The men will get their freedom.. I only want to ask them to consider others. Nancy Astor- maiden speech - some free facts

"The men will get their freedom. I do not want to rob them of anything that is good. I only want to ask them to consider others"
This formed part of the maiden speech of Nancy Astor the first woman MP to sit in the House of Commons. It was delivered on 24th February 1924 on the topic of the restriction of alcohol during the Liquor Traffic Restrictions debate


The House of Commons has a transcript from the speech from Hansard

It also has a 6 minute film about her impact and importance plus a general factual leaflet with an introduction to her career

Plus some digitised key documents on her contributions. they include letters, manuscripts and photos

Her full papers are held by the University of Reading. They have created an Astor100 feature which they are developing . It includes a 2019 presentation by Dr J. Turner Nancy Astor: First Steps Towards a Better Balanced World


Finally hear from Nancy Astor herself in this fascinating 1959 interview from the BBC Archive.

Coronavirus crisis

Public Health England great resource finding the Evidence.



Chatham House audio briefing impact on China's economy and reputation.

Australia's export exposure to China's coronavirus epidemic Centre for Independent Studies

Kaiser Family Foundation poll on USA public awareness of virus.

Pancake day for social scientists

Today is Shrove Tuesday . For many people it is also pancake day

BBC History magazine has a basic history to the traditions and why we eat pancakes


In 2017 a YouGov survey of 5,000 people found that the favourite topping was lemon and sugar

other polls on this topic included the percentage who know how to make a pancake from scratch!


Shrove Tuesday traditions.

To se manuscripts, music and song notes from traditional English folklore try searching the Vaughan Williams library and Full English resource. An example is this Pancake song collected in 1908 by Cecil Sharpe in Devon.

Another gem is Shrove Tuesday When men go to plough

Pancake races are another tradition. Olney has a famous race

Pathe news reels has some marvellous short films of this including one from 1927 with the running women in aprons

BFI Player also has some fun amateur films like this one from 1960 of children scrabbling for a pancake

For some recipes

A few good examples are in the Womens Library LSE digital Library. The Queen-like Closet by Hannah Woolley from 17th century Has a fascinating collection if you search. These include a Sussex pancake

Countrey Contentments, or the English Huswife - Page: 66also has some advice on making the best pancake . Take a look at the spellings!

for a different alternative

BFI player has an iconic Findus pancakes advert from 1981!
Or try the BBC fun quiz what does your pancake say about you!

London Fashion Week - what is the value of fashion? Some resources for social scientists

This week is London Fashion Week

Vogue has a history of the origins and show that have made up its recent history

What is the value of fashion ?

In 2018 British Fashion Council released some data about London fashion week including
20,000 cups of espresso served and 200kg of Lavazza coffee consumed

For information on the Impact on social media see the Blooming Flower conversation project which has some interesting visualisations

Direct value of the UK fashion industry to the UK economy was calculated as nearly £21 billion in a report commissioned by the British Fashion Council published in 2010


The Creative Industries website also has data. these include value of UK fashion reports

General employment and regional trends for all the creative industries.

On a global scale Mckinsey offers reports in to the international fashion industry trends


What about the negative impact of fashion?

WRAP has revealed the negative impact of fast fashion on the environment. The valuing our clothes report 2017 revealed that '1,130,000 tonnes of new clothing was purchased in the UK – an increase of 200,000 tonnes since 2012. Fashion in the UK lasts an average of 3.3 years before a garment is discarded.'

WRAP has started an industry sustainable textiles campaign

Other negative areas include: the wages and conditions of workers. The Clean Clothes campaign has details of conditions in developing countries

The Common Objective arose from the Ethical Fashion Forum and discusses ethical practices and campaigns from members in the fashion industry. It includes some interesting reports on the global impact of the fashion industry

Reality TV ? does it harm mental health some academic sources

With the recent death of Love Island reality TV presenter Caroline Flack

we have been reminded that a number of contestants on the show have tragically died in similar circumstances.

What is the evidence about reality TV and its impact on mental health?


The Mental Health Foundation has a good posting from 2019 which summarises areas of concern relating to the welfare of the contestants and the impact on the body image and self esteem of the audience. It has called for a greater duty of care


Indeed the Digital media and Culture committee has heard evidence during a 2019 a public inquiry into Reality TV. This includes submissions from broadcasters on what they do to safeguard.

Care of contestants is an issue. John Oates Chair of the British Psychological Society Media Ethics Advisory Group and member of the Society's Ethics Committee has discussed the psychology on the Conversation blog

ITV has issued duty of care processes in relation to Love Island

regulator Ofcom has also made statements

Impact on viewers


A recent Guardian survey revealed body anxiety worries were often triggered by viewing love island style programmes
On the Young Mind Blogs teenagers have also considered the issue

and the USA Girl Scouts surveys have also raised concerns.

Looking for academic articles on social media and metal health ? Psycnet from the APA offers a free basic search that enables abstracts to be viewed

medical and some mental health articles can be traced on Pubmed
These include systematic reviews
























https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851

Valentines Day for social scientists

For the economist
Consider how much people spend on Valentines Day

National Retail Federation (USA)

Gives the data that in 2020 American consumers are expected to spend $196 up 30% to 2019. One of the fastest rising markets is gifts for pets! 27% of those who celebrate buy a gift for pet. Get further details from the website!

They have a very good data resources center.

with gift trends and demographics of those who but. Find out who is the most generous.!
for the UK. Statista has data. Remember to check the methodology of any surveys.
they quote a Savvy survey of shoppers on what they spend and what they hope to get

Ibisworld has a good infographic on spending in 2019
£391 million on eating out and £62 million on cards
Search SSRN papers to find examples of economic articles on the topic.

For social historians and romantics
Some great examples of historic cards can be found on many online libraries and museums
You can search the V&A Collections database to get a taste
The NYPL gallery has some cute examples
BBC history magazine has a short potted history to the celebrations
V&A showcases some of its Victorian examples

however for a different side use the Postal Museum site to see some vinegar valentines you certainly wont want to receive!

Is Britain fair if you are Black? some academic research on FTSE boards and more.

According to a review released this week  more than 30% of FTSE 100 companies do not have a BAME Black board member
Read the full facts in the EY Parker review 2020 report 
it is an update to an earlier 2016 Parker report on ethnic diversity on boards. Read the full text to compare trends
Also at the end of 2019 the Green Park review of leadership in Uk companies found that while inequality was dreasing by gender fro BAME . "For BAME leaders, progress has been slower and more inconsistent. At the very top of the FTSE 100 companies, there has been no improvement since 2014, with representation stuck at around 3%. At wider Board level, progress has been limited at around two percentage points and actually went into reverse over the last 12 months among both NEDs and Executive Directors"

What percentage of the UK population are black? 

Get data on this from the UK census
and the Ethnicity facts  webpage maintained by the Uk government

Are they over represented in poor lower grade jobs?

The ONS produces data on employment type by ethnic group 4 times per year in its labour market reports. It also has this useful summary of facts and figures on unemployment by ethnic group which shows that BAME groups are much more likely to be unemployed than the white population.

Race in the workplace: The McGregor-Smith Review in 2017
Independent review by Baroness McGregor-Smith considering the issues affecting black and minority ethnic (BME) groups in the workplace concluded that "There is discrimination and bias at every stage of an individual’s career, and even before it begins".

What about other areas of life

Do Black people get a bad deal?
The only conclusion according to the Racial Disparity  Audit of 2017 is yes. This is ma simplified statement of several facts from a complex report, but findings include: "Relative to the UK population overall, people living in households headed by someone in the Asian, Black or Other ethnic groups were disproportionately likely to be on a low income. Almost half of households in these ethnic groups had incomes in the bottom 40% nationally before housing costs were taken into account."

Key sites for tracing policy documents include:
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Runnymede Trust publish reports holding the government to account.
Institute of Race Relations research on race and public policy
they produce a calendar of of  racism and resistance
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe

What is HS2 and will it cost the earth? selected academic resources.

The cost of the HS2 high speed rail link has filled the newspapers recently.
But what are the academic facts?

Get started with this basic BBC primer on the route

Basic information and maps of the route can be found on the UK government website
the site also includes reports, legislation and policy documents
The Lord's Economic committee also called for a rethink in may 2019
A government review is ongoing.
A recent report 
 Review of High Speed 2 – Dissenting Report by Lord Tony Berkeley concluded that. "HS2 is the wrong and expensive solution to ‘making it faster and easier to travel for work and leisure2"

In October 2019 the free market think tank Adam Smith Institute called for a rethink
other opponents setting out the case against on economic and social terms are the HS2 Action Alliance who argue any benefits in terms of jobs will be for London not elsewhere.
Stop HS2 has links to other critiques plus polls of the poll against the scheme

Good summaries on the background to the proposals can be found on the House of Commons website.
High Speed 2: the business case, costs and spending is from June 2019 High Speed 2 (HS2) Phase 2a July 2019 provides general information on the proposed high-speed rail line between London and the North of England (HS2). Specifically the West Midlands and Crewe. It gives a brief overview of the scheme, its costs, compensation arrangements and the Bill which would give statutory and planning authority for the construction of Phase 2a of the scheme 

Recent academic articles and discussion on this topic can be found on the Conversation blog
The Engineer also publishes discussion on this topic