From ‘unofficial militants’ to de facto joint workplace control: the development of the shop steward system at the port of Liverpool, 1967–1972

Prior to 1967, labour relations in the British dock industry had been characterised by casual employment, inter and intra-union conflict, frequent unofficial action and high strike occurrence. The Devlin Report and subsequent legislation decasualised employment in the industry and introduced official local shop steward systems. This article charts the evolution of local, post-Devlin, Registered Dock Worker (RDW) labour organisation at the port of Liverpool. A chronological approach to the major strikes and flash points will be accompanied by reflection on the historiography and theoretical perspectives relating to the form and nature of workplace mobilisation, ‘shop stewardism’ and labour organisation. The existing literature in this area focuses almost entirely on shop steward organisation in the manufacturing sector and emphasises the key role of leadership in the creation and maintenance of effective workplace organisation. However, the development of the shop steward movement at Liverpool docks was heavily contingent on historical traditions and conditions and was therefore not necessarily reliant on an elite stratum of politically conscious leader stewards to frame and direct grievance. The article concludes by comparing the existing literature with the evidence presented and questions whether those theoretical suppositions synonymous with shop floor and shop steward organisation in other industries are appropriate to the docks.     

Habermas and the Holy Grail of reason: The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity between theatre and theory

A critical discourse analysis of The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity demonstrates that Habermas's discourse on modernity is theoretische Fiktion (a term Freud used to describe a given theory for which no evidence can be found and no arguments validated). Theatrical narrative strategies from drama are identified that not only organise the logic of the text, but also position readers. The choice of mise en scene—the Oedipal cross‐roads where older and younger protagonists meet in conflict—is seen to position readers as mere spectators. The choice of the narrative trope of the romance of lost opportunity (the road open but not taken) is not merely illustrative, but necessary for the claim that Habermas has redeemed the enlightenment project.

The paper critiques Habermas's theorising on discourse ethics because it distinguishes categories of discourse into scientific/analytical, moral/interpretive and aesthetic/expressive, which operate in three different spheres of value. In particular, it challenges the notion of an “inner logics” for what, in Habermas's stable of discourses, he labels the scientific/analytical. Readers of The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, the paper demonstrates, are not so much pulled along by the force of the better argument, but seduced by that unbridled beast: the aesthetic/expressive.     

Stepping Into the Fray: When Do Mediators Mediate?

In this article, I analyze the conditions that promote the request, offer, and occurrence of mediation between enduring rivals. Although the mediation literature has devoted considerable attention to the form that mediation takes, the approaches that mediators use, and the conditions under which it is successful, little attention has been given to the conditions under which mediation is most likely to occur. The results of the analysis point to a disconnect among enduring rivalries between the factors that the literature highlights as promoting mediation success and those that promote the onset of mediation. This disconnect is particularly apparent in the conditions that prompt third-parties to offer mediation .     

Location and Assessment of an Historic (150–160 Years Old) Mass Grave Using Geographic and Ground Penetrating Radar Investigation,NW Ireland*

Abstract: Reburial of human remains and concerns regarding pathogens and pollution prompted the search for, and assessment of, a 156-year-old graveyard. To locate this graveyard, historic and anecdotal information was compared to landscape interpretation from aerial photography. To assess and map the contents, surface collapses, metal detector indications, and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) were used. Some 170 anomalies compatible with burials were identified on 200 MHz GPR data, 84 of which coincided with surface collapses, suggesting both noncollapsed ground, subsequent infill, and multiple inhumations. The graveyard was possibly split into Roman Catholic plots with multiple inhumations; Protestant plots; and a kileen, or graveyard for the unbaptized (often children). The work serves as one approach to the location and mapping of recent and historic unmarked graves.     

Maximising trace soil evidence: an improved recovery method developed during investigation of a $26 million bank robbery

Obtaining as much particulate material as possible from questioned items is desirable in forensic science as this allows a range of analyses to be undertaken and the retention of material for others to check. A method of maximising particulate recovery is described using a kidnap case, where minimal staining on clothing (socks) remained as possible indications of where the victim had been held captive. Police intelligence led to a hostage scene that was sampled. Brushing of the socks recovered about 50 sand grains with some silt: ultrasonic agitation and centrifuging recovered over 300 grains of sand, silt and clay. These were visually compared to scene and control samples, allowing exclusion of 52 samples and the retention of one comparison sample as well as other possibles, saving time and money, but maximising sample quantity and quality.