Immigration, Statecraft and Public Health:The 1920 Aliens Order, Medical Examinations and the Limitations of the State in England

This article considers the medical measures of the 1920 Aliens Order barring aliens from Britain. Building on existing local and port public health inspection, the requirement for aliens to be medically inspected before landing significantly expanded the duties of these state agencies and necessitated the creation of a new level of physical infrastructure and administrative machinery. This article closely examines the workings and limitations of alien medical inspection in two of England’s major ports – Liverpool and London. – and sheds light on the everyday working of the Act. In doing so it reflects on the ambitions, actions and limitations of the state and so extends research by historians of the nineteenth and early twentieth century on the disputed histories of public health and the complexities of statecraft. Overall it suggests the importance of developing nuanced understandings of the gaps and failures arising from the translation of legislation into practice

For the likes of us? Retelling the classed production of a British university campus

This paper contributes to recent critical geographical writing on university campuses by setting their physical production and reproduction centre stage and taking an historical perspective. Focusing on a single case study campus in the UK we revisit the archival record on its planning and early years, revealing gaps between stated intentions of increasing equality between social classes and discourses and practices which reinforced middle and upper class cultural hegemony. We then draw on oral history interviews with residents of the social housing estates immediately adjacent to the campus, including its former builders and cleaners, to explore the spatialized subjectivities of people who were generally absent from the consultations conducted by the university’s planners, and whose perspectives are not found in its official history. The findings confirm the idea of university campuses as paradoxical spaces for their working-class neighbours, at once excluding and, in unexpected ways, potentially transformational

Everything comes down to money? Migration and working life trajectories in a (post-)socialist context

Using 25 life histories of Poles, this paper addresses the way in which migration has had an impact upon the trajectories of individuals’ working lives both under socialism and after 1989. In our discussion, we explore some of the connections between different waves of migration, bringing together historical and contemporary research on migration as well as engaging with current debates on post-socialism that problematize the disjuncture between socialist and post-socialist experience. Our contention here is that one way in which socialism and post-socialism might be integrated is through focusing on the experiences of individuals whose lives span these eras. We suggest that while there are continuities across the periods, there are also disjunctures created not only by the changed politico-legal context, but also through changed attitudes towards the role of migration as part of individual life trajectories

Migrant Working in West Norfolk

During 2002 and 2003 there has been a rise in the number of migrant workers in West Norfolk. A number of agencies, including King's Lynn Borough Council became concerned about the possible implications of the new migration for community cohesion and also about the risks facing migrant workers due to multiple occupancy housing, inadequate access to health services, and illegal and exploitative employment relations. As a result Norfolk County Council commissioned the University of East Anglia to carry out an initial one month study to draw together information held by key agencies and individuals in the borough as a first step towards further action. This report details the findings of the study. It is made up of seven main sections covering the scale of migrant working in Norfolk, undocumented migration and illegal employment practices, housing, health, translation and language, crime, racism and community tension. The last section suggests ways forward including current and future support for migrant workers

Central and local government and the provision of municipal medicine, 1919-39

This article examines the relationship between central and local government - and specifically the County Boroughs - in interwar England and Wales with respect to the provision of municipal health services. It is argued that this relationship was complex, with different local authorities being compliant to a greater or lesser degree with the aspirations of the Ministry of Health. The latter, it is further suggested, started off its life as a relatively dynamic, well-run and farsighted part of central government, but for a range of reasons lost authority and influence as the interwar era progressed. This was not helped by the limited powers the Ministry held. The local authorities, meanwhile, differed widely in their aspirations for municipally-provided health care. Some were reluctant to do much, others had ambitions somewhat in advance of those of the Ministry of Health. What did unite local authorities was their collective desire to preserve the longstanding tradition of a high degree of local independence. As is also shown, specifically local factors and personnel - for example the political dynamics of the council or the standing of the Medical Officer of Health - could significantly shape a County Borough's approach to health care. The article thus contributes to the history of English and Welsh local government and, especially, to the relatively neglected period in the history of the health services which falls between the demise of the Poor Law and the coming of the National Health Service

Good Citizens? Ugandan Asians, Volunteers and ‘Race’ Relations in 1970s Britain

This articles uses the reception and resettlement programme of Ugandan Asians in 1972–3 as a lens through which to explore the intersection of post-colonialism and ideas of good citizenship, individual political engagement and voluntarism. Specifically, using a detailed exploration of the dynamics within Greenham Common Resettlement Camp, the article shows how relationships between (ex-colonial) government officials and the WRVS who ran the official side of the resettlement programme came into conflict with younger, more left-wing volunteers and expellees. As well as revealing the significance of (post) colonial attitudes and background among camp administrators and the associated attitudes to hierarchy and race, it also shows how a newer generation of anti-racist activists were beginning to challenge such attitudes. Through integrating its discussion of generational conflict among the expellees themselves alongside conflicts between the official camp administration, volunteers and wider voluntary services this article seeks to reveal some of the key social changes in early 1970s Britain

A change of heart? British policies towards tubercular refugees during 1959 World Refugee Year

This article looks at Britain’s response to the World Refugee Year (1959–60), and in particular the government’s decision to allow entry to refugees with tuberculosis and other chronic illnesses. In doing so, it broke the practice established by the 1920 Aliens’ Order which had barred entry to immigrants with a range of medical conditions. This article uses the entry of these sick refugees as an opportunity to explore whether government policy represented as much of a shift in attitude and practice as contemporary accounts suggested. It argues for the importance of setting the reception of tubercular and other ‘disabled’ refugees in 1959–61 in its very particular historical context, showing it was a case less of the government thinking differently about refugees, and more of how, in a post-Suez context, the government felt obliged to take into account international and public opinion. The work builds on and adds to the growing literature surrounding refugees and disease. It also places the episode within the specificity of the post-war changing epidemiological climate; the creation of the National Health Service; and the welfare state more broadly. In looking at the role of refugee organizations in the Year, the article also contributes to debates over the place of voluntary agencies within British society

‘Don’t just look for a new pet’: the Vietnamese airlift, child refugees and the dangers of toxic humanitarianism

The Kindertransport remains the most common historical point of reference in contemporary debates over the present position of refugees in Europe. Taylor's article instead focuses on a very different emergency movement of children—the airlift of ninety-nine ‘orphans’ from Vietnam before the fall of Saigon in April 1975—as a historical point of entry into Britain’s relationship with child refugees. Although superficially a one-off event, and an example of ‘toxic’ humanitarianism, in fact it is suggestive of some of the key themes of modern refugee history. These include the tendency of humanitarianism to hollow out political contexts from the objects of their concern; the prominent, and sometimes problematic, role of voluntary organizations in the movement, reception and resettlement of refugees; and the place of expressions of spontaneous compassion by individuals who become involved in refugee operations. Taylor's article suggests that all these themes could fruitfully bear greater historical attention

What Matters in Education? Briefing Note #3: Pupil Absence: Questions for policy, for research, and in practice

The third seminar in the What Matters in Education? panel discussion series addressed the challenging issue of pupil absence from school. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, pupil absence from school, including persistent absence, has risen significantly, and is a matter of concern for schools, ministers and policymakers

An investigation into the role of traditional and computer-based social networking on the psychological identity and well-being of older adults.

Paper given at Workshop on HCI and the Older Population at British HCI 2008 on Monday 1 Septembe