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The article focuses on the accommodation of renewable energy and privatisation of electric supply industry in Europe. It states that the energy accommodation would incur big costs, while the industry privatization would allow the industry to become competitive, diverse, and would prompt low electricity prices. The article also discusses consequences of the privatization, electric generation technologies, and electric supply network in Great Britain.

As part of a larger European Union (EU)-funded project, this paper investigates the coverage of corruption and related topics in three European democracies: France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Based on Freedom House data, these countries are characterized by different levels of press freedom. A large corpus of newspaper articles (107,248 articles) from the period 2004 to 2013 were analyzed using dedicated software. We demonstrate that freedom of press is not the only dimension that affects the ability to and the way in which news media report on corruption. Because of its political partisanship, the Italian press tends to emphasize and dramatize corruption cases involving domestic public administrators and, in particular, politicians. The British coverage is affected mainly by market factors, and the press pays more attention to cases occurring abroad and in sport. The French coverage shares specific features with both the British and the Italian coverage: Newspapers mainly focus on corruption involving business companies and foreign actors, but they also cover cases involving domestic politicians. Media market segmentation, political parallelism, and media instrumentalization determine different representations preventing the establishment of unanimously shared indignation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way the EU budget is funded is often criticized, especially in the light of the increasingly complex devices used to limit net contributions. In addition to the formal UK rebate, there are reduced rates of take-up of different funding streams for certain other countries, all of which makes the funding side of the EU messy. Calls for the budget to be funded by a tax (or taxes) assigned to the EU level have repeatedly been articulated. However, the system has one over-arching attraction which is that it assures the EU of sufficient revenue to fulfill its spending commitments. This paper offers a critique and assessment of the current system for raising the revenue for the EU budget and considers the conceptual case for a move to a tax of Europe. It appraises the case for abandoning the current system in favor of a tax-funded one and concludes that although the case may be conceptually robust, political economy considerations suggest that change is unlikely for the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at insider trading regulation in Europe and finds a broad spectrum. Two countries, the United Kingdom and Sweden, have insider regulations very similar to those in the United States. The author attributes this to well-developed stock markets and the Swedish search for confidence in their stocks. At the other extreme, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland have no regulation at present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research has questioned the stability of identities, we know little about identity change. I examine a political event as a driver of identity change, namely the Brexit vote. I contend that the act of voting, choosing between two options, boosts the European and British identity underlying the vote choice. I test whether the increased identification with Europe or Britain comes with a reduction in the other identity. Using British Election Study panel data in a two-way fixed-effects design, I show that voting to remain increases identification with Europe but voting to leave does not increase British identification for Leavers. However, voting has no impact on how Remainers identify with Britain or Leavers identify with Europe. The results contribute to the growing literature on the link between politics and identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As football related disorders remain stubbornly impervious to 'solutions', so the study of football hooliganism has become almost a minor branch of the social sciences. This paper looks critically at the main academic approaches to the problem in the UK and Europe. The shortcomings of much of this work are revealed, both theoretically and in terms of the evidence employed about the nature of hooliganism. The meager amount of data about hooliganism contained in the plethora of Government reports that have so far been commissioned is striking. This may well be the reason why 'official' remedies so often prove inadequate. One way of gaining an understanding of this phenomenon is by making contact with, talking to, and observing at first hand the behaviour of those people most centrally involved, the hooligans themselves. This paper concludes with a series of portraits of 'the boys', some of it based on their own published writing. This will illustrate different forms of hooligan involvements. It will also provide an understanding of its origins as well as the true scale and scope of hooligan activity, about which many myths prevail. Something of the changes as well as the continuities on the football scene over the past 25 years will be indicated. Finally we will attempt to locate the whole phenomenon in its true place within British youth culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The London bombings of 7 July 2005 were a major event shaping the relationship between Muslims and non- Muslims in Britain. In this paper we introduce the idea of 'securitized citizens' to analyse the changing relationship between British Muslims and wider British society in response to this and similar events. Through an analysis of qualitative interviews with Muslims and non- Muslims of a variety of ethnic backgrounds in the areas where the London bombers lived in West Yorkshire we examine the popular perceptions of non- Muslims and Muslims' experiences. We show how processes of securitization and racialization have interacted with Islamophobic discourses and identifications, as well as the experiences of Muslims in West Yorkshire after the attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European natural gas market is characterized by declining indigenous resources, particularly in the UK and the Netherlands, and a growing dependence on a small number of large exporters who, as a consequence, see their market power increasing. In this paper we analyze long-run scenarios for the European natural gas markets in a model, NATGAS, that explicitly includes both factors, resource constraints and producers' market power. Finite resources lead to interdependencies of current production decisions and future opportunities. These decisions in turn depend on the potential for large producers to set market prices above marginal costs. We analyze the impact of conditions on the global LNG market on market shares of pipeline gas suppliers, as well as on the speed of depletion of indigenous European resources. We focus on how shadow prices of resource constraints affect substitution patterns in the various scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity of the state to delivery healthcare has been affected by a number of factors and is intimately interconnected with the process of globalisation. This has led to a changing political economy and new context for health care financing, not only for the NHS, but for Europe and beyond. This paper considers these changes and explains the process of policymaking that led to the NHS internal market reforms of the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Advance care planning supports patients to reflect on and discuss preferences for future treatment and care. Studies of the impact of advance care planning on healthcare use and healthcare costs are scarce. Aim: To determine the impact on healthcare use and costs of an advance care planning intervention across six European countries. Design: Cluster-randomised trial, registered as ISRCTN63110516, of advance care planning conversations supported by certified facilitators. Setting/participants: Patients with advanced lung or colorectal cancer from 23 hospitals in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the UK. Data on healthcare use were collected from hospital medical files during 12 months after inclusion. Results: Patients with a good performance status were underrepresented in the intervention group (p < 0.001). Intervention and control patients spent on average 9 versus 8 days in hospital (p = 0.07) and the average number of X-rays was 1.9 in both groups. Fewer intervention than control patients received systemic cancer treatment; 79% versus 89%, respectively (p < 0.001). Total average costs of hospital care during 12 months follow-up were €32,700 for intervention versus €40,700 for control patients (p = 0.04 with bootstrap analyses). Multivariable multilevel models showed that lower average costs of care in the intervention group related to differences between study groups in country, religion and WHO-status. No effect of the intervention on differences in costs between study groups was observed (p = 0.3). Conclusions: Lower care costs as observed in the intervention group were mainly related to patients' characteristics. A definite impact of the intervention itself could not be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a cross-national survey conducted on representative samples of populations from 10 European countries (n = 10,766), the present study is the first one to empirically measure the validity of Christie's influential ideal victim model. We use a range of scenarios built around common types of anti-LGBT violence to verify the extent to which the public's empathy for victims is contingent on the victim's identity and the circumstances of the crime. The results provide strong evidence that, when applied to this group of victims, the rules of the ideal victim work, adequately moderating the public's emotional reactions. We found that all victims receive relatively high levels of empathy, but the further the victim is from the ideal, the less support they can count on. Thus, even though no victim is "rejected," a clear hierarchy of victimization emerges. As a group, LGBT people suffer from an empathy deficit, but there also are considerable variations within this group, with a lesbian attacked by extremists receiving the most, and a drunk transgender person receiving the least empathy from the public. The study contributes to the development of theory by embedding the ideal victim model in a broader sociological paradigm of dramaturgical analysis. Since our research shows that the victim's LGBT status decreases the levels of empathy (being seen as a type of stigma), we call for more attention to be paid to the actor's identity in Goffman's framework. Implications for practice and further research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of various papers related to immigration in Europe that were published in several periodicals. One of the papers discussed is "Planned Indian Immigration: The Role of the High Commissions," by B.A. Chansarkar. This paper offers a critique of some of the existing arrangements for the movement of voucher holders out of India and into Great Britain and makes a number of specific proposals as to how these might be improved, particularly under the aegis of the particular High Commissions concerned. Another paper discussed is "A Shipboard Study of Some British Born Immigrants Returning to the United Kingdom From Australia," by Alan Richardson. The aim of this study is to explore some of the psycho-social determinants of return migration among British born married, male, skilled, manual workers and to compare those who intend to resettle permanently in Great Britain with those who were undecided about resettling there. A tentative conclusion suggested by the results is that permanent' returnees are more likely to be motivated by economic considerations. The undecided returnees, on the other hand, are more likely to be motivated by emotional considerations.

Introduction: Post-stroke fatigue (PSF) is common and debilitating. However, while its effective management is a priority for clinicians and stroke survivors, there remains little evidence to provide guidance or underpin practice. Our aim, therefore, was to gain insights into the experiences of clinicians who routinely manage patients with fatigue. Method: Qualitative interview study. The target was to recruit a purposeful sample of approximately 20 participants with expertise in managing PSF and fatigue arising from other conditions. Maximum variation sampling was used to ensure a balance of participants across different settings. Data were analysed using a framework approach, iteratively developed and refined by including emergent themes. Results: We recruited 20 participants: nine occupational therapists (OTs), five physiotherapists, three nurses and three psychologists, which included three 'fatigue experts' from Europe and Australia. Analysis generated core themes around management and strategies used; these were similar regardless of professional background, clinical or geographical setting or condition treated. OTs felt a particular responsibility for fatigue management, although multidisciplinary teamwork was stressed by all. Conclusion: There are clear similarities in clinicians' experiences of managing PSF and fatigue across different conditions and also across professional groups. Clinicians rely predominantly on their own clinical knowledge for guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To identify research articles related to cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) that generated the highest online attention. Methods: Altmetric Explorer was used to identify the 100 articles with the highest Altmetric Attention Score (AAS). Descriptive and correlation statistics were performed to study the characteristics of these articles in relation to their publication data, research type and domain, number of Mendeley readers, and dimensions citations. Citation counts were extracted from Scopus and Google Scholar. Results: The median AAS for the top 100 outputs was 22 (range from 12 to 458). The outputs were mostly discussed on Twitter (median = 8; range = 0-131). Topics discussing treatment and care for patients with CL/P accounted for 38% of the articles with the highest AAS followed by etiology and risk factors (32%). The majority of articles originated from the USA (46%) followed by Europe (16%) and the United Kingdom (15%). No significant differences were observed in AAS among different study designs, topic domains, journals' ranking and impact factor, and the number of citations in Scopus and Google Scholar. Conclusions: Researchers should consider use of social platforms to disseminate their work among scholars and nonscholars. Altmetrics can be combined with traditional metrics for a more comprehensive assessment of research impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a comparative study of the labour market and social policy measures introduced in light of the COVID-19 crisis in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom between March 2020 and January 2021. Its main aim is to understand whether the crisis response has changed the structures of the welfare states concerned. Focusing in particular on the differences regarding the crisis measures taken for individuals in 'standard employment' and 'non-standard workers' in each country, it argues that, although extensive temporary protection instruments were introduced for both groups during the crisis, these did not lead to an immediate convergence as regards these groups' social protection. Rather than changing the underlying structures of welfare systems, many of the measures in fact highlighted the specific vulnerabilities of large segments of Europe's labour markets. States have, however, granted social compensation at unprecedented levels, which could result in improved infrastructures and a clearer understanding of the responsibility of the welfare state in future emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brought to fame by a 1994 World Bank report, the idea of pension pillarization has become part of the orthodoxy of pension reform. Yet scholars have neglected both the national origins and the pre-1994 diffusion of the ‘three-pillar doctrine’. This article presents a critical history of the transnational diffusion process that led to the adoption of this concept at the World Bank. My analysis retrieves the Swiss roots of the doctrine during the late 1960s, as well as its gradual adoption and mainstreaming during the 1970s and early 1980s by a transnational epistemic community of life insurers and pension consultants. By 1990, the doctrine was widely used without reference to its national origins: a Swiss trademark had become a generic reform idea that framed controversies on the future shape of old-age provision. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The actions that individuals take to proactively craft their jobs are important to help create more meaningful and personally enriching work experiences. But do these proactive behaviors have implications beyond working life? Inspired by the suggestion that individuals aim for a meaningful life we examine whether on days when individuals craft their jobs, they are more likely to craft non-work activities. It also seems likely that characteristics of the home environment moderate these cross-domain relationships. We suggest that crafting crosses domains particularly when individuals gain resources through high autonomy and high workload at home. We partly supported our model through a daily diary study, in which 139 service sector employees from six European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK) reported their experiences twice a day for five consecutive workdays. Home autonomy and home workload strengthened the positive relationship between seeking resources at work and at home. Moreover, home autonomy strengthened the positive association between seeking challenges at work and at home, and the negative relation between reducing demands at work and at home. These findings suggest that the beneficial implications of job crafting transcend life boundaries thereby providing advice for how individuals can experience greater meaning in their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research requires high-quality ethical and governance scrutiny and approval. However, when research is conducted across different countries, this can cause challenges due to the differing ethico-legal framework requirements of ethical boards. There is no specific guidance for research which does not involve non-medicinal products. Aim: To describe and address differences in ethical and research governance procedures applied by research ethics committees for non-pharmaceutical palliative care studies including adult participants in collaborative European studies. Design: An online survey analysed using descriptive statistics. Setting/participants: Eighteen principal investigators in 11 countries conducting one of three European-funded studies. Results: There was variation in practice including whether ethical approval was required. The time to gain full approvals differed with the United Kingdom having governance procedures that took the longest time. Written consent was not required in all countries nor were data safety monitoring committees for trials. There were additional differences in relation to other data management issues. Conclusion: Researchers need to take the differences in research approval procedures into account when planning studies. Future research is needed to establish European-wide recommendations for policy and practice that dovetail ethical procedures and enhance transnational research collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the current practice of intratympanic steroid (ITS) injection for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in the United Kingdom and link the data with data from the United States and continental Europe. Methods: A survey of 21 questions was distributed to members of the British Society of Otology using an online survey platform via ENT UK. Data obtained from UK otolaryngologists (n = 171) were integrated with previously published data from other countries, including the United States (n = 63) and continental Europe (n = 908). Results: In the United Kingdom, 62% of responding otolaryngologists use ITS injection for SSNHL, while 38% do not. Of those using ITS, 59% use it as first-line treatment, either using it in conjunction with oral steroids (51%) or using it as monotherapy (8%). Of those that use ITS, a majority (83%) use it as salvage therapy when primary treatment with systemic steroids has failed, and similar results are found in the continental Europe and US surveys. The most commonly used preparation is dexamethasone. Responses to questions regarding treatment regimes used are enlightening and show considerable variation in the treatment regimes used within and between countries. Conclusions: There is a wide variation in practice with regards to ITS for SSNHL hearing loss in the United Kingdom, United States, and continental Europe. In the absence of protocols or definitive guidance from published literature, knowledge of contemporary practice may help guide or encourage reevaluation of clinical practice and will help guide the design of future clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, Europe has stumbled from crisis to crisis, shaking the confidence of observers in the continent’s capacity to maintain the egalitarian societies and socially embedded markets that have long informed arguments for social democratic reforms in the United States. As tensions in democratic capitalism have intensified, many aspects of Europe’s established political economic order have come under pressure. This review essay explores key causal processes behind the continent’s predicament. It does so to illustrate challenges and opportunities for organized labor in Europe, and to call on social scientists to reengage with the class politics of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust and confidence in such criminal justice institutions as the police is considered crucial for the successful functioning of society and to allow for greater voluntary compliance and cooperation with institutions of control. There is a plethora of existing research, however, that shows the often strained relationships between the police and particular ethnic minority groups in the UK, Europe and the US, with such groups exhibiting a great deal of mistrust and lack of cooperation. This article aims to add to this body of literature by presenting the findings of a case study that used quantitative and qualitative methods to explore new Polish migrants’ and established local residents’ trust in and cooperation with the police following a period of mass migration in a small working-class town in the north-west of England. The key results show that, contrary to expectations, Polish migrants in fact have greater trust in the police than do the more established local residents in the area. Notwithstanding this high confidence, Polish migrants remain reluctant to contact the police. Adding greater complexity to Tyler’s ‘normative’ model of police contact (Tyler, 2006; Tyler and Fagan, 2008), the article presents the nuances of police relations with majority and minority groups in this working-class town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent theoretical re-conceptualisations of political representation and contemporary empirical analyses of parliamentary representation have largely neglected the representation of parliaments as institutions. As a consequence, relatively little attention has been focused upon what is being communicated to citizens about parliaments and upon the nature of the parliamentary institutions that citizens are expected to engage with. This is the neglected institutional dimension of parliamentary representation. Using official documents and interview data from 39 key actors in the Scottish, Westminster and European parliaments, we analyse who act as 'claim-makers' on behalf of parliaments, the nature of these claims in different political contexts, and the 'symbolic intent' and claims associated with the architectural design of parliamentary buildings. We identify a basic paradox of institutional representation in that those who 'speak for' (most loudly and most persistently) and 'act for' parliaments as institutions are not primarily elected representatives but rather non-elected officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon a survey of more than three thousand respondents and forty in-depth interviews, the aim of this article is to examine the impact of migration on sexual resocialisation. In particular, we show how living in London influenced the attitudes of Central and East European migrants towards pre-marital sex and homosexuality. While the general acceptability of pre-marital sex was not affected by time spent in London, differences were noted in the meaning attached to sex outside marriage in the United Kingdom compared with Central and Eastern Europe. Particularly significant changes were observed in our respondents' attitudes towards homosexuality, with a greater liberalisation the result of extrication from mechanisms of social control, re-socialisation into new social norms regarding sex and sexuality, greater visibility of sexual difference in London and, in particular, inter-personal contacts with gays and lesbians. Limitations to the general liberalisation of attitudes were also noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Parliament election of 2014 generated much interest on account of the rise of a whole array of populist ‘anti-EU’ parties. This was widely reported in the British media but did that coverage give British news consumers an insight into the character of these parties, where they stood in relation to one another and where they stood in relation to Britain’s own UKIP? This article sets out to examine not only how much coverage there was in the British media about European political parties but also whether that coverage enabled citizens to get a sense of the political positioning of populist anti-EU parties. These questions touch on the extent to which British media reflect and comment on populist parties, European affairs and hence on the Europeanization of the news agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents views of the author regarding digital advancements being a threat to journalism. Topics discussed include business and private lives interaction remaining dormant in digital mind of service providers, communications of journalists being susceptible to authorities interrogation and investigatory powers bill for security and privacy being implemented in Europe and Great Britain.

Immigration as a solution to staff and skill shortages in the health system is increasingly on the agenda in the European Union. This article highlights the related social and policy dilemmas by comparing a new destination country with an old destination country: Spain and the United Kingdom. After describing the challenges met by the United Kingdom, we ask how well-prepared Spain is to face the same issues. In particular, attention is paid to the occupational mobility of health workers after entry and to how immigration as a staffing solution poses new political and social challenges. Through a review of background information regarding the immigration of health workers in the two countries and the preliminary analysis of 15 exploratory interviews, we aim to identify the primary trends and key concerns for future analysis. Although our interviews only allow us to draw tentative conclusions, they do highlight emerging issues to be explored in the near future. Our conclusions show that many of the problems traditionally encountered in the United Kingdom are now emerging in Spain, suggesting scope for further collaboration among government, employers, and other stakeholders across the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks: what is the significance of design history within higher education? It reviews the practice and purpose of design history, in the education of historically aware and critically engaged designers, as an emerging independent discipline, and in terms of what the subject has to offer allied fields such as history, sociology, cultural studies, history of technology, area studies and anthropology. It considers the development and current state of design history as it is taught in the UK and non-Anglophone Europe (including France, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, Turkey and Greece), in the US, Australia and East Asia. The argument that follows is grounded in recent design historical scholarship, combined with the views of design historians working in the abovementioned countries, in order to provide both a contemporary perspective on current practice and suggestions about possible futures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the enlargement of the European Union in May 2004, large numbers of migrants from the A8 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia) have joined the UK labour market. A8 migrants were required to register under the Worker Registration Scheme if they took up employment in the UK for one month or longer. The research presented here analysed this administrative data in order to shed light on spatial, sectoral and temporal trends in registration flows. The findings can help inform understanding of migration patterns, and responses to them, at the national and local levels. The volume of labour migration flows from East-Central Europe has been substantial and has been concentrated in particular segments of the labour market, with most migrants engaging with the hospitality and agricultural sectors and often working through recruitment agencies. The volume of new A8 arrivals has decreased since the onset of the recession in 2008 but still remained substantial at the end of the Worker Registration Scheme period. The demand for migrant labour has been relatively consistent in agriculture compared to other sectors of the economy during the recession. Conceptually this points to migrant labour serving distinct ‘functions’ in the UK labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information related to the petroleum and energy industries in Europe for 2012. It cites the tension between Shiites and Sunni Muslims in the Middles East as the major reason of upward movement in the petroleum cost. It adds that percentage change in energy cost for the period is expected to be at +2.4% in the fourth quarter. Moreover, it cites the need for Great Britain to streamline its environmental and climate policies.

Objective: To examine and compare doctors’ and nurses’ views and experiences regarding outcome measurement in palliative care, including patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).Methods: A web-based survey developed through expert review and piloting was conducted in Europe and Africa with palliative care professionals working in clinical care, audit and research.Results: The overall participation rate was 42% (663/1592) and the overall completion rate was 59% (392/663). Of these respondents, 196 were doctors (51% male, mean 47 years) and 104 were nurses (84% female, mean 45 years). Doctors’ most common reported reasons for not using tools were time constraints followed by lack of training. For nurses, it was lack of training followed by time constraints. Provision of information and guidance influenced willingness to use measures. For those that used tools, most reported favourable outcome measurement experiences. Both prioritized brief PROMs, and measures that included physical and psychological domains. For clinical purposes, the main advantage for doctors was assessment/screening, and clinical decision making for nurses. For research, doctors were most influenced by a measure’s comparability with national/international literature followed by its validation in palliative care. For nurses, validation in palliative care was followed by tool access.Conclusion: Overall these respondents shared similar views and experiences, and both were influenced by similar factors. Multidisciplinary outcome measurement education and training is feasible and required. Multidimensional and brief PROMs that include physical and psychological domains need to be prioritized, and access to freely available, validated and translated tools is needed to ensure cross-national comparisons and coordination of international research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the timing of the invention of the gaslight and posits an explanation for its simultaneous and independent development in several different places. According to the author, gaslight can be seen as an offshoot of an existing technology, industrial distillation, to which inventors added knowledge and techniques from pneumatic chemistry. It is suggested that the timing of its invention can be explained by the simultaneous expansion of industrial distillation and pneumatic chemistry in the late 18th century. Details related to technological innovation in industry before and during the Industrial Revolution are presented. Other topics include coal, wood, and differences in technological change between Great Britain and continental Europe.

This study approaches how journalists in the United Kingdom might compare with individuals working in print journalism in 10 other European countries, to assess role perceptions and beliefs in relation to the internet. The continental Europeans were grouped into north and south, and the UK set was independently compared with each. In all, 270 journalists across 44 newspapers in Europe gave scaled reactions to a questionnaire about their role conceptions, the internet, and the future. It appears the sampled UK journalists, despite some historical conceptions about the distinctively separate evolution of their press, conform strikingly with their European counterparts but in a specific and patterned way: the UK journalists align with their counterparts from the north of Europe but have significant differences to those in the south. The principal ingredient of the division is the degree to which the journalists find the internet useful, positive and a worthwhile extension of their working opportunities. The findings conform in some respects to academic studies taking a historical and cultural approach to comparative journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the December 2010 issue of the journal "Political Insight," which explores issues related to arguments, trends and developments in world politics, economy, and security. It discusses the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the rise of career politicians in Europe, how to deal with threats posed by terrorists in the 21st century, and the indecisive election result, national indebtedness and the first coalition government of Great Britain since 1941. It explores the representation of women and ethnic minorities in the British House of Commons and the new politics of public health within an age of austerity in the country.

This article analyses Britain’s remarkable performance in the European television industry. In the space of a few years the UK has risen to become the world’s leading exporter of TV formats and the world’s second exporter, behind the USA, of finished TV programmes. The first section of the article compares and contrasts British TV export data with that of France, before examining the emergence of London as Europe’s media hub. The second part argues that this significant progress is essentially due to deft policy-making. In 2003, the British government operated a strategic shift in favour of content producers and created a new intellectual property regime. This regime has enabled producers to keep hold of their rights and become asset-owning businesses, eventually giving rise to a new breed of production companies: the super-indies. This article shows how these super-indies have acquired the scale to compete in an international TV market and drive today’s British TV exports. Contrasting again Britain’s performance in the European TV trade with France, this article also analyses historical influences and claims it is Britain’s imperial past that helps its performance in the European TV marketplace. In addition to the globalization of the English language and the cultural affinities this nurtures, the trading heritage of the British Empire has facilitated Britain’s political elite’s understanding of the role that trade and the market can play in the creative industries, and enabled them to frame a broadcasting policy that is adapted to the global age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article surveys evolving and competing medico-legal concepts of pyromania and insane arson. Exploiting evidence from medical jurisprudence, medico-legal publications, medical lexicography and case histories, it seeks to explicate the key positions in contemporary professional debates concerning arson and mental derangement. A major focus is the application of the doctrines of moral and partial insanity, monomania, instinctive insanity and irresistible impulse to understandings of pyromania and insane arson. The limited extent to which mental defect provided a satisfactory diagnosis and exculpatory plea for morbid arson is also explored. Additionally, this article compares and contrasts contemporary debates about other special manias, especially kleptomania. Part 2 will be published in the next issue, History of Psychiatry 21(4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides the authors' insights on the development of the periodical "Journal of European Studies" which releases the 40th anniversary issue in March 2010. It mentions that the periodical is produced between 1960 and 1970 wherein the cultural life in Great Britain experiences major changes particularly in arts, popular culture and tertiary education. Meanwhile, the journal has produced articles with different topics related to Europe including ethnic and cultural practices.

Has the introduction of the Euro reduced the economic significance of national borders across the Euro Area? This article extends Engel and Rogers well known work on border effects to cities across Western Europe over the period 1995-2004. Although cross-border prices across the Euro Area are still more volatile than within-country prices, the importance of the border has diminished since the euro was introduced in 1999. The impact of the common currency on the border effect varies by country size, with the largest decreases occurring between larger Euro countries. Although cross-border price volatility has not changed between the United Kingdom and large Euro countries, volatility has actually increased between the small Euro countries and the United Kingdom. These results are consistent with the fact that exchange rates are more likely to adjust to price differentials between small countries than between large countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines when and why environmental nongovernmental organizations in the United Kingdom, France and Germany bypass national-level activity in favor of supranational action. Data are gathered from a content analysis of news wires and analyzed in a series of logistic equations. Evidence supports the multi-level governance theory of European Union integration. Examining political opportunity structure explanations for activity, I find that changes in domestic elite alliances and electoral cleavages help to explain why groups choose to target activity at the supranational level. When the domestic opportunity structure is closed, supranational activity becomes more likely. The opening of the domestic political opportunity structure decreases supranational activity among groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2004, the U.K. government announced its intention to grant limited authorization for the growing of commercial genetically modified (GM) crops. This article reviews the potential liabilities that may arise from GM cropping, for environmental damage and for economic losses claimed by non-GM producers. It considers the application of the European Community (EC) Environmental Liability Directive of 2004 to genetically modified organisms (GMO) releases, and the proposed statutory scheme for the coexistence of GM and non-GM agriculture in England and Wales. It also examines the application of the common law of nuisance to the release of GMOs and considers the relevant case law of the English courts. Although there will be a residual role for liability at common law following the establishment of a statutory coexistence scheme, the article highlights a number of formidable problems facing attempts to establish claims for liability arising from GMO releases at common law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997, the European Union adopted the ambitious target of doubling the share of renewables in total primary energy consumption by 2010. However, by 2003 the EU was still recording low achievement levels, due largely to variation in the generosity and stability of member-state policies to support the diffusion of renewable energy. This article surveys national variation in the diffusion of renewable energy, linking this variation to the degree of ambition in governmental policies. After discussing what drives national policies, we conclude that policy ambitiousness reflects the degree to which salient national energy-related problems converge around renewable energy diffusion as a joint solution. Countries with ambitious renewable energy policies are found to have many unsolved national energy-related problems and an abundant primary renewable energy resource base that could be developed for solving these problems. Countries with less ambitious policies, on the other hand, have fewer salient national energy-related problems or a less abundant renewable energy resource base. Among energy-related problems, the lack of national energy security in combination with policy ambitions to assist new industrial activities emerges as a particularly forceful policy driver. A side-effect of the convergence of many national problems around renewable energy diffusion as solution is that strong advocacy coalitions can more readily be forged to lobby for generous and stable governmental renewable energy policies. Local-level factors will, however, condition the effect of central government policies. Countries that have ensured co-decision power for local communities and benefit-sharing rights in renewable energy development are more likely to sec their ambitious national policies result in diffusion, in contrast to countries with policies that ignore demands at the local level. The UK and Spain, representing low- and high-diffusion countries, respectively, are here discussed as major cases, supported by evidence from other EU member countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heterogeneity of the palliative care population represents challenges to research methodology, including study design, informed consent (and ethical issues in general), assessment and classification of symptoms and signs, as well as practical issues in the clinic. The aim of this report is to describe and examine the status of palliative care research in Europe by means of a survey and a literature review. Only one European country, the UK, has taken a national initiative to stimulate and promote palliative care research through the supportive and palliative care collaboratives (SUPAC) in 2005. There are few European research groups in palliative care reaching a critical size, several countries do not have academic chairs in palliative care, and there is no clear trend that chairs are emerging in general. There is little public funding for palliative care research. Palliative care researchers need to compete on the 'open market' or rely on private foundations. There has been a steady increase in the number of abstracts for presentation at the EAPC Research Forums, from 200 in 2000, to 480 in 2006. The literature review indicated that the majority of publications are surveys and descriptive/observational studies, and few randomised, controlled, studies were published. In conclusion, the quantity of research seems to be steadily increasing. There may be a need for larger multi-centre studies, and in order to perform such studies, national and international structures, encompassing research above the critical size, with a multi-disciplinary background including both basic scientists and clinicians is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female nudity in advertising varies greatly across Europe and the world. However, in studying extant literature regarding female nudity in advertising a number of limitations emerge. In particular, existing research into consumer attitudes fails to recognize sexuality and cultural differences. The aim of this research is to explore and describe consumer attitudes to the depiction of female nudity in advertising in the UK; a previously overlooked context. In addition, in order to overcome omissions in existing empirical research, a secondary aim is to explore such issues from a variety of perspectives by noting and incorporating into the analysis participant sexuality. The literature review concentrates on the key areas of sex roles in advertising, sex appeal and arousal in advertising, female nudity in advertising and the application of literary, feminist and art theory to advertising research. Thereafter follows a discussion and justification of focus groups as the chosen method that incorporates a detailed description of the informants (including details of informant sexuality and sex) as well as a breakdown of the choice of advertising material. Following from this are the results and discussion that focus on six key themes: sex and sex approval; the gaze; sexual and non-sexual use of nudity; femininity and androgyny; congruence; and authorial intent and reader response. The article concludes with a discussion of the main implications of the study and with the forwarding of suggestions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the domestic formulation of UK European defence policy 1997–2000 through the intergovernmental meetings at Pörtschach and Saint Malo which set in train the development and codification of a common European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) in 2000, through a Liberal Intergovernmentalist (LI) framework. This research leads to five conclusions: first, that the Saint Malo initiative was a tactical shift of government policies rather than core preferences; second, that the prime minister centralised European defence policy-making within the core executive; third, that the prime minister was crucial to the development of the initiative; fourth, that the presentation of the initiative was made on lowest common denominator grounds; and, lastly, that the ‘successive limited comparisons’ framework provides an effective corrective to LI's domestic policy formulation hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The First World War changed everything, including European attitudes towards war - and we should not forget what a sea-change this represented. But we should not underestimate the extent to which war before 1914 was thought possible, probable and even desirable. And this was as true for Great Britain as it was for its main German rival. Certain currents of thought made the idea of war seem acceptable. A number of organizations indeed propagated the notion that imperial expansion and conflict - fuelled by jingoism and dreams of Empire - were to be expected in a world where the fittest survived and the weak did not. With the coming of peace following such huge losses on the western front, the mood, inevitably, shifted in almost the opposite direction, and after 1919 public opinion became decidedly anti-war and deeply opposed to rearmament, even when Britain was confronted with the threat of Hitler. Appeasement thus was not merely a policy agreed from on high, but had the solid backing of a public whose attitudes had been so altered by the experience 1914-1918. This mood only began to change after Munich and Kristallnacht. Even so, the mood in 1939 was very different to what it had been in 1914: war with Germany now was not embraced enthusiastically but as a political and strategic necessity imposed from without. The Great War had left its indelible mark on those who remembered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses issues related to nature and environmental sciences compiled as of January 2001. Expansion of gas-fired power generations in Great Britain; Oil price crisis in Europe; Energy policy debates.

This article introduces issues relevant to the presence of Muslims in Europe. While European nations are still in the process of acknowledging the diversity and rich cultural heritages of Muslim communities, Muslims are adjusting to living as minorities within a non-Muslim society. The predominant 'us'/'other' dichotomy embedded in historical and political encounters has raised significant issues affecting mutual integration and acceptance. On the one hand, European essentializing of both their own and Muslim cultures has fixed the integration debate in static stereotypes. On the other hand, Muslims in search of social cohesion are increasingly attracted to the concept of a fixed, homogeneous supranational ummah. However, both majority and minority communities are undergoing transformation and restructuring that is centred around the negotiation of new composite identities, changing family patterns and relationships, political activism and the fight against social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers European economic news coverage on British television and its relationship with the UK public's perceptions of and identity with Europe. Stress is placed on the symbolic content of news about Europe; stories about the economic entitlements offered to citizens within the European Union; and portrayal of material benefits or losses for Britain. The results suggest that coverage offers mixed signals about Europe. As yet, they offer an unlikely platform for the development in the United Kingdom of European solidarity or identity. The results are assessed in the light of the way journalists approach political issues. The implications for statistical modelling of the media's relationship with attitudes towards Europe are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]