Looking at silk

Text of Sir Robert Megarry’s speech at the Second Annual Lecture presented by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, looking at the history and work of Queen’s Counsel. Article based on a lecture given by the Rt Hon Sir Robert Megarry, published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London

WI e+e- Collisions at the SLC-

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Migration policies and international labour market competition.

Many developing countries compete with each other to send migrants to rich and developed countries. This article analyses migration policy of two sending and one receiving countries with such migration. The labour exporting countries set the number of migrants unilaterally and compete à la Cournot with each other. The receiving country imposes origin-based migration tax rates. To maximise the benefit of migration, the receiving country uses discriminatory tax rates where the tax burden is highest for the country with the highest labour endowment

Women candidates and councillors in Scottish local government, 1974-2012

While significant attention has been paid to the levels of representation of women in both the Westminster Parliament and the Scottish Parliament, much less considered has been given to the position within local government. This article addresses that deficit for Scotland. It shows that for twenty-five years following the reorganisation of local government in Scotland in 1974 there was a slow but relatively steady increase in the numbers of female candidates and councillors, although more recently this appears to have since plateaued somewhat, together with a similar increase in the number of women councillors taking up more senior roles in Scotland’s councils. The article analyses the representation of women in Scottish local government over the period from 1974 to 2012 against the backdrop of significant change in Scotland, including a further restructuring of local government and the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote for council elections, the creation of the Scottish Parliament, the rise of the SNP and the decline of the Conservative Party

Explicit and Implicit Attitudes towards People with Disabilities

Explicit and implicit attitudes play a role in disability discrimination. The purpose of this study was to look at the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes towards people with disabilities. Method: Participants (N = 78) were asked to complete an online survey with 10 questions asking them to rate the extent to which they agree or disagree with questions measuring explicit attitudes. Participants then completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) looking at disabilities. The IAT measured participants’ accuracy and speed when sorting pictures of either abled-body or disabled-body and words associated with “good” or “bad.” Participants’ scores on each measure were used to run a correlational analysis. Results: The results showed a statistically nonsignificant positive relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes, r(76) = .095, p = .4. Participants who did not know someone with a disability had a stronger correlation, r(76) = .2, p = .2, than those who did, , r(76) = .03, p = .2. Conclusions: Looking at the average explicit score, M = 60, can show that participants explicitly have positive attitudes towards people with disabilities. While the implicit average score, M = -.63, shows participants might implicitly favor people without disabilities over people with disabilities. These scores reveal that people may explicitly act one way but implicitly think the other. Being aware of these attitudes can help us to open up and talk more about the biases people with disabilities face and help reduce the stigma

Consent procedures and relationship with outcome in the Rapid Intervention with Glyceryl trinitrate in Hypertensive stroke Trial-2 (RIGHT-2)

Background: Obtaining consent in emergency situations is challenging. Proxy consent allows patients to be recruited when they lack capacity, a common scenario in stroke patients. The rapid intervention with glyceryl trinitrate in hypertensive stroke trial-2 (RIGHT-2) recruits patients in the pre-hospital setting within 4 hours of stroke onset. Methods: In RIGHT-2, informed or proxy consent is taken in the ambulance. A brief assessment of capacity is performed by the paramedic. Patients with capacity provide consent and in patients without capacity, proxy consent is obtained from a relative, carer or friend, or by the paramedic, witnessed by a crew member. Results: Of 879 participants enrolled into RIGHT-2 as of 15th December 2017, 468 (53.2%) participants gave their own consent; proxy consent was given by a relative/carer/friend for 325 (37%) and by a paramedic for 85 (9.7%). Participants who consented themselves were younger, had less dependency and had less severe strokes than those with proxy consent. Participants who gave their own consent had a lower rate of intracerebral haemorrhage (9% vs 16%) and a higher rate of non-stroke (20% vs 13%) as their final diagnosis than those who gave proxy consent. Consenting patients had better scores for dependency, cognition, disability and quality of life at day 90 than those recruited via proxy consent. Conclusion: Proxy consent can ensure participants are enrolled rapidly into emergency clinical trials where they may otherwise be excluded due to lack of capacity. These patients have more severe strokes and therefore poorer clinical outcomes