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Background: Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) usage has been associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) prevention, though epidemiological data have not reliably demonstrated this. The aim of this study is to identify if aspirin and other NSAIDs are effective in the primary prevention of PDAC in a large UK prospective cohort., Methods: A nested case-control study was conducted using the UK Biobank cohort. Incident PDAC cases (n = 1129 of whom 239 (21.2 %) were using aspirin) were age and sex-matched with cancer-free controls (n = 8822 of whom 1752 (19.9 %) were using aspirin). Conditional logistic regression models were used to generate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for risk of PDAC with and without regular use of aspirin, non-aspirin NSAIDs and all NSAIDs respectively. Exploratory analyses were carried out assessing interactions with diabetes mellitus (DM) as a condition with increased pancreatic cancer risk., Results: Regular aspirin use at initial recruitment was independently associated with a decreased risk of PDAC (OR [95 % CI] = 0.80 [0.68-0.95] P = 0.01). Regular non-aspirin NSAID use was not associated with a risk reduction of PDAC (OR [95 % CI] = 1.01 [0.84-1.23] P = 0.88). Exploratory analyses showed that in those with DM; regular aspirin use reduced risk of PDAC (OR [95 % CI] = 0.60 [0.42-0.85] P = 0.004) compared to non-use., Discussion: Regular aspirin use is associated with a reduction in risk of PDAC. The reduced risk is more apparent in participants with DM., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Just weeks away from the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the United States, followed by Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, has declared a diplomatic boycott of the Games. A diplomatic boycott stipulates that while government officials of these countries will not attend the event, the athletes' scheduled attendance will largely remain intact. An unintended consequence of the boycotts is that they force the attending athletes to cope with the stress and distress associated with the 2022 Winter Olympics in an unfamiliar environment on their own. It is important to underscore that many of the challenges the athletes could face amid the Games are either deep-rooted or unprecedented, ranging from stressors fuelled by the nonstop media reports, the competitions, to the Omicron scares. These insights combined, in turn, underscore the imperative for effective and preemptive mental health support for Olympic athletes. To shed light on the issue, this paper highlights the reasons why timely solutions are needed to adequately safeguard Olympic athletes' mental health and overall wellbeing, and underlines promising technology-based solutions that can be cost-effectively designed and developed for the athletes., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Large epidemiological studies have demonstrated the link between metabolic syndrome and cancer development, including colorectal cancer. However, the influence of metabolic syndrome on disease progression is less well studied, particularly in the post-surgical setting. This study investigates the effect of metabolic syndrome on colorectal cancer recurrence (all-site and liver-specific) after curative surgery for Stage I-III disease., Materials and Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent curative resection for Stage I-III colorectal cancer in a single UK centre were prospectively recruited. Disease-free and overall survival with metabolic syndrome as a factor, were determined using the Kaplan-Meier technique. Hazard ratios for all-site and liver-specific recurrence were determined using univariable and multivariable Cox-regression models., Results: 1006 patients were recruited and followed up for a median of 50 months (IQR 30-67). 177 patients (17.6%) met the criteria for metabolic syndrome. 245 patients (25.4%) developed recurrence, 161 (16.0%) of these had liver recurrence. The presence of metabolic syndrome was associated with a reduction in disease-free survival from 69 to 58 months (p < 0.001) and overall survival from 74 to 61 months (p < 0.001). Metabolic syndrome was an independent predictor of all-site (HR 1.76; p < 0.001) and liver-specific (HR 1.74; p = 0.01) recurrence., Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome is a predictor of all-site and liver-specific recurrence after primary resection of stage I-III colorectal cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no competing interests., (Crown Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper explores the relationship between neighbourhood level density of civil society organisations (CSOs), diversity, and deprivation. We compare the UK and Sweden, two countries with different civil society traditions and welfare state regimes. We use data on formal civil society organisations to examine whether diverse neighbourhoods have lower levels of civil society infrastructure. In the UK, contrary to what could be expected from Putnam's assertion that diversity has a negative effect on trust, thus limiting civil society activities at the neighbourhood level, we observe a positive relationship between the density of CSOs and diversity. In Sweden, we find different patterns. First, we observe a negative correlation between CSO density and diversity. Second, we find lower density of formal CSOs in areas with high diversity and high economic disadvantage and higher density in areas characterised by low diversity and high disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare chauvinism, that is, the exclusion of non-citizens who live permanently within a state from social benefits and services, has become a mainstream form of welfare policy opposition advocated by some political parties and members of the public. While existing studies have successfully cast a light on the roots and scope of these policies, welfare chauvinism effectively encompasses a wide range of ideas that all have different meanings. Drawing on the stances taken by populist radical right parties, this article introduces five categories (or frames) of welfare chauvinism: temporary, selective, functional, cultural and, in its most extreme form, unconditional chauvinism. The article then illustrates how such categorization is applied empirically by focusing on the stances taken by three populist radical right parties and open-ended discussions held during mini-publics in examples of three different institutional forms of welfare state: Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. This article offers a more precise depiction of how this form of opposition to welfare state policies plays out in the public sphere, taking full account of how different forms and frames of welfare chauvinism yield different policy outcomes and implications in different institutional and political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can centre–right parties in majoritarian systems adapt to threats from the radical right? Using a long-term inter-election panel study, we identify a remarkably stable constituency of support for Britain's recent radical-right parties – the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party. We show also how these same voters defected from the Conservatives across elections. In response, the government used a combination of the election of a new leader, Boris Johnson, and a hardline position on Brexit to reincorporate these voters into its support base, helping to lead to a large Conservative majority in 2019. Cross-party evaluations of Johnson were even more important in influencing this success than the issue of Brexit itself. Effective centre–right adaption to radical-right challenges is not simply about strategic issue positioning, it can also derive from centre–right leaders with populist appeal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative data on the factors underlying the willingness to receive and barriers to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine were scant in the literature. Therefore, the authors employed a qualitative design with a heterogeneous sample of 60 residents (age range = 18-79 years) in the UK and Nigeria to explore the factors underlying their willingness to receive and barriers to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The thematic analysis was employed to analyze data. The results revealed that only a small number of the participants had received the COVID-19 vaccine; they experienced soreness and itchiness, and their motive for receiving the vaccine was its availability. The participants who had not received the vaccine reported the following as determinants of their willingness to receive the vaccine: "concerns about the side/adverse effect", "the perceived benefit of receiving the vaccine", "mistrust (in the pharmaceutical companies that produced the vaccine, the vaccine itself, or governments)", "the need for clarity of information on the vaccine", and "moral obligation to receive the vaccine". The participants who had not received the vaccine further reported the following as other barriers that limit them from receiving the vaccine: "unavailability of the vaccine in the country of residence", "non-membership to a high-risk group", and "membership to a minority group". In terms of what governments can do to encourage public uptake of the vaccine, many participants reported: "provide clear information on the COVID-19 vaccine", "endorsement by public figures", "make the vaccine free to receive", "introduce rewards and punishments", and "honesty from governments". Implications for practice are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has posed serious challenges for informal carers living in the UK. This article examines some of the specific challenges facing carers and the resources they used to manage them throughout the first UK lockdown. We used a framework approach to analyse naturalistic, longitudinal data from 30 carers taking part in 96 of Mobilise's daily Virtual Cuppas between March and July 2020. We found that lack of information and social restrictions cumulatively impacted carers' sense of certainty, control and motivation. This took an emotional toll on the carers, leading to exhaustion and burden. However, carers quickly established new routines and used humour and self-care to actively manage their wellbeing. Carers received support but also provided it to those in need, including fellow members of the caregiving community, supporting an ecological approach to carer resilience. Our findings may be used to anticipate challenges and promote protective resilience resources in future lockdowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has exerted tremendous influences on the wellbeing of international students and the sustainable development of higher education. The current study adopts an 8-month exploratory case study to trace eight Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in the United Kingdom amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging from the qualitative data constitutive of semi-structured interviews, self-reflection writings, memoing, together with stimulated-recall interviews, findings have demonstrated the three main types of obstruction for such students’ adjustments in the foreign land including COVID-specific challenges (i.e., the threat of infect, reduced access to university facilities and resources); COVID-enhanced challenges (i.e., anxiety exacerbated by parents and social media use, anti-Asian racism and hate incidents); and language barriers and cultural differences as long-standing issues. Students’ previous lockdown experience, individual resilience, development of monocultural friendship patterns, and institutional provision and support are all factors that have contributed to their ability to overcome or at least mitigate the psychological and academic difficulties. The study offers insight into the impacts of COVID- 19 on international students, providing implications that could contribute to the sustainable adjustments of international students in times of disruptive events and inform future responses to global health crises from individual and higher education perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries with populist radical right governments are the exception rather than the rule. This paper uses the Australian case of Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON) and the UK case of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) – and its effective successor, the Brexit Party – to help explain a puzzle: how do populist radical right parties in the absence of any likely route to winning office or even holding legislative influence achieve policy payoffs? Tracing the political factors that have driven policy influence in these two cases reveals that an entrepreneurial leader with agenda-setting influence can have policy impact, despite disadvantageous structural conditions, through the following: leveraging electoral influence over both social democratic and mainstream right parties; gaining credibility through sub-national elections; and achieving (or threatening to achieve) defections from centre-right parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study offers a critical inquiry into accountability vis-à-vis organizational identity formation. It investigates how accountability evolves in the transformation of an NGO operating in the field of migration management from an informal grassroots group into a fully-fledged organization. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is the outcome of a participatory action research project on Welcome Refugees (WR), a UK-based NGO. The project involved documentary analysis, focus group and semi-structured interviews, field notes, and participant observation. The analysis draws from poststructuralist theorization to explain the interplay between organizational identity and different forms of NGO accountability over time. Findings: The study shows how different forms of accountability became salient over time and were experienced differently by organizational members, thus leading to competing collective identity narratives. Organizational members felt accountable to beneficiaries in different ways, and this was reflected in their identification with the organization. Some advocated a rights-based approach that partially resonated with the accountability demands of external donors, while others aimed at enacting their feelings of accountability by preserving their closeness with beneficiaries and using a need-based approach. These differences led to an identity struggle that was ultimately solved through the silencing of marginalized narratives and the adoption of an adaptive regime of accountability. Practical implications: The findings of the case are of practical relevance to quasi-organizations that struggle to form and maintain organizational identity in their first years of operation. Their survival depends not only on their ability to accommodate and/or resist a multiplicity of accountability demands but also on their ability to develop a shared and common understanding of identity accountability. Originality/value: The paper problematizes rather than takes for granted the process through which organizations acquire a viable identity and the role of accountability within them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on discourses on populism, presenting a case study on the United Kingdom. Analysing all references to populism in the British Parliament from 1970 to 2018, this article provides a framework to think about rhetoric and populism, a method to investigate political attitudes, and insights about the debate on populism in the United Kingdom. Results show that from the 1970s to the 1990s politicians interpret populism in demagogical terms and most often refer to the category of the political role of 'the people'. More recently, negative references and personal attacks increase, and politicians refer to different categories. Moreover, the analysis shows how British politicians employ epideictic and forensic rhetorical strategies more often when debating about populism, whereas deliberative strategies rarely emerge. Finally, the investigation over the 2015–2018 period shows that government membership, a distant election, and a right-wing party membership increase the likelihood of rhetorical positive interpretations of populism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Network Sites (SNSs) provide a platform for different actors to directly communicate populist ideas. Politicians and citizens can bypass elite media by directly speaking to the people via social media. Although a growing body of research has investigated the effects of populist messages, extant research has not explicitly compared how the dissemination of populism by (1) traditional media, (2) politicians, and (3) ordinary citizens can activate populist attitudes on the demand-side of the electorate. Relying on a comparative experiment in three countries (the US, UK, and the Netherlands, N = 1,096), this paper shows that the effects of populist messages on populist attitudes are contingent upon four factors: (1) the likelihood of selecting populist content in real life, (2) relative deprivation, (3) political cynicism, and (4) identification with the "ordinary people" as a source of populist ideas. There are no direct effects of populist communication by the news media, citizens, or politicians. Source cues on their own thus do not make populist communication more or less persuasive. Together, this study shows that people are most likely to be persuaded by populist messages when these messages confirm dissent, source identification, and media exposure patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent decades have seen an upsurge of interest in populist radical right (PRR) parties. Yet despite a large body of research on PRR voters, there are few studies of the internal life of these parties. In particular, there is a dearth of research about why people are active in them. This article uses data from a unique large-scale survey of United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) members to investigate if drivers of voting support for these parties are also important for explaining party activism. Analyses show that traditional models of party activism are important for understanding engagement in UKIP, but macro-level forces captured in an expanded relative deprivation model also stimulate participation in the party. That said macro-level forces are not the dominant driver of activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political campaign slogans, such as 'Take back control of our country' (United Kingdom Independence Party) and 'The Netherlands ours again' (Dutch Party for Freedom), indicate that right‐wing populism appeals to the belief that the country is 'ours', and therefore, 'we' have the exclusive right to determine what happens. We examined this sense of ownership of the country (i.e. collective psychological ownership [CPO]) with the related determination right in relation to exclusionary attitudes and voting behaviour. Among Dutch (Study 1, N = 572) and British (Study 2, N = 495) participants, we found that CPO explained anti‐immigrant and anti‐EU attitudes, and these attitudes in turn accounted for voting 'leave' in the 2016 Brexit referendum in the British sample (Study 2). Additionally, CPO was more strongly related to negative immigrant attitudes among right‐wing Dutch participants, whereas it was more strongly related to negative EU attitudes and voting 'leave' among left‐wing British participants. CPO contributes to the understanding of critical contemporary social attitudes and political behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, some of the world's most stable parliamentary democracies have witnessed a revival in right‐wing populist political parties, movements and leaders. Although there is a growing body of theoretical and empirical literature documenting the rise of populism, there has been very little exploration of the implications for health policy of this important political development. In this article, we draw from three illustrative international cases, originating from the USA, the UK and Italy, to explore the ways in which right‐wing populism influences health policy: the election of President Trump in the United States (and subsequent healthcare reforms), the United Kingdom's vote to withdraw from the European Union (Brexit), and how this has played out in the context of the UK National Health Service, and the rise of a politically aligned anti‐vaccination movement in Italy. Drawing on the work of the influential socio‐political theorist Ernesto Laclau, we interpret populism as a performative political act, predicated on drawing logics of equivalence (and difference) between different actors. We use this theoretical framing to explore the ways in which the recent upsurge in right‐wing populism creates a specific set of barriers and challenges for access to healthcare and the health of populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Too many ex-offenders are condemned to a life of unemployment, under-employment and benefit-dependency with significant ongoing costs to themselves, the economy and to wider society. To address this growing and intransigent problem, recent public policy innovations have led to the re-emergence of collaborative instruments such as social procurement which require companies tendering for construction and infrastructure contracts to train and employ ex-offenders on their projects. To comply, construction firms need to form new collaborate arrangements with organizations from the social and government sectors, yet little is known about how these new cross-sector collaborations work, what barriers to collaboration exist and how to overcome them. Mobilising theories of cross-sector collaboration, this exploratory case study research draws on findings from interviews, observations and documentary analysis of eleven collaborative pilot projects in the UK designed to explore new employment pathways for ex-offenders into construction. The findings reveal numerous barriers to cross-sector collaboration including little experience of cross-sector working; challenges working across different organizational logics; transaction costs associated with new organizational practices; and misaligned incentives. It is concluded that new forms of social project management, intrapreneurship and relational competencies need to be developed to enable these new collaborative arrangements to work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy (CE) represents a major paradigm shift of moving from the concepts of linear to circular supply chains across multiple industries. Although some aspects of CE adoption within industrial supply chains have been researched extensively (particularly addressing challenges of design, implementation, and operations), the research that relates CE practices with sustainability performance to reveal the current state of CE practices within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) is scant. The aim of this research was to facilitate SMEs to achieve greater sustainability through CE implementation. This research addresses three research questions—How are CE fields of action related to sustainability performance? What are the issues, challenges, and opportunities of adopting CE in SMEs? And what key strategies, resources, and competences facilitate effective implementation of CE in SMEs? This study adopts a mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative) using survey research, focus group, and case studies; 130 randomly selected SMEs within the Midlands of the United Kingdom have been surveyed, and the responses are analysed using statistical tools along with findings from focus groups and case studies. The study reveals that all CE fields of action (take, make, distribute, use, and recover) of SMEs are correlated to economic performance, but only make and use are related to environmental and social performance. The study further derives strategies, resources, and competences for achieving sustainability across all the CE field of actions. Additionally, this research reveals the issues and challenges, strategies, resources, and competences required for implementing CE in SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euroscepticism has become more and more embedded both at the EU and national levels (Usherwood et al. 2013) and persistent across domestic debates (Usherwood and Startin 2013). This study presents an in-depth analysis of contemporary narratives of Euroscepticism. It first introduces its question related to understanding public Euroscepticism, following the British EU referendum campaign and outcome, to then present the established literature, and the analysis of the British case study. A survey run in Britain in May 2019 shows that, as already noted by Oliver Daddow (2006, 2011), Euroscepticism is very much identifiable in the traditional narratives of Europe as the Other. Context accountability (Daddow 2006) is still cause for concern in Britain and by assuming a more positive view of a European Britain (Daddow 2006) does not make the debate more informed. Images, narratives and specific issues to reform the Eurosceptic toolbox into a more neutral, but informative, instrument could be applied at the grassroots level, as the post-referendum demonstrations and manifestations have shown. British citizens are reclaiming their own European citizenship, and deconstructing existing Euromyths can be a first small step forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of populism is a global issue which causes a prominence of populist parties throughout the world. The article analyses the impact of populist politics on international security strategies of sovereign states in contemporary politics. It assesses the influence of populism through two major aspects: nationalism and immigration. The rise of nationalism is assessed through the victory of Donald Trump in the US, and the Brexit campaign in the UK. The main issues for refugees are investigated through immigration to the UK, and the US administration's plan to build a wall on the US-Mexico border to stop immigrants to cross the border illegally. While these aspects have been national issues at the beginning, they turned into international crises short after their inception since these issues have affected the national and international security concerns of these states. Therefore, the article argues that the rise of populism has a direct influence on international security strategies of these powers. It also argues that the rise of populism is related to the rightwing populism and decisions made by populist leaders of the world. It uses the ideology of populism to understand the impact of these aspects on international security. It assesses these complicated issues through official statements, speeches of leaders of the UK and US, and reports published by the UK government and US administration and international organisations to understand whether populist policies of the two administrations triggered their security concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents exploratory, empirical data from a three-year study of organizational culture in for-profit, employee-owned businesses within the UK, comparing ownership types (direct, trust, and cooperative). It outlines the study and then focuses on worker cooperatives. Culture is illuminated through the lens of performance and reward management. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative data was gathered from three worker cooperatives based in the North of England, using semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document review and was compared to qualitative data collected from other types of employee-owned businesses. Findings: The findings suggest a distinct culture within worker cooperatives encompassing five key values: a whole life perspective, consistently shared values, self-ownership, self-control, and secure employment. Research limitations/implications: Additional time with each cooperative and a greater spread of cooperatives would be beneficial. The research was carried out during a period of organizational growth for the case organizations, which may influence attitudes to reward and retention management. Practical implications: The results inform recruitment and retention policy and practice within worker cooperatives and highlight concerns regarding the stresses of being a self-owner. These are important considerations for potential worker co-operatives alongside policy recommendations to advance employee ownership. Originality/value: A comparative analysis of culture, performance, and rewards across different employee ownership types has not been undertaken before. This addresses an under-researched area of employee ownership regarding HR practices. Within the UK, recent research on the culture(s) of worker cooperatives is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We seek to understand the role of the Internet in policy monopolies characterized by a dominant coalition in traditional political venues. In these settings, we identify coalitions and counter-coalitions on the Web and ask how these coalitions differ resource-wise and where these differences come from. To do so, we combine link tracing and quantitative content analysis in the field of climate change in Germany and the United Kingdom. Our results show that online contestation is indeed structured by competing coalitions of climate advocates and skeptics. Moreover, the counter-coalitions of climate skeptics turn out to be the true winners of online communication: they have not only incorporated conservative media as their allies, but also managed to make themselves more visible than climate advocates. This visibility stems from their own link setting activity, which makes climate advocates' passive online strategy of just ignoring the skeptical camp ineffective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on effects of populist communication has increased, it is still unclear how populism in news articles affects the readers' manifest behavior, such as whether and how they comment on online news. To address these issues, we conducted a content analysis of online news articles (N = 332) and corresponding reader comments (N = 2786) during election campaigns in France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. We find that populist key messages by political and media actors in news articles do not only provoke more reader comments but also prompt citizens to use populist key messages themselves in their comments – regardless of how journalists contextualize these statements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adapts and develops the idea of a cynical or 'stealth' understanding of politics to explore how citizens' estrangement from formal politics is processed cognitively through a populist lens. Earlier work has shown the widespread presence of stealth attitudes in the United States and Finland. We show that stealth attitudes are also well established in Britain, demonstrate their populist character and reveal that age, newspaper readership and concerns about governing practices help predict their adoption by individuals. Yet our survey findings also reveal a larger body of positive attitudes towards the practice of democracy suggesting that there is scope for challenging populist cynicism. We explore these so-called 'sunshine' attitudes and connect them to the reform options favoured by British citizens. If we are to challenge populist negativity towards politics, we conclude that improving the operation of representative politics is more important than offering citizens new forms of more deliberative participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Right-wing populist parties in European democracies appeal to citizens’ feelings of uncertainty related to globalization by promoting tough immigration laws and curbing the power of the European Union. This article adds to our understanding of how individuals’ risk propensity relates to support for right-wing populist parties and their ideas in the context of globalization. In particular, by drawing on survey data from the United Kingdom we investigate how this personality trait relates to support for the United Kingdom Independence Party and the vote for a British exit from the European Union. The article explores the complex interplay between risk propensity and right-wing populist appeals by dissecting the direct, indirect and total effects of this trait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the rise of the UK Independence Party in Britain, and how this ‘revolution’ has been reported by mainstream news organisations. As a case study of the media and populism, UK Independence Party’s rise tends to confound rather than confirm some of the patterns and trends found in previous studies. There is little evidence that ‘media logic’ has worked to the party’s advantage and the recent increase in the intensity of media coverage of UK Independence Party is principally explained by the ‘political logic’ of its continued electoral advances, changes in communication policy, and a reorientation in the public relations strategies of the party and its opponents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within and between nations, spatial inequalities in relation to health, labour markets and employment shape the barriers faced by those trapped on disability benefits, and thus create challenges for public policy. To provide context for such analyses and policy discussions, this article presents evidence on levels of poverty, welfare support and inequality across Europe. It compares and contrasts especially the position and support for those out of or at the margins of the labour market under different welfare states to reveal the significant differences between the UK on the one hand and the Nordic and Benelux countries on the other hand. Applying insights from theories and practices of endogenous growth, universalism and inclusion, it is demonstrated that lessons are to be learnt from the better economic and social performances of the more inclusive and coherent nations of northern Europe. In particular, it is argued that the very high levels of poverty and inequality inherent in the neo-liberal policies of the UK cannot generate the conditions for simultaneously reducing public sector deficits and stimulating demand so that worklessness and exclusion inevitably will continue. The article concludes that an alternative social democratic paradigm is required based on solidarity, equity and fiscal responsibility to address this self-defeating feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Internet-based interventions can help smokers to quit compared with brief written materials or no intervention. However, they are not widely used, particularly by more disadvantaged smokers, and there is significant variation in their effectiveness. A new smoking cessation website (‘StopAdvisor’) has been systematically developed on the basis of PRIME theory, empirical evidence, web-design expertise and user-testing with socio-economically disadvantaged smokers. This paper reports the protocol of a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of StopAdvisor and determine whether it translates across the social spectrum.Methods: The trial has two arms with participants randomised to the offer of the interactive ‘StopAdvisor’ website (intervention condition) or a non-interactive, static website (control condition). Participants are adults from the UK, who smoke every day and are willing to make a serious quit attempt within a month of enrolment. At least 4260 participants will be recruited with a minimum of 2130 in each of two socio-economic sub-groups. The intervention comprises a structured quit plan and a variety of theory- and evidence-based behaviour change techniques for smoking cessation. Tailored support is offered in the form of a series of tunnelled sessions and a variety of interactive menus for use up to a month before, and then for one month after quitting (http://www.lifeguideonline.org/player/play/stopadvisordemonstration). The control is a static website that presents brief and standard advice on smoking cessation. Assessments are at baseline and 2-, 4- and 7-months post-enrolment. The primary outcome measure will be Russell Standard 6-months sustained abstinence, defined as self-reported continuous abstinence verified by saliva cotinine or anabasine at 7-month follow-up. Secondary outcome measures will include 7-day point-prevalence abstinence at 7-month follow-up, self-reported abstinence at 2- and 4-month follow-ups, satisfaction ratings of the website and quantitative indices of website interaction. All analyses will be by intention to treat and the main analysis will compare the two conditions on the primary outcome measure using a logistic regression model, adjusted for baseline characteristics. The efficacy of the intervention across the social spectrum will be assessed by a logistic regression focusing on the interaction between condition and socio-economic disadvantage.Trial registration: ISRCTN99820519. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims To determine whether web-based tailored cessation advice, based on social cognitive theory and the perspectives on change model, was more effective in aiding a quit attempt than broadly similar web-based advice that was not tailored. Design Participants were allocated randomly to one of two groups, to receive either a cessation advice report and progress report that were tailored to individual-level characteristics or a cessation advice report that presented standardized (non-tailored) content. Tailoring was based on smoking-related beliefs, personal characteristics and smoking patterns, self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Setting Participant enrolment and baseline assessments were conducted remotely online via the study website, with the advice reports presented by the same website. Participants Participants ( n = 1758) were visitors to the QUIT website who were based in the United Kingdom, aged 18 years or over and who smoked cigarettes or hand-rolled tobacco. Measurements Follow-up assessments were made at 6 months by telephone interview. The primary outcome measure was self-reported 3 months prolonged abstinence, and secondary outcomes were 1 month prolonged abstinence, 7-day and 24-hour point prevalence abstinence. Findings The intervention group did not differ from the control group on the primary outcome (9.1% versus 9.3%; odds ratio = 1.02 95% confidence interval 0.73-1.42) or on any of the secondary outcomes. Intervention participants gave more positive evaluations of the materials than control participants. Conclusions A web-based intervention that tailored content according to smoking-related beliefs, personal characteristics and smoking patterns, self-efficacy and outcome expectations, was not more effective than web-based materials presenting broadly similar non-tailored information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to international conventions and UK government policy, parents with intellectual disability have a right to have children and should have access to support to help them bring them up successfully. Government good practice guidance sets out what form that support should take, but in practice parents with intellectual disability are still disproportionately at risk of having their children taken from them. This article reviews the challenges parents face in holding on to their children and the support they need, both from professionals and from the wider extended family where appropriate. The importance of having access to independent advocacy, especially in child protection or court proceedings is highlighted; such advocacy is not widely available, despite recent policy commitments in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the changing nature of a range of information technology (IT) application skills that students declare on entering an accounting degree over the period from 1996 to 2006. Accounting educators need to be aware of the IT skills students bring with them to university because of the implications this has for learning and teaching within the discipline and the importance of both general and specific IT skills within the practice and craft of accounting. Additionally, IT skills constitute a significant element within the portfolio of employability skills that are increasingly demanded by employers and emphasized within the overall Higher Education (HE) agenda. The analysis of students' reported IT application skills on entry to university, across a range of the most relevant areas of IT use in accounting, suggest that their skills have continued to improve over time. However, there are significant differential patterns of change through the years and within cohorts. The paper addresses the generalizability of these findings and discusses the implications of these factors for accounting educators, including the importance of recognising the differences that are potentially masked by the general increase in skills; the need for further research into the changing nature, and implications, of the gender gap in entrants' IT application skills; and the low levels of entrants' spreadsheet and database skills that are a cause for concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial changes to mental health law and policy have occurred throughout the Western world during the last decade. The drift towards control, particularly in the form of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), has profound implications for the role of mental health social workers, yet this issue is rarely discussed in academic literature. This paper seeks to redress this gap in knowledge by examining aspects of law, policy and practice using three case studies: Victoria, Australia; Ontario, Canada; and regions of the UK. The paper begins by critically reviewing selected literature on CTOs, revealing competing claims about efficacy and their impact upon service users and practitioners. A discussion of policy and practice contexts in the three jurisdictions is then presented and supported with a typology, to illustrate contrasts and comparisons. In their conclusions, the authors assert that mental health social workers often have a crucial part to play in the implementation of CTOs but that this is not always acknowledged in law and organizational policy. Social workers' roles and responsibilities need to be more explicitly identified in mental health law. At the same time, there should be a continuing debate about how such coercive powers fit with codes of ethics and practice standards, at national and international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author aims to utilize a longitudinal historical approach to facilitate in-depth analysis of the economic, institutional and legal premises of Launch Aid in Great Britain. In 2006, Launch Aid figures in the charged international dispute over civil aerospace subsidies. The author achieved her goal with a view to resolving, to the extent possible, inconsistencies apparent in the public policy and trade dispute debates.

The author looks back over a scientific career of almost 50 years spent mainly in research on liquid crystals (LCs) and carried out largely in University service and latterly for about five years in Industry. In this review, the development through its rapid escalation starting in the early 1970s and stemming from the development of applications for LCs in electro-optical displays, itself set on course by the author's own discovery of the first materials enabling the production twisted nematic displays. The author's other contributions widened into a general review of current trends and activities in the field, with some emphasis being placed on threats to fundamental research posed by diminished funding and the current pressures on researchers to engage heavily in short term, 'wealth creating' projects. of UK LC research is traced mainly of commercially viable, long life in the field are discussed and. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]