounting that is imbricated within the visual design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Raumforschung und Raumordnung is the property of Oekom Verlag GmbH 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.)

City deals – place-based agreements between central and local state actors – are an increasingly common intervention for supporting economic performance in urban areas. This paper presents empirical evidence on the effectiveness of city deals by estimating the impact of the UK's City Deals scheme on rates of economic growth, productivity and job creation across England between 2010 and 2019. Because the City Deals were introduced in two waves, we estimate its effects using a differences-in-differences (DiD) with multiple time periods (MTPs) approach. Our DiD estimates indicate that, overall, the City Deals were associated with improvements in local economic performance, but that the first wave of city deals resulted in gains of around 2.5% to 3% that were not observed in the second wave. These results suggest that city deals are most effective when appropriate institutional structures are in place and highlight the value of MTP approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several studies have explored the challenges that accompany the creation of metropolitan governments, with particular reference to the institutional relations and power dynamics that potentially subordinate smaller towns to logics and objectives defined in the core area. This paper argues that the establishment of new governance arrangements exercising autonomous metropolitan political power may overcome the institutional fragmentation of metropolitan regions, but it may also overshadow the role played by the smaller towns, which often lack the opportunity or the necessary institutional capacity to participate in the process. The effectiveness of existing metropolitan settings from the small-town perspective is addressed comparatively in the contexts of England, France and Italy, three European countries that have experienced recent metropolitan reforms. The authors trace the history of the administrative reforms that have characterised the three countries, the spatiality of their metropolitan authorities, and the instruments and mechanisms that allow for the engagement and cooperation of small towns with(in) metropolitan authorities. They argue that the actual potential for the engagement of small towns within metropolitan governance dynamics is path- and contextdependent and often hampered by the institutional preconditions that gave birth to metropolitan governance in a specific context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Equitable access to healthcare is a priority of many healthcare systems, aiming to ensure access is driven by need and not minority groups such as those defined by sexual orientation. However, there are healthcare areas where inequity in access across sexual orientation groups is found that are not justified based on need. Mandated LGBTQ+-specific training of the healthcare workforce may help address some barriers of access for these groups. The study aims to understand the potential economic implications for mandated LGBTQ+-specific healthcare training on the healthcare system in England, UK to inform commissioning of training provision. Methods: Cervical cancer screening was used as an exemplar case where there appears to be inequity in access for different sexual orientation groups. A decision model was developed and analysed that considered the impacts of greater uptake of screening for lesbian and bisexual women due to LGBTQ+ training. Costs took the perspective of the healthcare system and outcomes modelled were cancer cases averted in a timeframe of 5 years. Results: Based on cervical cancer screening alone, where training costs are fully attributed to this service, training would likely result in fewer cancer cases detected in the lesbian and bisexual populations, though this comes at a modest increase in healthcare sector costs, with this increase largely reflecting a greater volume of screens. Training costs do not appear to be a major component of the cost implications. Conclusions: In resource-constrained systems with increasing pressures for efficiency savings, the opportunity cost of delivering training is a realistic component of the commissioning decision. The findings in this paper provide a signal that mandated LGBTQ+ training in healthcare could lead to potentially greater outcomes and in breaking down barriers of access and could also enable the healthcare system to provide more equitable access to healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic changes can cause unpredictability in flood regimes that traditional flood risk management (FRM) approaches may struggle with. Therefore, flood resilience is seen as a supplementation to these approaches, putting a larger emphasis on flood acceptance and minimising consequences. An (emergent) group contributing towards flood resilience is civil society. This paper examines how civil society contributions can be furthered and guided in the Netherlands as well as exploring potential limitations in doing so. To achieve this, England is used as a good practice example due to a more developed and defined role for civil society being present here. Data were collected on both actual (England and the Netherlands) and potential (The Netherlands) civil society contributions. These were compared to identify potential avenues for Dutch civil society contributions to flood resilience that can be further investigated. The research shows that the most promising avenues are improving advocacy from citizens, improving local flood awareness and developing relationships between FRM authorities and existing citizen groups that can be harnessed and mobilised to support flood resilience. Additionally, the research also provides insights into potential limitations for transferring resilience approaches from one context to another beyond the cases discussed in this publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the use of emancipatory research principles in archival research and contends with the suitability of academic conventions that characterise ethical practice when the research goal is to elevate the voices of marginalised historical groups. Drawing on a case study of Le Court Cheshire Home, England (1948–1975) to address a critical gap in the literature, I highlight some ethical dilemmas I encountered when working at the nexus of historical geography and geographies of disability. This paper demonstrates what an emancipatory research approach means for an archival study of disability, using examples to illustrate how ethical decisions impacted all stages of the research design and the write‐up of findings. I argue that ethics should not be envisaged solely as an approval process completed at the project's outset. Rather, the explorative nature of archival research necessitates that ethics should be an iterative undertaking, with archival sources having the potential to shape both the content and conduct of the research. The paper uses a case study of Le Court Cheshire Home to explore research ethics and the applicability of emancipatory research principles for an archival study of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The National Health Service Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) was commissioned by NHS England in 2016 and rolled out in three 'waves' across the whole of England. It aims to help people with raised blood glucose levels reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes through behaviour change techniques (e.g., weight loss, dietary changes and exercise). An independent, longitudinal, mixed methods evaluation of the NHS DPP was undertaken. We report the findings from the implementation work package: a qualitative interview study with designated local leads, responsible for the local commissioning and implementation of the programme. The aim of the study was to explore how local implementation processes were enacted and adapted over time. Methods: We conducted a telephone interview study across two time-points. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews with local leads across 19 sampled case sites were undertaken between October 2019 and January 2020 and 13 interviews with local leads across 13 sampled case sites were conducted between July 2020 and August 2020. Interviews aimed to reflect on the experience of implementation and explore how things changed over time. Results: We identified four overarching themes to show how implementation was locally enacted and adapted across the sampled case sites: 1. Adapting to provider change; 2. Identification and referral; 3. Enhancing uptake in underserved populations; and 4. Digital and remote service options. Conclusion: This paper reports how designated local leads, responsible for local implementation of the NHS DPP, adapted implementation efforts over the course of a changing national diabetes prevention programme, including how local leads adapted implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper highlights three main factors that influence implementation: the importance of facilitation, the ability (or not) to tailor interventions to local needs and the role of context in implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing trend across the social sciences to engage with archives. Within human geography, this has stimulated a debate about the nature of archives, including moving from considering 'archive as source' to 'archive as subject.' We build on and extend this thinking, suggesting that an even more active appreciation of the dynamic nature of relationships between researchers, owners of records, and archival material is needed. This paper draws on an interdisciplinary study of voluntary action and welfare provision in England in the 1940s and 2010s to highlight how the different iterative processes involved in collaborative archival research are part of what we call co‐curation. Co‐curation involves the negotiated identification, selection, preparation, and interpretation of archival materials. This has implications for both research processes and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publication of the 2021 Census data revealed that four English cities—Birmingham, Leicester, London and Manchester—are now 'no majority' cities, meaning that no ethnic group, including the White British, comprise a majority (more than half) of their populations. This paper explores the residential diversification of these cities to ask: whether that diversification is reflected in the average neighbourhood of all ethnic groups or just some; whether the decline in the number of White British means that 'enclaves' of other ethnic groups are emerging instead; whether the White British are avoiding living in diverse neighbourhoods; and whether a co‐occurrence of the diversification is that residential segregation between the White British and other groups is increasing within and beyond the boundaries of these cities. Using a harmonised set of cross‐census neighbourhoods to provide a consistent geography across the 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses, the results show that the residential neighbourhoods of the four cities have increased their ethnic diversity for the average member of all ethnic groups. Despite some growth in the number of neighbourhoods where a group other than the White British form a majority, especially in Leicester, the overall conclusion is one of residential diversification happening alongside residential desegregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of working from home patterns in England using data from the 2021 Census to understand (1) how patterns of working from home (WFH) in England have shifted since the COVID‐19 pandemic and (2) whether human mobility indicators, specifically Google Community Mobility Reports, provide a reliable proxy for WFH patterns recorded by the 2021 Census, providing a formal evaluation of the reliability of such datasets, whose applications have grown exponentially over the COVID‐19 pandemic. We find that WFH patterns recorded by the 2021 Census were unique compared with previous UK censuses, reflecting an unprecedented increase likely caused by persistent changes to employment during the COVID‐19 pandemic, with a clear social gradient emerging across the country. We also find that Google mobility in 'Residential' and 'Workplace' settings provides a reliable measurement of the distribution of WFH populations across Local Authorities, with varying uncertainties for mobility indicators collected in different settings. These findings provide insights into the utility of such datasets to support population research in intercensal periods, where shifts may be occurring, but can be difficult to quantify empirically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connecting to and extending recent debates around more-than-human thinking, this paper explores how porous boundary treatments and plot layouts might encourage ecological exchanges within new urban and peri-urban developments. This study therefore responds to suggestions for innovative plot designs that facilitate positive trans-species interactions, especially considering wider anxieties surrounding biodiversity loss and recognition of the need for climate-resilient garden spaces. Focusing on a recent example of a large-scale residential development in the English midlands, this paper outlines the socio-economic, cultural and ecological significance of embedding different hedgerow designs into early planning considerations; revealing the need to move beyond current models. The discussion then turns to how such ambitions might encourage sustainable land use, particularly through creating potentially scalable urban agricultural systems that sustain healthy food choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alternative Politics / Alternatif Politika is the property of Alternatif Politika 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.)

In this paper we argue that to tackle complex issues such as urban health, there is a need not only of understanding the limitation of different policy subsystems, but also of the interplay of the ideas, interests, and institutional arrangements that underpin cross-boundary challenges. This paper unpacks the dynamics of policymaking between public health and spatial planning by adopting boundary-spanning policy regime theory to trace the alignment and divergence of urban health issues across the two policy subsystems in England. Greater Manchester, heralded as an exemplar of collaborative governance in England, is used as a case study to test the strength of and tensions within the urban health policy regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this commentary paper is to analyze the burst of joy experienced by global football fans when England lost the final match during the Euro 2020 against Italy. Design/methodology/approach: The author worked with netnography (Internet ethnography), gathering material from the internet. Findings: The author would consider the emotional explosion as a creative expression that was possible to happen through football. Football is not only a part of popular culture, it also creates it. It acted as a platform allowing for emotional engagement and covering different issues connected to global politics. Research limitations/implications: It is just a small study based on very limited material (Internet sources). However, it highlights every-day use of Internet and the possible amplification of certain sentiments if allowed. Practical implications: Methodologically, it shows how Internet sources might be used when connected to football. It also provides an insight how Internet users can exchange opinions using sports (e.g. football) as a background. Social implications: This text highlights that football can be used as a platform do express/discuss difficult issues and that average citizens can be heard just because the platform is football. Originality/value: To the author's knowledge there is no academic text with this issue in focus yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we make initial advances towards building an argument for the inclusion of Critical Literacy Awareness within the new Early Career Framework in England. Using illustrative examples from recent research projects, we argue that post-2010 education policy has discursively divided practitioners, structuring relationships between different groups of teachers in schools as hierarchical and competitive, rather than collegial and supportive. We argue that such hierarchies may be a contributing factor to the teacher retention crisis, given that research indicates teachers working in schools with a collegial culture are more likely to remain committed and motivated. We propose that engagement with CLA may enable early career teachers to critique and resist dominant discourses which differentiate and hierarchically divide them from their colleagues, and therefore, the utility of CLA should be explored within future iterations of the Early Career Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years sexualised drug use, usually referred to as chemsex, has become the object of intense media health‐related panic and increasing academic scrutiny. Critical social scientists have challenged pathologising perspectives, analysing the socio‐cultural and political economy dimensions of chemsex. Against the silence of geographers in this emerging field, the paper develops a geographical relational analysis of chemsex, focusing on the experiences of gay men living with HIV in two Italian cities (Bologna; Milan) and Italian gay men living with HIV in three English cities (Leicester; London; Manchester). Demonstrating the constitutive role of place in the practice of chemsex, the paper frames place relationally, that is, as the encounter between here and there, the material and the virtual, imagined geographies and lived spaces. To emphasise the central role of place and geographical knowledge to understand chemsex, the paper builds on 'weak theory', as it conceives things as open, entangled, connected and in flux, while focusing on ordinary practices and heterogeneity in more‐than‐human worlds. Showing how chemsex represents an embodied, relational geographical encounter among different human and non‐human actors, places (both physical and digital), imaginations and desires, the paper highlights the role of sexual practices in the relational construction of place‐making, therefore calling for an increased engagement with sex itself within the field of geographies of sexualities. The paper introduces a relational geographical perspective to the analysis of chemsex. Demonstrating the constitutive role of place in the practice of chemsex, the paper frames place relationally, i.e. as the encounter between here and there, the material and the virtual, imagined geographies and lived spaces. The paper calls for an increased engagement with the materiality of sex within the field of geographies of sexualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the explanatory models of mental challenges among Black Africans in England. It argues that understanding these models is critical for providing culturally appropriate care to this population. The study employed qualitative methodology, and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Twelve mental health service users who are living in England and self‐identified as first or second‐generation Black Africans were purposively selected. The data were gathered using face‐to‐face semistructured interviews. Data were manually analysed in accordance with IPA concepts of searching for common, unique and idiosyncratic themes across transcripts. The findings revealed three themes Black Africans associated to their explanatory model of mental health challenges: complexities of migration, African‐centred worldview and negative life experiences. To help alleviate the Eurocentric nature of mental health practice in England, it is hoped that this explanatory model will become an integral part of mental health practice in England and around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores English national identity through qualitative interviews with English-identifying voters in rural South-West England, amidst post-Brexit and COVID-19 uncertainties. Analysing 16 in-depth interviews, the study uncovers micro-level foundations of English identity, revealing a multifaceted view where participants consider it an absent identity. As members of the dominant cultural group, they define Englishness by their perceived 'normal,' distancing anything diverging from their norms as foreign. The study suggests a connection between English identity and reactive resentment towards perceived asymmetrical identity norms compared to neighbouring devolved nations. These findings shed light on the nuanced nature of English identity in rural areas and contribute to discussions about fostering a progressive and inclusive English identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using examples from the National Health Service in England, this paper illustrates key features of contemporary healthcare governance: the way decisions are hidden in places that are 'in between' and 'out of reach'; the enrolment of doctors in governing; and the important role played by 'boring things', such as power point slides, flow charts, and forms. The essay shows how anthropological proximity and perspectives can extend and deepen understanding of contemporary political power. It does this firstly by showing the importance of agency in the operation of governmentality, and secondly by illuminating the limits of governmentality. The different elements of governing assemblages, such as global management experts, medical leaders, forms of knowledge and analytical technologies, are brought together through the strategic act of framing. Frames are contested and resisted, requiring more visible forms of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the impact of tuition fee increases in England on the full‐degree mobility of undergraduate students from the European Union. First, we investigated whether the increase in tuition fees reduced the number of EU students in English higher education institutions. Our analysis shows that, on average, English universities suffered a sudden drop in EU enrolments in 2012/13 but recovered and then expanded their pre‐2012 enrolment levels in subsequent academic years. We observe that those English universities regarded as less prestigious experienced the sharpest decline and took longer to recover their pre‐2012 numbers. Second, we examined how changes in enrolment are associated with EU countries' macro‐level characteristics, using the push‐pull model framework. While there was a significant decrease in the number of students from Northern and Western European countries attending English universities after 2012, the tuition fee increase did not impact the number of students coming from Southern Europe. We found an association between EU countries' youth employment rates and higher education system characteristics with changes in enrolment in English universities. By examining the effect of changes in the tuition fee policy on international student mobility, our research provides new evidence on how tuition fee policies might change the behaviour of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ways that private equity practices of financialised value extraction have migrated to the water sector in England. In line with the financialisation literature more broadly, we show how private equity investors have found innovative financial mechanisms for increasing investor returns that are unrelated to productive activity. The resulting financialised, highly-indebted corporate structures create costs and risks for utilities which raise concerns for social equity. The regulatory response to these financial innovations has been slow and had limited effect. The regulatory toolbox, governed by a narrative of competition, has consistently been biased towards investors and misses much of the scope of financialised corporate extraction. A review of the activities of a major private equity investor, Macquarie, active across numerous infrastructure sectors in the UK, illustrates the dynamic way in which infrastructure funds are moved across investments and sectors in ways that can escape regulatory processes and increase investor returns. The paper shows how the regulator is caught in an impossible bind in meeting the contradictory and contested interests of investors, end users and the state such that we question whether the socially equitable regulation of financialised infrastructure can ever be possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on data from mid-19th century Britain, this paper studies strategic interaction among local governments in the choice of welfare benefits under the Poor Law, the local welfare system of the time. The paper exploits a national reform that reduced the length of residency required for welfare eligibility, which should have increased the incentive for welfare migration and thus led to both stronger strategic interaction and lower levels of equilibrium spending. The results show evidence of a positive but small degree of baseline interaction, suggesting that modern models of welfare competition may apply even in settings with relatively high migration costs. While the change in post-reform equilibrium spending is negative as predicted, the results show no evidence of stronger interaction after the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the United Kingdom reduces its CO2 emissions in order to meet its 2050 net zero greenhouse gas targets, there will be a significant evolution of the UK's energy mix. The reliance on hydrocarbons will decrease while there is predicted to be an increase in low carbon energy sources such as renewables and nuclear. In order to decarbonise and achieve the net zero emissions targets while concurrently producing enough energy to provide for national energy needs, large‐scale, low carbon energy generation projects need to be developed alongside energy storage facilities to provide flexibility within a low carbon energy supply. Robust CCUS programmes will need be developed in order to capture and store unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions. The subsurface geology of the UK provides opportunities for the development of low carbon energy generation, energy storage and CCS, and the Upper Permian Zechstein Supergroup deposited in eastern England and offshore in the Southern North Sea is a potential host for these new developments. In NE England, salt cavern gas storage sites have been developed in thick Zechstein evaporites since the mid 20th centrury. In this paper we present new isopach maps and well correlation panels which will help to outline optimal locations for the development of additional salt caverns for gas storage. A review of the Zechstein Supergroup indicates that it does not exhibit great potential for the development of CCS, due both to its complex reservoir characteristics and to difficulties with both subsurface imaging and monitoring. However thick Zechstein evaporites could provide an excellent seal for CO2 storage in the underlying Lower Permian Rotliegend Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the work that attentiveness can and can't do in generating more ethical relations with non‐humans. How to build better relations with non‐humans has been a central debate in geography and cognate disciplines. These concerns include ethical relations with non‐humans who both pervade and create liveable environments, such as soil biota. Scholars have specifically identified attentiveness as key in generating more‐than‐human ethics. However, how attentiveness may arise, and what work attentiveness may be able to do in generating ethical relations, has not been sufficiently explored. Additionally, soils as relational materialities remain underexplored in social sciences. In this paper, I address these two important gaps in scholarship. Investigating the rising concern with soil biota in conventional English farming, I propose the care network as a way of conceptualising and investigating the ethical potential of attentiveness. As concerns grow about soil degradation, and the dangers this is posing to food production and to human survival, land managers are attending to soil ecosystems as part of caring for their farm businesses. While this attentiveness is producing some transformative effects, its potential is limited by the configuration of the soil care network. As long as soil care is configured primarily as farmers' concern, the potential of attentiveness in generating ethical regard to the needs of soil biota will be limited. In the Conclusions, I suggest ways of expanding attentiveness to soils and of building a wider and practical relational ethic of soil care. I also argue we need more attention in geographic research to attentiveness and care as systemic, unequally distributed, and operating at multiple scales. Human life depends on the life of soil ecosystems. This paper draws attention to soils as underexplored in social sciences, and asks how we may form better ethical and practical relations with soil biota. In doing this, it shows the need for a more nuanced understanding of the work that attentiveness can do in generating more‐than‐human care ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire loads are often used in the fire safety design of buildings as part of the assessment of the severity of potential fires. Despite recognition that balconies may contain combustible items which could contribute to fire development, there has been little research on balcony fire loads. This paper presents the results of a survey of 1020 balconies on private dwellings across England and the calculated fire loads. Consideration is also given to the influence of key parameters on the fire load energy density. It is found that balconies in England have an average fire load energy density of 64.4 MJ/m2, with an 80th percentile value of 110 MJ/m2. The influence of selected key parameters on balcony fire loads is also assessed. The results presented provide balcony fire loads which could be considered as part of building design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health systems internationally face demands to deliver care that is better coordinated and integrated. The health system financing and delivery model may go some, but not all the way in explaining health system fragmentation. In this paper, we consider the road to care integration in two countries with Beveridge style health systems, England and Denmark, that are both ranked as highly Integrated systems in Toth's health integration index. We use the SELFIE framework to compare the policies and reforms that have affected care integration over the past 30 years in the two countries. The countries both started their reform path by reforming to introduce choice and competition, but did so in different ways that set them on different pathways. Nevertheless, after two decades, the countries ended the period with largely similar structures that emphasised the creation of a cross-sectoral governance structure. In the relatively centralised England, by introducing decentralised Integrated Care Systems, and in the relatively decentralised Denmark with a centralising element in the form of new Health Clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the role of the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 in safeguarding adults at risk of abuse and neglect. The author has undertaken a thematic review of Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) commissioned in England and Adult Practice Reviews (APRs) commissioned in Wales where the MHA 1983 was a central aspect to the review. Design/methodology/approach: Reviews were included based on specific determinants, following analysis of SARs, APRs and executive summaries. This should not affect the credibility of the research, as themes were identified in conjunction with analysis of literature regarding use of the MHA in the context of adult safeguarding. Consequently, this review has been underpinned by evidence-based research in the area of study. Findings: The interaction between statutes, such as the MHA 1983 and Care Act 2014, signify challenges to professionals, with variable application of mental health legislation in practice. Research limitations/implications: Lack of a complete national repository for review reports means that it is likely that the data set analysis is incomplete. It was noted that limitations to this research include the fact that Safeguarding Adults Boards in England may not publish SAR reports or may choose to publish an executive summary or practice brief instead of the full SAR report, therefore limiting the scope of disseminating learning from SARs, as this is difficult to achieve where the full report has not been published. The author aimed to mitigate this by undertaking comprehensive searches of Local Authority and SAB websites, in addition to submitting Information requests to ensure that this research encompassed as many relevant review reports as possible. Originality/value: This is an important and timely topic for debate, given that the UK Government is proposing reform of the MHA 1983. In addition, existing thematic reviews of SARS tend to be generalised, rather than specifically focused on the MHA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most significant episode in the assetisation of housing (underpinning its financialisation) is often understood to be the economic restructuring that took place during the 1980s – particularly deregulation of the banking sector and credit liberalisation. Research has reported on the housing 'investor subject' that emerged during this time, as an integral part of the transition towards financialised economies. This article provides new evidence about the housing consumer subject, and its place in this transition, by drilling into UK housing policy history and its discourses around the consumer relationship with housing. Using archive data from the Parliamentary and National Archives alongside interviews with key informers, we illustrate three cases of housing policy development in which the consumer demand for, and relationship with, housing is discursively reconditioned. We conclude that the housing investor subject was pursued in housing policy reform and its discourses well before the 1980s and the economic reforms commonly identified as the causes of financialisation. In addition, these discourses are found to have been reconditioned in order to align with broader macroeconomic policy concerns of the time. The article therefore provides a rare view of assetisation from within the state apparatus, revealing how housing policy and its discourses around consumption became functionally integrated within wider macroeconomic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global neo-liberal reform movement in education continues to evolve, so does the simultaneous transfiguration of the profile and status of primary school teachers in England. Reform continues to delineate the aims and purpose of primary education in increasingly essentialist terms. This paper explores English primary school teachers' perceptions and experiences of teaching, and of being a teacher, in a period of considerable change. Extending the existing research literature about primary school teachers, it explores the progressively strategic nature of policy enactment and the tactics employed by teachers to manage conflicting demands. The paper draws upon rich qualitative data from two sets of interviews with 22 primary teachers employed in the South-East of England. Thematic analysis facilitated findings about teachers' encounters with, and responses to, neo-liberal policy reform, notably in relation to accountability and managerialism. The view that 'nothing is ever good enough' reflects recurrent data affirming the relationship between school leadership and teachers' demoralisation, as well as perceived reputational decline more broadly. Findings highlight the emergence of the primary practitioner as 'tactician', and of a particular brand of survivalism necessary for a context that acts to pedagogically and philosophically constrain the purpose of primary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-stationary methods of flood frequency analysis are widespread in research but rarely implemented by practitioners. One reason may be that research papers on non-stationary statistical models tend to focus on model fitting rather than extracting the sort of results needed by designers and decision makers. It can be difficult to extract useful results from non-stationary models that include stochastic covariates for which the value in any future year is unknown. We explore the motivation for including such covariates, whether on their own or in addition to a covariate based on time. We set out a method for expressing the results of non-stationary models as an integrated flow estimate, which removes the dependence on the covariates. This can be defined either for a particular year or over a longer period of time. The methods are illustrated by application to a set of 375 river gauges across England and Wales. We find annual rainfall to be a useful covariate at many gauges, sometimes in conjunction with a time-based covariate. For estimating flood frequency in future conditions, we advocate exploring hybrid approaches that combine the best attributes of non-stationary statistical models and simulation models that can represent changes in climate and river catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that shifts in the UK's territorial management practice in the late 2010s and early 2020s, described by various terms, including 'muscular unionism', may be more rhetorical and ideational than substantive. The practices associated with these terms are recognisably part of the 'British political tradition', and the changes of the early 2020s can be viewed as reasserting traditional governance practices rather than introducing new ones. The article examines the various phenomena described as 'muscular unionism' and suggests that many are relatively ad hoc, low-level initiatives, often rhetorical. There is also much evidence that the UK governments of the 2020s see the 'Millennium Settlement', introduced in 1999, as continuing to be a core part of UK territorial management. The clearest break from historical practice comes in the overt, explicit quality of 'muscular unionist' rhetoric. The article then suggests that, contrary to some scholarly expectations, this muscular unionist turn may come to be an effective territorial management strategy for the UK government, as it aligns with an Anglo-British imaginary within England that continues to conflate England, Britain and the UK in terms of governance and national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in the sixteenth century, the English crown sponsored many voyages of exploration throughout the north Atlantic. These expeditions had many goals including claiming control over what the English believed to be newly discovered lands, and finding a Northwest or a Northeast passage that would give them quick access to lucrative East Asian markets. English involvement in the north Atlantic also expanded during this period as English fishermen sailed further west and north seeking new fishing grounds. As English political and economic claims expanded, Danish rulers increasingly became worried as they believed they had sovereign rights over the entire region based upon Scandinavian settlement of the north Atlantic during the Viking Age. To make real their claims in the north Atlantic, Danish monarchs engaged in diplomacy with the English and sent several voyages to Greenland to re-assert control over Scandinavian communities believed to be living there. This article explores diplomatic tensions between England and Denmark, and the Danish crown's attempts to exert sovereignty over the north Atlantic and Greenland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we investigate whether England's 152 local flood risk management strategies (LFRMSs) satisfy minimal legislative criteria and address the growing surface water flood (SWF) risk caused by climate change. A systematic audit was used to assess the alignment of the LFRMSs with national climate change legislation and other relevant national strategies. An objective method to identify inclusion of a range of factors that good strategies should include was applied. LFRMSs are mostly meeting their minimum statutory requirements. However, there is a widespread issue across most LFRMSs regarding inadequate consideration of increasing SWF risk from climate changes, which highlights the need for enhanced LFRMSs by improved planning and climate change adaptation plans. There is some evidence of good practice within the LFRMS portfolio, which is discussed in the context of the ongoing LFRMS update process. Beyond England, there are implications for developing FRM processes at a local level that can be objectively assessed against national requirements. Communities in England face inadequately managed SWF risk in the future because of the range in plan quality across the LFRMSs. This research contributes to the ongoing examination of the full suite of 152 LFRMSs and, therefore, builds towards a complete assessment of the SWF management approach in England. This will help inform local climate change adaptation strategies that cater to the escalating threat of SWF due to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with serious mental illness are more likely to experience physical illnesses. The onset of many of these illnesses can be prevented if detected early. Physical health screening for people with serious mental illness is incentivised in primary care in England through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). GPs are paid to conduct annual physical health checks on patients with serious mental illness, including checks of body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, and alcohol consumption. Aim: To assess the impact of removing and reintroducing QOF financial incentives on uptake of three physical health checks (BMI, cholesterol, and alcohol consumption) for patients with serious mental illness. Design and setting: Cohort study using UK primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink between April 2011 and March 2020. Method: A difference-in-difference analysis was employed to compare differences in the uptake of physical health checks before and after the intervention, accounting for relevant observed and unobserved confounders. Results: An immediate change was found in uptake after physical health checks were removed from, and after they were added back to, the QOF list. For BMI, cholesterol, and alcohol checks, the overall impact of removal was a reduction in uptake of 14.3, 6.8, and 11.9 percentage points, respectively. The reintroduction of BMI screening in the QOF increased the uptake by 10.2 percentage points. Conclusion: This analysis supports the hypothesis that QOF incentives lead to better uptake of physical health checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a reconnaissance survey using direct-prospecting technology of satellite images and photographs frequency-resonance processing within some areas of coal basin and shale gas production in China, France, Ukraine, USA, Argentina, England, UAE are presented. The data of the local areas reconnaissance surveying within coal basins show the possibility of detecting oil, condensate and gas deposits in the deep and ultra-deep horizons of cross-section underneath coal deposits. Materials of experimental studies at the Fuman oil field site and the Luntan-1 deep well drilling site indicate the potential possibility and feasibility of direct-prospecting methods using in the process of selecting the most optimal sites of the deep exploratory wells for oil and gas drilling. Helium deposits may be discovered at an ultra-deep well drilling site in the Taklamakan Desert at depths of over 7120 m. By detailed scanning of this cross-section interval, the depths of helium accumulations in the reservoirs can be determined. The deep channels for fluids, chemical elements and minerals migration, filled with 1-6 groups of sedimentary rocks, were found in all surveyed shale gas production sites. The received measurement data of the work carried out can be considered as additional evidence in favor of the concept of deep (abiogenic) synthesis of hydrocarbons, including those in shale formations. Within the survey site in England a significant number of local zones of visible hydrogen degassing are located. It is advisable to conduct additional research on these sites in order to study these local zones in more detail. Experimental studies within area of shale oil in the Williston Basin also confirmed the presence of hydrocarbon deposits in the deep horizons of cross-section. It is advisable to carry out detailed geological exploration work in order to search for hydrocarbon deposits in coal and shale basins in various regions of the world! To the east of Williston Basin, a large cluster of basalt volcanic structures with hydrogen and living (healing) water, as well as the process of hydrogen and phosphorus migration into the atmosphere were revealed by instrumental measurements. In general, the materials of the experimental work carried out can be considered as additional evidence in favor of the volcanic model of formation of structural elements and the external appearance of the Earth's surface, as well as deposits of ore and combustible minerals and water. The research results indicate the feasibility of using mobile technology of frequency-resonance processing and decoding of satellite images and photographs for the detection and localization of oil and gas accumulation zones within large blocks and local areas. The use of super-operational and low-cost directprospecting technology will significantly speed up the exploration process for oil, gas, natural hydrogen and ore minerals, as well as reduce the financial costs of its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship has highlighted the heterogeneity of second-generation Irish identities in Great Britain, yet the varieties of self-identification espoused by the English-raised children of Northern Irish parents remain almost wholly unexplored. This article redresses this neglect by examining the relationship between parentally transmitted memories of the Northern Ireland Troubles (c.1969–1998) and the forms of identity and self-understanding that such children develop during their lives in England. Drawing on original oral history testimony and using the concepts of narrative inheritance and postmemory as interpretive tools, it demonstrates the complex correlation that exists between parents' diverse approaches to memory-sharing and their children's negotiation of inherited conflict memory as they position themselves discursively within contemporary English society. Based on a close reading of five oral history interviews, the analysis reveals a spectrum of creative postmemory practices and identity enactments, whereby narrators agentively define themselves in relation to the meanings they attribute to inherited memories, or the dearth thereof, as they navigate their tangled transnational affinities and allegiances. The article also explores how these practices and enactments are subtly responsive to narrators' changing relationships to their narrative inheritances as their experience and awareness of their own and their parents' lives deepen over the life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 1650s the expansion of English interests in the Baltic fostered more competition for access to commercial markets. A desire from Sweden to meet its own commercial goals also led to a greater level of competition for shipping. An increasing association between England and Sweden brought about the greatest commercial shift in Baltic commerce during that century. Building on research that has established general trends in Anglo-Baltic commercial history during the period, this article assesses the growth and competition of English commercial ambition. The article consults data sets such as the Sound Toll Registers Online, and the Stockholm customs accounts, while taking into consideration contemporary diplomatic sources. It seeks to answer why, how and where English trade became competitive in the Baltic. It outlines general commercial flows by juxtaposing England's shipping next to its nearest competitors and consults three case studies to reveal previously unrealised nuances in Anglo-Baltic trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests whether changes in spiritual wellbeing were correlated with self-rated changes in mental and physical health after controlling for changes in psychological wellbeing in a sample from the Church of England taken during the third national COVID-19 lockdown in 2021. During the third lockdown in England an online survey, named Covid-19 and Church-21, was delivered through the Qualtrics XM platform from 22 January to 23 July 2021. The responses included 1878 Anglicans living in England. The change in spiritual wellbeing scale was produced using self-reported changes in the frequency of key spiritual practices (prayer and Bible reading), trust in God, the quality of spiritual life, and spiritual health. Changes in mental and physical health were assessed using single self-report items. Changes in psychological wellbeing were assessed using the Index of Balanced Affect Change (TIBACh). After controlling for changes in psychological wellbeing, better change in spiritual wellbeing was positively correlated with better change in both mental and physical health. Negative affect may have mediated the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and both mental and physical health, and positive affect may also have mediated the relationship with mental health. The results suggest changes in spiritual wellbeing, as defined within a Christian religious context, may have had positive effects in promoting better mental and physical health during a sudden crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines populous perspectives of the government's responsibility to intervene in situations of possible parental neglect of children in England, Finland, Norway, and California (USA), and ask if institutional context, defined as child protection system and children´s wellbeing situation, are formative for people's perspectives on government responsibility for children in vulnerable situations and how they view children´s future. With representative samples of populations responses to a survey vignette using ordered logistic regression, findings indicate that the institutional context shed some light on differences on state responsibility. However, similarly to welfare state research, there are differences and contradictions in important dimensions that require further investigation, especially on citizens perceptions of neglect and on intrusive interventions. Citizens with a comparatively higher education are evidently much more supportive of state responsibility for children and child protection interventions than other citizens. This finding is similar to those of other studies of state responsibility. Overall, there is a high level of support in populations for the provision of public services to children and families in vulnerable situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Upper Permian Zechstein Supergroup has the potential to play an important role in the UK's future energy production and energy transition. However the Supergroup is comparatively poorly understood in the UK, particularly the link between the onshore and offshore geology. In this paper we re‐evaluate available data in order to present a consistent regional interpretation of the Z1 to Z3 Zechstein Supergroup cycles. This review is based on an interpretation and re‐evaluation of 620 offshore wells located in the UK portion of the SW Southern North Sea and 83 onshore wells located in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (eastern England). The Zechstein Supergroup was interpreted in each well, and the data was used to compile seven SW‐NE oriented correlation panels which show the development of the Supergroup in the study region. Five isopach maps for key formations in the Zechstein Supergroup were created, together with depositional environment maps for each of the main Zechstein carbonate formations. In combination, these regional‐scale maps and diagrams have resulted in a consistent interpretation of the Zechstein Supergroup over an area which extends from the onshore outcrop in the west to the UKCS boundary in the Southern North Sea in the east. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]