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This chapter addresses inequalities in the United Kingdom through the lens of health inequalities. Driven by inequalities in income and power, health inequalities represent a microcosm of wider debates on inequalities. They also play a role as the more politically unacceptable face of inequalities – where other types of inequality are more blatantly argued as collateral damage of advanced neoliberalism including ‘inevitable’ austerity measures, politicians are more squeamish about discussing health inequalities in these terms.

The chapter starts by depicting health inequalities in Scotland and summarises health policy analyses of the causes of, and solutions to, health inequalities. It then describes the concept of ‘proportionate’ universalism’ and sets this within the context of debates around universal versus targeted welfare provision in times of fiscal austerity.

It then turns to a small empirical case-study which investigates these tensions within the Scottish National Health Service. The study asks those operating at policy and practice levels: how is proportionate universalism understood; and, is it a threat or ballast to universal welfare provision?

Findings are discussed within the political context of welfare retrenchment, and in terms of meso- and micro-practices. We conclude that there are three levels at which proportionate universalism needs to be critiqued as a means of mitigating the impacts of inequalities in the social determinants of health. These are within the political arenas, at a policy and planning level and at the practice level where individual practitioners are enabled or not to practice in ways that might mitigate existing inequalities.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the potential use of virtual reality systems in facilities management design solutions.

The approach focuses on the human designer and acknowledges the importance of human input to the design process. The development of a metaphor‐based VR system is reported along with initial field trials, which compare VR with conventional CAD systems.

In the context of facilities management solutions advantages of using VR over CAD are shown and discussed along with strengths, weaknesses and future work.

The literature reviewed is not exhaustive. Many concepts are mentioned and referenced but not explained fully due to space constraints. The research suggests the future use of VR systems in FM solutions.

This paper discusses immersive virtual reality (VR) in support of building design tasks as an innovative tool, enabling more effective facilities management input at the building design phase.

The paper is based on original research. The paper explains and reviews the uses and potential uses of VR systems.

The National Lending Library for Science and Technology was formally opened on 5th November by Lord Hailsham, Minister for Science. About two hundred people were present. They included Sir Harold Roxbee Cox, Chairman of the DSIR Research Council, Sir Harry Melville, Secretary of DSIR, and many of the DSIR senior staff. Several of those who have played a pioneering part in promoting the establishment and growth of national scientific libraries were present including such well‐known figures as Professor R. S. Hutton and Mr Max Nicholson. Lord Hailsham in his address called the library ‘one of the wonders of modern Europe’. After the opening ceremony the visitors toured the library which was in full operation. This at present involves the dispatch of about seven hundred loans a day. Aslib sent a congratulatory Telex message to Dr D. J. Urquhart, Director of the library, and was represented at the opening ceremony by the Director of Aslib.

Dietary salt and hypertension: implications for public health policies is the title of the latest in the Royal Society of Medicine's Round Table publications. It reports the discussion of a panel of six medical experts who met to review published scientific data on the subject. This is a summary of their debate and conclusions

Domestic abuse victimisation is a common experience among women with problematic substance use, but support provision for both issues is siloed within the UK. Research on the topic focuses on practitioner responses, dominating women’s voices within research, policy and practice. As such, knowledge about women’s experiences of help-seeking is missing. This study therefore aims to fill a gap in knowledge by exploring the lived experiences of supporting seeking among women impacted by domestic abuse and substance use.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 women who had a history of co-occurring problematic substance use and domestic abuse. Influenced by interpretive phenomenological analysis and feminist research praxis, the study explored how women with dual needs navigated support and help seeking and the barriers they faced.

The women reported the biggest barrier was the disconnect between substance use and domestic abuse support, including a gap in the communication of information. This resulted in them having to choose which of their needs to seek support for. None of the women received support for their combined experiences, and most of the women never received support for their domestic abuse experiences alone.

This is the first piece of research from the UK to explore, in-depth, women’s journey through support for their co-occurring substance use and domestic abuse victimisation. Previous research has not consulted with women to understand how they navigate the complex support systems available. This paper is, therefore, important, because it demonstrates the journeys to services these women take and the barriers they have to overcome.

This chapter examines patterns of neighbouring in the small Essex town of ‘Eastside’, located in London’s eastern suburban periphery. Drawing on qualitative interviews, two groups of resident interviewees are discussed: established, long-term, white British residents who have lived in Eastside for many years, and ethnically diverse newcomers who have recently moved to the area. This chapter focuses on patterns of neighbouring – both positive in the form of ‘neighbourliness’ and negative in terms of ‘unneighbourliness’ – and considers whether neighbouring provided the basis for residents to develop a sense of community. Basic neighbouring activities, such as saying ‘hello’ and the mutual provision of support, were commonplace, although proactive intervention and socialising with neighbours were more limited. Only a minority of both long-term and incoming interviewees identified a sense of community based upon neighbouring. The dominant aspect of the former’s sense of community was a ‘narrative of decline’ in which they lamented the loss of the more intense neighbourliness that they recalled from the past. Unneighbourliness was also evident, for example, in relation to noise, and various reasons for this are analysed including deficiencies within the physical environment, tenure prejudice, and established/newcomer resident tensions.