The expansion of the nuclear family unit in Great Britain between 1910 and 1920

This article deals with the evolution of the image of the individual and of family structure within every social class in Great Britain between 1910 and 1920, not only because of the influence of the Great War but also of the effect of new social legislative steps taken by the Radical Liberal government. Its essential findings are that the power of males declined in the aristocracy when they were faced, on the one hand, by the increasing attention and concern for children, and on the other hand, by the social, cultural, moral, and political part played by mothers within smaller working- and middle-class family units. Such units were regarded as the crucible for the regeneration and strengthening of the whole British society.     

“We weren't the sort that wanted intimacy every night”: Birth control and abstinence in England,c.1930–60

This article presents an exploration of qualitative evidence on the relationship between birth control and abstinence from an oral history project, which interviewed middle and working-class English men and women, who had married between the late 1920s and the early 1950s. Among the working classes the assumption that men were responsible for birth control choices and the disadvantages that contraceptive methods of all types posed, combined with the fear of pregnancy, acted as a disincentive to have sex and resulted in forms of partial abstinence. Among the middle classes, women had much more access to birth control information and as a consequence a greater range of methods was used, including more female methods. However, the reluctance of couples to discuss sexual matters, and some continued preference for male methods meant that while condoms were the most regularly used middle-class male method, both withdrawal and abstinence were also in evidence. Moreover, although partners were more likely to discuss birth control at the start of their marriages, they were less likely to agree that contraception was a male responsibility and there was greater potential for conflict over contraceptive methods, not infrequently resulting in abstinence. The evidence suggests that sexual and contraceptive practices in marriages in England at the end of the secular fertility decline do not present a picture which straightforwardly correlates with the assumptions represented by the popular thesis that this period of increased fertility control was closely associated with the rise of companionate marriage.     

英国足球的历史传承与产业化

英国是世界公认的体育强国,更是现代足球的摇篮。足球在英国有着悠久的历史,所以英国文化中渗透着浓厚的足球元素。潜移默化的足球文化与大众深厚的足球情结,使足球成为一项炙手可热的产业。因此,英国足球也从俱乐部的业余性娱乐活动逐渐走向了由俱乐部经营的职业化运动。毋庸置疑,正是源于其悠久的历史传承和坚实的群众基础以及规范化的市场运营才使之成功地实现了高端产业化,英格兰文化也因足球而声名远播。     

Human rights and the fight against terrorism in Northern Ireland

After a discussion of the United Kingdom's responsibilities under the European Convention of Human Rights and the political background to the re‐emergence in 1968–69 of terrorism and the stationing of British troops in the Province, the article analyses those human rights issues which derive from the way the fight against terrorism has been conducted over the past 20 years. The issues discussed are, deaths resulting from the actions of the security forces, complaints of ill‐treatment by the police during interrogation, the detentioning of terrorist suspects, the use of exclusion orders to deport from the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland persons formerly resident in that Province, the use of juryless courts (Diplock Courts) for terrorist and other offences, and the banning of political organizations.     

蒙巴顿对战后初期缅甸政局的影响

二战末期,盟军东南亚战区总司令蒙巴顿在负责缅甸军管时期力排众议,坚决与缅甸民族主义力量实施合作,并吸纳缅甸本土武装加入正规军。缅甸文官政府回归后,蒙巴顿继续关注缅甸事务,举荐新任缅甸总督,并积极推动英国工党政府调整对缅政策。蒙巴顿的主张,顺应了民族自决和非殖民化的国际趋势,对战后初期的缅甸政局、英缅关系和缅甸独立进程产生了深远影响。     

Coalition and Minority Government in Scotland: Lessons for the United Kingdom?

The United Kingdom general election result in 2010 produced a hung or balanced parliament for the first time in over three decades. Since the United Kingdom has limited postwar experience of this outcome, it is natural that commentators have begun to look elsewhere for lessons on the practicalities of minority and coalition government. This article considers the lessons we can learn from the Scottish parliamentary experience since 1999. It outlines two main points of comparison: strength and stability. One might assume that coalition provides more of both than minority government. Indeed, for that reason, it is rare for central or devolved governments in the United Kingdom to operate as minorities through choice. Yet, the Scottish experience shows that the differences between coalition and minority government are not completely straightforward. Much depends on the institutional context and, in many cases, idiosyncratic elements of particular systems. Consequently, one can identify a trade‐off in comparative analysis: as the identification of elements specific to one system increases, the ability to draw clear meaningful lessons decreases.     

The Commonwealth,Apartheid, and the Role of Micro-states

In the 1980s, the debate surrounding South Africa apartheid consumed the Commonwealth. While superficially this discussion might appear to have had little relevance to the interests of micro and small state members of the Commonwealth, the behemothic nature of apartheid presented significant challenges to such states. This article attempts to assess the varied ways in which South African apartheid affected the diplomatic strategies of micro-states within the political landscape of the Commonwealth, and how it could be perceived as both a hindrance to their agendas, as well a potential tool in the fight to amplify their voices. Micro-states used the egalitarian structure of the Commonwealth and combined it with the prominence of apartheid in international debate to both elevate their status and even to garner support for their own personal concerns. Apartheid’s reframing of the international conversation had broad reverberations which affected Commonwealth responses to a variety of seemingly disparate issues. This culminated in the ejection of Fiji from the Commonwealth in the aftermath of the 1987 coup due to concerns over racial discrimination, emblematising the all-pervasive nature of the apartheid debate within the Commonwealth.     

B.H.P.’s “Place in the Industrial Sun”: Whyalla in its Golden Age

Whyalla epitomised the promises of industrialism and consumerism during Australia’s Golden Age of capitalism, roughly 1945–1975. Located on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, Whyalla was a bustling industrial town (later a city) following the Second World War. It was home to the shipyard of Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) and, from 1965, a steelworks. Before the war, Whyalla had been a company town, one planned and directed by BHP. Following the Second World War, it had morphed into a hybrid public–private town, albeit one that was heavily influenced by BHP, so much so that many still considered Whyalla to be a company town. Drawing from company materials, parliamentary records, oral histories, and the Whyalla News, this article argues that, together, BHP, the South Australian government, and residents conveyed and developed Whyalla to be an “Industrial Eden”. These actors forged postwar Whyalla to be a metaphor for what BHP, South Australia, and, ultimately, Australia had to offer. Whyalla represented progress, modernity, abundance, and stability. Moreover, it was presented and even accepted as a great place to live and work. For a moment, Whyalla was a capitalist utopia.     

As Good as Policy Gets

In June 2014, the think tank IPPR published a report, The Condition of Britain, widely seen as important source material for Labour as the party geared up for the 2015 General Election. This is an echo of another report—that of the Commission on Social Justice, published in 1994—which also made an important contribution to the thinking of Labour in opposition. A comparison between the two documents provides insights into the evolution of mainstream progressive thought over the past twenty years.