Search results

The title of this paper is a statement made by a man at the end of his treatment following conviction for several sexual offences. It is powerful in conveying a simple and accurate meaning of consent. Legally, consent is not complicated and can be simply defined as: permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. The context of consent, however, is complicated and complex none more so than when it becomes an issue within chemsex. If we are to gain a full appreciation of consent-related complexity, we must also gain an understanding of the wider picture concerning chemsex and crime. The purpose of this paper is to provide that wider picture. With the exception of breaching of drug-related law, not all men who engage in chemsex are committing offences but, as we are discovering, a not insignificant percentage are and this needs to be cause for concern.

This study is a review and a personal perspective of the development of a criminal justice response to crime within the chemsex context.

This was a personal viewpoint, not a research project; therefore, there were no definitive findings.

This paper addresses lack of awareness within the criminal justice system in relation to chemsex, and the associated vulnerabilities. This work is original because there is a shortage of published work on the rise in chemsex-related crimes.

Whilst chemsex is a relatively new phenomenon, trauma is not. Freud borrowed the word from physical medicine, where it was used to describe tissue damage, and applied it, for the first time, as a metaphor to a psychological process by which the protective functioning of the mind can too be pierced and wounded by events. The chemsex environment hosts a myriad of potentially traumatising scenarios and experiences, though perhaps disguised as exhilaration or excitement. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper is a practitioner’s experience.

These experiences piled on top of childhood experiences of being “less than” for being gay, can be responsible for widespread undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among those who engage in chemsex. This paper explores this possibility and offers solutions.

Compounded trauma and PTSD symptoms amongst MSM who engage in chemsex has to date, not been researched.

This case involved foreign exchange transactions conducted by the First Defendants, a firm of commodities traders then trading as LHW Futures Ltd (LHW), on behalf of the Plaintiff who was an individual investing his own money in a private capacity. The Second Defendant, Mr Morris, was at all material times a senior account executive with LHW and dealt with the Plaintiff in relation to the transactions at issue. The events giving rise to this action occurred in the years 1984–85. The trading contract between LHW and a client would involve the client paying over a sum which would represent commission and margin on the particular currency trade. The commission, at 2 per cent of the total contract value, was high in comparison to other traders because it was a feature of these contracts that there would be no further margin calls to the client since an automatic stop loss mechanism was built in to the contract which had the effect that a client's total loss was limited to the amount of the original margin. In theory a client's profit on a currency contract was unlimited but in practice merely to break even and cover commission required a substantial rise in the price of the currency bought whereas a relatively small drop in its price would wipe out the client's position once and for all regardless of any subsequent rises. One defence expert testified that the likely effect of this form of currency trading contract was that approximately 90 per cent of investors would be wiped out while only 10 per cent profited. The Plaintiff in this action was an engineer and property developer with most of his assets tied up in a land bank and housing development. He was inexperienced in stock trading and commodities markets. In July 1985 the Plaintiff entered into two trades in Swiss Francs with LHW. He invested £2,600 in the first trade and £23,400 in the second. The Plaintiff was then passed on within LHW to Mr Morris, the Second Defendant, who dealt with ‘bigger clients’. On 30th July, 1985, Morris urged the Plaintiff to invest in one hundred lots of sterling at a total cost to him of £150,000. The Plaintiff bought ten lots of sterling at a cost of £15,000 paying £10,000 in cash and raising the balance by stripping it out of the earlier Swiss Franc deal. The price of sterling went against the Plaintiff and, as the stop loss position was about to be reached Mr Morris rang the Plaintiff to recommend he buy another ten lots of sterling at £15,000 to average out his position. Mr Morris was aware that the Plaintiff did not have the cash available and that he would have to borrow the necessary cash, as indeed he did. On 1st August the Plaintiff entered into the fourth trade at issue in this case. The stop loss position was reached on that trade too and the Plaintiffs position was wiped out. On 5th August the Plaintiff's trading position was closed and of his total stake of around £54,000 he recovered only £2,231.62.

The introduction and use of new technology is becoming increasingly commonplace in today's libraries. Technological advances have made possible impressive achievements in improving services and streamlining operations. However, these achievements are often forfeited by managers failing to examine the human effects of automation. This paper highlights the need to consider the human component in the system and reviews health and safety aspects, the ergonomics of library automation, workplace design and job organisation. It concludes that consideration of these factors, combined with detailed knowledge about the needs and habits of personnel, can go a long way to ensure that staff are happy and healthy and that the system runs smoothly and efficiently.

The paper seeks to discuss virtual working, technology utilisation and how technology can be used to enhance human interaction rather than replace it. It is often the fabric of virtual human relationships that remains sadly neglected. This viewpoint paper aims to stimulate a more comprehensive debate about how to work effectively with and through others in our virtual world.

Working closely with global corporations, the author studied both permanent and project‐based virtual teams. Through observation and diagnostics, a comparison of the effectiveness of these teams was made against that of traditional co‐located teams.

Many businesses attempt to treat virtual working in the same way as co‐located working. The human impact and implications of virtual working are not fully understood or dealt with. The cultural retention of practices and policies that are relevant to co‐located traditional work but often counter‐productive for virtual working can result in tensions, conflicts and the ultimate disengagement of the workforce.

This paper offers a sample of the pragmatic tips and approaches the author's organizations brings to its clients. The most practical outcome of reading this paper is the recognition that virtual working has some subtle and key differences that need to be understood and managed by all those involved.

This paper is intended to be thought‐provoking for executive leaders, leaders, human resource professionals, change management agents and – most importantly – members of virtual teams.

This paper aims to examines why a high percentage of virtual teams fails to deliver, and considers how the problems can be overcome.

Differentiates between virtual teams and co‐located teams, and presents ways of leading each, while stressing that both types of team require a clear, well‐founded and compelling purpose.

Advances the view that, when dealing with a co‐located team, the leader can communicate purpose in a way that appeals to the hearts and minds of potential team members. With a potential virtual‐team member, in contrast, the leader must present a strong business case, clear and achievable short‐term goals, agreed principles and a visible link to the skill set of the potential team member.

Demonstrates that the human element brings technology to life and defines its use and its impact on the world.

Warns against developing the view that technology is a replacement for human interaction.

This paper investigates how outcomes-based performance management (PM) regimes operate in the partnerships known as social impact bonds (SIBs), which bring together partners from the public, private and third sectors. The findings are analysed in the light of the different cultural world views of the partners.

Published evaluations of 25 UK SIBs were analysed by a qualitative multiple case study approach. This study of secondary sources permitted the analysis of a wide range of SIB partnerships from near contemporary accounts.

Outcomes frameworks led to rigorous PM regimes that brought the cultural differences between partners into focus. While partnerships benefitted from the variety of viewpoints and expertise, the differences in outlook simultaneously led to strains and tensions. In order to mitigate such tensions, some stakeholders conformed to the outlooks of others.

The need to achieve a predefined set of payable outcomes embeds a “linear” view of intervention and effect on the SIB partners and a performance regime in which some partners dominate. In designing accountability systems for partnerships such as SIBs, commissioners should consider how the performance regime will affect the interests of all stakeholders.

This study adds to the cultural theory literature which has rarely considered three-way partnerships embodying hierarchical, individualist and egalitarian world views and how performance regimes operate in such partnerships. Three-way partnerships are thought to be rare and short-lived, but this empirical study shows that they can be successful albeit over a predefined lifespan.

The purpose of this study is to present an analysis of the Islamic good governance concept and means known as Al-Siyasah Al-Syar’iyyah as a principle and approach for combating corruption. This literature review aims to synthesize extant literature that discusses the determinants of integrity and how to prevent and combat corruption based on the Al-Siyasah Al-Syar’iyyah perspective.

A systematic search was conducted on a literature review based on Scopus and referred journals from Google Scholar databases. A manual search on Google Scholar was performed to identify additional relevant studies. Studies were selected based on the predetermined criteria. They were thematically examined using content analysis.

The study found that most of the 45 works of the literature, (41 studies and four chapters) suggested that corruption should be considered a sin and that education of Al-Siyasah Al-Syar’iyyah’s perspective against corruption, emphasizing the principle of piety, the institutionalization of justice and accountability, good governance performance with an emphasis on its belief in self-accountability and justice, is the means to combat corruption.

This study is unique in that it focuses on locating material on battling corruption from the standpoint of Al-Siyasah Al-Syar’iyyah. Based on the al-Quran, the Sunnah and the best practices of Muslim rulership, this notion provides an epistemological, ethical and ontological stance in Islam.

Public libraries are incubators for collective action in the knowledge economy. As three case studies from the United States and Singapore demonstrate, public libraries can serve as influential champions that garner financial resources, communicate an urgent need for change, and respond to the unmet information and economic needs of marginalized individuals and communities. In the Raise Up Radio (RUR) case, public librarians engaged schools, museums, youth, and families in rural communities to develop and deliver STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) content over local radio stations. In collaboration with organizational partners, RUR librarians created a model for library-community-radio projects for the rural United States. In the What Health Looks Like (WHLL) case, public librarians engaged senior citizens in discussions of health and the creation of health comics. In partnership with an interdisciplinary health research team, WHLL librarians developed a pilot for library-community-public health projects aimed at information dissemination and health narrative generation. In the Singapore shopping mall libraries case, the National Library Board (NLB) created public libraries in commercial spaces serving working families, senior citizens, and the Chinese community. The NLB developed an exportable model for locating information centers in convenient, popular, and useful business spaces. These case studies demonstrate how libraries are nodes in the knowledge economy, providing vital services such as preservation of cultural heritage, technology education, community outreach, information access, and services to working families, small- and medium-size businesses, and other patrons. In the years to come, public libraries will be called upon to respond to shifting social norms, inequitable opportunities, emergencies and disasters, and information asymmetries. As the cases of RUR, WHLL, and the shopping mall libraries show, public librarians have the vision and capacities to serve as influential champions for collective action to solve complex problems and foster sustainable development and equitable participation in the knowledge economy.