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