Can Cameron achieve a new relationship between member states inside the eurozone and those outside?

In the first of a series of blogs about the UK’s renegotiation approach, Frank Vibert explores exactly why the British government has made the future relationship between Eurozone ‘in’ and ‘out’ states so central to the current renegotiations. Even if the UK’s worries are seen as well founded, there are multiple ways in which some form of redress might be provided within EU structures, each with different levels of future security

Mainstreaming environmental, social and corporate governance

Businesses in today's marketplace, in both the financial and non-financial sectors, have to pay attention to the environmental and social impact of what they do, as well as to respect high standards of corporate governance. The group of standards is commonly referred to as 'ESG'. ESG is now a mainstream activity. President Trump resists. He is mistaken (again). I see a need to improve the authentication, oversight and scrutiny of ESG claims, ratings and indexing. Despite the efforts of bodies such as the SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) and the Principles for Responsible Investment body (PRI) supported by the UN, there are conflicts of interest that produce a lack of rigour and consistency. The labels are scattered around like sprinkles on a tray of cupcakes

Mirbeau conteur cruel ?

International audienceMirbeau est-il un "conteur cruel" selon la manière dont Villiers de l'Isle-Adam a permis de penser l'expression. ON se propose de montrer que l'esthétique de Mirbeau est fort différente de celle de Villiers, et que, si cruauté il y a, le m^me terme recouvre des tempéraments, des esthétiques et des stratégies littéraires fort différent

Health Campaign Plan: Increasing Familial Conversations About Organ Donation

Organ transplantation is a medical practice dates back to the 1920s and has led to tens of thousands of lives being saved. Currently, there is a massive shortage of organs suitable for donation in the United States with more than 114,000 men, women, and children on the organ waiting list, with less than 20,000 registered donors (Department of Health and Human Services, 2019). This paper covers the history of organ donation, where the issue of the lack of organs currently stands, and the role communication plays in carrying out one’s choice to donate. Understanding these factors has led to a health campaign plan based on a template created by George Washington University. The goal of the plan is to aid in increasing formal conversation between young adults and their next of kin about organ donation choices and the decision making process, so that the next of kin will be more likely to make the choice consistent with the young adults’ decisions concerning their organ

On the edge: David Cameron’s EU renegotiation strategies

After promising the British public a referendum on whether to stay in the EU, David Cameron is currently trying to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s membership. His increasingly Eurosceptical party and a press that is often hostile towards the European Union makes the task a particularly challenging one. In this series of five essays, Frank Vibert, a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science, draws on his experience as a founder director of the European Policy Forum to analyse the five strands of Cameron’s renegotiation strategy. He concludes that – if he succeeds - the Prime Minister’s approach may lead member states and Brussels institutions to move away from their current strategy of stressing EU citizens’ rights, rather than their consent

Going Dutch: can Cameron secure subsidiarity reforms without treaty change?

In his fourth post covering the UK’s renegotiation strategies with its EU counterparts, Frank Vibert explores how David Cameron has sought to swing some key EU doctrines behind his arguments for reform. At face value, making these links enhances the PM’s chances of success. But once again, the issues he raises are not so tractable as they may at first appear

Tough competition: why cutting regulation is so hard for the EU

In the third of his posts covering the UK’s renegotiation strategies, Frank Vibert argues that David Cameron is pushing at an open door in wanting a more internationally competitive European Union. But though the EU might be able to reach agreement on its goals in this area, institutional tendencies to over-regulate – and business demands for legal certainty in a large market – mean that change will still be difficult to realise

Immigration and the UK’s Referendum Vote – EU attitudes are more fluid, but barriers to change remain substantial

In his second blogpost about the UK government’s renegotiation strategy, Frank Vibert looks at the minefields surrounding British efforts to restrict the free movement of EU citizens into the UK under the Single Market provisions. Although EU all member states are now looking again at immigration and border controls, and the salience of these issues is now very high across the continent, Treaty constraints on the UK’s demands are still restrictive

An investigation of the relationship between inhibitory motor control and low and high trait impulsivity in non-clinical adults

Impulsivity is generally thought to refer to rapid, spontaneous and inappropriate behaviour. One causal view of impulsivity is that of executive inhibitory dyscontrol. Inhibitory control requires the suppression of an implicit or explicit response and may be assessed with laboratory behavioural tasks. Executive inhibition includes cognitive inhibition, interference control and behavioural inhibition. Impulsivity is frequently measured using self-report personality-based inventories. Investigations of the relationship between inhibitory control and impulsivity are uncommon. It is further proposed that there is a significant inverse relationship between a self-report measure of impulsivity (the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale) (Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995) and a behavioural measure of motoric inhibitory control (Stop-Signal task) (Logan, 1994). The proposed study will employ a non-clinical cohort to examine this hypothesis. Inhibitory deficits have frequently been reported in clinical groups. It is unknown whether the same deficit underlies the personality trait of impulsivity in non-clinical adult populations. The current study investigated whether there is an association between self-reported trait impulsivity and inhibitory motor control. The stop-signal task was employed to examine the inhibitory performance of non-clinical adults. Participants were allocated to a high or low impulsivity group on the basis of their Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) scores. Those participants scoring in the top 25% (n = 18) and bottom 25% (n = 18) on the BIS-11, from a sample of73, were allocated to the high or low impulsive groups respectively. The stop-signal task employed a visual choice reaction time \u27go\u27 task and participants attempted to inhibit their responses to the \u27go\u27 task when an auditory \u27stop\u27 signal was heard. The findings indicate that there was no deficit in motor inhibition found for high-impulsives, nor did the groups differ on either the speed of their response, or the probability of inhibiting their response, to a \u27stop\u27 signal. However, there was a weak but non-significant correlation found supporting an association between motor impulsivity and stop-signal reaction time (r = .35, p = .06). In conclusion, the current study found only minor evidence that impulsivity in a non-clinical adult cohort is associated with poor inhibitory motor control