King Mob: Perceptions, Prescriptions and Presumptions About the Policing of England's Riots

As journalists and academics, politicians and other commentators struggled to make sense of the social unrest across England, they reached for theoretical understandings of the crowd that have long since been discredited. The powerful imagery of the madding crowd has always been a popular trope with journalists, but what concerned us was the way in which even sociological commentators echoed such ideas. This paper, therefore, draws on our past research, informal interviews with senior police officers and media accounts to offer an analysis of the riots, how they were policed, and contemporary understandings of crowd behaviour. In so doing we question whether current understandings of collective behaviour, deriving from socio-political expressions of anger or protest, are equipped to make sense of the English riots. Similarly, we ask whether police public order tactics need to change. We conclude that the residual attachment to myths of the madding crowd continues to hamper the search for flexible, graded and legitimate means of managing social unrest.Riots; Crowd Theory; Public Order Policing; Negotiated Management

'Pants to Poverty'? Making Poverty History, Edinburgh 2005

July 2005 saw 225,000 people march through Edinburgh in the city's largest ever demonstration. Their cause was the idealistic injunction to \'Make Poverty History\' (MPH). This paper presents an analysis of the MPH march, focusing particularly on the interplay between protestors, the police and the media. Drawing on ongoing research, it interrogates the disjunction between projected and actual outcomes, paying particular scrutiny to media speculation about possible violence. It also asks how MPH differed from previous G8 protests and what occurred on the day itself. The paper considers three key aspects: the composition and objectives of the marchers (who was on the march, why they were there and what they did?), the constituency that the protestors were trying to reach, and the media coverage accorded to the campaign. The intent underlying this threefold focus is an attempt to understand the protestors and what motivated them, but also to raise the question of how \'successful\' they were in communicating their message.Make Poverty History, Protest, Media, Policing, Social Movements

Materials, skills and gender identities: men, women and home improvement practices in New Zealand

The paper explores the interactions of materials, skills and gender identity through examining DIY practices in New Zealand. It traces the relationship between materials used for home repairs, the competences needed to use them and the (re)production of specific gendered identities. It argues that housing and building materials were an important part of the European settler history of the country and this history forms the context within which New Zealanders work on their houses today. Drawing on interviews with 30 Pākehā homeowners, it explores how both men and women respond to the materials of their homes, how skills are acquired in relation to the demands of the materials used and how these skills become part of the (re)production of specific white, heterosexual gender identities. The figure of the ‘Kiwi bloke’ is discussed as an important imaginary in the negotiation of gender identities for both men and women. Interviewees saw their DIY activities in the light of the creation and re-creation of this specific national and gendered identity. The paper reveals the intertwining of history and materiality in the continual negotiation and contestation of gendered identities

King Mob:Perceptions, Prescriptions and Presumptions About the Policing of England's Riots

As journalists and academics, politicians and other commentators struggled to make sense of the social unrest across England, they reached for theoretical understandings of the crowd that have long since been discredited. The powerful imagery of the madding crowd has always been a popular trope with journalists, but what concerned us was the way in which even sociological commentators echoed such ideas. This paper, therefore, draws on our past research, informal interviews with senior police officers and media accounts to offer an analysis of the riots, how they were policed, and contemporary understandings of crowd behaviour. In so doing we question whether current understandings of collective behaviour, deriving from socio-political expressions of anger or protest, are equipped to make sense of the English riots. Similarly, we ask whether police public order tactics need to change. We conclude that the residual attachment to myths of the madding crowd continues to hamper the search for flexible, graded and legitimate means of managing social unrest. </jats:p

Research note:Protest, liaison and legitimacy

The policing of protest remains a vexed and contentious area, and this article examines the operation by Police Scotland around the National Service of Thanksgiving for King Charles and Queen Camilla in Edinburgh, July 2023. There were a number of reasons why this particular operation faced a high degree of scrutiny, not least several arrests made some months previously around the funeral of the late Queen, and arrests made by the Metropolitan Police around the Coronation in London. From the outset Police Scotland emphasised a ‘human rights approach’ which aimed to balance security and public safety against the rights of those spectating and of those protesting the event. Here we examine the difficulties faced in such a complex operation, and assess the extent to which Police Scotland were able to deliver on their intended approach

Reflections on Professionalism: Driving Forces that Refine and Shape Professional Practice

Early education systems in England require those who work alongside children to follow policies intended to promote quality early education and care. Their professional role is embedded into those systems and includes promoting integrated inter-professional working, safeguarding children’s welfare, supporting children to meet national early learning goals and promoting inclusive education. Their professional responsibilities include demonstrating sound pedagogical practice and a detailed developmental assessment of children. They are also asked to forge positive relationships with families and are accountable to parents and regulators. This paper provokes further thinking and exploration of these roles, responsibilities and relationships. It asks whether existing regulatory systems are the driving forces which shape professional practice and determine professionalism or if there is more to being a competent, adaptive, reflective early educator

Reflections on Professionalism: Driving Forces that Refine and Shape Professional Practice

Early education systems in England require those who work alongside children to follow policies intended to promote quality early education and care. Their professional role is embedded into those systems and includes promoting integrated inter-professional working, safeguarding children’s welfare, supporting children to meet national early learning goals and promoting inclusive education. Their professional responsibilities include demonstrating sound pedagogical practice and a detailed developmental assessment of children. They are also asked to forge positive relationships with families and are accountable to parents and regulators. This paper provokes further thinking and exploration of these roles, responsibilities and relationships. It asks whether existing regulatory systems are the driving forces which shape professional practice and determine professionalism or if there is more to being a competent, adaptive, reflective early educator