The making of Orpington:British political culture and the strange revival of liberalism, 1958-64

In 1962, the Liberal Party won a highly symbolic by-election in Orpington, suburban London, turning a longtime Conservative seat into a Liberal seat. Nearly 60 years on, it remains one of the most famous postwar British by-elections. The enduring fascination with Orpington stems from it being the Liberal party’s first big postwar win, its contemporary impact, the impact of tactical voting, opinion polls, alleged anti-Semitism and weakening class ties on the result, and its significance for the wider history of British politics. The by-election took place after a decade of Conservative government in a Britain on the cusp of change: change reflected in the identity of two of the key players in the by-election, one British-Jewish (Peter Goldman) and one British-Indian (Pratap Chitnis), and the way in which the by-election was fought and covered by the media (it was the first by-election result to be covered live on television). The result gave the Tories a jolt, helped pave the way for a government reshuffle – the so called ‘Night of the Long Knives’– and briefly led to speculation in the press that the Liberals might even replace Labour, which had lost three general elections in a row, as Britain’s main centre-left party. However despite tapping into the growing desire for change after the long years of Conservatism, the Liberals ultimately failed to alter the established party-political balance of power and capitalise on their by-election success in subsequent national elections. And many histories of postwar British politics have therefore paid comparatively little attention to this under-researched by-election

Behind the Ink NZ: Tattoos in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Link to a Process of Self-Healing

This study aimed to examine the reasons why individuals in Aotearoa New Zealand tattoo their bodies and analyse the mechanism by which tattoo acts as a method of coping, self-healing and self-transformation for these individuals. Further this study aimed to investigate how tattoo allows individuals to re-write and transform their meaning of traumatic and/or stressful events into stories of empowerment, strength and survival. While tattoo has been explored for meaning and function in Aotearoa New Zealand, there was seen to be no empirically grounded research looking into how tattoo might serve as a therapeutic tool. The study examined 427 survey respondents and eight interviewees across Aotearoa New Zealand. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 65-years-old and varied across multiple ethnicities. This study combined quantitative and qualitative data collection methods in a two-phase project. Data collection phase one involved 427 participants respond to an online survey. This establised a baseline for cross-comparison of attitudes, backgrounds and life experiences. Data collection phase two involved eight semi-structured interviews to explore individual experiences and uncover the relationship between their tattoos and how it had helped them to cope/heal in some way. To analyse these interviews, thematic analysis was combined with phenomenological analysis. The findings from this study suggest that there are multiple reasons (expression of self, aesthetic aspects, identity, passage of rights, remembrance/tributes and personal healing among others) why individuals chose to engage in the art form of tattooing. Findings also suggest that tattoo, directly relating to the mind/body continuum of stress/trauma can serve as a mechanism to enable individuals to re-script stressful/traumatic events, reinforce identity and self-acceptance, acknowledge past difficulties and turn them into positives and increase inner motivations and positive thinking which was seen to initiate healing and recovery. This suggests that tattoo serves as a powerful mechanism to aid in personal transformation, but also challenge previous meanings associated with the art form of tattoo

The formation of a large summertime Saharan dust plume: Convective and synoptic-scale analysis

Haboobs are dust storms produced by the spreading of evaporatively cooled air from thunderstorms over dusty surfaces and are a major dust uplift process in the Sahara. In this study observations, reanalysis, and a high-resolution simulation using the Weather Research and Forecasting model are used to analyze the multiscale dynamics which produced a long-lived (over 2 days) Saharan mesoscale convective system (MCS) and an unusually large haboob in June 2010. An upper level trough and wave on the subtropical jet 5 days prior to MCS initiation produce a precipitating tropical cloud plume associated with a disruption of the Saharan heat low and moistening of the central Sahara. The restrengthening Saharan heat low and a Mediterranean cold surge produce a convergent region over the Hoggar and Aïr Mountains, where small convective systems help further increase boundary layer moisture. Emerging from this region the MCS has intermittent triggering of new cells, but later favorable deep layer shear produces a mesoscale convective complex. The unusually large size of the resulting dust plume (over 1000 km long) is linked to the longevity and vigor of the MCS, an enhanced pressure gradient due to lee cyclogenesis near the Atlas Mountains, and shallow precipitating clouds along the northern edge of the cold pool. Dust uplift processes identified are (1) strong winds near the cold pool front, (2) enhanced nocturnal low-level jet within the aged cold pool, and (3) a bore formed by the cold pool front on the nocturnal boundary layer. Key Points Multiscale analysis of meteorology which formed a Saharan MCS and dust plume Successful WRF simulation of Saharan MCS and convectively generated cold pool Identification of dust uplift processes associated with convective cold pool