NUJ Calls for Serious Action on Media Plurality and Caps on Ownership

On 17 May the House of Lords Communications Committee published the evidence it received in its consultation on media plurality. With the committee now considering this evidence Michelle Stanistreet of the National Union of Journalists argues for set ownership caps and special protection for local media

Miss Barbara Finn and Mr. E.J. Stanistreet to Mr. Meredith (11 October 1962)

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/2131/thumbnail.jp

Women’s empowerment and violent death among women and men in Europe: An ecological study

Background This study examined the association between mortality due to injury and poisoning among men and women in Europe and nine indicators of women's empowerment (i.e. women's challenging of existing power structures that subordinate women). Methods A cross-sectional ecological design was used, with 24 countries from the European Union plus two countries within the European Economic Area and Switzerland. Results Most of the nine indicators of women's empowerment were unrelated to men's, as well as women's, death rates from injury and poisoning. However, multiple linear regression models showed that a few indicators of women's empowerment were significantly associated with mortality due to injury and poisoning for both women and men. When three Baltic States with considerably higher mortality rates (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) were excluded from the analysis, however, only one indicator (female economic activity as a percentage of male economic activity) remained a significant predictor of men's death rates. Conclusion These data suggest that some indicators of women's empowerment may be associated with mortality due to injury and poisoning for men, although the association was dependent on which countries were included in the analysis. This highlights the importance of examining in greater detail the influence of changing gender roles on the health behaviours of women and men

Factors Influencing Household Uptake of Improved Solid Fuel Stoves in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Household burning of solid fuels in traditional stoves is detrimental to health, the environment and development. A range of improved solid fuel stoves (IS) are available but little is known about successful approaches to dissemination. This qualitative systematic review aimed to identify factors that influence household uptake of IS in low- and middle-income countries. Extensive searches were carried out and studies were screened and extracted using established systematic review methods. Fourteen qualitative studies from Asia, Africa and Latin-America met the inclusion criteria. Thematic synthesis was used to synthesise data and findings are presented under seven framework domains. Findings relate to user and stakeholder perceptions and highlight the importance of cost, good stove design, fuel and time savings, health benefits, being able to cook traditional dishes and cleanliness in relation to uptake. Creating demand, appropriate approaches to business, and community involvement, are also discussed. Achieving and sustaining uptake is complex and requires consideration of a broad range of factors, which operate at household, community, regional and national levels. Initiatives aimed at IS scale up should include quantitative evaluations of effectiveness, supplemented with qualitative studies to assess factors affecting uptake, with an equity focus

Hume's scepticism and the science of human nature

The difficulty of reconciling Hume's use and endorsement of sceptical arguments and conclusions with his constructive project of founding 'a science of man' is perhaps the central interpretive puzzle of A Treatise of Human Nature. Hume has been interpreted as an entirely unmitigated sceptic about induction, causation, personal identity and the external world. His sceptical arguments emerge as apart of a naturalistic programme to explain fundamental human beliefs, but seem to call into serious question the viability of this programme. This work is an attempt to understand the relationship between Hume's sceptical arguments and his Newtonian ambition of founding a science of human nature.It defends two main theses: that Hume's sceptical arguments appear as steps in a more general and systematic argument the conclusion of which involves a causal explanation of scepticism itself; and that the scepticism of Book One of the Treatise is to be seen not as unmitigatedly destructive but as a part of the necessary preparation for the more robustly Newtonian investigations of Books Two and Three. Hume's sceptical arguments support the general conception he has of philosophy, and of its role and value, which emerges in the conclusion to the first book. I show that Hume's exposition of this conception is the conclusion of a complex and systematic dialectic. The work is divided into four chapters.In Chapter One, I examine Hume's commitment to the experimental method of reasoning and formulate a number of general theoretical principles which, I argue, guide the Newtonian investigations of the Treatise. I also assess Hume's understanding of what constitutes a good or adequate explanation in science. Chapter Two considers Part III of Book One. Here I emphasise the reflexiveness of Hume's extended account of the causal relation, acknowledging the constructive programme which leads Hume to formulate a set of normative rules for telling what is the cause of what. The remaining two chapters deal with Hume's main sceptical arguments concerning the attribution of identity over time to bodies and persons