The Influence of Migration on Origin Communities: Insights from Polish Migrations to the West

This article sheds light on the impact of migration on origin communities by focusing on two case studies in different regions in Poland. Besides the economic consequences, the social and cultural consequences of migration for community cohesion and the lives of its members are highlighted, with reference to an emerging culture of migration in the communities. By presenting different migration patterns prevalent before and after Poland's accession to the European Union, the article demonstrates the important differences caused by ‘visible migration’ and ‘hidden migration’ in the communities of origin, taking into account especially the temporal dimension.     

Are repeatedly victimized households different?

Much recent victimization research has concentrated on predicting who will be victimized, with relatively little concern for the number of events suffered. This study turns to the latter issue by focusing attention on the prediction of repeat victimization. A statistical methodology is employed which allows for the explicit recognition that an initial victimization must occur prior to any repeat event. When applied to property crime information from the 1984 British Crime Survey, we find little evidence that repeat victims have distinctive characteristics compared with single victims. Nevertheless, households with characteristics which protect from victimization, in the sense of giving rise to a low initial risk, have this protection reduced for a subsequent event. Moreover, comparing two households with different risk characteristics, their repeat victimization probabilities are more similar than were those for the initial occurrence.     

Estimating Time Since Death from Postmortem Human Gut Microbial Communities

Postmortem succession of human‐associated microbial communities (“human microbiome”) has been suggested as a possible method for estimating postmortem interval (PMI) for forensic analyses. Here we evaluate human gut bacterial populations to determine quantifiable, time‐dependent changes postmortem. Gut microflora were repeatedly sampled from the proximal large intestine of 12 deceased human individuals as they decayed under environmental conditions. Three intestinal bacterial genera were quantified by quantitative PCR (qPCR) using group‐specific primers targeting 16S rRNA genes. Bacteroides and Lactobacillus relative abundances declined exponentially with increasing PMI at rates of N_t = 0.977e^?0.0144t (r² = 0.537, p < 0.001) and N_t = 0.019e^?0.0087t (r² = 0.396, p < 0.001), respectively, where N_t is relative abundance at time (t) in cumulative degree hours. Bifidobacterium relative abundances did not change significantly: N_t = 0.003e^?0.002t (r² = 0.033, p = 0.284). Therefore, Bacteroides and Lactobacillus abundances could be used as quantitative indicators of PMI.     

Linchpin or bag carrier? A study of the importance of the role of the parliamentary private secretary to the prime minister

This study examines the pivotal role of the parliamentary private secretary to the prime minister. The PPS is a vital two‐way conduit between the Commons and Number Ten. As deference among MPs has declined and rebelliousness increased, the PPS who is not up to the job risks jeopardising the prime minister's leadership. The PPSs can be broadly categorised according to their age, experience, potential and designated role, but there has been no pattern of appointments. Every PPS is chosen for his individual qualities, reinterprets the role and fulfils a slightly different function. An examination of the ‘work’ of the prime minister's PPS shows the informal and personal nature of the role. The PPS enjoys unique access to the premier and occupies a position at the centre of government. The job has clearly grown in importance and become more demanding. The performance of Thatcher's five PPSs and Major's first PPS are evaluated using the findings of a questionnaire. The performance of each successive PPS to Thatcher was judged by MPs to be worse than the one before, culminating in the disastrous tenure of Morrison. Gow is shown to be a model PPS because he was respected, trusted and liked in the Commons and at Number Ten.     

Academic judgement,the university Visitor and the Human Rights Act 1998

Students have proved increasingly willing to challenge academic judgements in court, and the passage into law of the Human Rights Act 1998 is likely to have a major bearing on future challenges. The Act will make it unlawful for a public authority (including both a university and the courts) to act in a way which is incompatible with many of the provisions in the European Convention on Human Rights (and the Protocols attaching thereto). It will also permit a victim of such unlawfulness to bring proceedings in an appropriate court or tribunal, whether in the High Court as part of an application for judicial review or as an ordinary civil action for negligence or breach of contract. The court will have the power to grant whatever remedy it considers to be just and equitable, including an award of damages where it feels such an award to be appropriate. This could have significant consequences for the use of the Visitor in chartered universities as the final arbiter in disputes over academic judgements. For the Visitor does not conduct hearings in public and often fails to follow any recognised procedure. It may even be doubted whether the Visitor can be said to be truly independent of the institution against whose decision the student is appealing. In future, therefore, universities may have to be prepared to justify any marks awarded in the public forum of the courtroom.