Representing Suffering: Global Markets, Migrant Workers and the Morecambe Bay Tragedy
The Morecambe Bay Tragedy occurred on the 5th of February 2004 when a group of Chinese ‘migrant’ cockle pickers set out on the sands of Morecambe Bay to collect the small edible clams – they were to be paid £5...
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The NHS Constitution: What is it good for?
This week saw the launch of a national consultation aimed at updating the NHS Constitution for England, which was implemented in 2009 under Gordon Brown’s Labour Government. The constitution itself sounds wonderful, apparently it “establishes the principles and values of...
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Shared parenting: Can a one-size-fits-all approach actually work?
Catherine (8) and Harriet (9) are sisters who have a shared parenting arrangement. They spend one week living with their mum, step-dad Joe, baby-brother Bobby, and step-brothers Phil and Luke who visit on weekends. The following week they live in...
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Savile: Celebrity, Power and Abuse
As stories continue to emerge about the abuse perpetrated by Jimmy Savile and media reports suggest that other ‘household name’ celebrities are about to be arrested there have been a spate of commentary articles that look back at the 1960s...
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Don’t Take My Baby! Social Care in the Soaps
BBC EastEnders has a reputation for socially realistic gritty drama but recently commentators have been asking if the programme has gone too far. The current story attracting a spate of complaints involves a social work storyline which has caused the...
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Becoming a consumer: who’s got the energy?
Last week’s announcement that the state will force energy companies to provide customers with their cheapest gas and electricity tariffs is interesting for a number of reasons. It seems the policy will require energy companies to notify customers of cheaper...
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Cochlear Implants: Identity politics or the politics of identity?
We were told our son was deaf when he was 22 months old. Immediately after diagnosis we were propelled into the audiology, medical and sensory support systems. Confusing, scary places for parents of a young child, desperate to do the...
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Why a pro-life Northern Ireland depends on a pro-choice UK
Over the past couple of weeks or so the abortion debate has once again flared into life. Newly appointed Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt announced his support for halving the legal limit on abortions to 12 weeks. Then,...
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Exercise: how much is enough?
The last time I met a colleague, let’s call her M, she was sporting a limp and a walking stick. Her evidently painful injury had been sustained as a result of health-promoting exercise. Troubled by her injury M, with the...
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Cookery, Control and Contemporary Displays of Culinary one-up-person-ship…
One of the fascinating aspects of food technology is that the acts of cooking and eating have long been relatively easily readable socio-cultural markers in hierarchical societies. In contemporary British society an interesting facet of this is that the discourse...
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Badgers, TB and Culling Uncertainty?
I have never really been that bothered about badgers – I noticed: the wildlife programs; the cuddly toys; and even that they have a certain cuteness. But other than this I had no strong opinions about badgers. I was then...
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Inspiring a generation….?