Coming of age

Copyright at Demos 2011. This work is made available under the terms of the Demos licence.Britain’s ageing population is often described as a demographic time-bomb. As a society we often view ageing as a ‘problem’ which must be ‘managed’ – how to cope with the pressure on national health services of growing numbers of older people, the cost of sustaining them with pensions and social care, and the effect on families and housing needs. But ageing is not a policy problem to be solved. Instead it is a normal part of life, which varies according to personal characteristics, experience and outlook, and for many people growing older can be a very positive experience. Drawing on the Mass Observation project, one of the longest-running longitudinal life-writing projects anywhere in the world, Coming of Age grounds public policy in people’s real, lived experiences of ageing. It finds that the experience of ageing is changing, so that most people who are now reaching retirement do not identify themselves as old. One-size-fits-all policy approaches that treat older people as if they are all alike are alienating and inappropriate. Instead, older people need inclusive policy approaches that enable them to live their lives on their own terms. To ensure that older people are actively engaged, policy makers should stop emphasising the costs posed by an ageing population and start building on the many positive contributions that older people already make to our society.The Research Support and Development Office (RSDO) at Brunel University and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Cultural representations of dementia

In a Perspective, Alexandra Hillman and Joanna Latimer discuss cultural representations of dementia in the media, film, and literature

The Advent of the Transnational TV Format Trading System: A Global Commodity Chain Analysis

This article argues that the format business transformed into a trading system in the 2000s, system being defined as a singular transnational space structured by networks of interdependent economic agents, firms, institutions and places. Following the global commodity chain/global value chain approach set out by Immanuel Wallerstein and developed by Gary Gereffi, this article then examines each dimension of the global TV format commodity chain that runs through this trading system. Beginning with the governance structure, this article counter-intuitively asserts that despite the current boom in TV production, it is a buyer-driven chain with power resting firmly in the hands of those making the acquisitions: the broadcasters. Considering the chain’s geographical configuration, this article identifies three tiers of format exporters and specific trade routes along which most TV formats travel. These findings enable us to reassess the claims made by the cosmopolitanization thesis about the nature of media globalization. Contrary to this thesis, this article asserts the need to comprehend media globalization within the context of an expanding capitalist world-system, and shows that the new transnational TV format trade and its commodity chain replicate the inequalities and power structures of former trading systems

The making of an entertainment revolution: How the TV format trade became a global industry

From its humble origins in the 1950s, the TV format industry has become a global trade worth billions of Euros per year. Few viewers are aware that their favourite shows may be local adaptations but formats represent a significant percentage of European broadcasting schedules in access prime time and prime time. Formatted brands exist in all TV genres and reach almost every country in the world. This article defends the thesis that the format business turned into a global industry in the late 1990s. Before this turning point, the few formatted programmes were most likely American game shows that travelled slowly and to a limited number of territories. Following an overview of this early period, this article examines the convergence of factors that created a world format market. These include the emergence of four exceptional formats (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Survivor, Big Brother and Idols), the formation of a programming market, the rise of the independent production sector, and the globalization of information flows within the TV industry

The rise of britain's super-indies: Policy-making in the age of the global media market

This article analyses Britain’s remarkable performance in the European television industry. In the space of a few years the UK has risen to become the world’s leading exporter of TV formats and the world’s second exporter, behind the Unites States, of finished TV programmes. The first section compares and contrasts British TV exports data with that of France, before examining the emergence of London as Europe’s media hub. The second part argues that this significant progress is essentially due to deft policy making. In 2003, the British government operated a strategic shift in favour of content producers and created a new intellectual property regime. This regime has enabled producers to keep hold of their rights and become asset-owning businesses, eventually giving rise to a new breed of production companies: the super-indies. This paper shows how these super-indies have acquired the scale to compete in an international TV market and drive today’s British TV exports. Contrasting again Britain’s performance in the European TV trade with France, this article also analyses historical influences and claims it is Britain’s imperial past that helps her performance in the European TV marketplace. In addition to the globalization of the English language and the cultural affinities this nurtures, the trading heritage of the British Empire has facilitated Britain’s political elite’s understanding of the role that trade and the market can play in the creative industries, and enabled them to frame a broadcasting policy that is adapted to the global age

Repelling neoliberal world-making? How the ageing–dementia relation is reassembling the social

Growing old ‘badly’ is stigmatizing, a truism that is enrolled into contemporary agendas for the biomedicalization of ageing. Among the many discourses that emphasize ageing as the root cause of later life illnesses, dementia is currently promoted as an epidemic and such hyperbole serves to legitimate its increasing biomedicalization. The new stigma however is no longer contained to simply having dementia, it is failing to prevent it. Anti-ageing cultures of consumption, alongside a proliferation of cultural depictions of the ageing–dementia relation, seem to be refiguring dementia as a future to be worked on to eliminate it from our everyday life. The article unpacks this complexity for how the ageing–dementia relation is being reassembled in biopolitics in ways that enact it as something that can be transformed and managed. Bringing together Bauman’s theories of how cultural communities cope with the otherness of the other with theories of the rationale for the making of monsters – such as the figure of the abject older person with dementia – the article suggests that those older body-persons that personify the ageing–dementia relation, depicted in film and television for example, threaten the modes of ordering underpinning contemporary lives. This is not just because they intimate loss of mind, or because they are disruptive, but because they do not perform what it is to be ‘response-able’ and postpone frailty through managing self and risk

Supporting the education and wellbeing of children looked-after: what is the role of the virtual school?

The Children and Families Act (2014) placed a statutory responsibility on local authorities in the United Kingdom to establish a Virtual School Headteacher with the role of championing the education of all children looked-after within that authority. The current research was designed to illuminate how Virtual Schools are currently supporting educational outcomes for children looked-after, not only through educational interventions, but also through supporting broader psychological factors that might impact on attainment such as attachment, relationships and mental health. Virtual School Head Teachers from 29 local authorities completed an online survey about the services they provided to three target groups – children looked-after, foster carers and schools – with a particular focus on the transition years from primary to secondary school, which have been identified as being a difficult time for children looked-after. Using inductive thematic analysis four overarching themes to service provision were identified: Enhanced learning opportunities; Specific Transition Support; Wellbeing and Relationships, and Raising Awareness. Direct work, interprofessional working and the development of supportive environments, particularly guided by attachment theory, were identified as important areas of practice. Practice is discussed in relation to resilience and ecological systems theory and suggestions for future research are identified

Work Engagement, Burnout and Personal Accomplishments Among Social Workers: A Comparison Between Those Working in Children and Adults’ Services in England

Social workers (SWs) provide emotional and practical support to vulnerable service users who are likely to suffer from emotional trauma and mental health conditions. Stress and burnout levels are reported to be high among SWs, however, little is known about their relationships with different characteristics. The current article utilises unique and large dataset (n?=?3786) on SWs working in adults and children’s services to examine factors associated with burnout. Employing job-demand/resources model and structural equations modelling, we highlight the varying significant impact of work-engagement, administrative support and work experience as moderating factors to burnout across adult and children service specialism in this sample

Homozygous deletion related to Alu repeats in RLBP1 causes retinitis punctata albescens

PURPOSE. Retinitis punctata albescens (RPA) is an infrequently occurring form of autosomal recessive (and rarely dominant) retinal dystrophy featuring early-onset severe night blindness and tiny, dotlike, white deposits in the fundus. RPA is associated mostly with mutations in RLBP1 and occasionally in RHO, RDS, and RDH5. In this study, mutations were sought in RLBP1, which encodes the retinol binding protein CRALBP in patients with typical RPA. METHODS. Clinical investigation included funduscopy, visual field testing, electroretinogram recording, and adaptometry. The 7 coding exons (3-9) of RLBP1 and the 15th (last) exon of ABDH2 were PCR amplified and sequenced. Long-distance PCR and cloning of genomic DNA were performed to characterize the deletion. RESULTS. The study involved a 24-year-old Moroccan patient with typical RPA, born of first-cousin parents. He carried a 7.36-kb homozygous deletion encompassing the last 3 exons of RLBP1 (7, 8, and 9) and part of the intergenic region between RLBP1 and ABHD2, which lies downstream of RLBP1. This deletion abolishes the retinal binding site of CRALBP. The telomeric breakpoint of the deletion (in RLBP1 intron 6) is embedded in an Alu element, whereas the centromeric breakpoint (in the intergenic region) lies between two Alu elements placed in the opposite orientation. CONCLUSIONS. Because of the high density of Alu elements in RLBP1, a systematic search should be made for deletions in this gene when one or both alleles lack point mutations, in the case of RPA or flecked retinal dystrophy. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006;47:4719 -4724) DOI:10.1167/iovs.05-1488 T he cellular retinaldehyde-binding protein (CRALBP) belongs to the CRAL-TRIO family whose members bind lipid ligands in a hydrophobic domain. It binds the vitamin A derivatives 11-cis retinol and 11-cis retinal, with more affinity for the aldehyde form. As such, CRALBP is a key actor in the visual cycle, the multistep process that starts with all-trans retinal, the product of the activated rhodopsin, and ends with 11-cis retinal, the chromophore that binds opsins to regenerate rhodopsin and cone photopigments. CRALBP is found in the retina, specifically in the retinal pigment epithelium and the Müller glial cells, where it accelerates the rate of the isomerization to 11-cis retinol. 1 Accordingly, mice lacking CRALBP have considerably delayed dark adaptation. 2 CRALBP is also found in the ciliary epithelium, iris, cornea, pineal gland, and in some oligodendrocytes of the optic nerve and brain, 3,4 where its function remains unclear. In human, mutations in RLBP1, the gene encoding CRALBP, have been found in various types of retinal dystrophiesnamely, retinitis punctata albescens (RPA) in most cases, 14 Although there is an apparent phenotypic heterogeneity, the clinical presentation is in fact quite well characterized and helps in directing the molecular diagnosis that prompts the search for RLBP1 mutations. Clinical features are night blindness from infancy with elevated threshold in adaptometry, progressive loss in visual acuity due to macular degeneration, the presence of tiny white deposits and patches of atrophy in peripheral retina contrasting with the absence or scarcity of pigment deposits, and predominant rod over cone involvement. This condition is in fact appearing as a subtype of autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa, leading after several decades to severe visual loss. In this study, we describe a patient with typical RPA who carries a homozygous 7.36-kb deletion that includes the last 3 exons of RLBP1. We show that this deletion occurred in a portion of the genome that is rich in Alu sequences. MATERIALS AND METHODS Clinical Investigations A standard ophthalmic examination (refractometry, visual acuity, slitlamp examination, applanation tonometry, and funduscopy) was performed. Fluorescein angiography was performed, and visual fields were tested with a Goldmann perimeter using targets V 4e , IV 4e , and II 4e . A full-field ERG was performed according to ISCEV (International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision) recommendations. Dark adaptometry was performed with a Goldmann-Weekers apparatus and a test seen with an angle of 11°, placed at a distance of 30 cm from the eyes and centered on the point of fixation. Patients were light adapted for 5 minutes at 2100 asb before dark adaptation for 30 minutes