The economic consequences of a hung parliament : lessons from February 1974

The British general election on 10 May 2010 delivered Britain’s first hung Parliament since February 1974, and in the run-up, the Conservative Party made much of the economic difficulties Britain faced in the second half of the 1970s in order to try and convince voters that anything other than a Tory vote would risk exposing the nation to the discipline of financial markets. The question of how well equipped an exceptional kind of British government is to deal with exceptional economic circumstances is therefore of paramount importance. This paper argues that the Conservative Party made too much of the impact of the 1974 hung Parliament in precipitating subsequent economic crisis and suggests that as such, there is no reason to assume that the Conservative-Liberal coalition government is ill-equipped to manage British economic affairs in difficult circumstances

Global finance and capital adequacy requirements : recreating capitalist social relations

The paper argues that capital adequacy regulation has served to recreate the neoliberal form of capitalist social relations. It identifies two dimensions to this process. First, the paper argues that financialization has become increasingly important for securing political legitimacy in several states, and that capital adequacy regulation in historical perspective can be understood to have incentivized, facilitated, and legitimated the kind of arbitrage that allow it to proceed. Second, it argues that in the contemporary context, revisions to capital adequacy requirements serve to discipline mutual and co-operative forms of finance by encouraging them to engage more explicitly in profit-seeking, introducing a homogenizing dynamic into the financial sector despite regulators’ belief that systemic diversity is a key feature of promoting stabilit

From union legislation to financial reform : a reflection on Thatcherism, capital and the British state

In the days and weeks following the death of Margaret Thatcher, a broad range of views about her legacy were expressed in various forums, nearly all of which, for better or worse, emphasised the significance of Thatcherism. This paper reflects on this legacy through an examination of industrial relations policy, macro-economic policy and financial reform, and argues that the Thatcher governments’ primary significance lies in the means by which the interests of labour were subordinated to the end of accumulation, rather than the attempt to achieve these ends as such. Instead, it identifies continuity in attempts by the British state to co-opt or subordinate labour, and argues that the demonization of Thatcherism diverts attention from more fundamental questions about the exploitative and crisis-prone nature of capitalist social relations

Mainstreaming social finance : the regulation of the peer-to-peer lending marketplace in the United Kingdom

The article provides one of the first political economy accounts of the regulation of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending in the United Kingdom, drawing on interviews with platforms representing the vast majority of the market at the beginning of the regulatory process. The article links the regulation of P2P lending with debates about regulatory capture. It challenges conventional understandings of its consequences by showing how the regulation of P2P lending displays characteristics of regulatory capture but appears to have realised several aspects of regulators’ visions for a ‘socially useful finance’, rather than facilitating the kind of rent-seeking behaviour that has been identified in the case of other areas of finance. P2P lending is found to represent one of the latest forms of consumer and small business finance that works towards so-called ‘financial inclusion’, with ambiguous social outcomes that necessitate further critical investigation

The politics of economic policy-making under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan and the 1976 IMF crisis

The thesis examines the politics of economic policy-making during the Wilson / Callaghan administration with a specific focus on the 1976 IMF crisis. It offers a critique of existing accounts that are based on an artificial distinction between state and market, in which there is an assumed power relationship that allows market actors to discipline state managers when policies diverge from accepted principles and norms, and argue that the fall in the value of sterling and IMF conditionality were examples of this disciplinary potential at work during 1976. This thesis presents a substantial, archive-based re-assessment of events from an open Marxist perspective. It argues that the state is an inherent feature of the social relations of capitalist accumulation, and that whilst this means state managers must pursue policies generally favouring the reproduction of the social relations of production, this constraint is not disciplinary or deterministic. The thesis shows that the Labour government had long established preferences for deflationary policies and argues that they were implemented through the politics of depoliticisation. On this basis, the fall in the value of the pound and ultimately, IMF conditionality, are not understood to be the key determinants of policy outputs. Rather, market rhetoric and IMF conditionality are seen to have provided the Labour government with substantial room for manoeuvre to implement policies aimed at creating favourable conditions for accumulation whilst minimising political dissent by acting as a buttress between the government and its policies. The argument is developed in three phases. Firstly, it demonstrates how despite the manifesto commitments of the Labour Party, significant elements of the core executive had consistent and established preferences for the depreciation of sterling, a transfer of resources into the balance of payments, cuts in expenditure, and incomes policies. Secondly, it shows how austerity measures were justified during 1975 and the first half of 1976 by a slide in the exchange rate and expected external financing pressures, despite a wish to see the pound fall. Finally, it shows how in the final quarter of 1976, the core executive delayed taking fiscal action until after the IMF negotiations because of expectations of conditionality, that it broadly agreed with the Fund’s prescriptions, and argued that this course was preferable to an alternative strategy because if an alternative was implemented, financial markets would force an even greater degree of austerity

Clinical utility of NGS diagnosis and disease stratification in a multiethnic primary ciliary dyskinesia cohort

Background Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a genetically heterogeneous condition enriched in some consanguineous populations, results from recessive mutations affecting cilia biogenesis and motility. Currently, diagnosis requires multiple expert tests.Methods The diagnostic utility of multigene panel next-generation sequencing (NGS) was evaluated in 161 unrelated families from multiple population ancestries.Results Most (82%) families had affected individuals with biallelic or hemizygous (75%) or single (7%) pathogenic causal alleles in known PCD genes. Loss-of-function alleles dominate (73% frameshift, stop-gain, splice site), most (58%) being homozygous, even in non-consanguineous families. Although 57% (88) of the total 155 diagnostic disease variants were novel, recurrent mutations and mutated genes were detected. These differed markedly between white European (52% of families carry DNAH5 or DNAH11 mutations), Arab (42% of families carry CCDC39 or CCDC40 mutations) and South Asian (single LRRC6 or CCDC103 mutations carried in 36% of families) patients, revealing a striking genetic stratification according to population of origin in PCD. Genetics facilitated successful diagnosis of 81% of families with normal or inconclusive ultrastructure and 67% missing prior ultrastructure results.Conclusions This study shows the added value of high-throughput targeted NGS in expediting PCD diagnosis. Therefore, there is potential significant patient benefit in wider and/or earlier implementation of genetic screening

Establishing a large prospective clinical cohort in people with head and neck cancer as a biomedical resource: head and neck 5000

BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer is an important cause of ill health. Survival appears to be improving but the reasons for this are unclear. They could include evolving aetiology, modifications in care, improvements in treatment or changes in lifestyle behaviour. Observational studies are required to explore survival trends and identify outcome predictors. METHODS: We are identifying people with a new diagnosis of head and neck cancer. We obtain consent that includes agreement to collect longitudinal data, store samples and record linkage. Prior to treatment we give participants three questionnaires on health and lifestyle, quality of life and sexual history. We collect blood and saliva samples, complete a clinical data capture form and request a formalin fixed tissue sample. At four and twelve months we complete further data capture forms and send participants further quality of life questionnaires. DISCUSSION: This large clinical cohort of people with head and neck cancer brings together clinical data, patient-reported outcomes and biological samples in a single co-ordinated resource for translational and prognostic research

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy