Precautionary and Proactionary as the New Right and the New Left of the Twenty-First Century Ideological Spectrum

Despite its specific origin in the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly after the revolution of 1789, the right–left divide of the ideological spectrum has proved remarkably resilient in anchoring public intellectual life for over two centuries. In this article, I argue that we are witnessing a 90° rotation of this ideological axis, resulting in a new set of poles, each of which combines elements of the old right–left divide. The ‘precautionary’ pole brings together the conservationist side of the right and the communitarian side of the left, whereas the ‘proactionary’ pole unites the libertarian side of the right and the technocratic side of the left. I prepare the ground for discussing these new alternatives with a consideration of the political theology of the old right–left divide, which ultimately turns on alternative visions of how the past determines the future. This ‘left’ basically holds that what is possible significantly exceeds what is probable, with liberals adopting an ‘antirealist’ and socialists a ‘realist’ stance towards the prospect of an optimal social order. Both the precautionary and proactionary poles of the new ideological spectrum are fixated on our attitude towards a future in which the ontological constitution of the polity (i.e. its ‘humanity’) is among the issue under contestation. In this emerging ideological conflict, more of which is transpiring in video than in print, the precautionaries are marked as more ‘risk-averse’ and the proactionaries more ‘risk-seeking’ than had been presumed to be the normal attitude in the modern welfare state.     

Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome: Reports of Fatal Cases

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is one of the more clinically challenging effects of cannabis consumption. It is characterized by cyclic attacks of nausea and vomiting in chronic cannabinoid users and learned behavior of compulsive hot bathing. The deaths of a 27‐year‐old female, a 27‐year‐old male, and a 31‐year‐old male with a history of CHS are reported. The decedents had a history of cyclical nausea and vomiting, chronic cannabinoid use and negative laboratory, radiological and endoscopic findings. All presented to the emergency department with nausea and vomiting in the days preceding death and were treated symptomatically. Toxicological analysis revealed tetrahydrocannabinol in postmortem blood. The cause of death of two of the three cases was attributed to CHS. CHS was appreciated in the third case but was not the cause of death. These three cases demonstrate the importance of recognizing CHS as a potential cause or contributing factor to death in cannabinoid user.     

Developing and Testing a Soil Property Database for Forensic Applications in Southern California

The research sought to develop and test a forensic database of surface soil variability within previously mapped geologic and soil units in southern California. This type of database could be used to link suspects to crime scenes or determine source locations of soil sample evidence. Variability was evaluated using (i) color, (ii) magnetic susceptibility, and (iii) particle‐size distribution. Soil properties were analyzed for their ability to discriminate source areas using stepwise discriminant analysis. The percent correct predictions for geologic unit groups ranged from 30% to 100%. A blind study experiment matched four of the 18 samples to their unit of origin with the first choice by stepwise discriminant analysis, and eight were matched as second and third choices. The probability of selecting the appropriate unit of origin increased by 54% over random chance and eliminated as much as 99% of the field area as a potential search location.     

Herceptin, Pharmac and the New Zealand District Health Boards: keeping abreast of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights?

In an era of resource limitations, the problem of matching public expectations with health care provision will always be difficult. In New Zealand there has been recent debate surrounding the potential funding by the Pharmaceutical Management Agency (PHARMAC) of an expensive chemotherapy agent called Herceptin (trastuzumab). Taking the proposed funding options in turn, this article looks at the obligations PHARMAC and the New Zealand District Health Boards might then be subject to with respect to the legislation and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights, and the impact this might have on a health system already subject to resource constraints.     

Non-traumatic forensic neuropathology

The practicing Forensic Pathologist is likely to encounter case material in which either the cause of death or a major contribution to the cause of death is underlying damage to or disease of the central nervous system. While it is good practice in many instances to have a working relationship with a Department of Neuropathology, from which advice and practical help can be sought, there may be instances when the Forensic Pathologist needs to proceed on a basis of a working knowledge of Forensic Neuropathology up to and including how to examine the specimen and take tissue blocks for processing and subsequent histological examination. Some of the more common conditions of the central nervous system such as damage consequent to hypoxia-ischaemia, hypoglycemia and epilepsy, the encephalopathies associated with altered sodium concentration, deficiency due to Vitamin B(1) and various neurodegenerative diseases that manifest as dementia and include Alzheimer's disease, cortical Lewy body disease and the prion disorders, are outlined in this article.     

CSIR 1926–1939

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, later to become CSIRO) was established in 1926 to replace the pre-existing Institute of Science and Industry. Its beginning was suffused with an optimism based on surpluses in Commonwealth revenues in the years 1926–8, an optimism which was reflected in the action of the Parliament in voting the sum of ł500,000 to be placed to the credit of a Trust Fund to give the new organization a good start. This amount was the exact sum which was mentioned by the then Prime Minister, W. M. Hughes, in his burst of enthusiasm, in December, 1915, when he first launched the Advisory Council of Science and Industry.     

Dancing To Whose Tune? Change And Investigations In Hm Customs And Excise

The public sector has been subject to significant organizational and cultural change in the past two decades. The purpose of change has been the cost-efficient and cost-effective delivery of public services and functions. The process of change has been concerned with the best means to do this, whether in structural, cultural and procedural terms. Without careful determination of the services and functions from the onset, the process, however, can become an end in itself, reflecting the comments of the Head of the Civil Service when he said that he did not know the final shape of the civil service on the grounds that ‘it is not unusual . . . for an organisation in the process of evolution not to know what its final state will be’ (Dynes and Walker 1995, p. 99). Where an organization has assumed its core functions are clearly defined and understood but where they are not explicitly used to provide the purpose to shape and direct the process of change, that process may be influenced more by generic external imperatives on structural, cultural and managerial reform that developed from the 1988 Next Steps report than by the organization’s core functions. The article questions assumptions that, by itself, an emphasis on the former will facilitate the performance of the latter. It suggests that the process of challenging culture and structure may have adverse consequences until the purpose of change and the functions of the organization are used to shape and inform the process. It looks at the impact of the process of change on a core organizational function in one large government department that has undergone significant change – major investigations within HM Customs and Excise. It considers that change may be, to use the idiom of earlier research into change and the department, partly about teaching organizations to dance the Next Steps, and partly about ensuring that they keep dancing, but it is also about teaching departments that dancing is best done to tunes that inform the steps.