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After the 1907 collapse of the new Otago University Veterinary School, a gap of over half a century elapsed before the Massey University Veterinary Faculty was opened in 1964. This interval means linear professionalisation accounts from pre‐modern animal care by farriers and cow leeches to modern cadres of scientific veterinarians are challenged by contingent and particular features in the New Zealand setting. The educational sequence is inevitably linked with other aspects of society, economy and workforce around the veterinary ‘professional project’. Limited research into veterinary development and education in New Zealand includes accounts by veterinarians ‐ Laing’s monographs,4 Shortridge, Smith and Gardner’s history of the veterinary profession, and Burns’ historical sociology thesis.

To examine the processes used to procure and develop new primary health care premises in the United Kingdom and in particular the use of the private finance initiative and related methods.

An in‐depth study of two local improvement finance trust schemes to procure new primary health care premises. These are contrasted against the ad‐hoc arrangements for the traditional procurement of general practice doctor's surgery premises. Interviews were undertaken with key participants on both sides of the negotiations.

The process can be an unequal struggle between large consortia and small, inexperienced clients that may result in a wasted opportunity to obtain the optimum design and price.

The research is limited to early use of the local improvement finance trust process and procedures; client bodies, such as primary care trusts, may benefit from the experience of earlier projects. The method of procurement will evolve and be refined and will become more widely used, not only for health but also in the education sector. Further examination of the procurement of education buildings using similar methods would be beneficial.

This method of procuring buildings is relatively new, and therefore, largely untried.

The authors sought to unpack the paradox between increasing demand for probiotics products against inconclusive scientific evidence about the effectiveness. This paper investigated public understanding of the composition and benefits of probiotic products, measured trust in news media and scientists as sources of information about probiotic products and informational and attitudinal predictors of consumer trust in the news media and scientists.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted amongst a representative sample of 2000 UK consumers. Participants responded to multiple-choice questions and psychometric scales capturing probiotics knowledge, consumption, information seeking behaviour, attitudes to and confidence in the news media and probiotics scientists. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and hierarchical regression modelling were performed.

Information exposure to probiotics content was highest from traditional media followed by online channels. Levels of confidence in probiotics scientists were higher than in the news media, even though these levels were highest amongst current consumers and lowest amongst non-consumers. Conflicting information, health consciousness and trust in nutrition stakeholders were identified as important predictors of trust in news media and scientists.

This study provides a large-scale nationally representative overview of public attitudes and sentiments related to probiotic products with a focus on attitudes towards the news media and the scientific establishment. The findings suggest a need for better consumer awareness about the state of science around probiotic products, interventions that could enable consumers to discern conflicting evidence or news reports, and critical skills that can render them more resilient to online misinformation.