The other Side of the Coin: Reading the Politics of the 2008 Financial Tsunami

Author(s):  
Peter Preston

In the spring of 2009, long months after the September 2008 financial tsunami had begun its destructive journey around the financial machineries of the global system, the governing party of the United Kingdom, one of two countries whose financial centres had precipitated all the trouble, is still in place, notwithstanding the almost audible sound of a population tapping its collective foot as it awaits an electoral opportunity to wreak a measure of revenge. But the electorate is condemned to wait upon the convenience of the government and administrative machineries that are responsible for the debacle. This seems unreasonable. One might ask how is this possible and what—speculatively—could happen to improve matters; that is, one can ask how the elite's insulating machineries might be reduced in order to bring them more routinely within the reach of the judgements of the electorate.

1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon Bogdanor

THE BRITISH-IRISH COUNCIL SPRINGS FROM AND IS PROVIDED FOR IN the Belfast Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998. Its coming into force depends upon the implementation of the Agreement. The Council is established, however, not by the 1998 Northern Ireland Act, which gives legislative expression to the bulk of this Agreement, but by an international treaty, the British–Irish Agreement, attached to the Belfast Agreement.The Belfast Agreement together with the legislation providing for devolution to Scotland and Wales establishes a new constitutional settlement, both among the nations which form the United Kingdom, and also between those nations and the other nation in these islands, the Irish nation. The United Kingdom itself is, as a result of the Scotland Act and the Government of Wales Act, in the process of becoming a new union of nations, each with its own identity and institutions – a multi-national state, rather than, as many of the English have traditionally seen it, a homogeneous British nation containing a variety of different people.


Childhood ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Hobbs ◽  
Jim McKechnie ◽  
Amanda Simpson

Minimum wages legislation in the United Kingdom applies to those aged 16 years or older. Evidence is presented that children believe that their wage levels should be ‘fair’. On one hand, such views have emerged from focus groups of working children. On the other, various pressure groups representing young people are seeking to establish fair payment to child workers. It is argued that the government, trade unions and other bodies have failed to adequately address the protection of young workers.


1995 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-216
Author(s):  
Jacomijn J. van Haersolte-von Hof

This arbitration arose under the Air Services Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (hereinafter: HMG) and the Government of the United States (hereinafter: USG) concluded at Bermuda, 23 July 1977, as subsequently amended. This Agreement, which is generally referred to as Bermuda 2, provides, inter alia, that airport charges should not discriminate between a state's domestic carriers and those of the other party, and that theparties should use their best efforts to ensure that charges should be based on certain principles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Prilly Bicknell-Hersco

Millions of people have been victim to violent and inhumane social injustices, many of them based on racial and cultural hierarchies. The Nazi Holocaust or the colonization of North America through the genocide of indigenous populations are examples of such instances. When these victims have no direct claim on those who committed the harm, the victims turn to the government for reparations. It can be said that the enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean is another painful and violent injustice, yet few reparations, if any at all, have been paid out to those most affected by the transatlantic slave trade. In 2013, CARICOM released an official request for Reparations for the Native Genocide and Slavery from the United Kingdom and the other European colonies. The discussion of reparations for slavery has ignited debate worldwide.


Author(s):  
Mykola Trofymenko

Public diplomacy of Great Britain is one of the most developed in the EU and in the world. The United Kingdom has developed an extremely efficient public diplomacy mechanism which includes BBC World Service (which due to its popularity boosts the reputation and the image of Great Britain), Chevening Scholarships (provides outstanding foreign students with opportunity to study in Great Britain and thus establishes long-lasting relations with public opinion leaders and foreign countries elite) and the British Council, which deals with international diplomatic ties in the field of culture. The British Council is a unique organization. Being technically independent, it actively and efficiently works on consolidating Great Britain’s interests in the world and contributes to the development of public diplomacy in Great Britain.   The author studies the efforts of the British Council as a unique public diplomacy tool of the United Kingdom. Special attention is paid to the role of British Council, which is independent of the governing board and at the same time finds itself under the influence of the latter due to the peculiarities of the appointment of Board’s officials, financing etc. The author concludes that the British Council is a unique organization established in 1934, which is a non-departmental state body, charitable organization and public corporation, technically independent of the government. The British Council, thanks to its commercial activities covers the lack of public funding caused by the policy of economy conducted by the government. It has good practices in this field worth paying attention by other countries. It is also worth mentioning that the increment in profit was getting higher last year, however the issue of increasing the influence of the government on the activities of British Council is still disputable. Although the Foreign Minister officially reports to the parliament on the activities of the British Council, approves the appointment of the leaders of organizations, the British Council preserves its independence of the government, which makes it more popular abroad, and makes positive influence on the world image of Great Britain. The efficiency of the British Council efforts on fulfillment of targets of the United Kingdom public diplomacy is unquestionable, no matter how it calls its activities: whether it is a cultural relations establishment or a cultural diplomacy implementation. Keywords: The British Council, public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, cultural relations, Foreign Office, Her Majesty’s Government, official assistance for development


Author(s):  
Dolores Morondo Taramundi

This chapter analyses arguments regarding conflicts of rights in the field of antidiscrimination law, which is a troublesome and less studied area of the growing literature on conflicts of rights. Through discussion of Ladele and McFarlane v. The United Kingdom, a case before the European Court of Human Rights, the chapter examines how the construction of this kind of controversy in terms of ‘competing rights’ or ‘conflicts of rights’ seems to produce paradoxical results. Assessment of these apparent difficulties leads the discussion in two different directions. On the one hand, some troubles come to light regarding the use of the conflict of rights frame itself in the field of antidiscrimination law, particularly in relation to the main technique (‘balancing of rights’) to solve them. On the other hand, some serious consequences of the conflict of rights frame on the development of the antidiscrimination theory of the ECtHR are unearthed.


Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Sandrine Brachotte

This article studies religious arbitration from the perspective of global legal pluralism, which embraces both normative plurality and cultural diversity. In this context, the article considers that UK arbitration law regulates both commercial and religious arbitration while relying on a monist conception of arbitration. It further identifies two intertwined issues regarding cultural diversity, which find their source in this monist conception. Firstly, through the study of Jivraj v. Hashwani ([2011] UKSC 40), this article shows that the governance of religious arbitration may generate a conflict between arbitration law and equality law, the avoidance of which can require sacrificing the objectives of one or the other branch of law. The Jivraj case concerned an Ismaili arbitration clause, requiring that all arbitrators be Ismaili—a clause valid under arbitration law but potentially not under employment-equality law. To avoid such conflict, the Supreme Court reduced the scope of employment-equality law, thereby excluding self-employed persons. Secondly, based on cultural studies of law, this article shows that the conception of arbitration underlying UK arbitration law is ill-suited to make sense of Ismaili arbitration. In view of these two issues, this article argues that UK arbitration law acknowledges normative multiplicity but fails to embrace the cultural diversity entangled therewith.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002073142199709
Author(s):  
Marc A. Rodwin

To control costs and improve access, nations can adopt strategies employed in the United Kingdom to control pharmaceutical prices and spending. Current policy evolved from a system created in 1957 that allowed manufacturers to set launch prices, capped manufacturers’ rates of return, and later cut list prices. These policies did not effectively control spending and had limited effects on purchase prices. The United Kingdom currently controls pharmaceutical spending in 4 ways. (a) Since 1999, it has typically paid no more than is cost-effective. (b) Since 2017, for medicines that will have a significant budget impact, National Health Service England seeks discounts from cost-effective prices or seeks to limit access for 2 years to patients with the greatest need. (c) Since 2014, statutes and a voluntary scheme have required branded manufacturers to pay the government rebates to recoup the difference between the global pharmaceutical budget and actual spending. (d) For hospitals, generics and some patented drugs are procured through competitive bidding; community pharmacies are reimbursed through a system that provides an incentive to beat average generic market prices. These policies controlled the growth of spending, with the largest effects following budget controls in 2014. Changes since 2008 have reduced savings, first by paying more than is cost-effective for cancer drugs and then by applying higher cost-effectiveness thresholds for some drugs used to treat cancer and certain other drugs.


Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Paul Miller

Racism in any society is fuelled by a number of factors, often acting independently of each other, or, at times, in concert with each other. On the one hand, anti-racism efforts rely on the alignment of four “system conditions” to stand a chance of successfully engaging and tackling racism. On the other hand, where these “system conditions” are not present, or where they are not in sync, this leads to “system failure”—a situation where racism is writ large in society and in the institutions therein, and where anti-racism efforts are severely hampered. Drawing on evidence from within the education sector and elsewhere in UK society, this paper examines how a lack of alignment between “system conditions” hampers antiracism efforts, and simultaneously reinforces racism in society and in institutions—leading to gridlock or “system failure” around anti-racism.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document