Football’s unholy alliance with alcohol sends a dangerous message to young people

First paragraph: Last year, as 24 football-mad nations across Europe cheered on their heroes, and Portugal battled their way to UEFA Euro 2016 glory, do you remember seeing any alcohol marketing pitch-side? Chances are you probably did. If you normally watch football in the UK, nothing remarkable in that, you might think. Except that the French have a law, known as “Loi Évin”, that specifically prohibits using sporting events as a platform for promoting alcohol

Marriage in the Short Stories of Chekhov

In his article Marriage in the Short Stories of Chekhov Mark Richard Purves explores Anton Chekhov\u27s often occurring depiction of marriage. Purves posits that Chekhov\u27s depiction of the experience of marriage raises important ontological questions about the core features of family life such as what it means to be a husband, what it means to be a wife, and the degree of relatedness between them. Chekhov elaborates on what he sees as matrimony\u27s central antinomy, namely that the wedding of one individual to another produces loneliness, an absence of intimacy, and a kind of alienation so acute it causes love itself to cool in a relationship pulled apart by the asymmetries of social status and personal likes and dislikes

Gambling and sport: how bookmakers win in voluntary 'whistle-to-whistle' advert ban

First paragraph: When Huddersfield Town FC unveiled its 2019-20 match shirt emblazoned with an enormous sash bearing the logo of bookmakers Paddy Power, fans were horrified and took to social media to voice their disgust.https://theconversation.com/gambling-and-sport-how-bookmakers-win-in-voluntary-whistle-to-whistle-advert-ban-12569

"I Wouldn't Be Friends with Someone If They Were Liking Too Much Rubbish": A Qualitative Study of Alcohol Brands, Youth Identity and Social Media

The consumption of alcohol by young people remains a major public health concern at both the national and international level. Levels of drinking among 15‐year olds in the United Kingdom (UK) remain significantly higher than the European average. This study explored how alcohol brands are used by young people to develop their desired identities and how these acts of consumption extend to young people's profiles on social media. It also deepens understanding of how alcohol brands are connected to young peoples' concerns about image and peer group dynamics. This involved qualitative focus groups with young people aged 14-7 in Central Scotland. Certain alcohol brands were approved and viewed as socially acceptable by young people, while others were rejected. Children as young as 14 were selecting products to portray a drinking identity that was appropriately aligned to their gender and sexuality. Participants displayed a desire to associate themselves with the mature drinking culture personified by some brands, whilst simultaneously distancing themselves from immature drinking practices associated with others. Publicly associating with alcohol brands on social media carried with it potential risks to peer group acceptance. Understanding how young people perceive alcohol brands, the importance of social media in communicating that identity to their peers and the role that alcohol brands play in adolescent identity formation is an important first step to reforming alcohol marketing regulations

"What are you meant to do when you see it everywhere?": Young people, alcohol packaging and digital media

The consumption of alcohol plays an important part in the way in which people create identities and live their social lives. Alcohol brands become embedded in everyday life through marketing practices, and this is amplified by an increase in new technologies that facilitate the transference of marketing messages. This research explores how alcohol brands use social networking sites (SNS) and packaging as part of their repertoire of marketing activities, and how users respond to these activities

The Probabilistic Niche Model Reveals the Niche Structure and Role of Body Size in a Complex Food Web

The niche model has been widely used to model the structure of complex food webs, and yet the ecological meaning of the single niche dimension has not been explored. In the niche model, each species has three traits, niche position, diet position and feeding range. Here, a new probabilistic niche model, which allows the maximum likelihood set of trait values to be estimated for each species, is applied to the food web of the Benguela fishery. We also developed the allometric niche model, in which body size is used as the niche dimension. About 80% of the links in the empirical data are predicted by the probabilistic niche model, a significant improvement over recent models. As in the niche model, species are uniformly distributed on the niche axis. Feeding ranges are exponentially distributed, but diet positions are not uniformly distributed below the predator. Species traits are strongly correlated with body size, but the allometric niche model performs significantly worse than the probabilistic niche model. The best-fit parameter set provides a significantly better model of the structure of the Benguela food web than was previously available. The methodology allows the identification of a number of taxa that stand out as outliers either in the model's poor performance at predicting their predators or prey or in their parameter values. While important, body size alone does not explain the structure of the one-dimensional niche

Role of Scotland’s colleges : balancing economic and social objectives

Recent Scottish Government policy has increasingly emphasised lifelong learning as the means of developing the nation’s skills and employability. Colleges are frequently presented as the key driver of widening access to lifelong learning in Scotland and are expected to provide effective responses to both social and economic problems. This research focuses on the balance struck in government policy in relation to Scotland’s colleges with regard to social and economic objectives and how this policy is mediated in three diverse colleges. Utilising case studies of three colleges in Scotland, this study found that the economic focus of the Scottish Government, coupled with the market values of the college sector following the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992, has resulted in some colleges emphasising economic priorities at the cost of social objectives. College education is presented as the bridge to the labour market and this has resulted in students equating college learning with acquiring the necessary qualifications to obtain employment. In the larger colleges (both the result of recent mergers) social network development is treated as a by-product rather than a central objective and the connections made by students tend to be confined to narrow subject areas. Learning at these colleges is compartmentalised, so that students develop ‘bonding’ rather than ‘bridging’ social capital, which may narrow rather than widen their horizons (Putnam, 2000). Pursuit of funding initiatives and performance indicators at the larger colleges led to tensions amongst staff members over the loss of community focus and, in the case of one college, a significant increase in learners under 16. The smaller college exhibited a clear community focus, allowing for greater levels of social interaction. It is suggested that colleges need to develop further their role as generators of social, as well as human, capital

The Response of Retailers in Scotland to the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations and Tobacco Products Directive

Introduction With most marketing channels prohibited, the retail environment has assumed greater importance for tobacco companies, even in markets with a ban on the open display of tobacco products. Research has yet to qualitatively explore how retailers respond to standardized packaging in a country where this has been introduced. Methods As part of the DISPLAY study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 24 small retailers in Scotland between May 23 and June 26, 2017; the interviews were conducted after The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations and the Tobacco Products Directive were fully implemented. Results We found high retailer compliance with the legislation. With price-marked packs and packs containing less than 20 cigarettes and 30 g of rolling tobacco banned, retailers stated that this helped simplify ordering and stock management. The removal of price-marked packs also allowed them some flexibility to set their own prices, but many chose to stick closely to recommended retail price in order to remain competitive and avoid complaints from customers. In contrast to one of the tobacco industry’s arguments against standardized packaging, most retailers suggested that transaction times had not increased, even though the changes had only recently come into force. Conclusions This study challenges some of the arguments used against standardized packaging and provides an insight into the storage and pricing strategies adopted by retailers following the removal of price-marked packs. Implications This study explores the response of the retailers to the introduction of standardized tobacco packaging and provides an insight into the storage and pricing strategies adopted by retailers following the removal of price-marked packs. It explores the importance of the retailer in tobacco companies’ desire to maintain tobacco sales and challenges some of the arguments used against standardized packaging, such as an increase in transaction times. Countries seeking to introduce standardized packaging should monitor the experiences of retailers, preferably from preimplementation through to post implementation, to help understand how retailers respond to this policy and to inform compliance

Adolescent girls and young adult women's perceptions of superslims cigarette packaging: a qualitative study

Objectives: To explore perceptions of superslims packaging, including compact ‘lipstick’ packs, in line with 3 potential impacts identified within the impact assessment of the European Union (EU) Tobacco Products Directive: appeal, harm perceptions and the seriousness of warning of health risks.  Design: Qualitative focus group study. SettingInformal community venues in Scotland, UK.  Participants: 75 female non-smokers and occasional smokers (age range 12–24).  Results: Compact ‘lipstick’-type superslims packs were perceived most positively and rated as most appealing. They were also viewed as less harmful than more standard sized cigarette packs because of their smaller size and likeness to cosmetics. Additionally, ‘lipstick’ packs were rated as less serious in terms of warning about the health risks associated with smoking, either because the small font size of the warnings was difficult to read or because the small pack size prevented the text on the warnings from being displayed properly. Bright pack colours and floral designs were also thought to detract from the health warning.  Conclusions: As superslims packs were found to increase appeal, mislead with respect to level of harm, and undermine the on-pack health warnings, this provides support for the decision to ban ‘lipstick’-style cigarette packs in the EU and has implications for policy elsewhere

Sport fan attitudes on alcohol:Insights from a survey of football supporters in Scotland and England

Availability of alcohol at football matches in the UK is much debated and subject to multiple restrictions, yet there is little understanding of supporters’ attitudes. A cross-sectional survey of football supporters in Scotland and England (n  =  1750) was conducted April–June 2019. Most supporters viewed drinking at matches as acceptable (74.4%) and thought alcohol should be available at grounds (76.0%); around two-fifths thought most supporters consumed alcohol before matches (44.1%); but only a quarter (26.6%) thought disorder at matches was due to alcohol. Attitudes varied by supporter characteristics: supporters who were younger, in England, or more regular match-goers were more favourable towards alcohol consumption and availability at matches. We conclude that alcohol regulations in some nations and sports – where restrictions are based on historical disorder – may no longer be appropriate