Psychopathological Development Across Adolescence

Daniel Offer’s seminal writings in the 1960s led to a realization that normal adolescence was not characterized by turmoil and upheaval, the then prevailing view that derived from studies of clinical samples. In this paper, the research findings that have appeared over the last four decades are reviewed with respect to the overall features of adolescence, the psychopathological changes in the teenage years, brain development during adolescence and neuroendocrine changes. The possible pathways involved in adolescent transitions are considered with respect to depression, drug use/abuse, antisocial behavior, schizophrenia and suicidal behavior. Conclusions are drawn on the operation of a range of multi-step causal pathways and implications for policy and practice are discussed. Michael Rutter’s epidemiological studies into adolescence were much influenced by Daniel Offer’s concepts and findings. Although the two of them never worked together Daniel Offer was a mentor at a distance. Michael Rutter’s research interests have particularly concerned the need to integrate social, genetic and developmental research perspectives and, amongst other things, this has led to a major interest in the phenomenon of resilience.     

Political Brands: Can Parties Be Distinguished by Their Online Brand Personality?

This paper investigates whether five English political parties are differentiating themselves based on the brand personality they are communicating through their websites. The relative brand positions of five English political parties are analyzed using Aaker's brand personality scale. The text from each party website is analyzed using content analysis and a dictionary-based tool. The results are plotted in relation to one another on a correspondence analysis map. We find that the two main dimensions on which parties’ brand personalities differ relate to the trade-offs between communicating competence and communicating sincerity and between communicating sophistication and communicating ruggedness. We find that parties’ brand personalities are distinctive, with the exception of the Green Party, and that the position of one party, the United Kingdom Independence Party, is particularly distinctive. Our research uses Aaker's existing framework for thinking about brand personalities, rather than creating a new framework for politics. By using an existing framework, we are able to use tools developed in other disciplines and show their usefulness for the study of political marketing.     

Slavery in Arabia

The Persian Gulf: A General Survey. General Editor, Alvin J. Cottrell: Editors, C. Edmund Bosworth, R. Michael Burrell, Keith McLachlan and Roger M. Savory. Baltimore, USA, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980. pp. xxxiv + 695. Foreword. Pref. Appendices. Tables. Index. £20.00 (hardback).     

The Hole in the Centre: A Comment on Lowe and Pemberton,The Official History of the British Civil Service,Volume II: 1982–1997

This article looks at Prime Ministers’ attempts to reform their operation in Number Ten and their relationship with the Cabinet Office in response to frustrations they encounter trying to drive their policy agenda from the centre. Prime Ministers have developed new institutions to bolster their meagre resources in Number Ten. There is particular focus on the experience of John Major in trying to push his Citizen's Charter. It notes how resistant departments were to many of the changes. Finally the article discusses recent changes in Boris Johnson's Number Ten that marked the brief tenure of Dominic Cummings and his clear centralising mission.