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The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of a research evaluation into a Befriending and Re-ablement Service (BARS) which offers a host of positive outcomes such as reduced loneliness and keeping as well as possible for a growing segment of the world’s population. The recent increase in longevity is one of humanity’s great success stories. But ageing comes at a price, and decision takers worry about the stresses and strains of an ageing society.

Following a literature review, this paper presents the findings of an evaluation of an alternative innovative form of support for older people, namely BARS, that has been developed on Merseyside. Semi- and unstructured interviews were carried out with stakeholders including service users and carers. A cost-benefit analysis is also reported. Finally the theoretical and policy implications of this research are explored.

Befriending and re-ablement officers is both a socially and economically cost effective means of enhancing independent living among older people, reducing loneliness and isolation that can contribute to ill health. The research shows that funding for the BARS scheme should be sustained and expanded, despite or because of the current era of cutbacks in UK and international service provision.

The paper highlights the value, role and importance of both befriending and re-ablement in a time of acute public and voluntary sector funding pressures. The paper is of value to a range of stakeholder groups such as older people, local and central governments and health care commissioners.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and assess the sustainability of an emergent West African business quarter in Manchester, UK. Comparisons are drawn with developments among other ethnic groups. The research is placed in the context of international literature on ethnic entrepreneurship.

The research is primarily qualitative, using semi‐structured interviews and conversational life histories with a sample of West African retail businesses and a comparative group of other local businesses. Some use is made of quantitative information from census and other public data sources.

New West African enterprises appear, over the last few years, to have stabilised the declining retail district of Moston Lane in north Manchester. These new businesses are however confined to few sectors: food stores, hair and beauty salons, cafes, Internet cafes and clothing shops. These developments may parallel the success of longer established retail quarters in Manchester and elsewhere. However, most of the businesses may not survive long, having provided a temporary living, and some entrepreneurial experience, for their owners.

Limited sample size and short time frame make results exploratory rather than definitive. The research provides however a base for future investigations.

The businesses studied provide economic opportunities for some immigrants with limited labour market opportunities.

Immigrants are helped to maintain the integrity of their culture through the purchase of appropriate goods and services.

This paper provides the first consideration of a specifically African retail quarter in Britain, adding an additional ethnicity to the roster of identifiable geographic business locations.

Immigrant‐owned business in Britain is reviewed in the light of both cultural and structural economic perspectives. The latter view is emphasised. Concentration in trades which are in decline, or are labour intensive, or both, creates acute competitive pressures which are exacerbated by the growing presence of corporate rivals in many markets. Real and perceived bias on the part of banks helps to limit diversification. Attempts to move away from characteristic activities, both geographically and sectorally, have had only limited impact. Accumulation of class resources holds the greatest promise for entrepreneurial success.

Ageing populations are national and global phenomena. These older residents are likely to be among the most disadvantaged nationally and in comparison with younger neighbours. The benefits of active ageing are attracting attention from policy makers globally, as it is increasingly recognised that age‐friendly cities encourage active ageing. Resources to sustain active ageing are becoming scarce. Older people's health, social activity, needs, aspirations and the barriers to realising them are at the centre of this investigation. The purpose of this paper is to explore inclusion and exclusion within some of England's most deprived areas.

Between 2002‐2007, over 600 older Liverpool people, key informants and policy makers in five of Liverpool's poorest electoral wards were consulted via semi‐structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus groups about their needs and aspirations.

Barriers to active ageing arose primarily from participants' poverty, ill‐health and deprivation, poor neighbourhoods, ageism, and insecure, gendered, racialised and sectarian space.

This in‐depth investigation into active ageing consulted over 600 older people in some of Liverpool's poorest neighbourhoods. In disseminating knowledge of Liverpool's situation, the paper adds significantly to knowledge around the severe challenges to active ageing in localities characterised by multiple deprivation.

Although the concept of social capital is rightly associated with Putnam (2000), arguably its roots lie further back in the nineteenth century, but were first articulated in a “contemporary sense” in 1916 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2001, p. 41). The authors begin their analysis by summarizing the main types of capital: economic, social, political, human, cultural and symbolic, before exploring the different types of social capital, including bonding, bridging and linking. These are then linked to a variety of related concepts, including: social enterprise, social networks, social value, community development, community resilience and sociability (Cook, Halsall, & Wankhade, 2015). It is argued that social capital is central to these, and is of increasing importance across the globe within the context of the threats and opportunities posed by globalization on the one hand (including the spread of COVID-19) and of potential deglobalization on the other, in part as a reaction to COVID-19 and pre-existing nationalist trends toward limitation of global interactions. The discussion is supported by examination of a range of case studies drawn from societies of contrasting types, including the UK, USA, China, Bangladesh and South Africa. The authors conclude their analysis via consideration of how social capital can be expanded further in order to help meet contemporary and future challenges from whichever direction it arises.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Entrepreneurial migration: characteristics, causes and effects”.

Literature review.

Studies on immigrant entrepreneurship have become increasingly popular and the importance of social context and social connections has been recognized by scholars. However, research on their effects on immigrant entrepreneurship has been rather limited. This special issue explains the essential steps of the entrepreneurial process by immigrants (i.e. host country choice, entrepreneurial engagement, new venture creation, business network development and corporate political activities) and discusses the effects of immigrant entrepreneurs on their host countries.

The paper presents a review of literature on entrepreneurial migration and social impacts.

We examine the influences of African-American and female legislators on the supportiveness of states toward elders. Previous research shows complementary supportiveness among women and minority legislators on education policy and a range of social policies affecting families. Women legislators extend this support to various dimensions of “state age friendliness.” We examine here whether African-American legislators extend their support similarly. We draw on a cross-sectional data set for the 50 American states around the year 2000 in conjunction with regression. We find that, controlling for the most prominent alternative factors generally shaping state orientations and policies, women legislators are selectively supportive of dimensions of state elderly friendliness, but African-American legislators do not share this support. We attribute the discrepancy in the support of this area of social policy to women and minority legislators having specific divergent priorities with regard to elders as well as to how these priorities are conditioned by women and black legislators being concentrated in different states having distinctive cultures.