International Human rights day - our recommended links

Annual reports.

Amnesty International
Publishes an annual human rights report, country reports and regular specialist reports on the death penalty, and women’s rights. Note that there are branches in different countries which have different web addresses and content.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Digital archive of all U.S. Department of State annual reports to Congress on the state of human rights in individual countries. Covers 1999 onwards

Human Rights Watch
Includes annual and country specific human rights reports

Digital libraries of documents

University of Minnesota Human RightsLibrary

Specialist site for researchers proving free access to over 65,000 full text documents. includes sections for treaties and specialist search engines.


Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI)

Based at the University of Texas. This project provides access to documents and archived versions of key websites. They include a Rwandan Genocide Archive. 

International Day of People with Disability - useful data sources

International Day of People with Disability was 3rd December . The official website provides background on the event and a history of key events.

How many people are disabled?

The World Disability report published by the WHO in 2011 recorded over 1 billion worldwide.

It produces individual country surveys which have data on individual nations and there is a world wide global strategy which aims to improve disabled peoples lives from 2014-21

The UN also collects disability statistics 

The Disability Data Portal  was created  for the Global Disability Summit, held on 24 July 2018. It provides an overview of the data globally available on people with disabilities in 40 countries. The portal also identifies gaps in knowledge

The Office for National Statistics collects data for the Uk. It includes education, employment , health care and discrimination. It has a portal

What contribution do disabled people make to the economy?

in 2017 "The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific estimated that if PWD were paid the same as their able bodied peers, the GDP of these countries could increase by 1% to 7%. If we take even the most conservative estimate, that would be an increase in GDP-PPP of approximately $80 billion for ASEAN"

Discrimination
in 2018 the UN published a report on
Disability and Sustainable Development Goals which showed that disabled people were at a significant disadvantage

In the UK a parliamentary debate in 2018 discussed how  increasing the employment of disabled people could increase economic growth. This research briefing from the House of Commons Library sets out the context. This report gives current employment data from 2019. It concludes: People with disabilities were considerably more likely than those without disabilities to be economically inactive. While, the economic inactivity rate for those with disabilities was 43.3%, the corresponding figure for those without disabilities was 15.6%.

The Office for Students has also recently raised concerns that higher education colleges are not doing enough to integrate disabled students. The ONS also has data on increased loneliness and differences in participation in social activities.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 25 November - this is why it is important

The 25th November has been designated by the UN as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

25 November. the 2019 theme is
‘Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape’
The official website has messages and announcements from the day. It is difficult to give an exact figure for the number of women who have suffered sexual assaults as definitions and measurements differ. The UN page has a range of shocking data including:
"It is estimated that 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner (not including sexual harassment) at some point in their lives. "
PAHO focuses on Latin America. Their 2019 resources page
includes a systematic review which revealed that experiences of intimate partner violence ranged from 14-17% of women in Brazil to over 58% in Bolivia

In the UK the Home Office website has the latest data on domestic violence and sexual assault
and the CPS have on their website policy statements on how rape allegations are prosecuted
the ONS website also has crime survey data and freedom of information requests regarding rape convictions. According to the latest release
"Rape offences have increased dramatically in England and Wales since 2012/13 when there were around 16.3 thousand incidents. After this year, rape offences increased to 20.75 thousand, then 29.3 thousand in 2014/15, before increasing to 35.8 thousand in 2015/16, and 41 thousand in 2016/17. In 2017/18 there were almost 54 thousand rape offences recorded by the Police in England and Wales, an increase of over ten thousand when compared with the previous year, the largest year-on-year increase in this period."

For comparisons with Europe see the Eurostat website . You can click through to data tables.

Transgender day of remembrance- this is why it is so important

On Transgender Day of remembrance
we are sharing these resources on why it matters.

Find out the origins and aims of the day on the GLAAD website

The Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project monitors, collects and analyses reports of homicides of trans and gender-diverse people worldwide. Its website shows the degree and levels of abuse suffered and why it is important for us all to oppose it. "TDoR 2019 update has revealed a total of 331 cases of reported killings of trans and gender-diverse people between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2019"


TGEU Europe has maps and reports of the situation in European nations. It also includes some news and materials form other nations including a recent report on central Asia.


In the UK a Stonewall report from 2017 found that 51% of trans people hid their true identity in the workplace through fear of discrimination. 12|% had faced physical abuse from a colleague.


The New York City Anti-violence project is a USA based organisation. Its website shares news, experiences and has reports on the community

Today is Universal Children's day - yet 25% of children in the UK are unhappy- find out more.

United Nations Universal Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.

Yet recently the Children's society reported that 25% of children in the UK are unhappy

The annual report on childhood is based on a large scale survey multi dimensional index of items which measure subjective well being. These include health, education, social relations and living conditions. They are also cross matched with gender and socioeconomic position.. Past indexes are also available on the website for a longer term comparison of trends.

For further insight into the lives of children in England today consult the website of the Children's Commissioner. the latest bulletin spotlights what they worry about.

Another good source for researchers and students to keep up to date with the latest research publications is the NSPCC website. They have a specialist library and it is possible to sign up to alerting bulletins. These include the CASPAR current awareness alerting bulletin.

The Social Care online database maintained by SCIE is another good source for literature searching it indexes journal articles, reports and grey literature on all aspects of social work and social care

On a broader scale how does the UK compare with other nations?

The KidsRights Index from the KidsRights Foundation, in cooperation with Erasmus University Rotterdam: Erasmus School of Economics and the International Institute of Social Studies has an annual ranking for all 181 UN member states that have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

UNICEF ranks OECD and EU nations countries in terms of family friendly policies

UNICEF state of the Worlds children report focuses in 2019 on the state of malnutrition and diet experienced by young people worldwide. It includes an extensive data dashboard

Save the Children publishes regular Global Childhood reports. In 2019 it found that Since the year 2000, circumstances have improved for children in 173 out of 176 countries, saving hundreds of millions of childhoods
However, Today, 1 child in 4 is still being denied the right to a childhood. This is detailed in its End of Childhood report which details the number and age of children being forced into marriage, work and out of education.

on world Kindness day try our recommended resources

Today is world Kindness day

It was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations' kindness NGOs.

its website has details of projects involving sustainable development

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has inspiring stories and lesson plans

UCLA has just launched a Kindness research institute so take a look at the website to follow their research.

Are people in the UK kind?
fascinating survey form Carnegie Uk conducted in 2018. includes regional/urban breakdowns and breakdowns by gender and ethnicity.


If you measure kindness in terms of charitable giving and/or helping strangers view the reports and data from the Charities Aid Foundation World Giving report. Full methodology is supplied on the website.


How kindness helps builds better communities.

in 2017 the Carnegie Foundation. worked with seven organisations to test what, if anything, could be done to encourage kinder communities. This report summarises their ideas and the value it brings
the Practice of Kindness report and video also explores experience sin Scotland

Can kindness be added to public policy?
Explore some arguments put forward by Julia Unwin in 2018

Does being kind help your health?

The British Psychological Society blog considered this in 2018Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume 76, May 2018, Pages 320-329 found 27 studies fitting its criteria . Researchers conclude that being kind to others causes a small but significant improvement in subjective well-being. The review found that the effect is lower than some pop-psychology articles have claimed, but also concluded that future research might help identify which kind acts are most effective at boosting happiness.

30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall

It is the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The official Berlin website has details of events

The Berlin Wall even has its own website. This has details of its research library and a bibliography of key books.

A good starting point for a history of the building of the wall is this site maintained by Die Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. It has a chronicle of events with images, accounts of victims and reflections by leading political figures. Text in German or English.

An alternative is “The Berlin Wall – A multimedia history”  an online project developed by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall on November 9, 2014. This also has timelines, videos of key events and interviews.

See some original news footage from British Pathe. This has a selection of clips from the 1960s and 1970s showing events relating to the wall.

The JFK Library has an account of President Kennedy's visit to West Berlin in 1963 and his famous speech.

The National Security Archive George Washington University has a book of declassified US documents relating to the construction of the wall and the Cold War.

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. our free academic links

The United Nations has designated 2 November as International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

This event calls on nations to condemn attacks on journalists and to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.

Here are some recommended lse library resources.

Violence against the press – resources

• The Committee to Protect Journalists has just  released Breaking the Cycle of Impunity in the Killing of Journalists. This report explains why the UN day’s objectives.
• Their website has data on attacks on the press since 1992 and the global index of journalists killed in 2019
• International Press Institute death watch data –They have also issued  articles and reports growing trend of impunity.
• Article 19 resources
• UNESCO resources on the safety of Journalists
• Council of Europe Platform to protect journalists has reports data and news on attacks and censorship.

Does putting the clocks back harm you?

In March, the European Parliament voted in favour of a proposal to abolish the practice from 2021
but what are the arguments about the benefits or draw backs of moving clocks according to season.

Does it reduce energy usage?

Effect of daylight saving time on lighting energy use: A literature review from 2008 in terms of the USA found that the situation was complicated. Most savings were in residential use. However, even if overall energy use is unchanged by DST, hourly energy use is changed, affecting electricity demand . A 2016 international meta analysis using 162 estimates from 44 studies and found that the mean reported estimate indicates modest energy savings: 0.34% during the days when DST applies. Energy savings are larger for countries farther away from the equator


What is the impact on the economy?

Interesting paper from JSTOR on loss of sleep on stock market dealers!

Health

Are road traffic accidents reduced? - a review from 2012 in Ireland found mixed evidence . this was echoed in a systematic review of evidence in 2017


Does it lead to an increase in heart attacks? This paper reviews the evidence and finds the total amount is unchanged but the timing differs

How about health overall?

Does Daylight Saving Time Really Make Us Sick?”Jin, Lawrence; Ziebarth, Nicolas R. IZA Discussion Paper No. 9088. 2015.
comprehensively studies the health effects of Daylight Saving Time using data from the US and hospital admissions from Germany over one decade they find that when the clocks are put back by one hour effectively extending sleep duration for the sleep deprived by one hour, population health slightly improves for about four days.

This study focusing on depression however found more incidence in the Fall with shorter daylight hours. there was an 11% increase over a period of the first 10 weeks


Finally did Benjamin Franklin invent the practice? find out some fun history in this article from the Smithsonian

Air pollution kills- get some academic facts

This week there have been reports air pollution in cities is causing ill health and even deaths.
A report by by King’s and UK100, a network of local leaders, shows that hundreds of children and adults are suffering out-of-hospital provides evidence of heart attacks , asthma attacks and strokes on days when air pollution levels are higher in nine major cities across England. It forms part of the  
Personalising The Health Impacts Of Air Pollution projectIndeed this week Aa recent study commissioned by the London Mayor found that children walking to school by major roads were exposed to high levels of air pollution

Other sources on air pollution in London Include: 

London Assembly Committee reports on health and the environment
City of London reports on air quality. Includes a strategy and monitoring reports.
London Councils has reports on projects in individual London boroughs. they also have this useful report on demystifying air pollution in London
Londonair is the website of the London Air Quality Network (LAQN), and shows air pollution in London and south east England. It is run the Environmental Research Group of King's College London. It has a live update of air quality in London now as well as data and cumulative reports.

In the UK as a whole,  a 2016 report  published by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, discussed the lifelong impact of air pollution found Each year in the UK, around 40,000 deaths are attributable to exposure to outdoor air pollution

on a worldwide scale the WHO has a global Ambient Air quality database

it also has data on mortality rates and disease from air pollution

Fuller discussion is available in this 2018 paper

Does a healthy diet cost more? links for World Food Day

World Food day is 16th October
See the FAO official website for details of this year's theme on healthy diet
UNICEF The State of the World’s Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition 
in terms of the UK they refer to children in a swamp of obesity.
OECD has recently published a report
The Heavy Burden of Obesity The Economics of Prevention
 Using microsimulation modelling, this book analyses the burden of obesity and overweight in 52 countries (including OECD, European Union and G20 countries), showing how overweight reduces life expectancy, increases healthcare costs, decreases workers' productivity and lowers GDP.
On this topic

Do people eat junk food because it is cheaper?

A systematic review of literature published in 2013
Do healthier foods and diet patterns cost more than less healthy options? A systematic review and meta-analysis of 27 studies from 10 countries did provide some evidence especially in terms of meat that healthier options were more expensive.

longitudinal study in UK found prices of healthy  foods rose quicker than healthier on 94 items 

The Growing Price Gap between More and Less Healthy Foods: Analysis of a Novel Longitudinal UK Dataset Nicholas R. V. Jones, Annalijn I. Conklin, Marc Suhrcke,
Pablo Monsivais

 In 2017 the same CEDAR research centre  found that cost of meeting the recommended dietary intake for  fruit and vegetables, oily fish, sugars, fat, saturated fat and salt  was between 3% and 17% more expensive.than other alternatives.

However there have been some disputes about metrics used to calculate costs . This IEA discussion paper from 2017 found the margins were  small. But as others have discussed factors such as time and access to healthy food outlets can also be key 

A government report obesity and the environment found a link between the number of fast food  outlets, child obesity and socio-economic background. Poorer people were likely to live near more fast food shops and to be overweight. It has an interesting map from 2016 showing the geographical spread of fast food outlets.

Queens Speech- was it a farce - get our free links to academic analysis

BBC politics coverage
Guardian politics live coverage

why is it important? BBC primer
Parliament details on the State opening of Parliament
Institute for Government explainers on carry over legislation.
more detailed information on possible content House of Commons Library briefing.
Constitution Unit comment on timing.


Guardian analysis of the content of the speech
Labour Party response
Jo Swinson response
SNP response
CBI Response
Federation of Small Businesses response
science centre - science reaction.
Joseph Rowntree Response

Extinction Rebellion - get some facts on arrests and policing

This week Extinction Rebellion have been involved in climate change protests.

Find out their aims and objectives on their official website. It has videos and photos and daily London Rebellion newsletters.

But how large are the protests?
Extinction Rebellion has compiled facts from official data on number of arrests and costs to policing on its website
It was compiled using this FOI request to the Met police on costs and levels of staffing of the April 2019 protests. interestingly it includes:over 73,000 in catering costs.

How does this compare with other protests? Interesting FOI from Darren Watts considers this with by asking for data on police numbers and arrests from 2 other protests in April 2019.

how does it compare with arrest for other offences.
Police crime figures are issued regularly which record total crime and crime by offence, race and gender
The Home Office publish arrest statistics within their annual Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics releases. Table A_03 from the tables published alongside their most recent publication covering year ending March 2018 provides a breakdown of arrests by offence type, compared with the year previous.It has the category public order which includes protests and enables some comparison with theft and violence.

 For legal guidance on the rules for arrests during protests see the CPS website.

World Mental Health Day - find out why it is important for students

Find out why this is important

in reports published today the Samaritans found that poor middle aged men need more support. Men who are less well-off are up to 10 times more likely to die by suicide than more well-off men.


what about students.?

In2018 the Mental Health Foundation felt there was a crisis in universities.

this recent post by the LSE Impact blog highlights the burn out often felt by researchers and research students

Student minds has recent reports and surveys of Uk based students and mental health, It has strategies and recommendations for universities.

Universities UK guidance on student suicide prevention.

Check out our recent posting on suicide - who is at risk and how to prevent it. and read this letter of hope from the Mental Health Foundation

China 70th anniversary of communist rule

the official website has an English language section which discusses the anniversary
official news coverage

News coverage
BBC 
Guardian newspaper
CNN graphics
Wall Street Journal


Analysis
World Bank data and reports on Chinese economic growth
Brookings Institution
RUSI China
Council on Foreign Relations
Carnegie Endowment
Chatham House

Human rights analysis
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch China
Asian Human Rights Commission.
Human rights in China includes: The China Human Rights Biweekly is a Chinese online publication

Thomas Cook get some facts and history with our free resources

Shocking news about the failure of renowned travel firm Thomas Cook.

The Civil Aviation Authority has set up a site on the administration

The home page of Thomas Cook has been taken down but archived versions including company news and history can be viewed via the Internet archive.

Statista has a clear infographic to the fall in share price of the company from 2010-2018

Thomas Cook history

Interestingly it is tied with temperance as the first tour in 1841 was chartering a train to take a group of temperance campaigners 11 miles from Leicester to a rally in Loughborough, It became a nationalised company in 1948 along with the railways becoming part of the British Transport Commission. not being de-nationalised until 1972. It began promoting foreign holidays (particularly Italy, Spain and Switzerland) in the early 1950s

Historic clippings about Thomas Cook from the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Examples of historic guide books produced by the Company in the 19th and 20th centuries via Haithi Trust. they include the full text of a guide for the traveller to Venice in the 1870s.

 Foreign Travel- who travels abroad? 

According to Statista most Europeans dont holiday abroad

ONS has data on foreign travel and tourism

it includes annual datasets which show a general decline in foreign travel.

Eurostat has data on tourism trends and destinations of Europeans

Snapshots of international tourism trends can be obtained from the WTO website

Does help to buy - help only the rich?

According to newspaper reports. Help to buy loans have benefited the rich more than the poor. Over 5,000 earning over 80,000 got loans to buy their own home.
Indeed the Public Accounts Committee recent report found  "Around three-fifths of buyers who took part in the scheme did not need its support to buy a property" See also their progress review pages.
NAO has considered whether it pushes up house prices.
for further facts see official UK government statistics.
Which? comment

Shelter housing policy library resources.

New Economic Foundation comment

More generally IFS discusses the barriers to home ownership amongst young people.

it is also worth consulting this data on average earnings to house prices ratio to get insight into potential problems.

some commentators believe it has increased home ownership amongst the young. But also significant is the Bank of mum and dad

 Lucian Cook, residential research director at estate agent Savills, said purchases made with Help to Buy came to about 48,000 in 2018, of which 39,000 were first-time buyers.
The English Home Survey has time series data on home ownership and renting

Which country is the most peaceful?

The 21st September is International Day of Peace. The 2019 theme is climate action for peace and the website has a number of resolutions and other resources relating to this.

but on a more general theme here are some resources on the state of peace in the world.

Which is the most peaceful country in the World?
the Global Peace Index 2019 ranks Iceland. Find out why by consulting its methodology. The index has been produced annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace since 2007. It ranks over 160 nations according to their levels of peacefulness.

What peacekeeping operations is the UN involved in and how effective are they?
Global Peace Operations review
annual survey of UN peacekeeping operations.
Data on UN peace keeping operations including number of personnel, gender and budgets. Maintained by New York University Center for International Cooperation. Also includes analysis articles and news stories.
the official United Nations website has some good infographics on statistics. They include women in peacekeeping. There is also a more detailed data section with  reports on current missions and data on all deployments since 1949.

Historical information on peacekeeping missions

SIPRI Multilateral Peace Operations Database contains information on all peace keeping missions UN and non UN since 2000

Free peace treaties.

Margarita S. Studemeister Digital Collections in International Conflict Management

maintained by the United States Institute for Peace (USIP)containsa  a peace agreements collection which has the text of all major documents ending civil and inter-state wars since 1989; 

UCDP Conflict Encyclopedia
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program offers free access to this searchable database which has detailed descriptions of  armed conflicts, peace agreements, state and non-state violence covering over 40 years . You can  country files, visualise the data and download.

Uk Government spending round - free academic links so you can get the facts

4th September the chancellor announced the latest Uk spending round
HM treasury has the official documents


UK House of Commons Library has an introduction to public spending.

Transcripts will be made available later in the day on Hansard
LSE members can watch archived materials (since 1997) via the Box of Broadcasts service 
The Office for Budget Responsibility has  economic outlooks and analysis of public spending  on its website


News analysis
BBC
Telegraph
Guardian


Analysis
IFS
Institute for Government   they include predictions.
ICAEW


Deloitte spending review analysis
PWC 


Industry briefings
CBI
ADASS social Care

lobby/ stakeholders.
National Housing Federation
St Mungos- homelessness
Local Government Association
Civil Service unions
RCGP doctors letter to chancellor
TUC
women and the Spending review Womens Budget Group
womens organisations letters to the Guardian

Amazon fires get the facts with our free academic research links.

Over the last couple of weeks newspapers have been reporting a dramatic increase in fires in the Amazonian rain forest

Here are some places to get the real facts

The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) has current satellite images which show an increase of over 80% on 2018

World Resources Institute blog has images from NASA and discussion of the trends.

National Geographic magazine has a good English language article which interprets this and other data in English. It also includes good deforestation maps.

Global Fire Emissions database . It includes explorable maps of wildfire size and duration. check dates and methodology on the website.

Global Forest Watch has excellent maps of deforestation and loss in specific countries. The one for Brazil tracks trends. It also has a blog with comment and analysis of recent events.


The FAO produce a general report on the Global State of the Forests this generally covers issues relating to biodiversity and sustainability and forest management in nations worldwide.

Global Forest Information Service. is a collaborative effort of forest-related institutions very good for keeping up to date with news and lists of lots of publications.

What is prorogation? find out more with our links.

This week
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to MPs outlining his plans to ask for a suspension of Parliament in the first half of September

but what is prorogation?

BBC FAQ with questions from readers

Guardian newspaper guide

 Institute for Government explainer

UK in a changing Europe explainer

UK Parliament historical guide to past and modern practice.

2019 and the Brexit link

Channel 4 factcheck on the current situation - is it normal?

 Institute for Government discussion.

UK Constitutional Law Association Blog

responses.

Jeremy Corbyn 

his twitter accounts has a number of statements and responses 

 as does Jo Swinson  including statements from libdems

Nicola Sturgeon statement

Are school holidays bad for you?

In July the Reading Agency published a survey of parents which showed that 40% felt stress and anxiety at the thought of holidays,

Travelling stress

long haul flight and aircraft travel is presented as a physical and mental health risk in the WHO international Travel guide 2012

In 2010, the journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life published a study where researchers in the Netherlands found most people were not happier after a vacation. Approximately 1,500 adults were questioned about their happiness before and after travel, and for the average vacation, people reported no change in happiness especially if they had long stressful travel experiences.

Psychologist has an article which summarises psychological research on how to make holidays from the office work

Search for more on psycnet (abstracts and some full text)

and Pubmed for medical articles

Learning loss

there are some studies on the impact of long breaks on childhood learning

NFER has conducted research on possible impact of school calendar changes on children staff and parents.

search for more research papers on education using NFER

and ERIC to find high quality articles and reports.

Financial costs

Coram Family and Childcare annual Holiday Childcare Survey,found that the average price of £138 a week for holiday childcare –would cost parents £800 for the six weeks of summer

for some this is too great and without school meals food banks may be relied on. the Trussell Trust reported. 87,496 food parcels went to children in the UK during the summer holidays in 2018

in 2015 Northumbria University conducted research for a Kelloggs
the report on isolation and hunger revealed the reality of long school holidays for poor families

in 2018 the Childhood Trust summarised the horrors of summer holidays for poor children in London covering hunger, lack of activity and learning loss.
this was echoed also by a CPAG Scotland report on the experiences of low income families
the impact of these poor experiences may also have an impact on long term mental health of adolescents according to a recent survey from a research team in Wales.

Indeed the Work and Pensions Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into holiday poverty

Finally school holidays will be ending soon. whether you are glad or not. see how the Uk compares with other European nations in this report . Figure 3 places UK in the group with less than 7 weeks summer break. there are some with more than 11!

G7 - what is it ? what does it achieve?

This week the recent G& summit was in the news.

the G7/G8 information centre is a great starting point for background facts on what they are and do.
It has a full index of summits, with delegations and transcripts relating to major decisions.
Council on Foreign Relations also recently published a background document on G7 involvement in multilateralism

Biarritz summit official documents from G7 information centre
Official French government website
UK government press releases on meetings during the summit.
EU activities

Responses.
IISD knowledge hub- International Institute Sustainable Development

 critiques include G& alternatives

Academic research

the conversation - academic comment

G7 research group is an excellent starting point for tracing the latest academic research . The website of the G7 Information Centre also has feeds from their latest research and links to older titles.

World Humanitarian day 2019

19th August is celebrated as World Humanitarian Day. 2019 is remembering the contribution of women humanitarian aid workers.

On the official website read 24 stories of the different women make

UN Women has a useful infographic and page on why we need to close the gender gap in humanitarian action

and International Rescue Comittee and G7 members signed an open letter 
letter to world leaders calling for more money, more expertise, and more efforts to ensure women and girls are better protected in the midst of the global crisis of displacement.
women as aid workers.
What problems do they face?
This 2017 report from Action Aid focused on women workers in 'surge' operations

Care 2017 report She is a humanitarianWomen’s participation in humanitarian action drawing on global trends and evidence from Jordan and the Philippines argued women are often seen as victims rather than first attenders

This was recently echoed in a multi agency 2019 paper. Women’s and girls’ rights and agency in humanitarian action A life-saving priority

Other problems relate to sexual violence against women aid workers. Humanitarian Outcomes produced regular aid security reports. the 2019 edition focuses on protecting against sexual violence

to find more useful articles try searching

Women Deliver database

ALNAP Library search the help library

Peterloo anniversary resources

It is the 200th Anniversary of the Peterloo massacre

On 16th August 1819, 60,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Field in Manchester to peacefully demand the reform of parliamentary representation. Around 700 were injured when the yeomanry and cavalry charged the crowd. This came to be known as the Peterloo Massacre. and is seen as a symbol of fight for public protest
here are a few resources for academic research

Contemporary accounts.

Historic editions of Hansard can be used to get a sense of the political background at the time and the threat that was felt from events such as the French revolution causing uprisings in the Uk.

Lord Sidmouth suspended the right to Habeas Corpus on 24th Feb 1817.

Henry Hunt's petition against suppression of Mass meetings was also made on this days (scroll down the page) to see his view that the authorities saw all mass meetings as seditious and a threat.

Peterloo witness project

has transcribed over 350 witness accounts from eyewitnesses. these were taken from trials and coroners reports.

They include the trial of orator Henry Hunt the speaker at the event

Inquest into John Lees

the testimony of Martha Kearsley at the inquest displays treatment of the crowd and also concerns about how female and other witnesses were spoken to at formal inquests and inquiries subsequently.

Indeed ion 15th May 1821 concerns were raised in parliament by Sir Francis Burdett that a full investigation had not taken place and it ought to.
Contemporary reaction can also be gauged in the publication of satirical pamphlets such as the famous Who killed Cock Robin
there were also cartoons and satire. by figures such as Cruikshank. Some images of some good examples on the British Library website. the BL also has some digitised newspaper cuttings with responses.

Primary source websites

Peterloo 1819 has an interactive timeline maps and transcribed victims accounts,
Manchester University has digitised a number of items including. It includes a full run of the radical newspaper, the Manchester Observer and the Peterloo Relief Fund book. Recognised by UNESCO on the UK Memory of the World Register, it lists names, addresses and injuries of those caught up in the massacre and monies received.
Peoples Museum Manchester has an online exhibition on protest with images of some of their items from its collections and discussion of the Peterloo story.
National Archives has an online teaching resource covering protest 1818-1820 which has marvellous online images of original documents including government reports and manuscripts as well as prints.

Women at Peterloo.

History Workshop has called for more research on female political reformers.
Mary Fildes and other key women from the Manchester Female reform society were in the crowd. The Peoples Museum has a section to give a brief overview
Royal Holloway college has this youtube video on the petition of Mary Fildes to parliament
it forms part of a wider MOOC course.on FutureLearn
The Manchester university digital collection has satirical comment from the Manchester comet which shows how female reformers were viewed
The National Archives has an open letter written in July 1819 to a Manchester newspaper The Manchester Female Reformers’ Address

Should sexist adverts be banned?

This week the first prosecutions were made against adverts considered sexist by the new ASA code on gender stereotyping See which adverts were penalised in this press report from the Guardian

The Advertising Standards Authority website has the full text of the code and guidelines.


Responses to the guidelines include

the Fawcett society which feels that it doesnt go far enough

and the IEA which feels the ASA has no right to get involved.

The original decision to implement the guidelines was based on an ASA research report.
It was based on this research report which showed the harm done by sexist stereotypes in advertising. the page has some very good resources including qualitative research which has examples of specific adverts.
AdReaction: Getting Gender Right - a report by Kantar in 2019 shows that while the ad industry believes both women and men are being depicted as positive role models, women in particular are portrayed in outdated ways. A telling quote is that 'Almost all (99%) of UK ads for laundry products are targeted at women, while 70% of ads for toiletries and food products are aimed at women. However, in most UK households both genders are equally involved in decision-making in most categories; when it comes to groceries 93% of women and 87% of men consider themselves a ‘main buyer’. This over-simplistic targeting approach results in lost opportunities to connect meaningfully with consumers.'


For further information on this topic try.UnStereotype Alliance Convened by UN Women, Unstereotype Alliance includes industry representatives but has a good collection of research reports.

Today is left handers day - see some social science research

Today it is Lefthanders day The club website has some fun facts

Here are some facts for social scientists

How many left handed people are there?

Estimates vary. According to Vuoksimaa E., Koskenvuoa M., Rosea R.J., Kaprio J. 2009. “Origins of Handedness: A Nationwide Study of 30,161 Adults.” Neuropsychologia 1294–1301.
Roughly 12 % of humans are left-handed, with somewhat higher rates among males than females

however according to Medland, Sarah E., Ira Perelle, Veronica De Monte, and Lee Ehrman. 2004. “Effects of Culture,Sex, and Age on the Distribution of Handedness:An Evaluation of the Sensitivity of Three Measures of Handedness.” Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition 9(3): 287–97. There can be social reasons why people are not recognised as left handed including whether a formal system of writing is in place. . In some countries stigma remains against left handed people. indeed 16% Nigerians reported attempts to switch their handedness earlier in life

likewise a 2006 study found cultural and environmental pressure against left-hand preference in urban and semi-urban Malawi.

Is it linked with intelligence?

According to Ntolka E , Papadatou-Pastou M . 2018
Right-handers have negligibly higher IQ scores than left-handers: Systematic review and meta-analyses.

search for more examples of links between handedness and health/ creativity and intelligence

using Pubmed

APA Psychnet  (Psychology free version  note many universities provide free access to full text subscription versions)

Is it linked with lower wages?

In The Wages of Sinistrality: Handedness,Brain Structure, and Human Capital Accumulation. Joshua Goodman in 2014 considers thew evidence

also useful is a working paper 

The economic consequences of being left-handed: some sinister results
Kevin Denny and Vincent O'Sullivan IFS Working Paper W06/07 which reveals that female left handed people are paid less.

Also on this topic. Christopher S. Ruebeck & Joseph E. Harrington, Jr & Robert Moffitt, 1997. "Handedness and Earnings," Economics Working Paper Archive 533, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics, revised Jun 2004.

search for further examples on Repec 

Today is International Cat day - check out some social science research

International Cat Day was created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Here are some links for social scientists to find out more about cats

How many people own cats in the UK?

According to the Pet Food Manufacturers Association Pet Population report, in 2019 approx 40% of British households had a pet - that is 7.5 million cats  from 17% of households. their website also has regional breakdowns

For details of ownership among adolescents see this thesis from University of St Andrews in 2016

PDSA has also conducted annual YouGov polls to produce pet ownership data. They estimate that since 2011 25% of household s have had a pet and the minimum monthly cost is £70. The report also has questions on what cats are frightened of (51% vacuum cleaner!) how many are obese and how many food bowls they own!

Vet Compass from the Royal Veterinary College also has demographic data on cat ownership including microchipping and insurance. It also has information on prevalence of diseases

The MORE TH>N Future of Pet Ownership Report commissioned by RSA insurance Group

revealed from its survey (check site for methodology) approx £100 spend per month on each cat in 2018.  41% of cat owners felt their cat improved their lifestyle more than other humans

On a global scale from downloading the GFK survey . remember to check the methodology! in its 2016 survey of 22 nations it found 23% had a cat compared to 43% no pet, 33% a dog.Top owners of cats were Russia 57%

Does owning a cat benefit your health?

The power of support from companion animals for people living with mental health problems: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the evidence, Brooks et al (2018)
Found 17 articles for owners of cats and dogs. results were mixed "Qualitative studies illuminated the intensiveness of connectivity people with companion animals reported, and the multi-faceted ways in which pets contributed to the work associated with managing a mental health condition, particularly in times of crisis. The negative aspects of pet ownership were also highlighted, including the practical and emotional burden of pet ownership and the impact of grief at the loss of a pet"

However well reported in the USA were the results from the General Social Survey which found dog owners to be much happier than cat owners!

A recent survey of posts on social media and instagram explored whether the owners looked happier than non pet owners. controlling for race, gender and family.

Other recent studies have found owning a pet in childhood reduces risks of allergies

Exploring the differences between pet and non-pet owners: Saunders 2017 found that while cat owners in US (Califormia) were more likely to be white, female and older it was difficult to trace any health conditions relating to pets

Certainly many people treat pets like members of the family. Indeed

An exploration of the relationship between owner and cat was published in Plos in 2019 which likened it to a parent child relationship and mentioned an impact on the well being of the cat according to the personality of the owner.

Human trafficking - is there a problem? Check out our facts

30th July was World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. The official UN website provides background on the need for the day and related United Nations publications.

UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 provides data on types, victims and regional flows. It records that '70 per cent of the detected trafficking victims worldwide are female.The share of domestic victims, persons trafficked within their own country, among those detected has more than doubled from 27 per cent in 2010 to 58 per cent in 2016


Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage The International Labour Organization's latest report on Human Trafficking.Published in 2017 it focussed upon focus on two main issues: forced labour and forced marriage.

The Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative intends to provide a worldwide gateway to statistical dataon  human trafficking. supported by the IOM.  publishing harmonized data from counter-trafficking organizations around the world. Launched in November 2017

Trafficking in Persons report - published by the US government surveys efforts by governments worldwide to combat trafficking. There is also an American national service

National Human Trafficking Hotline Statistics (USA)

End Slavery Now is a US based organisation but its website contains campaign materials, news and links to reports which are international in scope.

Human Trafficking Search is the flagship project of the O.L. Pathy Family Foundation (OLP). This private foundation has blogs news and a library of resources.

UK situation.

The Human Trafficking Foundation grew out of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery it comprises membership of NGOs, civil society, Includes details of the problem, policy efforts.

The National Crime Agency- collects statistics 

Video games - the good news

This week a British teenager won almost a million in championships of the the computer game Fortnite.

So what other good news can we find in evidence of the positive aspects of gaming.
in a 2014 article
Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69, 66-78. summarise the evidence in favour of playing and call for future research. they focus specifically on mental health advantages.


Cognitive and emotional skills


Video Games for Well-Being: A Systematic Review on the Application of Computer Games for Cognitive and Emotional Training in the Adult Population (2018) reviewed evidence from 35 studies which found benefits.

A 2017 systematic review - Neural Basis of Video Gaming: A Systematic Review reviewed 116 articles. it looked for evidence of neural change and impact of playing. Including evidence of adverse effects. It found some impacts on: regarding attention, cognitive control, visuospatial skills, cognitive workload, and reward processing


Better spatial cognition

Bediou, B., et al (2018). Meta-analysis of action video game impact on perceptual, attentional, and cognitive skills. Psychological Bulletin, 44, 77-110. found that domains of top-down attention and spatial cognition, were enhanced.

Creativity.


Moffatt (2017) found links between certain types of creativity including flexibility and the playing of games.


Intelligence


Exploring the relationship between video game expertise and fluid intelligence
Athanasios V. Kokkinakis (2017)


for further references to articles on video games learning and intelligence try searching ERIC


However for others they cause harm

According to the latest classification of mental health diseases IC 11 from the World Health Organisation. Gaming is listed as an addiction.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) 2016 update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) also listed gaming as a disorder in a recent update


Search Pubmed to find further articles on the medical/ cognitive aspects of gaming