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