House price inflation in the news: a critical discourse analysis of newspaper coverage in the UK

In the UK, house prices have been rising over a long period, notwithstanding the disruption caused by the financial crisis, creating growing concerns about affordability particularly for younger households, while existing owners continue to enjoy windfall wealth gains. This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine how these competing interests with respect to house price rises are represented in popular discourse. It systematically analyses newspaper coverage, comparing two time periods, one relatively stable and the second a period of rising house prices. This analysis exposes the powerful influence of industry insiders in creating the discourse of the housing market news, and how price rises are positioned as both beneficial and the ‘natural order’. Analysing the metaphoric representations of housing markets allows a closer interrogation of the ideological construct that associates a ‘healthy’ housing market as one of continuous price rises and shows how these discourses are deeply embedded, in ways that limit the scope for imagining an alternative house market functioning

House price inflation in the news: a critical discourse analysis of newspaper coverage in the UK

In the UK, house prices have been rising over a long period, notwithstanding the disruption caused by the financial crisis, creating growing concerns about affordability particularly for younger households, while existing owners continue to enjoy windfall wealth gains. This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine how these competing interests with respect to house price rises are represented in popular discourse. It systematically analyses newspaper coverage, comparing two time periods, one relatively stable and the second a period of rising house prices. This analysis exposes the powerful influence of industry insiders in creating the discourse of the housing market news, and how price rises are positioned as both beneficial and the ‘natural order’. Analysing the metaphoric representations of housing markets allows a closer interrogation of the ideological construct that associates a ‘healthy’ housing market as one of continuous price rises and shows how these discourses are deeply embedded, in ways that limit the scope for imagining an alternative house market functioning

Beyond Generation rent: Understanding the aspirations of private renters aged 35-54

The private rented sector (PRS) has more than doubled in the UK over the last 20 years and is now home to more than 4.5 million households (ONS 2019: 3). Once a housing tenure associated with students and mobile young professionals, it is now increasingly housing, long-term, a more diverse range of tenants including families with children and lowerincome groups. Whilst much of the policy and political focus has been on young people – the so called ‘Generation Rent’ (Hoolachan and McKee 2019; McKee and Soaita 2018; McKee et al., 2017; Hoolachan et al., 2017; Christophers 2017; Cole, Powell and Sanderson 2016; McKee 2012) – the number of older households in the PRS is also on the rise (Rugg and Rhodes 2018: 63; DWP 2019). Yet renters over 35 remain a relatively under-studied age group by comparison. This qualitative study seeks to address this key research gap. It follows on from our previous research on ‘Generation Rent’ (McKee and Soaita 2018). Whilst research with young renters underscores the combined challenges of unaffordability, insecurity and poor-quality standards (see for example, McKee and Soaita, 2018), there is much less evidence in the UK context about the extent to which these are also issues for older, middleaged private renters. Enhancing our understanding of tenant experiences across the lifecycle is critical to ensuring policy interventions are appropriate for all age groups. Whilst young people under 35 are the largest segment within the PRS, focusing only on the challenges they face runs the risk that older renters, often with children, are ignored in policy terms. Yet the growing numbers of people entering older age now and, in the future, as private renters, is something that government(s), landlords and tenants themselves must confront

Career Cartography: From Stories to Science and Scholarship

PurposeTo present four case scenarios reflecting the process of research career development using career cartography.Organizing ConstructsCareer cartography is a novel approach that enables nurses, from all clinical and academic settings, to actively engage in a process that maximizes their clinical, teaching, research, and policy contributions that can improve patient outcomes and the health of the public.MethodsFour earlyâ career nurse researchers applied the career cartography framework to describe their iterative process of research career development. They report the development process of each of the components of career cartography, including destination statement, career map, and policy statement.ConclusionsDespite diverse research interests and career mapping approaches, common experiences emerged from the four nurse researchers. Common lessons learned throughout the career cartography process include: (a) have a supportive mentorship team, (b) start early and reflect regularly, (c) be brief and to the point, (d) keep it simple and avoid jargon, (e) be open to change, (f) make time, and (g) focus on the overall career destination.Clinical RelevanceThese four case scenarios support the need for nurse researchers to develop their individual career cartography. Regardless of their background, career cartography can help nurse researchers articulate their meaningful contributions to science, policy, and health of the public.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136693/1/jnu12289.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136693/2/jnu12289_am.pd

Labour-market insecurity and risk in the owner-occupied housing market

The author explores the extent to which labour-market insecurity affects behaviour in the owner-occupied housing market. Drawing on related qualitative and quantitative survey evidence, the author first argues that owner-occupiers have experienced and also perceive considerable labour-market insecurity. However, analysis of the large-scale survey suggests only weak linkages between indicators of insecurity and the choices that owners make in the housing market. This apparent inconsistency is explored with the aid of the qualitative data which suggest that perception of insecurity and attitude to risk intersect to create strategies that may not bear any direct connection to measurable and objective labour-market characteristics or risks. The author concludes by arguing that this evidence suggests that the current policy aim of leaving owners to insure themselves against labour-market risk will leave some owners unprotected, and that this gap is likely to persist in the long term.

New insights regarding the myocardial-adipose paracrine axis

© 2021 Helen Moira Munro WaddellBackground: Pericardial adipose accumulation is a major risk factor for atrial fibrillation, independent of body mass index and non-cardiac adipose tissue volumes. Pericardial adipose is associated with detrimental perturbations in atrial electrophysiology, however the cellular mechanisms behind this relationship are poorly understood. Investigations into the pericardial adipose-myocardium paracrine axis have focused on pro-inflammatory/fibrotic factors, without assessing the direct paracrine influence of pericardial adipose on atrial electrophysiology. It is hypothesised that atrial electrophysiology is selectively impaired by pericardial adipose secreted factors compared to non-cardiac adipose, due to differences in the types of secreted proteins. Research Aims: (Relevant chapters in brackets) 1. Optimise and compare electrophysiology recordings of different types of immortalised and primary cardiomyocyte monolayers. (2) 2. Assess whether secreted factors specific to pericardial adipose can influence cardiomyocyte electrical conduction properties. (3) 3. Determine whether greater cardiac adiposity alters pericardial adipose paracrine phenotype and its influence on cardiomyocyte function. (4) 4. Compare and contrast protein release from sheep epicardial, paracardial and subcutaneous adipose tissue samples, to evaluate paracardial adipose as a potential paracrine mediator of cardiac pathology. (5) Methods: In vitro electrophysiology experiments (multi-electrode array) were optimised with neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM) and compared to immortalised atrial HL-1 cultures. To assess the paracrine influence of pericardial adipose, ovine and murine adipose tissue was incubated to produce a ‘conditioned media’. Multi-electrode mapping of HL-1 cultures was performed in the presence of pericardial adipose conditioned media from normal weight vs obese mice, and murine pericardial vs subcutaneous adipose. Identification of adipose secreted proteins was achieved by explorative proteomics using LC-MS/MS instrumentation. Subsequent gene ontology analysis (Enrichr and PINE software) was applied to proteomic datasets to profile differences between protein subgroups secreted from subcutaneous and pericardial adipose in mice and sheep. Results: Some of the major findings include: 1. Multi-electrode electrophysiological recordings could be comprehensively analysed with HL-1 and NRVM cultures. HL-1 cultures had a slower conduction velocity and shorter field potential repolarisation yet were less variable than NRVMs. 2. In obesity, murine pericardial adipose secreted proteins were substantially different to those secreted from subcutaneous adipose. Slowed electrical propagation was observed in HL-1 cell monolayers that received pericardial adipose conditioned media only. 3. The paracrine influence of pericardial adipose on HL-1 cell electrophysiology, or the types of pericardial adipose secreted proteins, are not altered by cardiac adiposity. Extracellular vesicle and focal adhesion associated proteins were identified in pericardial secretome from both normal and obese mice. 4. Ovine paracardial and epicardial adipose secreted proteins had a high amount of commonality, which included proteins related to inflammation, focal adhesion, and extracellular vesicles. The few points of contrast involved low-density lipoproteins, which may have implications in coronary artery disease. Conclusions: Atrial electrical propagation is selectively slowed by pericardial adipose through a direct paracrine action on cardiomyocytes. The types of proteins secreted by pericardial adipose were highly similar in samples from normal weight mice, obese mice, and normal weight sheep, yet contrasted significantly to subcutaneous secreted factors. The evidence provided herein collectively indicates that the association between obesity and atrial fibrillation is defined by the extent of cardiac adipose accumulation and therefore paracrine potential, and less so by pericardial adipose secretome profile. Therapeutic interventions which limit the release of conduction modulating adipokines from pericardial adipose tissue may provide a novel preventative treatment strategy for re-entrant arrhythmias

Les villes Ecossaises

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