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Since the early 1980s, breakaway training has been synonymous with many prevention and management of violence and aggression (PMVA) training programmes in social care and NHS settings. However, for almost three decades, this community has continued to accept a training approach that has been largely unsupported by a robust underpinning methodology or evidence base. The validity of this historical training approach will be examined in context with the available literature, and will seek to identify the fundamental flaws that have been inherent in the traditional system. This paper will conclude by making some practical suggestions on how the efficacy of personal protective training may be improved, based on the emerging findings from other scientific fields.

This paper aims to examine the nature and prevalence of violence in a medium secure unit and to evaluate a personal defence training programme for staff working with mentally disordered offenders.

The paper identifies an existing training gap associated with traditional breakaway techniques and describes a process of piloting a new educational module known as the spontaneous protection enabling accelerated response (SPEAR) system. Structured questionnaires were used to collect demographic data and analyse staff confidence and perceptions of the training module. Clinician confidence in coping with patient aggression was measured before, immediately after and at three months following participation in the new programme.

A significant change in staff confidence was observed at two time scales after the training had been administered when compared with the pre‐test baseline total scores. Over 90 per cent of staff either agreed or strongly agreed that training in the new personal defence module provided a credible defence against sudden episodes of high‐risk violence.

The paper describes a proposed module of training that may provide a credible tertiary strategy for those frontline clinicians currently exposed to the risk of sudden, spontaneous episodes of close proximity violence where traditional breakaway techniques are likely to be ineffective. This paper would interest managers, trainers and specialist practitioners that are involved in the preparation and delivery of violence reduction initiatives aimed at promoting safer and therapeutic services.

HAS BRITAIN really lost its sense of purpose? Has it no noticeable industrial policy?

“Streets broad and narrow”. In terms of shops and retail trade, it was always the narrow streets of town centres which attracted the trade, although the shops were small cramped for space, but always a cosy, friendly air. Few ever became vacant and although interspersing chain shops seemed to break the rhythm, most were privately owned, run through the years by generations of the same family. The shops removed the proverbial meanness of narrow streets; the lights, the shopping crowds, especially on Saturday nights; shop frontmen bawling their prices, the new boys calling the late editions—all this made shopping an attractive outing; it still does. There were the practical advantages of being able to cross and re‐cross the street, with many shops on both sides within the field of vision. The broad highway had none of these things and it was extremely rare for shops to exist both sides of the street, and still less to flourish. It is much the same to this day. Hygiene purists would find much to fault, but it was what the public wanted and curiously, there was very little food poisoning; it would be untrue to say outbreaks never occurred but they were extremely rare.

THE fact that the forthcoming conference of the Library Association is to be held at Eastbourne this year should provide it with an additional official interest, as it is here that the Association Hon. Solicitor and Legal Adviser holds the important office of Town Clerk. Mr. Fovargue is the authority on Library Law in all its aspects, and is the author of several books on this important subject. We are particularly happy in being able to print an article from his pen in our special Conference number. The programme of the proceedings is by now, no doubt, in the hands of our readers, and will be found to be less crowded, but no less useful for that, than in previous years. Apart from the usual business programme, which should prove full of interest, the social side has been fully catered for and delightfully arranged. Several interesting motor trips are to take place, and delegates will be afforded an opportunity of enjoying the charms of the beautiful county of Sussex as well as those of one of our most favoured of seaside resorts.

According to thesaurus definitions, the absurd translates as “ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous”; “extremely silly; not logical and sensible”. As further indicated in the Latin root absurdus, “out of tune, uncouth, inappropriate, ridiculous,” humor in absurd registers plays with that which is out of harmony with both reason and decency. In this article, the authors make an argument for the absurd as a feminist method for tackling heterosexism.

By focusing on the Twitter account “Men Write Women” (est. 2019), the rationale of which is to share literary excerpts from male authors describing women's experiences, thoughts and appearances, and which regularly broadens into social theater in the user reactions, the study explores the critical value of absurdity in feminist social media tactics.

The study proposes the absurd as a means of not merely turning things around, or inside out, but disrupting and eschewing the hegemonic logic on offer. While both absurd humor and feminist activism may begin from a site of reactivity and negative evaluation, it need not remain confined to it. Rather, by turning things preposterous, ludicrous and inappropriate, absurd laughter ends up somewhere different. The feminist value of absurd humor has to do with both its critical edge and with the affective lifts and spaces of ambiguity that it allows for.

Research on digital feminist activism has largely focused on the affective dynamics of anger. As there are multiple affective responses to sexism, our article foregrounds laughter and ambivalence as a means of claiming space differently in online cultures rife with hate, sexism and misogyny.

Professor J. C. Drummond concluded his Cantor Lectures in January, 1938, by a quotation from Thomas Muffett's Healths Improvement, published in 1655: “Wherefore let us neither with the impudent, call diet a frivolous knowledge, or a curious science with the imprudent; but embrace it as the leader to perfit health (which as the wise man sayeth) is above gold, and a sound body above all riches.” Diet as the leader to perfect health: let us consider this for a moment in connection with the present subject. The object of the application of science to food is essentially the improvement of the diet of the people of the world. That, at any rate, is the long view of the question, though other motives may actuate certain groups at certain times. To‐day, for example, in this country, the main object of scientific work is to feed the population as efficiently as possible with the food available. Science in Germany for several years has been the handmaiden of the Nazi party and their four years' plan has been far more scientifically developed than any food plan in this country (so far as is at present obvious). It may be taken as certain that science applied to food has improved the diet of the people, although governments and industry have not necessarily always utilised the knowledge gained with this end in view, a position that obviously applies to all new discoveries in science. Scientists engaged in studies concerning food have the development of the knowledge of food chemistry either directly or indirectly as their main object; the majority are not concerned with the application of the results of this knowledge. Before dealing in detail with a few of the particular aspects of the application of chemistry to food, its production, its treatment, its storage and its service, I would briefly summarise the activities of the scientist as follows. He seeks to find the reason for the rule‐of‐thumb methods of the farmer, the stock‐breeder, the baker, the brewer, the physician, the requirements of the consumer himself, and, having found the explanation, he seeks to remove the unknowns, to standardise procedure, and to improve the process. This, I think, sums up the work of the scientist, and in doing this his studies lead him into every phase of the problems of the feeding of the people. Initially the chemist devoted his particular attention to the purity of foods. He did not know what “purity” entailed, neither do we know to‐day; like all knowledge, the science of food is an ever‐widening circle. The theory of “calorie” feeding has given place to the “vitamin” hypothesis, the limitations of which are now being more and more realised; tomorrow or next year a new concept of food and diets will be developed. The studies in the “purity” of food undertaken by the predecessors of the present members of the “Society of Public Analysts and other Analytical Chemists” were of fundamental importance. The objects of that Society, founded in 1874, are not without significance. Broadly they may be stated as follows: The study of analytical chemistry and of questions relating to the adulteration of articles of food, and the promotion of the efficiency and proper administration of the laws relating to the repression of adulteration. For the moment I wish to stress just one of these objects, namely, the study of analytical chemistry. Without reliable methods of analysis, studies in the composition of food are useless; the importance of a large proportion of the work published to‐day has to be discounted because of failure to appreciate the importance of reliable methods of analysis. It is only by the light of careful analysis that the picture of the composition of a food can be thrown on to a screen and examined. Appreciation of the composition of the food is the key which will open the door to a knowledge of its reactions, not only in its production, but also in its digestion by the human being. Without the work of the analysts, the research worker is unable to appreciate the influence of the facts he may discover. In this country the field of scientific investigation is covered by a number of organisations, Government‐controlled, partially Government‐controlled and private (the private consisting of academic workers in universities and colleges and the laboratories of the large commercial firms concerned with food production). Problems of the production of basic foods, of manufacture, of cooking, of storage and preservation and of distribution are all investigated. The science of agriculture is very modern, and it is only in comparatively recent years that chemistry, as such, has been seriously applied to this branch of practical science. In this country, the Rothamsted Experimental Station at Harpenden, founded in 1843, has been foremost in trying to collate scientific data with details of farming practice. Other important research stations, such as the Long Ashton Research Station, the Chipping Campden Station, the Rowett Institute, the National Institute for Research in Dairying, are all products of the present century. These bodies are essentially concerned with the production of the basic materials, fruit, cereals, meat, etc., for the food manufacturer, although this limitation of activity is not applicable everywhere; for example, Long Ashton devotes particular attention to the cider industry, Chipping Campden to canning, and Reading to cheese and other milk products. The next stage, food manufacture in all its phases, is in this country covered by the Food Investigation Board of the D.S.I.R. and by a number of Research Associations which are jointly supported by the Government and by member firms. But by far the greater proportion of scientific work on food manufacture is carried out in the laboratories of the great food firms. The Food Group of the Society of Chemical Industry has been active in arranging meetings concerned with the chemistry of food and has helped considerably to foster free discussion. In problems of distribution the food scientist has collaborated with the Royal Sanitary Institute and the Association of Medical Officers of Health. This collaboration has been of the greatest use, because it is of little worth for the food manufacturer to produce wholesome food if in its distribution the shopkeeper does not take the necessary precautions to see that the food is handed to the purchaser in as good a condition as the precautions taken in its production warrant. Dr. Andrew Borde, the seventeenth‐century physician, wrote in his Breviary of Dyet—“A good cook is half a physician for the chief physic dotli come from the kitchen, wherefore the physician and the cook must consult together.” A striking commentary on this thought has lately appeared in the preface to a book by McCance and Widdowson, published under the regis of the Medical Research Council: “The nutritional dietetic treatment of disease, as well as research into problems of human nutrition, demand an exact knowledge of the chemical composition of food.”

Some libraries and information services are quite definitely user‐centred; some think they are but are not always; some seem to be designed for librarians rather than users. The purpose of this monograph is to encourage the development of libraries to meet the perceived needs of users — I hope it will be found useful by librarians and information workers as well as by students.

The purpose of the paper is to reflect on the conditions of referenda as an EU input legitimacy, on the era of social media microtargeting campaigns. Taking the case of Brexit as an example, it takes conclusions for the democracy as an inherent value of the EU multilevel polity and opens prospects for possible solutions.

The paper is interdisciplinary based, complementing political science approaches on EU democratic legitimacy and communication studies on social media and political communication. These are the theoretical frameworks for analysing the case of Brexit referendum campaign, which is based on an empirical tracing of strategies and contents used. This empirical assessment is supported by official reports of the House of Commons and of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and media news on the case. Analysis and discussion of it allows to come to conclusions.

Primary finding is that manipulation and disinformation occurred in Brexit campaign, creating a biased, fake and unbalanced information. Second main finding is that microtargeting and suppression of public debate enhances the typical polarisation of binary options on a referendum, and in the case of Brexit deepened the social cleavage that already shaped voter’s preferences, once information consumed by citizens functioned as “eco-chambers”, strengthening preconceptions. The ultimate conclusion in this case is a sign that social media can deepen the historical gap between elites and voters in the EU, with negative consequences for democracy and social legitimacy of the EU political system.

The almost impossible access to the digital microtargeted adverts used in campaigns, to allow a more detailed analysis of the EU content issued.

Conclusions of this research are useful for politicians and advisers of policy-making to reflect on the future of the political system of the EU in terms of democracy, and the Europe as a whole and think about measures to be taken either on the level of improving legitimacy processes or regulation of digital media.

If practical implications are taken from conclusions of this study, enhancing democratic processes, avoiding privacy data manipulation and providing accurate, impartial and trustworthy information to citizens public can be a social benefit achieved mainly through regulation.

Despite some studies have been released on Brexit referendum, they have mainly been single-disciplinary. This study innovates because it conciliates political science theoretical views with communications studies’ ones, to produce strengthened reasoning ground on the purposed of this research: to search evidence that new political communication strategies within the social media landscape can be of special negative influence in EU referenda and for the future of the multilevel polity.

Examines the relationship between the library service and the local community in Northern Ireland, using Portadown as a case study. A review of the literature explores complex links between the concepts of social disadvantage and political division and violence, as the library service must function within a community where deep divisions exist. Librarians and local groups from both communities were interviewed individually, and in focus groups, to explore their perceptions of the current role and function of the library service in such a deeply divided town. Amongst the findings was the perception by local people that social and political barriers existed, preventing optimum use of the public library service by all sectors of the community. Furthermore, the emphasis on traditional aspects of library service meant that local groups were circumventing the library service and setting up their own community information provision. Thus, unless the library service could become more fully integrated into the whole community, it would become increasingly marginalised within such a community.