scholarly journals Film Support and the Challenge of ‘Sustainability’: On Wing Design, Wax and Feathers, and Bolts from the Blue

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 129-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doyle Gillian

In recognition of the importance of film in generating both economic and cultural value, the UK Labour government set up a new agency – the United Kingdom Film Council (UKFC) – in 2000 with a remit to build a sustainable film industry. But, reflecting a plethora of differing expectations in relation to the purposes behind public support for film, the UKFC's agenda shifted and broadened over the organisation's lifetime (2000–11). Apparently unconvinced by the UKFC's achievements, the Coalition government which came to power in May 2010 announced the Council's abolition and reassigned its responsibilities as part of a general cost-cutting strategy. Based on original empirical research, this article examines how the UKFC's sense of strategic direction was determined, how and why the balance of objectives it pursued changed over time and what these shifts tell us about the nature of film policy and the challenges facing bodies that are charged with enacting it in the twenty-first century.

Author(s):  
Ros Scott

This chapter explores the history of volunteers in the founding and development of United Kingdom (UK) hospice services. It considers the changing role and influences of volunteering on services at different stages of development. Evidence suggests that voluntary sector hospice and palliative care services are dependent on volunteers for the range and quality of services delivered. Within such services, volunteer trustees carry significant responsibility for the strategic direction of the organiszation. Others are engaged in diverse roles ranging from the direct support of patient and families to public education and fundraising. The scope of these different roles is explored before considering the range of management models and approaches to training. This chapter also considers the direct and indirect impact on volunteering of changing palliative care, societal, political, and legislative contexts. It concludes by exploring how and why the sector is changing in the UK and considering the growing autonomy of volunteers within the sector.


2017 ◽  
Vol 102 (9) ◽  
pp. 1244-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Mercieca ◽  
Brett Drury ◽  
Archana Bhargava ◽  
Cecilia Fenerty

AimsTo evaluate, describe and quantify the diversity in postoperative antimetabolite administration and bleb needling practices among glaucoma specialists performing trabeculectomy surgery within the UK and Ireland.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was distributed to all consultant glaucoma specialists who are on the United Kingdom and Eire Glaucoma Society (UKEGS) contact list. Participants were asked specific questions about their current practices for post-trabeculectomy antimetabolite administration followed by questions directly related to bleb needling procedures.Results60 (83%) of UKEGS glaucoma subspecialty consultants completed the survey. 70% of respondents administered 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in their clinic room while 30% used a separate treatment room. Doses of 5-FU varied considerably but 70% used 5 mg as standard. Techniques used to reduce corneal toxicity included precipitation with amethocaine (44%) or benoxinate (14%), saline wash (14%) and modified injection technique (8%). Topical antibiotics and/or betadine were used to prevent infection following 5-FU injection in just over 50%. Bleb needling was exclusively performed in operating theatre by 56% of respondents and solely at the slit lamp in the clinic room by 12%. A further 30% used a combination of both theatre and outpatient clinic rooms. Anti-metabolites used were 5-FU (72%) and mitomycin C (22%) with 12% using either of the two substances.ConclusionsThere is a significantly wide variety of current practices for antimetabolite administration and bleb needling within the UK and Ireland. This may be influenced by a glaucoma surgeon’s specific experience and audit results as well as particular clinical set-up, availability of antimetabolite and clinic room space.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pam Lowe

The risk of death or serious injury from ‘backstreet abortions’ was an important narrative in the 20th century campaign to liberalise abortion in the UK. Since then, clinical developments have reduced the overall health risks of abortion, and international health organisations have been set up to provide cross-border, medically safe abortions to places where it is unlawful, offering advice and, where possible, supplying abortion pills. These changes mean that pro-choice campaigns in Europe have often moved away from the risks of ‘backstreet abortions’ as a central narrative when campaigning for abortion liberalisation. In contrast, in the UK, anti-abortion activists are increasingly using ideas about ‘backstreet abortions’ to resist further liberalisation. These claims can be seen to fit within a broader shift from morals to risk within moral regulation campaigns and build on anti-abortion messages framed as being ‘pro-women’, with anti-abortion activists claiming to be the ‘savers’ of women. Using a parliamentary debate as a case study, this article will illustrate these trends and show how the ‘backstreet’ metaphor within anti-abortion campaigns builds on three interconnected themes of ‘abortion-as-harmful’, ‘abortion industry’, and ‘abortion culture’. This article will argue that the anti-abortion movement’s adoption of risk-based narratives contains unresolved contradictions due to the underlying moral basis of their position. These are exacerbated by the need, in this case, to defend legislation that they fundamentally disagree with. Moreover, their attempts to construct identifiable ‘harms’ and vulnerable ‘victims’, which are components of moral regulation campaigns, are unlikely to be convincing in the context of widespread public support for abortion.


2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL MAIRS

In recent years, a series of reports have appeared in the British press about the fate of Iraqi interpreters employed by the British forces in Basra. As well as the day-to-day risk of death or injury in the course of their work, interpreters have been vulnerable to reprisals from insurgents who view them as collaborators and traitors. There have been a large number of documented cases of Iraqi interpreters being murdered, often in an especially brutal manner. Many other cases have gone undocumented, in part because of the tendency for interpreters to work under pseudonyms and even wear masks to conceal their identity, making it difficult to identify a particular victim as an interpreter. The issue of protecting interpreters came to a head in 2007 with the handover of Basra to Iraqi administration and the subsequent withdrawal of British troops. A special protection scheme was set up, whereby those who had worked for the British forces for twelve months would be eligible for resettlement in the United Kingdom. The issue, however, has remained a contentious one: many interpreters were ineligible for resettlement or did not want to move to the UK, and many of those who did accept resettlement found themselves economically disadvantaged and socially marginalized. One group of Iraqi interpreters have taken legal action against the British government.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran M. Stanley ◽  
Aoife Grant ◽  
Simon O'Doherty ◽  
Dickon Young ◽  
Alistair J. Manning ◽  
...  

Abstract. A network of tall tower measurement stations was set up in 2012 across the United Kingdom to expand measurements made at the long-term background northern hemispheric site, Mace Head, Ireland. Reliable and precise in situ greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis systems were developed and deployed at three sites in the UK with automated custom-built instrumentation measuring a suite of GHGs. The UK Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (UK DECC) network uses tall (165–230 m) open lattice telecommunications towers, which provide a convenient platform for boundary layer trace gas sampling. In this paper we describe the automated measurement system and first results from the UK DECC network for CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6, CO and H2. CO2 and CH4 are measured at all of the UK DECC sites by cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) with multiple inlet heights at two of the three tall tower sites to assess for boundary layer stratification. The long-term 1-minute mean precisions (1σ) of CRDS measurements at background mole fractions for January 2012 to September 2015 is


2014 ◽  
Vol 229 ◽  
pp. R31-R52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonni Markaki

Research on anti-immigrant attitudes in the United Kingdom in the past has focused primarily on feelings of prejudice driven by local concentrations of ethnic minorities. The immigration debate, however, has arguably changed since the EU expansions and the economic crisis of the past decade. This paper tests whether public support for immigration restriction is empirically driven by factors such as resource scarcity and economic stagnation, skill supply of native and immigrant workers, and the origin of immigrants from poorer countries within and outside the EU. Survey data from the European Social Survey between 2002 and 2010 are matched with regional level indicators calculated using the UK Labour Force Surveys. Findings suggest that support for immigration restriction is higher in regions where more immigrants are unemployed, but lower in regions where more natives are unemployed for longer than a year. Both the origin and ethnicity of the immigrant population appear to play a role in immigration policy preferences among native respondents.


Author(s):  
J. Armitage ◽  
R. M. Cornell ◽  
A. Staples

In 2000, Nuvia Limited was contracted to carry out the decommissioning of a former Active Handling Building A59 on the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) site at Winfrith in the UK. This is in support of UKAEA’s mission, which is to carry out environmental restoration of its nuclear sites and to put them to alternative uses wherever possible. Recently UKAEA has been reorganised and responsibility for the site lies with Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL) with funding provided by the National Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Following major decommissioning operations the main containment building structure and the two suites of concrete shielded caves were demolished between June 2006 and March 2007 leaving just the base slab for final removal and the site remediation operations undertaken. The base slab contained a quantity of encast, internally contaminated items including more than 100 steel mortuary tubes set up to 6.6m deep into the slab. At the outset it was suspected that some leakage of radioactive contamination had occurred into the ground although the precise location/s of the leakage was unknown. As a result the scope of the work required the underlying soil to be carefully monitored for the presence of radioactive contamination and, if detected, its remediation to an end state suitable for unrestricted use without planning or nuclear regulatory controls. These latter operations form the basis of this paper, which reviews some of the significant tasks undertaken during the process and describes the waste monitoring procedures utilised on the concrete and soil debris. Extensive dewatering was required to support the removal of the deeper mortuary tubes and the impact this had upon the operations and associated excavations will be described. Further, the demolition of an external active effluent tank and excavation and monitoring of the surrounding soils due to the presence of significant local contamination will be a key feature of the paper. A number of significant problems that were encountered during the operations will also be identified with a narrative about how these arose and were subsequently overcome. The use of Nuvia’s Groundhog™ system, a gamma radiation ground surveying and global positioning system, together with a well defined sampling grid enabled the footprint of the base slab to be surveyed and subsequently remediated to an agreed standard by the end of 2008 to allow infilling with non-calcareous soil ahead of final landscaping as the last step for completion of the project. One area of particular significance to the remediation process has been the use of office-based contaminated land assessment tools including ReCLAIM, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet based tool used to assess current and future impacts of radiological contamination at nuclear licensed sites. This tool is particularly recommended to others working on similar projects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-81
Author(s):  
Monika Foster ◽  
Timothy Mulroy ◽  
Mark Carver

Students transitioning from colleges to universities in the United Kingdom (UK) into the second or third year of an undergraduate programme must quickly adapt to a new learning environment and new expectations. The process of transition includes intense demands on their time and, for many, a requirement to commute. The consequence can be a limited university experience compared to those who began their studies in the traditional first year. With the increase in the numbers of transfer students studying at universities in the UK, this study was set up to explore the challenges of transition at two universities using an online survey and focus groups. Results show that transfer students cope with their transition to university in multiple ways, categorised into the following themes: learning expectations, peer support, online engagement, cue-seeking and efficiency. By supporting the use of these coping strategies, universities can facilitate a better student experience and enhance student success.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Paul Levy ◽  
Joe Morecroft ◽  
Mona Rashidirad

Based on the case study of an SME company in the United Kingdom (which we will call SweetStar Cloud), this paper examines the attempts of the company to achieve significant strategic change. The company is attempting to move from being a tradition managed service provider of Information Services towards becoming a significant influencer in the market for digital services in the UK. As part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), a local UK University has been closely involved in developing this new strategic direction and it is well poised to present and analyse the story. From the use of tried and tested strategic tools, including Porter’s Generic Strategies and segmentation and targeting, the company has also embraced digital-specific approaches for developing partnerships with clients, developing pilot projects and experimenting with its use of social media. At the heart of this research is an analysis of the move from push marketing towards models of attraction. This paper aims to explore how traditional strategic tools are still applicable in the digital era alongside new tactical approaches in the digital sector. This aim has led to an approach to business that is responsible, in terms of moving away from a traditional push-selling model to one of partnership with customers at a strategic level. Strategy in dynamic markets often highlights responsiveness as a key success factor. The ability to respond (a response-ability) requires more agile companies. As SweetStar Cloud has developed its strategy, it has focused in achieving this more effective ability to respond through a more collaborative approach. In this sense, agile response-ability converges with business responsibility, as new abilities in communication, cooperation and trust development become key.


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