'Yes, the census': The 2011 UK referendum campaign on the alternative vote

For the Liberal Democrats, the debacle that was the AV Referendum campaign engendered demands from within the party for an official investigation into what was termed a 'living nightmare'. However, utilising LeDuc's conceptual map of the elements involved in a referendum campaign, in particular the role of the official groups, political parties, their leaders and the media, this article examines the AV Referendum campaign of 2011 and demonstrates that it was always likely that such a campaign would mirror the partisan bias found at that time. Thus, with a concomitant conservative bias towards the status quo for such plebiscitary questions, it shows that it should also have been obvious, not least to the Liberal Democrat party, that the goal of electoral reform, as refracted through such a referendum campaign, was doomed from the outset

Biological Control of Giant Reed (Arundo donax): Economic Aspects

Arundo donax is a large, invasive weed consuming large quantities of water in the riparian area of the Texas Rio Grande Basin. With water availability a concern to the area, the USDA-ARS is investigating biological control agents to increase available water, creating a benefit to both the region’s economy and society in general.Arundo donax, Giant Reed, Water, Economics, Invasive, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Reassessing Britain’s ‘post-war consensus’: the politics of reason 1945–1979

Since the late-1970s, scholars have been engaged in a vibrant debate about the nature of post-war British politics. While some writers have suggested that the three decades that succeeded the Second World War witnessed a bi-partisan consensus on key policy questions, others have argued that it was conflict, not agreement, that marked the period. This article offers a novel contribution to this controversy by drawing attention to the epistemological beliefs of the Labour and Conservative parties. It argues that once these beliefs are considered, it becomes possible to reconcile some of the competing claims made by proponents and critics of the ‘post-war consensus’ thesis. Labour and Conservative leaders may have been wedded to different beliefs, but they also shared a common enthusiasm for empiricist reasoning and were both reluctant to identify fixed political ‘ends’ that they sought to realise. Consequently, they were both committed to evolutionary forms of change, and they eschewed the notion that any social or political arrangement was of universal value

A systematic quality assessment of Environmental Impact Statements in the oil and gas industry

The global economy relies heavily on oil and gas resources. However, hydrocarbon exploitation projects can cause significant impacts on the environment. But despite the production of numerous Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) to identify/mitigate such impacts, no study has specifically assessed the quality of EISs for both onshore and offshore oil and gas projects, with tested hypotheses. To address this research gap, our paper, for the first time, develops a modified Lee and Colley evaluation model to assess the quality of 19 sampled oil and gas project EISs produced from 1998 to 2008 in Nigeria. Our findings show that Project Description and Communication of Results are the main areas of strength. However, Environmental Impact Prediction, and Project Decommissioning, were among the key areas requiring attention. A key finding, though, is that Mann-Whitney tests suggest that there is no evidence that the quality of EISs for the latter period (2004–2008) is higher than that of the earlier period (1998–2004). We suggest that periodic systematic review of the quality of submitted/approved EISs (c. every 3–5 years) should be established to monitor trends in EIS quality and identify strong and weak areas. This would help to drive continual improvement in both the EIA processes and the resultant EISs of technical engineering projects. Such reviews have the potential to illuminate some of the underlying problems of, and solutions to, oil and gas exploration, production and transportation, and their related environmental impacts. This suggested change would also be useful internationally, including for the burgeoning exploration and production of unconventional hydrocarbon resources.Publisher Statement: NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Science of The Total Environment. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Science of The Total Environment, [572, (2016)] DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.07.083© 2016, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0

Expected Economic Benefits of the El Morillo Drain

The study of the benefits (damages averted) attributable to the El Morillo Drain encompasses U.S. municipalities, industry, and agriculture. It is conservatively estimated that the annual direct benefits to residents of South Texas ranges between $16.3 and$30.3 million. This does not include effects on landscapes, industry that is dependant on low saline water, and water treatment plants. Accounting for the costs to agriculture from crop losses of about $26.7 million, the total annual impact of the El Morillo Drain for South Texas is between$43 and $57 million. Such economic impact assessments are indicative that maintenance of the Drain is a highly-beneficial activity, leaving little doubt that it is essential that the drain be updated, maintained, and operated. Certainly as South Texas population increases and demand for high quality water increases, the value of the El Morillo Drain will increase

What was Progressive in ‘Progressive Conservatism’?

In January 2009 David Cameron announced that the ‘underlying philosophy’ of his government would be progressive conservatism. Despite the ambiguity about this term, it was generally interpreted as a signal that Cameron was moving his party to the left.To some commentators, Cameron was allying with the progressive ‘one nation’ strand of conservative thought.To others, particularly in the media, he was drawing on the more immediate influence of Phillip Blond’s ‘Red Toryism’. However, the focus on the market (as opposed to state or community) found in both Cameron’s speech and subsequent policies sits uneasily with both of these interpretations. Cameron’s progressive conservatism has more in common with Thatcherism – an earlier conservative modernising project – than it does with centrist forms of conservative progressivism. Cameron’s progressive conservatism is progressive, but only in particular, less commonly used, ways – not as a rediscovery of social justice

Economies of Size in Municipal Water-Treatment Technologies: A Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley Case Study

As the U.S. population continues to increase, the priority on planning for future water quantity and quality becomes more important. Historically, many municipalities have primarily relied upon surface water as their major source of drinking water. In recent years, however, technological advancements have improved the economic viability of reverse-osmosis (RO) desalination of brackish-groundwater as a potable water source. By including brackishgroundwater, there may be an alternative water source that provides municipalities an opportunity to hedge against droughts, political shortfalls, and protection from potential surfacewater contamination. In addition to selecting a water-treatment technology, municipalities and their associated water planners must determine the appropriate facility size, location, etc. To assist in these issues, this research investigates and reports on economies of size for both conventional surface-water treatment and brackish-groundwater desalination by using results from four water-treatment facilities in the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV). The methodology and associated results herein may have direct implications on future water planning as highlighting the most economically-efficient alternative(s) is a key objective. In this study, economic and financial life-cycle costs are calculated for a “small” conventional surface-water facility (i.e., 2.0 million gallons per day (mgd) Olmito facility) and a “small” brackish-groundwater desalination facility (i.e., 1.13 mgd La Sara facility). Thereafter, these results are merged with other, prior life-cycle cost analyses’ results for a “medium” conventional surface-water facility (i.e., 8.25 mgd McAllen Northwest facility) and a “medium” brackish-groundwater desalination facility (i.e., 7.5 mgd Southmost facility). The combined data allow for examination of any apparent economies of size amongst the conventional surface-water facilities and the brackish-groundwater desalination facilities. This research utilized the CITY H20 ECONOMICS and the DESAL ECONOMICS © © Excel® spreadsheet models developed by agricultural economists with Texas AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension Service. The life-cycle costs calculated within these spreadsheet models provide input for work which subsequently provides the estimations of economies of size. Although the economies of size results are only based on four facilities and are only applicable to the Texas LRGV, the results are nonetheless useful. In short, it is determined that economies of size are apparent in conventional surface-water treatment and constant economies of size are apparent in brackish-groundwater desalination. Further, based on modified life-cycle costs (which seek to more-precisely compare across water-treatment technologies and/or facilities), this research also concludes that reverse-osmosis (RO) desalination of brackish-groundwater is economically competitive with conventional surface-water treatment in this region

Haematological changes associated with food-related oral lesions in brown leghorn hens

After 19 weeks on a mash diet nine of the 10 birds exhibited from two to 19 oral lesions. The majority of these lesions involved the total erosion of the buccal epidermis giving a total area of exposed dermis of 0.6 to 94.5 mm(2). This was accompanied by a significant reduction in the numbers of heterophils, monocytes and eosinophils. Birds with lesions also had significantly reduced concentrations of haemoglobin and may have been suffering from a mild form of microcytic normochromic anaemia without the complication of an extensive bone marrow involvement. These findings have implications for poultry welfare