'After the Riots' report looking at the August 2011 disturbances

Hello. Sorry for the long silence due to moving house, and thank you to those of you who wished us well. That's awfully sweet of you.

I'm breaking blogging silence to share the new report which was published today looking into the causes of the riots from August 2011. I think this one is for any student who is studying anything with the word 'social' in there somewhere! It's published by the Riots Communities and Victims Panel, an independent group put together by the Government, and I think it's not unfair to say that it's fired a few debates already.

The report broadly cites parental shortcomings, disenfranchisement of young people in society, educational exclusion and a suspicion of authority as contributing factors to the UK's worst street disturbances since 1995.

The subsequent debates seem to be focusing around the broadness of some of the findings. The first 16 minutes of Newsnight from yesterday is quite illuminating on this and can be viewed here. I've been looking at how the right and left wing media have been picking what they want from the report to back up their own views. Logging into Newsbank UK and searching for the report is the easiest way to do this.

Anyway, all those things aside the main report on the riots can be found here. Any comments or questions you have will always be welcome.

I'm moving house this week.

I'm only telling you this because it means that I won't be in work or blogging until mid-March at the earliest.
It did cross my mind to try and link moving house with some research on stress and anxiety, but as I've discovered again today, moving house is more stressful than writing dissertations, having children and being an Arsenal fan by a mile and a half. My advice would be stay where you are forever.

If you need any urgent help in the immediate future you can see if one of my colleagues is free to offer advice. Their contact details are here. We all offer similar help so you'll be well looked after.

Clare's Law update.

There was a 5 minute discussion on the Today programme yesterday detailing the ongoing debate to bring into being 'Clare's Law', which proposes that women will be able to conduct background checks on potential partners to see whether they have previous convictions for domestic abuse.

The programme link here will work for 7 days so don't delay if you're interested in this issue.

If you'd like some extra background info on this whole debate the Guardian had a good piece on the whole issue yesterday. You can read it from here.

New report into care and the elderly

A new NHS report called 'Delivering Dignity' has been released today and unsurprisingly has been garnering quite a bit of press. It's an investigation looking at how the elderly are being treated in both hospital and care home settings. I expect you'll be more interested in the care home side of things, although I shouldn't make assumptions.

Anyway, the report is available from here but bear in mind this is just an interim version. When the full version is published I'll be sure to share it with you.

Finally, if you are working on any assignments relating to the elderly as a vulnerable group in society (hint, hint)  this may be particularly useful new piece of new research to use.

Proud and Prejudiced.

Channel 4 are broadcasting Proud and Prejudiced tonight at 10pm, the everyday story of two extremist groups, diametrically opposed in their views who just happen to share a town-Luton.

I really wasn't sure whether to post about this or not, but even if the programme can't be referenced for any particular assignment this is an issue that surely affects everybody in Luton, no matter what your political and religious beliefs.

If this post doesn't arrive before 10pm (sometimes emails are delayed by Feedburner, for some reason) and you can't watch it live, here is a link to 4od where you'll be able to watch it online from tomorrow.

Thomas's impressions of a university library.

You'll need to forgive me this one as this is a very self-indulgent post. I promise the next message will be all about academic gubbins.

Thomas, my 10 year-old, was asked to write a piece for his creative writing lesson at school and he decided to imagine what the atmosphere is like within the library at UoB. Below is his piece...

As I enter the university, noises collapse upon me, like a stack of bricks unbalanced. People hurrying to lessons and lectures like little mites in a mound. Left, right and centre coffee shops stand, people nattering away to friends without a care in the world.

Complex works of incredible humane art, showing just how small we are in the size of the weird and wonderful world we live in. Lecturers babbling pointlessly away on subjects with and without meaning.

The endless libraries with countless pages being turned create a tuneless orchestra of infinite sound. From within offices there is the sound of fingers tip-tapping on keyboards, not unlike the sound created when a hamster nibbles on a sunflower seed.

Countless pens scribbling on paper, shaping their lives with ink. This is a place of infinite possibility.


I hope you liked that. I think I prefer his idealised version of the library to reality. And any lecturers reading this - I have never suggested to him that there's any babbling going on!

The much delayed welfare system post has arrived

There's a lot to read here but if you're looking for information on welfare systems stay with it-it'll help.

I've been getting a lot of enquiries about the welfare assignment, as I do every year.
So this post points you towards specific resources which may help you tackle what is a tricky assignment.

Firstly, a database that you probably won't have used before called Marketline offers very up to date social information (unemployment rates, economic forecasts, population distribution and social care statistics) on any country you can think of. I've blogged about how to use Marketline before so if you click here it'll take you to my previous instructions. Current statistics are invaluable in getting a good mark for this assignment. We know how fast the economic situation is changing in many countries at present and the research you'll find on Marketline is the most recent reliable data you can get. The reports are big (100 pages isn't unusual) so target the sections of the reports which are looking at social factors.

I also have two specific and quite new e-books I think are worth a recommendation.

The first of these is The Cameron-Clegg government: coalition politics in an age of austerity edited by Simon Lee and Matt Beech. It's from 2011. Chapter 7 is specifically looking at welfare reform so that's where I'd head first.


The second is The welfare state in post-industrial society: a global perspective by Jason Powell and Jon (Joe) Hendricks. It's from 2009. This book is split into two sections; the first half is looking at different issues relating to welfare (aging, immigration, healthcare...) and the second half is examining specific countries and how their welfare systems operate. Just bear in mind that things will have moved on in some countries in the last 2 and a bit years!


What I haven't mentioned yet is how to locate journal articles. From those training sessions I've done with individuals on this assignment, the most common problem is caused by students trying to find journals which compare two or three systems in one perfectly presented article. You're asking for too much! I think you need to separate out your searches and target individual countries (for example, search for "welfare state" or "welfare system" and Australia). Then your job is to compare the findings with whichever countries you decide to target. 


I told you there was a lot to read! Hope it all makes things a bit clearer and at least gives you some new ideas.