Beyond the Constitution? Englishness in a post-devolved Britain

The notion that we are currently witnessing a growing commitment to English nationalism and deeper and wider identification with Englishness, as opposed to Britishness, is becoming part of the political wisdom of the age. The suggestion that the English are beginning to think of themselves as a nation with a separate identity from the other nationalities within the United Kingdom feeds into a vexed debate among politicians and commentators about the identity and future of ‘Britishness’ itself. This paper argues for the adoption of a greater sense of historical proportion about these trends, and challenges the widely held presumption that the rise of Englishness signals the death-knell of values and identities associated with Britishness

The Trouble with the MDGs: Confronting Expectations of Aid and Development Success

Growing concern that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be achieved by 2015 should not obscure the bigger picture that development progress has been occurring at unprecedented levels over the past thirty or more years. At the same time, the MDGs may perhaps create an unnecessary pessimism toward aid by labeling many development successes as failures. The first MDG of halving the number of people living in poverty will probably be met globally, but for most developing countries to achieve this at the national level, the growth rates required are at the bounds of historical precedent. Additionally, there appears to be only a weak relationship between aid and rapid economic growth. A similar problem holds for many of the other education and health goals. For many countries, the rates of progress required to meet the MDGs by 2015 are extremely high compared to historical experience and there is only a tenuous relationship between expenditure and outcomes. Nevertheless, estimates that an additional $50 billion in aid per year is necessary to meet the MDGs are frequently misinterpreted to suggest that it is also sufficient. Most of the goals are unlikely to be reached, but this will probably not be due primarily to shortfalls in aid. This is in part because development is a long-term and complex process dependent on relieving more than a supply-side constraint on resources. Aid remains vital and contributes to development progress, but even considerable increases in aid are unlikely to buy these particular goals. Goal setting is also useful, but continuing to suggest that the MDGs can be met may undermine future constituencies for aid (in donors) and reform (in recipients). The MDGs might be better viewed not as realistic targets but as reminders of the stark contrast between the world we want and the world we have, and a call to redouble our search for interventions to close the gap.Millennium Development Goals poverty economic growth

After Brexit: the English question surfaces?

In fulfilling the demands of Brexit voters, the government faces great obstacles, both from within and outside the UK. One of those is the kind of polity that would allow the May government to pursue its version of Brexit: the kind that requires a re-assertion of the powers of the unitary state which are in profound tension since devolution. Michael Kenny considers the English question in this context

The idea that English nationalism has powered support for Brexit is unduly simplistic and requires re-examination

English sentiment has been important to the tenor and character of the Vote Leave campaign, but Michael Kenny writes there are reasons to be sceptical that English nationalism has had a clear, causal role in the EU Referendum. He asks whether the picture of the ‘two Englands’ – one progressive and cosmopolitan, the other populist and nationalist – draws too sharp a distinction between them, and in doing so underplays the extent to which fears about cultural identity, inequality and immigration are shared in very different kinds of places and communities

Active damping application to the shuttle RMS

Control Structure Interaction (CSI) is a relatively new technology developed over the last 10 to 15 years for application to large flexible space vehicles. The central issue is recognition that high performance control systems necessary for good spacecraft performance may adversely interact with the dynamics of the spacecraft structures, a problem increasingly aggravated by the large size and reduced stiffness of modern spacecraft structural designs. The CSI analysis and design methods were developed to avoid interactions while maintaining spacecraft performance without exceeding structural capabilities, but they remain largely unvalidated by hardware experiments or demonstrations, particularly in-space flight demonstrations. One recent proposal for a low cost flight validation of CSI technology is to demonstrate active damping augmentation of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS). An analytical effort to define the potential for such an active damping augmentation demonstration to improve the structural dynamic response of the RMS following payload maneuvers is described. It is hoped that this study will lead to an actual inflight CSI test with the RMS using existing shuttle hardware to the maximum extent possible. By using the existing hardware, the flight demonstration results may eventually be of direct benefit to actual Space Shuttle RMS operations, especially during the construction of the Space Station Freedom

Intermolecular hydrogen bonding of the two independent molecules of N-3,5-dinitrobenzoyl-L-leucine

The title compound, C₁₃H₁₅N₃O₇, crystallizes as two independent molecules which differ in their conformation. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the amide and carboxylic acid groups as N-H...O=C interactions results in the formation of one-dimensional chains with N...O distances of 2.967 (6) and 3.019 (6) Å. Neighbouring chains are linked by C=O...H-O interactions to form a two-dimensional network, with O...O distances of 2.675 (6) and 2.778 (6) Å

Module 11: Gender Equality & Social Exclusion Issues in Rural Development

1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Equality Argument 1.3 Equality and the Culture of Contentment 1.4 Rawls and the Theory of a Just Society 1.5 Equal Opportunities and the Equality Continuum 1.6 The Equality Contex

Communities of Resistance: The Success and Resilience of Intentional Communities in North America

Intentional communities are residential developments that are created by noncorporate actors with the primary purposes of meeting the social and environmental needs to the community. Many intentional communities play an important role in social and environmental movements. In our neo-liberal age, it has become a struggle to establish and sustain an intentional community. The main objectives of this paper is to answer three central research questions related to the issues contemporary intentional communities face: (1) How can intentional communities be established in late capitalism, where property ownership, real estate speculation and land ownership concentration has lead to both high urban and rural land values and where cookie-cutter developments are favoured in zoning and by-laws? (2) What are the factors that effect intentional communities commitment to social and environmental issues and participation in broader social and environmental movements? (3) How can intentional communities successfully thrive long-term in our time and spatial context of late capitalism? The goal is to examine the situation of North American intentional communities and to determine what conclusions can be made about their establishment, longevity and commitment to its social purposes. The research method used include a review of existing literature on intentional communities and a survey sent to 1302 intentional communities identified at the time of the survey. I conclude that Intentional communities have the power to change our world for the better while providing many additional benefits to our personal well-being and should be fully supported. I provide a series of recommendations for intentional communities including adopting best practices, establishing and sustaining a sense of community, and increasing density. I recommend that intentional communities organize in order to lobby government to (re-)establish housing support programs and funding. Finally, I propose that intentional communities build strong connections to other progressive movements in order to mutually support and benefit each other