717 research outputs found

    The declining representativeness of the British party system, and why it matters

    Get PDF
    In a recent article, Michael Laver has explained ‘Why Vote-Seeking Parties May Make Voters Miserable’. His model shows that, while ideological convergence may boost congruence between governments and the median voter, it can reduce congruence between the party system and the electorate as a whole. Specifically, convergence can increase the mean distance between voters and their nearest party. In this article we show that this captures the reality of today’s British party system. Policy scale placements in British Election Studies from 1987 to 2010 confirm that the pronounced convergence during the past decade has left the Conservatives and Labour closer together than would be optimal in terms of minimising the policy distance between the average voter and the nearest major party. We go on to demonstrate that this comes at a cost. Respondents who perceive themselves as further away from one of the major parties in the system tend to score lower on satisfaction with democracy. In short, vote-seeking parties have left the British party system less representative of the ideological diversity in the electorate, and thus made at least some British voters miserable

    HbA1c response and hospital admissions following commencement of flash glucose monitoring in adults with type 1 diabetes

    Get PDF
    Introduction Our aim was to assess the effect of introducing flash monitoring in adults with type 1 diabetes with respect to change in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and frequency of hospital admissions.Research design and methods Prospective observational study of adults with type 1 diabetes in our center, in whom a prescription for a flash monitoring sensor was collected. Primary outcome was change in HbA1c between 2016 and after flash monitoring. Rates of hospital admission were compared between the first year after flash monitoring and the corresponding 12-month period 2 years earlier.Results Approximately half of all adults with type 1 diabetes, attending our center, collected prescriptions for flash monitoring sensors (n=2216). Median fall in HbA1c was −1 (−0.1) mmol/mol (%) (p<0.001) and was greatest in those with baseline HbA1c >75 (9.0) mmol/mol (%): −10 (−0.9) mmol/mol (%), p<0.001. 43% of those with a baseline HbA1c >53 mmol/mol (7%) experienced a ≄5 mmol/mol (0.5%) fall in HbA1c. In addition to higher HbA1c, early commencement within 1 month of NHS-funded flash monitoring (p<0.001), and male gender (p=0.013) were associated with a fall in HbA1c of ≄5 (0.5) mmol/mol (%). Socioeconomic deprivation (p=0.009) and collecting fewer than 2 sensors per month (p=0.002) were associated with lack of response. Overall, hospital admissions did not change but an increase in admissions for hypoglycemia was observed (1.1% vs 0.3%, p=0.026).Conclusions Flash monitoring is associated with reduction in HbA1c in individuals with HbA1c >58 mmol/mol. Numerous clinical features are independently associated with HbA1c response. An increase in hypoglycemia admissions occurred following flash monitoring
    • 

    corecore