Improving Housing Conditions in the Private and Social Rented Sectors: The Homes (Fit for Human Habitation) Act 2018 ‐ Fit for Habitation but Fit for Purpose?

The Homes (Fit for Human Habitation) Act 2018 became law in December 2018 and entered into force on 20 March 2019. This article examines the key provisions of this significant piece of housing legislation which has the potential to transform the lives of those renting homes in both the private and social sectors in England. The 2018 Act, through amendment to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, introduces a new obligation on landlords to ensure their residential properties are fit for human habitation and, for the first time in this jurisdiction, endows tenants with new civil rights to directly enforce this implied covenant against failing landlords. This article identifies the key deficiencies within the current legal framework around fitness for human habitation and explores how far the 2018 Act meets these challenges; set against the febrile backdrop of an acute housing crisis and the Grenfell Tower tragedy.     

Effect of Sterilants on Amplification and Detection of Target DNA from Bacillus cereus Spores

To conceal criminal activity of a bioterrorist or agroterrorist, the site of pathogen generation is often treated with sterilants to kill the organisms and remove evidence. As dead organisms cannot be analyzed by culture, this study examined whether DNA from sterilant‐treated Bacillus cereus spores was viable for amplification. The spores were exposed to five common sterilants: bleach, Sterilox®, oxidizer foam (L‐Gel), a peroxyacid (Actril®), and formaldehyde vapor. The spores were inoculated on typical surfaces found in offices and laboratories to test for environmental effects. It was found that the surface influenced the efficiency of recovery of the organisms. The DNA isolated from the recovered spores was successfully detected using RT‐qPCR for all treatments except for formaldehyde, by amplifying the phosphatidylinositol phospholipase C and sphingomyelinase genes. The results demonstrated that evidence from sites treated with sterilants can still provide information on the uncultured organism, using DNA amplification.     

Social capital in Scottish and Danish neighbourhoods: paradoxes of a police–community nexus at the front line

Community-oriented social capital strategies and punitive-oriented policing approaches conflict. Establishing local networking initiatives with community-oriented policing at the centre lends itself to an assets-based policing approach, based on honouring, mobilizing and extending the assets of community members. Scholars argue about the need for comparative research on convergences and divergencies across subcultures on the streets and communities. Based on qualitative data gathered from working class communities in Scotland and Denmark in 2014, the article draws inspiration from community-generated theory of social capital to explore the micro-sociology of experiences and understandings about community–police integration policy initiatives. We use this perspective to argue that the building of positive inter-generational and police–community relationships is the result of social exchanges and officers’ use of what we call ‘constructive investment strategies’. Ironically, our insights from Scotland to Denmark also suggest what appear as positive achievements of community policing may instead intensify residents’ negative perceptions of police officers and organizations. In this way, the article illuminates the tangled and conflicted nature of these embedded symbolic interactions, social capital formations and the latter’s form as a potential positional and ‘tribal’ commodity.