scholarly journals The performance of power and citizenship: David Cameron meets the people

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 678-690
Author(s):  
Peter Lunt
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The People ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Television Studio

How do citizens respond to and engage with the performance of political power in the context of mainstream media? Through an analysis of two television programmes aired during the UK Brexit referendum campaign of 2016, a picture emerges of citizenship as the performative disruption of the performance of power. In the programmes the then UK prime minister, David Cameron, met members of the public for a mediated discussion of key issues in the Brexit referendum. Their interactions are analysed here as a confrontation between the performance of citizenship and power reflecting activist modalities of disruptive citizenship played out in the television studio. The article ends with reflections on questions about political agency as individualistic forms of disruptive political autonomy.

scholarly journals “Let me now answer, very directly, Marie’s question”

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Bull ◽  
Maurice Waddle
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Salient Feature ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn

Abstract Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the UK attracts much criticism for the adversarial and occasional aggressive language on display. During his successful campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn called for a “new kind of politics” (ITV 2015). One feature of his “new” approach, apparent during his early sessions as Leader of the Opposition, was to include questions to Prime Minister David Cameron sourced from members of the public. Although, subsequently, these “public questions” became less frequent, they provided an opportunity to compare their interactional effects with standard “non-public questions”. Arguably, the aim of this salient feature of corbyn’s approach to questioning Cameron was to redress the moral order of PMQs. We test this proposal via two measures of the PM’s responses: reply rate and personalisation. Results showed that Corbyn’s public questions did not enhance Cameron’s reply rate. However, whereas Cameron used significantly more personal attacks than Corbyn in response to non-public questions, the level of such attacks by the PM for public questions was as low as Corbyn’s, with no significant difference between them. In this latter regard, such an approach showed the potential to mitigate the ritualistic and customary verbal aggression of PMQs.

scholarly journals Interview with Guido Rings: “We need intercultural solidarity if we want to survive and prosper in a world hit by ultranationalism”

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Stephen Trinder
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Far Right ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Vice Chair ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Executive Agency ◽  
The Eu

As a master’s and Ph.D. student at Anglia Ruskin University in 2011, I recall the central message in lectures given by my eventual Ph.D. supervisor Professor Guido Rings was that we cannot underestimate the enduring strength of the legacy of colonialism in Europe and its influence on shaping contemporary attitudes towards immigration. Indeed, as I was completing my studies, I became increasingly aware of the negative rhetoric towards migrants in politics and right-wing press. In an attempt to placate the far-right of his party and address a growing threat from the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a discourse of ‘othernising’ migrants on the basis of their supposed rejection of ‘Britishness’ from former UK Prime Minister David Cameron in particular caught my attention. The result of this was tightening of immigration regulations, which culminated of course in the now-infamous Brexit vote of 2016. Almost a decade after my graduation, Professor Rings is currently Vice Chair for the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission and continues to work at Anglia Ruskin University at the level of Ph.D. supervisor. He still publishes widely in the field of Migration Studies and his recent high-profile book The Other in Contemporary Migrant Cinema (Routledge, 2016) and editorships in the fields of culture and identity (iMex Interdisciplinario Mexico) argue for increased intercultural solidarity in Europe as well as a strengthening of supranational organizations like the EU and the UN to offset growing nationalism. I got in touch with Professor Rings to find out where he feels Europe stands today with regard to migration and get his comments on the continued rise of nationalism on the continent.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-206
Author(s):  
Lucy Atkinson ◽  
Andrew Blick ◽  
Matt Qvortrup
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural Extension ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Popular Government ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Device Use ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Working Device

The referendum came onto the agenda in the UK in the final quarter of the nineteenth century, and it has never entirely disappeared from it, either as a proposition or a working device. Use of the referendum in the UK was conceived of and presented both as a natural extension of the principle of democracy that was then taking hold, and as a means of offsetting perceived defects with the representative variant of popular government that had developed. In particular, it was seen as a safeguard against the manipulative impact of parties that might lead the parliamentary system to serve the ends of factions within the elite above the people. It might enable the public to vote for a particular party with which they were broadly sympathetic without needing to endorse their entire programme; and would mean that a government could not implement measures of major significance to which a majority objected. It was largely envisaged as likely to have a conservative impact, creating a new and final means by which change might be blocked. Yet its appeal spread across the political spectrum; as did opposition to it....

scholarly journals One issue, different stories: The construction of GMO issues on Chinese, American and British mainstream media portals

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-275
Author(s):  
Yiqin Ruan ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
Jianbin Jin
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Uk

Biotechnology, as an emerging technology, has drawn much attention from the public and elicited hot debates in countries around the world and among various stakeholders. Due to the public's limited access to front-line scientific information and scientists, as well as the difficulty of processing complex scientific knowledge, the media have become one of the most important channels for the public to get news about scientific issues such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). According to framing theory, how the media portray GMO issues may influence audiences’ perceptions of those issues. Moreover, different countries and societies have various GMO regulations, policies and public opinion, which also affect the way media cover GMO issues. Thus, it is necessary to investigate how GMO issues are covered in different media outlets across different countries. We conducted a comparative content analysis of media coverage of GMO issues in China, the US and the UK. One mainstream news portal in each of the three countries was chosen ( People's Daily for China, The New York Times for the US, and The Guardian for the UK). We collected coverage over eight years, from 2008 to 2015, which yielded 749 pieces of news in total. We examined the sentiments expressed and the generic frames used in coverage of GMO issues. We found that the factual, human interest, conflict and regulation frames were the most common frames used on the three portals, while the sentiments expressed under those frames varied across the media outlets, indicating differences in the state of GMO development, promotion and regulation among the three countries.

scholarly journals Open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on food poverty in the UK

The Lancet ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 383 (9929) ◽  
pp. 1631 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R Ashton ◽  
John Middleton ◽  
Tim Lang
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Open Letter ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
The Uk

EU-UK deal allows Cameron to campaign against Brexit

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Scottish Independence ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Subject The package of reforms on a new EU-UK relationship. Significance The agreement between the United Kingdom and its EU partners sets the stage for the UK referendum on EU membership, which Prime Minister David Cameron has set for June 23. Cameron said he had negotiated new terms that would allow the United Kingdom to remain in the EU. Impacts The deal bolsters the campaign to remain in the EU, but the referendum outcome is still highly uncertain. The deal will only come into effect if the outcome is for remaining, forestalling a second referendum for better terms. If the outcome is for leaving, a new relationship with the EU would have to be negotiated during a two-year transition period. It would also probably lead to a second Scottish independence referendum and UK break-up.

Political engagement of Latin Americans in the UK

Focaal ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (51) ◽  
pp. 73-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Però
Keyword(s):  
Political Engagement ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
The Political ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
The Public ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Collective Engagement

This article examines the political engagement of Latin Americans in the UK in the context of a mounting neo-assimilationist and anti-multicultural offensive in the public debate on integration. Assuming that migrants should have a say about their own integration in society, the article explores the extent to which the public debate is sensitive to migrants' own collective concerns. It is from this empirically informed perspective that the article criticizes assimilationist and multi-culturalist attitudes for their disregard of the exploitation and lack of social and cultural recognition that afflicts newly arrived migrants. The article helps to rebalance the prevailing trend in policy and academic circles to treat migrants as objects of policies and ignore their political agency and active collective engagement in the improvement of their conditions. It also offers a corrective to emerging alternative approaches that tend to reduce migrants' politics to their role in sustaining long-distance diasporic communities.

scholarly journals The question of crime: How much does the public have the right to know?

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Cameron-Dow
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Crime Reporting ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Right To Know ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
International Scale ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right To Know ◽  
The Right

The public right to know is of particular significance when considering the reporting of crime and criminal justice. The internet has demonstrated strong influences upon crime reporting in mainstream media, including the range of material it provides to audiences. In addition, the internet has exposed journalists to new legal and ethical ramifications that accompany reportage on an international scale and, while it may be ‘giving the people what they want’, it has also exacerbated the controversy surrounding the perennial question of how much the public has a right to know. 

Reform and Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 133-200
Author(s):  
Lucy Atkinson ◽  
Andrew Blick ◽  
Matt Qvortrup
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
The Uk

No referendums took place between 1979 and 1997. During much of the 1980s the idea of using this device failed to attract the level of interest it had in some earlier periods. But, in the following decade, the referendum began to gain currency once more. After Labour returned to office in 1997, the Tony Blair administration became the most extensive utilizer of the mechanism to date, holding five in total (though none at UK level). Reflecting the establishment of the referendum as a firmer part of the UK constitution, a more consistent framework for this practice was introduced. After 2004, the Labour governments did not use referendums again. However, the device returned from 2011. During the tenure of David Cameron, as Prime Minister in a coalition (2010–2015) and then a Conservative administration (2015–2016), four referendums were held.

Analysis and visualization of COVID-19 discourse on Twitter using data science: a case study of the USA, the UK and India

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haider Ilyas ◽  
Ahmed Anwar ◽  
Ussama Yaqub ◽  
Zamil Alzamil ◽  
Deniz Appelbaum
Keyword(s):  
Data Science ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
The People ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk

Purpose This paper aims to understand, examine and interpret the main concerns and emotions of the people regarding COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, the USA and India using Data Science measures. Design/methodology/approach This study implements unsupervised and supervised machine learning methods, i.e. topic modeling and sentiment analysis on Twitter data for extracting the topics of discussion and calculating public sentiment. Findings Governments and policymakers remained the focus of public discussion on Twitter during the first three months of the pandemic. Overall, public sentiment toward the pandemic remained neutral except for the USA. Originality/value This paper proposes a Data Science-based approach to better understand the public topics of concern during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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