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This paper considers the situation of the English voluntary sector in relation to austerity-driven social policies. Existing characterisations are outlined and it is argued that the quantitative evidence used to represent the situation of these organisations to date has been partial because it relies too narrowly on financial resource input measures. We argue that the situation of these organisations needs to be conceptualised in a more holistic way and, to initiate a move in this direction, we identify and explicate two relevant dimensions: the perceived capacity of organisations to rely on volunteers for support (a non-financial resource input); and their perception of the effect of the policy climate in shaping their capacity to flourish, including their ability to perform multiple roles beyond service provision alone. We draw on an original mixed methods empirical study undertaken in England in 2015 to operationalise these dimensions, combining qualitative interviews with national ‘policy community’ members with a large scale on-line survey of social policy charities. We find a complex and variegated situation that, while acknowledging the fundamental importance of financial resource pressures, also points to the salience of the volunteering situation, and to the relevance of the challenging policy climate that these organisations have to navigate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the 2008 conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA) that was held in Oxford, England. The event was entitled "The Politics of Making" and was focused on whether politics is still a vital part of the agenda of architectural research. It was observed that the concepts of "making" and "politics" have almost unlimited flexibility.

Information about the several papers discussed at the annual meeting of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain held at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in England on March 30 to August 2, 2006 is presented. Linguists had special sessions on morphology, and dynamic syntax. A list of linguists and their papers is presented.

Information about several papers discussed at a symposium "War and Peace in the Qajar Era" at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, England in 2005 is presented. The International Qajar Studies Association (IQSA) conducted the symposium focusing on the themes of photography. There are 17 papers that discuss during the conference with keynote speeches of Dr. Rudi Matthee and Dr. Homa Katouzian.

Information about several papers discussed at the "Sixth International Congress of Psychotherapy," held in London, England in August 1964 is presented. The Royal Medico-Psychological Association (RMPA) officially sponsored and organized the congress. The event explores the advantage of an international meeting ground. The president of RMPA gave a short welcome that seemed to set the tone for the whole event.

NHS Foundation Trust (FT) hospitals in England have complex internal governance arrangements. They may be considered to exhibit meta-regulatory characteristics to the extent that governors are able to promote deliberative values and steer internal governance processes towards wider regulatory goals. Yet, while recent studies of NHS FT hospital governance have explored FT governors and examined FT hospital boards to consider executive oversight, there is currently no detailed investigation of interactions between these two groups. Drawing on observational and interview data from four case-study sites, we trace interactions between the actors involved; explore their understandings of events; and consider the extent to which the proposed benefits of meta-regulation were realised in practice. Findings show that while governors provided both a conscience and contribution to internal and external governance arrangements, the meta-regulatory role was largely symbolic and limited to compliance and legitimation of executive actions. Thus while the meta-regulatory 'architecture' for governor involvement may be considered effective, the soft intelligence gleaned and operationalised may be obscured by 'hard' performance metrics which dominate resource-allocation processes and priority-setting. Governors were involved in practices that symbolised deliberative involvement but resulted in further opportunities for legitimising executive decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the quarterly meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association held March 14, 1889 in York, England. A paper on the "Insanity of Children" was read by Dr. Clifford Allbutt, as distinguished from "Idiocy and Mental Weakness." Also read at the event was a paper on the importance of the bath for use in cases of alcoholism, defective excretion and hepatic congestion. A discussion on the present, past and future of lunacy was also held among members and friends. The newly-constructed asylum for the West Riding at Menston in England was also visited by the attendees.

In 2009, the Mental Health Act Commission for England and Wales was closed down and its functions subsumed in separate organisations in the two countries. Its final biennial report, issued that year, focused on coercion and consent. This article uses some aspects of the report to discuss the implications of lawful psychiatric coercion being predicted by social group membership (correlated with race, age and gender). The work of the Commission furnished useful information in this regard, but its framework for data collection could not, and so did not, illuminate a more established picture of the class gradient in mental health problems. With the latter literature in mind, material adversity may explain the racial patterning of psychiatric populations coercively detained. However, normative aspects of risk-taking in the community and in hospital may better predict the findings on age and gender. The article concludes by querying the ameliorative impact of government appointed ‘visitorial’ bodies. Legalism-plus-safeguards is a questionable basis for meaningfully bringing discriminatory powers to book, or for reversing the differential impact of pathogenic social forces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]