Five minutes with Alan Sked: “I think UKIP’s campaign was dreadful”

UKIP received 12.6 per cent of the vote, but only one seat in the UK’s general election. In an interview with EUROPP’s editor Stuart Brown, Alan Sked, the founder and former leader of UKIP, discusses his views on the party’s campaign and his thoughts on the upcoming referendum on the UK’s EU membership

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic

Apartisanship and anti-party sentiment in the United Kingdom: correlates and constraints

This article seeks to examine evidence of the existence and growth of anti-party sentiment in the UK. While it is clear that the available data cannot unambiguously confirm these phenomena, at least a prima facie case can be made on the basis of such evidence. Regression analysis suggests that while erosion of the class cleavage in the country is associated with the loosening of partisan commitments, the shortcomings of party governments in the area of economic policy management might contribute significantly to a sense of popular alienation from the major parties. Notwithstanding this, anti-party sentiment is perhaps not as high as might be expected in a country where perceptions of national economic decline have been widespread. Political culture and the electoral system are very real constraints that do much to account for this