Capacity Building for New Parliamentarians: Survey of Orientation and Induction Programmes

This article reports original research which built on conceptual issues previously identified by the authors. A survey of national parliaments sought information on orientation and induction programmes offered to first term members and on members' perceptions of those programmes. An overview of findings is presented and significant issues identified. Most programmes provided passive development through information and a handbook rather than active skill development. Few used training processes and techniques that were based on contemporary adult learning principles. There were sharp divisions over training and development in dealing with ethical issues. The findings suggest considerable potential for the further development of programmes and for sharing information about programmes in order to assist capacity building for parliamentarians and thereby enhance the performance of parliaments and individual members.     

Assessing the impact of stricter alcohol advertising standards: the case of Beam Global Spirits

Reducing youth exposure to alcohol advertising is a global health priority. In most countries around the world, the alcohol industry is given the opportunity to regulate itself with respect to advertising practices. Generally, the alcohol industry self‐regulations are lax, allowing youth to be disproportionately exposed to alcohol advertising. However, Beam Global Spirits and Wine (Beam) voluntarily adopted more restrictive advertising standards in the United States in 2007. This study assessed Beam's compliance with their new standard and estimates its effect on youth exposure and advertising costs. We found that Beam's compliance with its more restrictive standards was imperfect, but never‐the‐less, we estimated that youth exposure to alcohol advertising was reduced compared to other spirits brands. Beam's more restrictive standards did not increase their advertising costs, and therefore other alcohol companies should consider adopting similar standards around the world. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Graffiti goes to the movies: American fictional films featuring graffiti artists/writers and themes

Since the early 1980s, in addition to the increase in graffiti and street art in many urban contexts, a number of movies have been made that have either examined this phenomenon and the people who engage in this activity, or used graffiti and street art as a backdrop to tell a story. This article briefly reviews the scholarly literature that examines movies that portray criminals and criminal actions, and then analyzes seven American-produced fictional (drama) films using graffiti writers/artists as major characters and then draws generalizations about them. Although this is not a semiotic analysis of the films, to the extent possible, it delves into the settings, plots, characters, dialog, and how realistic the movies appear to be. In general, most of the films include unrealistic aspects and/or are of poor quality, and this contributes to misrepresentations of and stereotypes about graffiti writers/writing.