Personal budgets in adult social care: the fact and the fiction of the Care Act 2014

ABSTRACT

Personal budgets have been heavily promoted in government policy in England as a means of increasing the personalisation of public services, particularly in the field of adult social care. The Care Act 2014 for the first time creates a statutory requirement for personal budgets to be allocated to all individuals using state funded social care. This article examines how a particular rhetoric has developed in social care policy around personal budgets, which draws freely on the language of the disabled people’s movement and suggests that grassroots ideas are the central purpose for the introduction of personal budgets into policy. It considers whether the promises made in policy are embedded in the 2014 Act and finds that there is a mismatch between claims in social care policy on the one hand and the model of personal budgets created by the 2014 Act on the other. It concludes that the policy rhetoric around personal budgets directly appropriates the language and ideas of the disabled people’s movement while promoting a wholly distinct agenda of public sector marketisation.     

“直接证据”的迷思

将直接证据与间接证据等区别开来,强调前者的重要性和优越性,是一种流布甚久的普遍观念。能否进行这种区分、如何区分以及这种区分是否具有规范意义等问题,在近年来也受到了理论研究的关注。从诉讼证明的认知构造来看,"直接证据"的界说应当区分严格的理解和日常习惯的理解;无论哪一种界说,都没有多少实际的规范意义。比较而言,关于直接证据的诸种传统界说多是有问题的;近年来的论争,无论是何种论说,都未能促进人们更好地理解此方面的问题。应当放弃在日常习惯理解意义上界分直接证据与间接证据等的视角来制定相关证据规则的努力,注重对前者的证明力进行审查。     

汉代儒学的述行策略及其流变面向——兼论“罢黜百家”与百家“曲胜”

There are two paradox voices about the revival of Confucianism constructed by typical phenomena, the victory and the corruption, which display the two directions of Confucianism’s transformation in Han dynasty. Behind the paradox, it’s the academic trend of skills overweighing truth and inter-ccommodation between Zhuzi(诸子); tracing the history, the performative thinking of Confucianism accommodating Zhuzi and carrying out its kingcrafts by submitting to monarch can be clearly sketched. The Confucianism doesn’t win separately by banning Zhuzi , whereas it makes the others succeed indirectly.     

关于反腐败体制机制创新和制度保障的几个基本问题

《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干重大问题的决定》第36条专门部署"加强反腐败体制机制创新和制度保障",充分表明其在全面深化改革大局中的重要地位。反腐败体制机制创新和制度保障可分解为相辅相成、各有侧重的三个方面——反腐败体制创新、反腐败机制创新与反腐败制度保障,它们分别指向"谁反腐败"、"怎么反腐败"、"凭什么反腐败"这三个问题。加强反腐败体制机制创新和制度保障是一项系统工程,需要突出纪律检查体制机制改革这个重点,强化法治在反腐败中的重要作用。     

首都人口调控的思路和建议--以北京新机场建设中流动人口问题为例[1]

在北京大兴新机场建设过程中，将有大量人口涌入北京市大兴区南五镇。如何在这些重点区域调控人口，避免出现城乡结合部乱象，这既需要处理好经济发展与人口涌入的关系、社会综合治理与服务首都发展的关系、政府主导与市场调节的关系以及改革发展提升地区整体实力与提升百姓生活幸福感的关系，又应做到服务与管理并驾齐驱，按照需求做好产业整体布局，有效掌控人口数据、建立门禁制度管理出租房屋等。     

Institutional journalism in a revolutionary crisis: the press as an aide to the Muslim Brotherhood 2011–2012

This article is based on the hypothesis that the Egyptian institutional media played an active role in the Egyptian ‘Arab Spring’ revolution in 2011 and analyzes how Egypt's official newspapers constructed and presented a moderate and positive image of the Muslim Brotherhood (hereinafter the Brotherhood) despite the fact that they had labeled the Brotherhood ‘the outlawed movement’ a year earlier. In order to examine whether their attitudes changed after the downfall of the Mubarak regime, a critical discourse analysis of newspaper texts has been made of the news columns written throughout 2011 of two of the most popular Egyptian newspapers – al-Ahram (n = 115) and al-Gumhuriyya (n = 94) both of which identify with the Egyptian government's official policy. In addition, an analysis made of three of the Brotherhood's publications (n = 72) (N = 281) revealed that the Brotherhood exploited the printed media not only to replace the regime but also to gain control of its narrative. Ultimately, by controlling the shaping of public opinion, the media contributed to the drawing of a parallel between the motivation that formed the basis of the mass protest and the Brotherhood's agenda.     

关于合作共赢的认识和思考:基于新型国际关系理念

合作共赢是中国在国际关系问题上首倡的一个价值理念,对于构建新型国际关系和人类命运共同体、站在人类道义和历史进步的制高点、促进世界持久和平和普遍繁荣、推动人类社会文明发展、实现全球有效治理等具有非常重大和深远的意义。习近平总书记深入、系统、现实地推进了合作共赢理念的完善和发展,使之成为当今中国对外关系思想的重大新理念和显著特色之一。实现合作共赢的关键在于价值上求同存异,根本在于寻求各国利益交汇点,长远考虑在于提升全人类的现代文明素养。     

From book to stage to screen: semiotic transformations of Gothic horror genre conventions

ABSTRACT

This paper adopts a multimodal social semiotic approach for exploring the semiotic changes involved in the transformation of a novel into stage and screen productions. It examines how semiotic resources are deployed in each medium through elements of mise-en-scène, such as speech, music, sound, lighting, props, staging, and cinematographic techniques, and the viewing perspectives that are thus established for audiences. The genre of Gothic horror is selected for this purpose, given how this form of performance has transfixed audiences for centuries and has been adapted for both the stage and the screen. In order to demonstrate how each performance medium has produced its own unique set of foregrounding devices to enthral and captivate audiences, a comparative analysis of excerpts from the novel The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, a videotaped theatrical performance, and the 1989 British television film of the same name is undertaken. The paper discusses the implications of the multimodal semiotic approach for developing a better understanding of the semiotic transformations that horror genre conventions undergo in different media and the viewership positions that are thus re-drawn for audiences. The paper concludes with a view of multimodal recontextualisation processes which form the underlying basis of human sociocultural life.     

Japan's foreign aid: old and new contests

Abstract

Domestic and international contests explain the transformation of Japan's foreign aid programme begun in the early 1950s. Through contests between domestic players, Japan has streamlined its aid processes by introducing institutional innovations, accommodating new actors in aid policy and delivery, and responding more sensitively to public opinion and independent advice. At the international level, contests have come from the Development Assistance Committee/Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC/OECD), the USA, and China. Through these contests, Japan has emerged as a more rounded aid donor. Its new aid model blends Western principles with concepts of ‘self-help’, favouring large infrastructure projects that serve both Japan's and recipient countries’ interests.     

民国时期争取女子财产继承权的社会思潮与观念变迁

清末民国时期,男女平等思想发展、传统宗族制度衰落以及现代婚姻家庭继承理论和思潮的传播,促成了中国传统女子财产继承权的近代嬗变。在这一特殊的历史时期,争取女子财产继承权的社会思潮和观念变迁巨大。