Scottish Presbyterian networks in Ulster and the Irish House of Commons, 1692–1714

SUMMARY

Throughout the seventeenth century Ireland gradually came under British control, culminating in the reimplementation and consolidation of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy rule in the aftermath of the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688–91. The Irish Parliament became the vehicle for securing the Ascendancy position within eighteenth-century Irish society. Although the Catholic threat never disappeared, some within the Ascendancy focussed their attentions towards the Scottish Presbyterian community in Ulster, a resilient and growing group that had been reinforced by 40,000–70,000 Scottish migrants arriving in Ireland during the 1690s. Viewed as a stubborn sect who controlled the majority of trade in Ulster, some within the Ascendancy feared that their supposed economic control of the province would ultimately lead to political control of the region, and possibly Ireland as a whole. Indeed, during the parliamentary sessions of 1692, 1695–99, 1703–13 and 1713, when the foundations for securing the Ascendancy were put in place, so too was legislation designed to curtail the strength of the Scottish Presbyterians in Ulster. This article examines whether the Scottish Presbyterian community deserved to be considered such a threat to Irish political elites by analysing the role and networks of Ulster MPs of Scottish Presbyterian origin in the Irish House of Commons during the reigns of King William and Queen Anne. The article also analyses the impact of legislation passed against nonconformists in Ireland during this period in order to assess what effect it had on the Scottish Presbyterian community.     

Scotland,Renewable Energy and the Independence Debate: Will Head or Heart Rule the Roost?

Political support for renewable energy development, especially offshore renewables, is particularly conspicuous in Scotland and is a centrepiece of SNP policy. However, this is built on something of a paradox because, put simply, without the subsidies paid by electricity consumers in the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government's ambitious targets for renewable energy would be politically unachievable. We argue in this paper that if Scotland does move towards independence, then there could be little reason for the UK to continue paying (much) of the subsidies since the resulting renewable generation would no longer contribute towards UK renewable energy targets. We suggest that the potential scenarios, and their implications, needs to be far better considered in the arguments around the Scottish constitutional position and the broader aims of UK energy policy.     

Services Trade: Past Liberalization and Future Challenges

Services trade has truly become an engine of world growth. Overthe past two decades, international trade in services has grownfaster than world merchandize trade, which in turn has grownfaster than world output. A combination of policy liberalizationand technological progress has facilitated trade in many previouslyuntradable services. However, very little progress has beenmade towards new policy liberalization in the ongoing Doha DevelopmentRound. This article discusses trade in services in five sections.Following a short introduction, Section I presents data on thepast growth of services trade flows and makes rough projectionsof future expansion. The second and third sections summarizethe achievements of the WTO in the service field, both as anegotiating forum and a dispute settlement system. The thirdsection also emphasizes how FTAs are now playing the leadingrole in services liberalization. The fourth section critiquesthe absence of progress in the Doha Round and the fifth sectionexamines the hot issue of services outsourcing. The concludingsection offers policy recommendations for containing a possibleprotectionist backlash and promoting new liberalization.     

Development of Forensic Assay Signatures for Ebolaviruses

Ebolaviruses are a diverse group of RNA viruses comprising five different species, four of which cause fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. Because of their high infectivity and lethality, ebolaviruses are considered major biothreat agents. Although detection assays exist, no forensic assays are currently available. Here, we report the development of forensic assays that differentiate ebolaviruses. We performed phylogenetic analyses and identified canonical SNPs for all species, major clades and isolates. TaqMan‐MGB allelic discrimination assays based on these SNPs were designed, screened against synthetic RNA templates, and validated against ebolavirus genomic RNAs. A total of 45 assays were validated to provide 100% coverage of the species and variants with additional resolution at the isolate level. These assays enabled accurate forensic analysis on 4 “unknown” ebolaviruses. Unknowns were correctly classified to species and variant. A goal of providing resolution below the isolate level was not successful. These high‐resolution forensic assays allow rapid and accurate genotyping of ebolaviruses for forensic investigations.     

A Test of the Revised Auricular Surface Aging Method on a Modern European Population

The accurate age estimation of adults is an important step in the construction of the biological profile of skeletonized remains. The auricular surface of the ilium as it was developed in 1985 by Lovejoy et al., is one of the methods employed for age estimation. This study presents the results of a blind test of the revised auricular surface aging method developed by Buckberry and Chamberlain. A sample of 120 individuals from the Athens Collection was used to test this revised aging technique. Almost all features and composite score were positively correlated with known age‐at‐death. The calculation of bias demonstrated no obvious trend for either overestimation or underestimation of age when all individuals were pooled together. Inaccuracy showed that absolute errors of estimated ages against known ages are substantial. The data generated from this study suggest that the revised method can be reliable for age estimation on a modern European population.