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Presents information about the second international colloquium organized by the Society for the Study of Labour History, that was held in June 1968 at Birkbeck College in London, England. Similarities of language at the colloquium; Fits among the pairs of British and American papers presented at the colloquium; Juxtaposition of the descriptions of the different influences exerted on labor and on the labor movement in the U.S. and Great Britain.

The article focuses on one of the leading merchant-planter families of Antigua, the Olivers family. Dr Vere Langford Oliver, a descendant and author of "The History of the Island of Antigua," has compiled data on five Richard Olivers. The first two were brothers and partners who lived in Bristol; Richard I was a linen-draper and merchant who traded to Virginia and owned plantations beyond the seas while Richard II was also a linen-draper and merchant as well as burgess. Richard Ill, his second son, was born in Bristol in 1664. He was probably the Richard Oliver who became a merchant and planter in Antigua. He was very influential in the island community. The most prominent member of the family was the fifth Richard Oliver, Alderman and Member of Parliament for the City of London. Alderman Oliver was born in Antigua in 1735, the son of Rowland and Sarah Oliver but at an early age he came to London and entered his uncle's counting house. Richard Oliver IV had a transaction business in London as a single proprietor from about 1744 to 1761. On 25 April 1761, he took into partnership his son-in-law and nephew and gave him a mutual interest with himself in the business of the house, which was thenceforward carried on in the name and under the firm of Richard and Richard Oliver.

The article presents information on the Annual Meeting of the Standing Conference on Studies in Education that was held in the New Lecture Theatre, at King's College London, England on December 17, 1971. Its theme, introduced by Professor J.R. Webster, of the University College of North Wales, Bangor, was based on the role of education as an undergraduate study. In opening the discussion one of the speakers suggested that the traditional concern of UDEs, the postgraduate certificate course, did not provide a basis for either a rigorous study of education or a training for research workers. The PGCE course was too brief, the backgrounds of the students taking it too varied and, most problematic of all, when training teachers it was necessary to show a direct and immediate relationship between theory and practice. It was sometimes suggested that UDEs should abandon teacher training altogether and concentrate on research. A more fruitful approach was the introduction of undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses so that UDEs became ordinary university departments who were also involved in the initial and in-service training of teachers.

This article discusses a study which examined the relation between science and atheism in London, England during the mid-Victorian period. The paper described what atheists did in the 1860s, their ideology, and their total commitment to the task of making every thinking man and woman an atheist. The mid-Victorian atheist delighted in the use of words, but his shades of meaning in using terms such as atheist, freethinker, secularist are elusive to the historian. In connection with this a nomenclature was suggested. An atheist might deny the existence of God, or he might refuse to do this on the grounds that the word God had no meaning for him. Freethinkers declined to accept the divine inspiration of the bible and he would have included amongst freethinkers the atheists, Unitarians, and a growing number of liberal Christians. The secularist was a freethinker who combined thought with action and aspired by concerted effort with his fellow freethinkers to expose religion to the logic of material facts. Science was studied by working-class atheists because they loved learning for its own sake, and additional motivation came from its usefulness in proving the scripture to be wrong. In conclusion the paper saw science as an alternative to religion for the thinking working man.

The article discusses the trade unions of bus drivers in London, England during 1930s. T. Sutherst, a Liberal barrister, founded the first union of busmen in 1884 but the London busmen entered the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), newly created in 1922, through the United Vehicle Workers' Union. This was a 1919 amalgamation of the provincial-based Amalgamated Association of Tramway and Vehicle Workers, which organized the London tramwaymen, and the London and Provincial Union of Licensed Vehicle Workers, which contained the London busmen and the cabbies. These two unions differed industrially and politically with the latter favouring direct local negotiations with employers and regarding support for the First World War as a sell out. Thus, the busmen were critical of the TGWU amalgamations: they feared loss of identity within the larger union; and loss of democratic rights to elect their own full time officers and conduct negotiations with employers through an elected rank-and-file committee. The busmen won the latter point but aspects of these early quarrels were forerunners of the even more bitter differences of the 1930s.

Agreed change in the undergraduate teaching programme of any large department should take account of the wider constraints which affect staff attitudes to teaching. These can be explored through various types of group discussion. The example of recent changes in the geography department at University College London is used to illustrate the application of Group Analytic principles in an attempt to improve discussion about teaching aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A list of the User Specifications published by the Council for Educational Technology, Devonshire Street, London is presented. These include synchronized tape-visual systems, overhead projectors (OHP), cassette audio tape recorders and playback units (Monophonic), pens and inks for use with OHP transparencies, headphones, and a guide to the preparation of operating and maintenance documents for audio-visual equipment.

This article deals with the early expansion of the Norwich Union Life Insurance Society during the period between 1808 and 1837. Even by 1837, British life insurance stood on the verge of a mass market with 74 firms covering around £100 million on an estimated 100,000 policies. Yet this threshold had been reached at an impressive pace. Only six life offices existed at the start of the nineteenth century, insuring a modest £10 to £12 millions on, at the most, 10,000 policies. The earlier expansion of British fire insurance, from about the 1760s, had also been dominated by London-based companies. These companies held 92 percent of all British fire insurance in 1805 and their influence persisted so that they controlled 72 percent of the market even 30 years later. Consequently, the rapid growth of the Norwich Union Fire and Life Insurance Societies in the early nineteenth century ran sharply against the national pattern in both markets. The society was founded in 1797 by Thomas Bignold who held the key post of Secretary in the firm until 1818. Due to his efforts, the society rose to become the second largest firm in the British market by the 1820s with a network of some 500 provincial agencies. Meanwhile, he also opened the Life Society in 1808 as a legally distinct but closely related sister organization of the Norwich Union Fire Office.

This article highlights the inaugural conference of the Association for History and Computing that took place at Westfield College in London, England from March 3-21, 1986. The event provided evidence that there was awareness about the significance of computing technology to the work of historians. Sponsors of the event included the Westfield College, the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and the Institute of Historical Research, with support from the British Academy. Several areas that were addressed during the conference included quantitative methods, databases, text handling, record linkage, pictorial analysis, prosopography, spatial analysis and publishing.

The article offers information on the conference on the role and function of exhibitions which was organized by the Museums Sub-Committee of the Association of Art Historians which took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England on November 21, 1987. The topic of the conference focused on three exhibitions which are on display in Great Britain.

This paper provides estimates of the average cost function for police services in England and Wales using 1981 data. The main intention is to provide replication and extension of American studies of the police average cost function. These studies have been carried out in the search for a U-shaped average cost function. The results have been extremely diverse which may well be due to differing approaches to output measurement and a general lack of attention to problems of multicollinearity, identification and heteroscedasticity. These difficulties are addressed in this paper through the estimation of numerous specifications and the application of appropriate tests. Different estimation techniques are also applied in accordance with alternative hypotheses about the process of cost determination. The overwhelming evidence from the results is of decreasing costs throughout the range of observed output levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emphasis of this paper is on the differential impact of Labor Government policies on the City of London in the years 1964-7. Three different areas of Government policy are distinguished and it is shown that Government-City relations in each area had their own very distinct characteristics. Whether or not the policies in a particular area were framed in such a way as to satisfy the perceived interests of the financial institutions was closely related to respective Government-finance power resources and to their respective strategies and objectives. These conditions varied in each of the three policy areas. Controversially, it is argued that the Wilson Government's strategy was informed throughout by Labor party ideals and that these were pursued with loyalty and great skill in the face of much hostility from the City. The final section draws on the analysis of the present paper to indicate just how misleading the standard accounts of City-Government relations have been. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on developments in British archival resources, compiled as of October 1990. Acquisition of the G.K. Chesterton archive by the British Library; Establishment of a Review Panel which examines all aspects of information handling in the humanities, by the British Library Research; Winners of the third annual National Preservation Office/Riley Dunn and Wilson Ltd. Conservation Competition.

The article discusses the gradual emergence and decline of textile merchanting in Great Britain during 1880-1990. Serious problems appeared in the merchanting system during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Growing international and domestic competition arrested the dramatic growth of earlier years and put pressure on profit margins. Manufacturers wanted to establish their own brand to increase their profit margin and establish their own marketing organization. The Wholesale Textile Association was formed in London, Great Britain in 1912 to resist the encroachments of the manufacturers and major retail houses. Contract sector was dominated by a relatively small number of efficient producers favored by particular chain stores. To maintain profitability, apparel suppliers saw themselves not only as manufacturers but also as specialists in the management of product concept and procurement. the rapid advance of mechanisation in the 1980s made labor a small percentage of production costs.

In this paper we use the duality approach to demand theory to evaluate the value to a consumer of a farecard which allows travel at zero marginal pecuniary cost. The analysis is extended to networks with two modes of travel (bus and underground). Illustrative figures are calculated for farecards on the London Transport network.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework within which the economist may attempt to put a value on farecards. Valuing farecards is important for two reasons. First, there is the issue of the appropriate relative price of farecards and ordinary fares. Either from the point of view of LT as profit-maximizing monopoly supplier of London travel services, or from the point of view of pricing to maximize social welfare, it will be necessary to know the implicit demand function for farecards. Second, there is the question of whether the increased takeup of farecards following the introduction of travelcards may be in part responsible for the substantial growth in travel on the LT network over the five year upto 1988. But it is clear that this second question may also have pricing implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outlines the understanding of how and by whom the collection of World War I British official films known as the IWM Series was created, how they have come to survive, and the scope of the said collection. Development of film war propaganda during the First World War; Role of the Imperial War Museum in preserving the films; Overview of the scope of the IWM Series.

The article presents information about the University of Brighton's third annual conference on Human Resource Management (HRM) in the Hospitality Industry, held in London, England on February 10, 1994. The focus of the conference was "Changing Structures and Changing Responsibilities." Gill Maxwell of Glasgow Caledonian University talked of "Competitiveness and Human Resource Management in the UK Hotel Industry." Her paper examined the case for a central role for HRM in the industry against the background of the general organisational status and structure of HRM. It discussed the structures and responsibilities of the HRM function in two units of international hotel chains where HRM is, untypically for the industry as a whole, viewed as centrally important. Sandra Watson and Norma D'Annunzio-Green of Napier University, Edinburgh, in their paper, "The Influence of Organisational Structure on Personnel Management: A Move to Human Resource Management," investigated the implications of organisational restructuring on labour management within the industry.

Examines the role of officer discretion and looks at the way that differing local institutional discourses of racial and ethnic difference affect the way that housing outcomes are produced. Examination of how and why black people in London, England lose out in the provision of social housing.

Examines the changes and challenges of the public examination system in the United Kingdom. What were changes; Investigations by the University of London Examinations Council (ULEAC) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER); Findings and conclusions.

A UK university's commitment to apply total quality management (TQM) principles to all its areas of operation over a period of years is being worked out through a quality statement which focuses on organizational culture, and through a number of tangible projects initiated by a steering group. One of the administratively oriented projects, on student admission processes, is detailed. Conclusions are suggested about organizational culture, TQM project operation and implementation. In particular, the problems are: operating TQM projects in a culture which has not yet been changed; involving in the project teams those who provide the services; tangled lines of responsibility and budgets in a project crossing organizational functions; not being able to consider within the organization all proposals as the team's work progresses; embedding the continuation of the work; the project leader having the time or the remit to promote the team's recommendations with the line managers who need to be convinced; time and other resources to undertake the task at a reasonable pace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the development of the Royals University College and the possibility of using it in stimulating the British economy. Evaluation of a school's efficacy as a means for economic transformation; Link between other forms of investment to higher education; Contribution of the university to the community's quality of life.

Examines the counselling service used at the Royal Free Hospital's HIV unit and explores the notification patterns of an HIV diagnosis to family partners and significant others. Pre-test counselling to determine the focus of approach taken with the patient; Same Day Testing Clinic (SDT) for open access, confidential clinic for seven-hour HIV-test result.

Assesses the impact of the 1938 Munich Crisis on the local government of London, England. Role played by the London County Council (LCC), the City and the Metropolitan Boroughs during the time of the crisis; Details on the Committee of Imperial Defence; How the whole subject of Air Raid Precautions was considered by British governments; Strengths and weaknesses of the locally organized and administered Services.

Discusses some of the concerns about postgraduate modular courses and the solutions adopted by one modular postgraduate program at the University of East London (UEL) in Dagenham, England. Controversy about the quality of student learning; Problems of cohesion and intellectual progression; Key features of the UEL modular postgraduate program; Experience of independent study.

Neurorehabilitation usually has two objectives: Managing the initial phase of patient improvement and ensuring long-term support for continuing disability. The UK National Health Service (NHS) provides acute neurorehabilitation within general hospital wards and specialist units, but arrangements for long-term placement are less satisfactory. NHS health authorities, administrative agencies responsible for the health of defined local populations of about half a million, hold resources for purchasing both acute and long-term medical and nursing services; long-term care usually also requires financial support from municipal social services departments. The patient's health status may be used in assessing the need for services, but little information on clinical outcome is available for purchasers. This paper describes purchasing for neurorehabilitation in a London health authority, and suggests how the arrangements could be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A postgraduate training programme in the areas of student learning and supervision is presented. An experiential method of training is employed which involves laboratory and pilot plant supervisions in the Chemical Engineering Department of Imperial College. A series of workshops is used to facilitate discussion on teaching theory and practice, as well as on student counselling and communication issues. Log-book entries are used for the documentation of specific events arising from the supervision sessions, which provide a good basis for peer discussion, as well as an opportunity for self-reflection. A number of examples arising from the workshops are used to demonstrate the mutual benefits of the training programme to academic staff and students. In addition to training in teaching skills, the programme is shown to provide a mechanism for the quality control of demonstrators involved in undergraduate teaching, as well as a regular feedback mechanism to staff on the efficacy of the laboratory-based courses. Through teaching and a structured staff support scheme, the programme is believed to address some of the current concerns on the non-technical (soft) training, and on the further development of the broad science and engineering knowledge of UK postgraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is both (a) an exercise in historical recovery in that it details some of the events surrounding the founding of the City and Guilds of London Institute and describes the way in which the Institute set about the building and running of two of its colleges, the City and Guilds Technical College, Finsbury, and the Central Institution in South Kensington (new archival detail is added to what is already known of this history) and (b) an attempt to interpret the above material in terms of various forms of association within the City Corporation and the guilds. Collectively the City and the guilds made an effort to come to terms with a modernizing world through the means of providing scientific and technical education. The guilds wanted to remain important even though traditional apprenticeship was dying out. In joining in a new venture to provide technical education for young people it was necessary to maintain an order in which the City's presence was clear and apparent. This paper will show how such an order was achieved and, in so doing, it shows something more generally of the relationship of tradition and rhetoric to institution building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with governance of universities in Great Britain. Expansion of so-called 'public' sector of higher education in the late 1980s and early 1990s; Abolition of 'binary line' between 'universities' and 'polytechnics'; Misgovernance of Thames Valley University; Separation of academic matters; Case for external regulation.

The UK Government's consultation document, A Quality Strategy for Social Care (2000) seeks consistency and excellence in care services and enhanced service partnerships. It states that this requires improved training for social workers and raises the prospect of a new social work curriculum in which learning for interprofessional and inter-agency practice will be strengthened. The document stresses the importance of evidence in decision-making in social care and this principle applies equally to training but there are few recent research findings on interprofessional and inter-agency learning in the social work curriculum. There are, however, findings from an earlier study which contributed to the mid-1990s review of the Diploma in Social Work but which have not previously been published in the mainstream media. These findings are reported and show: the kinds of organisations and professions with whom social work practitioners were in close contact in their jobs; the importance attached by social workers to defined skills in working with them; the perceived usefulness of training in developing relevant knowledge and skills; perceptions of shared training; and marked differences of learning experience reported by practitioners who had taken different training courses. Each set of findings is described and used as the basis of questions for the new social work curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between social class and parental agency. It does so through an analysis of the findings of a recently completed qualitative research project exploring parental voice in relation to secondary schools. The first part of the paper presents a summary of a typology of parental interventions. This illustrates some of the differentials between parents in terms of their access to and deployment of a range of social, cultural and material resources, all of which translates into varying levels of effectiveness in finding and using a voice in their relationship with their children's school. The second part of the paper focuses on the middle-class parents at both schools, suggesting that more nuanced differences in their attitudes to various educational issues (namely discipline and appropriate parental involvement) are closely linked to the class fractions which they belong. It is argued that, despite the broad title of 'middleclass', variations within this general grouping in parental education, occupational pathways and spatial mobility affect their approaches to the education of their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the attractiveness of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to the private sector. One of the authors works for Jarvis plc—the company has been a major participant in PFI projects and, more recently, in various PPPs in London and across the UK. The article aims to identify a realistic model of the role of the private sector in PPPs. The authors use three case studies from London to recommend ways of improving the partnership element of PPPs in order to reach a ‘win-win’ situation, rather than the traditional adversarial approach between private and public sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The allocation of funds to police authorities in England and Wales is based on a formula which has been constructed to capture the key drivers of the main activities of the police: crime management, call management, public order and reassurance and traffic management. The formula was based on data from a 1995/96 survey by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), using data on police activity and recorded crime from 1990–92. In this article, the authors argue that the resulting allocation no longer reflects accurately the policing needs of London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 5 May 2000, Ken Livingstone became Mayor of London and Britain's first directly elected executive head of an administration. Returned as an independent, he had no backing from a party machine and inherited a weak administrative apparatus. Nevertheless, key strategies on transport, economic development, and land planning have been put in place in full or in their main outlines. A series of radical developments in management and policy have been carried through, while retaining high ratings in the opinion polls and rising approval from the business community. A popular explanation for this is the ‘pragmatism’ shown by the Livingstone administration. This article seeks to explain in greater depth its managerial/economic approach and to show that, while internally consistent, it is not readily understandable in terms of either the traditional right or the traditional left of the political spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings from an evaluation of a pilot interprofessional training ward project for pre-qualification medical, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students. This initiative required sustained collaboration from staff based in two National Health Service (NHS) trusts and four schools in three universities. The ward was based on a model of interprofessional education developed in Sweden, but adapted in the light of this experience and also to meet the needs and aspirations of the training ward stakeholders in London. The training ward was evaluated using a multi-method design. Data were collected from all participants involved in this pilot: students, facilitators and patients. The findings from the evaluation are presented and discussed. This paper pays particular attention to the collaborative experiences of the students, staff and institutions involved in this initiative. In addition, 1-year follow-up data collected from the students who had, by then, qualified as clinical practitioners are reported. The paper presents conclusions from the evaluation, and comments on the training ward's strengths, limitations and future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reports on all convicted child molesters in an inner city area over seven years, half of whom received a community treatment package. The average time at risk in the community was three years. There were 17 'failures': subjects who were either breached for non-compliance, or reconvicted for general, violent or sexual offences. Historical, rather than cognitive variables appeared to be associated with failure. Key factors were a history of being sexually victimized and previous sexual/violent convictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the ongoing collaboration between SOSIG (the Social Science Information Gateway) and the Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science. These two institu- tions are currently working together to create a virtual library of Internet resources to support social science teaching, learning and research in the United Kingdom. It traces the history of the project and discusses the way in which it is currently being developed. Areas covered include the evolution of the structure and content of the gateway, its administration and promotion.Aparticular focus is upon the development of the politics and government sections of the database [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Little is known about the social composition of migration affecting British cities, despite the currently high political salience of this issue. This is principally because of the very limited availability of reliable city-scale data on such migrant characteristics as occupation and income. This paper uses the Regional Migration Tables from the 1991 Census to document the migration of labour force members to and from Britain's larger conurbations, distinguishing six main Social Groups defined on the basis of occupation. It is found that all eight areas were net losers of economically active people, that all six Social Groups were generally contributing to these net losses and that, in every case except London, there was a strong positive relationship between social status and the rate of net out-migration to the rest of Britain. This latter case suggests the need for further work, which would benefit from the more detailed migration datasets that are promised from the 2001 Census. Key words: Metropolitan migration; social selectivity; Great Britain; labour force; Population Census. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global cities, such as London, are viewed as distinctive in terms of their role in the increasingly globalized economy. There has been considerable academic debate over the nature of global city labour markets and how these can be explained in relation to global city functions. New empirical evidence is presented for the tourism labour market in London and the UK. The pay, conditions and social characteristics of tourism workers in London are examined, and they appear distinctive in terms of their full-time, gender (male), student, ethnicity and migrant characteristics. An explanation is developed that explores the interactions between the global city role of London and other scaled geographical processes that originate, especially at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides an overview of the holdings of the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), the largest local authority archive in Great Britain. Background on LMA; Details of the organization's acquisitions policy; Classes of collections; Key functions of the London-wide authorities.

This study sets out to examine how routine offers of HIV testing for pregnant women in ante-natal (prenatal) clinics are managed over time. Data was collected over two time periods (2002, 2004) from all women booking clinics at three London hospitals. Data from 3,560 women, comprising 2,710 in 2002 (time 1) and 850 in 2004 (time 2) were gathered. Uptake of HIV testing, demographic variables, HIV-associated risks, pregnancy variables and uptake of other ante-natal tests were monitored. In the later study, details of partner testing and time spent discussing HIV was monitored. HIV test uptake with routine offer (RCT) was high. There was a significant increase in HIV testing over time from 85 to 91% ( p 2 =9.3, p =0.002). This information was not available at time 1. HIV testing in ante-natal care can be sustained over time. Challenges for the future relate to complex cases, test declining, ensuring that women with risk factors do not systematically decline and providing skills for midwives or referral pathways to deal with more demanding cases. It has been possible to normalise HIV testing. Women have responded with high HIV test uptake, but are also questioning other tests which were previously routinely offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the value of reflexive pedagogical approaches in the teaching of academic communication and writing. We focus on a course developed for pre-degree foundation students at a London higher education institution. Drawing on the students’ learning journals, we examine their reflections of the approaches practised on the course. Reflexive pedagogical approaches place emphasis on the contextualized and subjective learner, challenging dominant scientific discourses and opening spaces for students to critically reflect on their learning experiences and the ways that they can positively build on these throughout their university journeys. The course recognized the students’ contributions and understandings through the group work and their journal writing, shifting the emphasis from outcome to process and from competition to collaboration. However, reflexive pedagogical approaches are problematic and the paper examines the dilemmas that we faced in taking this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the concern of Association for Language Learning (ALL) members on the severe grading of languages examinations at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in comparison with other subjects. Helen Myers, member of executive and chair of ALL London, commissioned a detailed paper giving statistical evidence that GSCE grades for languages were overall lower than other subjects.

Implementing the new degree in social work in Britain will require practice agencies to deliver an increased number of practice learning opportunities to students undertaking social work training. Indeed the Practice Learning Taskforce (2004) estimates that, in London, a 70% increase from 2002/3 to 2006/7 will be needed. In order to achieve this practice agencies are being urged to transform themselves into learning organisations. Given that social work programmes in many areas are already struggling to find sufficient placements for their students this is likely to be hugely challenging. Research carried out by Lindsay & Tompsett suggests that, in order to achieve this, social work agencies need to bring planning for practice learning more centrally into the organisation's strategic planning. This paper presents a case study of the author's experience in an English social services department that attempted this. It concludes that practice agencies, in moving towards becoming learning organisations, need to pay attention both to the structural arrangements they develop and the organisational processes involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses problems that are associated with IAS 37 and an exposure draft of proposed amendments by the International Accounting Standards Board in London, Great Britain. The article is broken down by product warranty, recognition, identifying the liability with conditional and unconditional obligations, applying the probability recognition criterion, measurement and risks and uncertainties. The article uses an example of product warranty to explain why these amendments came about.

Residences located close to urban parks frequently sell at a premium. The increased home values represent a ‘capitalization’ of a park’s value to proximate homeowners and this phenomenon has been termed ‘the proximate principle’. The evolution of the principle from squares and gardens in small private estates to large park areas occurred with the development of Regent’s Park in London. The proximate principle’s dissemination into the new industrial cities of the UK first emerged at Prince’s Park in Liverpool, but it was still confined to private developments. Its transition into the public sector occurred with the development of Birkenhead Park. The data showing that Birkenhead Park was potentially a self-financing venture funded by the enhanced value of proximate profits were widely disseminated and provided the financial rationale for many subsequent urban parks in other UK cities. This principle was absorbed by Frederick Law Olmsted on two early visits to Birkenhead Park and incorporated into the design of Central Park in New York City, the first large urban park in the US. Olmsted meticulously documented the impact of Central Park on adjacent property values and demonstrated that the park made a ‘profit’. These data were crucial in verifying the legitimacy of the proximate principle and in providing the justification for large urban parks in a host of other US cities. Although these data are naïve when viewed through the lens of modern social science, recent studies using sophisticated techniques have confirmed the fundamental legitimacy of the proximate principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a micro-study within an intervention project, conducted in four London primary schools, to enhance the spoken language skills of reception children. There were 60 children in each of the intervention and comparison groups. The focus here is to explore a classroom assessment of young children's oral narrative skills. Effective early language and literacy teaching with children from diverse backgrounds depends upon having detailed knowledge of children's oral skills, especially oral narrative skills, since the ability to narrate and report is a vital skill for future academic success and is highly correlated with later fluency in reading. Teachers need detailed descriptions of their pupils' spoken language skills and this is especially important where populations are diverse. A story retelling activity, developed and used extensively in New Zealand, gives teachers information about their pupils' language skills on entry to school. This procedure ('Tell Me') can be used in the normal course of classroom teaching and its evaluation for use in the UK is the focus of the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops previous analyses of data from an ESRC-funded study of middle-class parents' choices of childcare in two London locations (Battersea and Stoke Newington). It tentatively explores differences between the educational choices made in the two localities and connections which occur between educational and spatial preferences and practices. These connections within the two class fraction samples are presented using Basil Bernstein's arguments concerning the relations between pedagogical practices and social class. The argument is that the class fractions identified here use space differently and concomitantly engage in different kinds of social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the two unpublished contributions to meetings by Alfred Tarski. The first meeting was a joint meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic and the American Philosophical Society, which was held in Chicago, Illinois. The second meeting which was held at Bedford College in London, England, was an International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science.

Objective. To reflect on recent proposed tobacco control initiatives in the socio-cultural context of the smoking behaviours of UK resident Bangladeshi men. Design. Cross-sectional study using focus groups and one-to-one interviews conducted in English and Sylheti. Eighty-one men, aged 18-64 years, were recruited from the Bangladeshi community of Tower Hamlets, London, during 2002. Participants were purposively selected to reflect their age, place of birth and tobacco-use status. The discussions were tape-recorded and subsequently transcribed. The transcripts were analysed using 'framework' principles. Three of the current themes for tobacco control - smoke-free workplace environments, access to alternative sources of tobacco, and use and availability of nicotine replacement therapy - were used to organise the data. Results. Smoking initiation and use was confirmed as linked to gender, age, religion and tradition. Continued smoking was supported by anxieties about harassment in younger respondents, the migration experience of older respondents, and the unskilled employment opportunities available in the restaurant trade. These employment opportunities, whilst providing social support, did not support smoking regulations, in contrast to the practices observed in the general employment market. Levels of knowledge about the health risks of smoking varied by age. Three cheaper alternative tobacco types were readily accessible for use: contraband, roll-ups and traditional chewing tobacco in paan (chewing tobacco mixed with areca nut rolled in a betel leaf). Despite the latter's associations with use by women, younger respondents described the transition to chewing tobacco in paan as a smoking cessation aid instead of nicotine replacement therapy. There was confusion about the purpose, availability and efficacy of nicotine replacement therapy. Respondents reported isolation and marginalisation from current tobacco control initiatives, including much NHS Stop Smoking Service provision. Conclusion. The socio-cultural context of the smoking behaviours of this group of Bangladeshi men was linked to a reported isolation and exclusion from current tobacco control initiatives. These initiatives should be inclusive and address the reported needs of this community. The findings have implications for service development. Addressing these findings will help to inform the implementation of relevant public health policy initiatives for tobacco control to meet the needs of this community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]