Intute blog

This week Nick Clegg sparked a storm by suggesting that it wasnt worth having a Queen’s speech. See some more on this topic via his blog.

But what is the real purpose of the Queens speech- what role does it serve? Find out more from these Intute selected resources.

The Parliament site has a good FAQ section which explains the process.

You can find the timetables of events for tomorrow and read transcripts of previous speeches.

The new BBC democracy Live site will have coverage.

Also providing good coverage and discussion is the Guardian newspaper and as events unfold during the day.

It is worth checking the main party political websites for their reaction as some produce alternative Queens speeches. The Labour Party has released a podcast ahead of the speech.

Finally info 4 local government will be summarising the main contents of the bill and providing links to government resources.

The popular TV game show Deal or No Deal has been turned into an economics classroom experiment by John Sloman, Director of the Economics Network.

The game can be used to demonstrate expected value and risk attitudes and students can use it to make calculations. It can also demonstrate the diminishing marginal utility of income.

An Excel file can be used by the lecturer to control the game and play the part of the banker, while students discuss the risks, psychology and odds at each stage of the game.

Deal or No Deal has been a topic for a number of popular economics articles available via EconPapers and Google Scholar that explore topics such as decision making, risk and rationality.

The Economics Network features a range of classroom experiments and games for use in the classroom.

Intute features more Internet resources on the topic of Economics.

Following on from this week’s earlier posting on Berlin I wanted to highlight a few new resources added this week on the same theme.

The BBC poll looked at levels of satisfaction. On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism in Europe in 1989, it asked citizens from different nations a variety of questions relating to their opinion on the disintegration / break-up of the Soviet Union (USSR), attitudes towards state control of industry and capitalism in general. Results tended to show some dissatisfaction.

The Cold War International History Project created a section with declassified documents on the rise and fall of the wall.

More declassified materials were released in a briefing book by the National Security Archive

In Germany.

Deutschland Radio has recorded some interviews with those involved.

The German government created a website which has speeches and videos of the recent celebrations as well as some background on the wall from the perspective of the German government

FriedlicheRevolution.de: magazine and media monitor summarises and reviews current debates in the German press. It also highlights, events, publications, conferences and other commemorations. This includes access to some full text articles, sound recordings, interviews, oral histories and films made by its partners. These include: Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung; Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur.

More can be found via Intute

I missed blogging about 9 November and the Berlin Wall on that day, but thought I would combine it with today, formerly called Martinmass.  This was the feast of St Martin of Tours, sometimes called Old Halloween.  It is not really observed in England anymore, but when I was in Berlin one winter, I noticed publicity about Martinmass and the ‘Martin Goose’ or Martinsgans which was served roasted in restaurants with red cabbage and dumplings.   A nice custom.  There is an entry on Wikipedia about St Martin.  (We can’t vouch for the contents, but it makes interesting reading. ) Find more about saints on Intute in the Religion and Theology section.

Intute has many resources about the amazing fall of the Berlin Wall, twenty years ago.   A few examples – newspapers ran special reports, including  The Guardian and New York Times. Not everyone thinks it has been a complete success though – see the BBC World Service Poll,  indicating wide dissatisfaction with capitalism.  There are some great museums dealing with the Berlin Wall and Germany in the 20th century and they have websites you can access – the Checkpoint Charlie Museum is one.  My personal favourite is the DDR Museum (East Germany Museum) in Berlin.  A very hands-on place.   Apart from the Wall, Berlin is a fascinating city and Intute has many other resources about it, including Politics, Art, History and European Studies.  A few suggestions:

Bauhaus Museum Berlin – wonderful photos.  Marlene Dietrich website – great for Dietrich researchers.  Berlin  Airlift – interesting site about the blockade and airlift of supplies to non-Soviet parts of Berlin.    Intute also has a wide range of resources about Germany in general, in our Modern Languages and Area Studies section.

This site provides a weekly roundup of new UK government publications compiled by the LSE Library and Intute

Higher Ambitions – new blue print for UK Higher education.

Taking Part: The national survey of culture, leisure and sport – Headline findings from the 2008-09 Taking Part child survey

Embedding Citizenship Education in Secondary Schools in England 2002-08: Citizenship education longitudinal study seventh annual report

Delivering Better Housing and Employment Outcomes for Offenders on Probation – Department for Work and Pensions.

Redefining Justice: Addressing the individual needs of victims and witnesses. This is a study by victims’ champion Sara Payne of how frontline services meet the needs of victims and witnesses.

The Economic Basis for the Regulation of Pensions Work and Pensions reports.

Defined Contribution Pension Provision – Work and Pensions research.

Final Report of the Independent Review of British Offshore Financial Centres HM Treasury

Home Office Statistical Bulletin 16/09: Seizures of drugs in England and Wales 2008-09

Children’s Trusts: A briefing paper on improving financial management – October 2009 Audit commission.

Means to an End: Joint financing across health and social care – Audit Commission.

Norwich North By-election Report Electoral Commission report.

Economic Benefits Delivered by the New Dimension Programme: Final report. Communities and local Government research.

Local authority investments: Government, CIPFA, FSA and Audit Commission Response to the Committee’s Seventh Report of Session 2008-09 HC 1013

The National Offender Management Information System Public Accounts Committee. HC 510

National Offender Management Service: Maintenance of the prison estate in England and Wales Public Accounts report HC 722

an analysis of Urban Transport cabinet office report.

The Wider Costs of Transport in English Urban Areas in 2009 Cabinet office report

The Future of Urban Transport- Department for Transport report.

PE and Sport Survey 2008-09 information and statistics regarding schools. Department for Children, Schools and Families

Reducing Reoffending: Supporting families, creating better futures. Ministry of Justice strategy.

Risk of Harm Inspection Report: A stalled journey – An inquiry into the management of offenders’ risk of harm to others by London Probation. Ministry of Justice.

Nothing but the truth – Audit Commission paper discussing the quality of data in local public services

Russia: a new confrontation? Government response to the Committee’s Tenth Report of Session 2008-09 Defence Committee HC 987

Customer Voice Research: Sex and relationships education This qualitative research was conducted to understand parents’ opinions on the parental right to withdraw children and young people from sex and relationship education

this week the Afghan presidential elections hit the news again.

A number of organisations including Global Development Commons have produced mappings of election related violence which offer some insight into the background of the elections.

Alive in Afghanistan also has detailed mappings

Read election monitoring reports assessing the conduct of elections and state of democracy from

Democracy International

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

EU election observation mission.

Afghanistan Analysts Network.

Intute has been following the issues and you can find more examples of good sites on our catalogue.

Here is the weekly round up for 26-30 october 2009 from the LSE library and Intute

The Iraq Inquiry: Government Response to the Committee’s Ninth Report of Session 2008–09 HC 992 Public Accounts Committee

Lobbying: Access and influence in Whitehall: Government Response to the Committee’s First Report of Session 2008–09 HC 1058 Public Accounts Committee

DFID’s Programme in Nigeria International Development Committee report.HC 840

Report of the Standing Commission on Carers 2007 to 2009

The Total Benefit-cost Ratio of New Regulations 2008-09

Helping Community Groups to Improve Public Spaces. Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage in Scotland Scottish Affairs Committee HC 380

Financial Management in the Home Office Public Accounts committee HC 640

Report on the administration of June 4th European Elections – Electoral Commission.

How Young People Formulate their Views About the Future: Exploratory research. Department for Children, Schools and Families explore the views of year 7s about their future career and educational choices, what is most likely to affect their thinking and the most effective ways to equip young people with the skills to make the optimal decisions.

Evidence-based Practice? The National Probation Service’s work with alcohol misusing offenders. Ministry of Justice research.

International Comparison of Publicly Funded Legal Services and Justice Systems. Ministry of Justice research.

This week elections have been taking place in Mozambique. here are some suggestions from Intute on useful sites for finding out more.

Centro de Integridade Pública de Moçambique (Center of Public Integrity) and Awepa (European Parliamentarians for Africa) have created a special 2009 election website where you can find new stories from reporters on the ground. Also take a look at the Political Process bulletins for analysis of the conduct of the election.

Another good source of news is the special coverage from Deutsche Welle. The website offers free access to its radio programmes about the subject. These include interviews with candidates, representatives of political parties and other commentators.

Some organisations monitoring the elections also have websites with news stories and reports.

EU election Observation Mission.
SADC
Commonwealth

Finally a really good site for finding blogs and news comment about Africa is AFRORA which acts as an agregator for many of them.

Further background information including reports from the Carter Center on previous elections can be viewed from the Intute catalogue.

Do you need to find out more about European Union social policy? Do you want to network with other professionals and experts?   ALISS (the Association of Librarians and Information Professionals in the Social Sciences) is holding a half day event on Tuesday 1 December.  Come to the London School of Economics and hear about how people are using EU online materials (Angela Joyce, Intute), the EU Social Agenda (Grace Hudson, University of Bradford) and how to find good info on social care in Europe (Julie Robinson, Social Care Institute for Excellence).

After all the serious stuff, why not enjoy a European snack with us? Or a mince pie and wine?  Free for ALISS members and only£25 for non-members. Everyone with an interest in EU matters welcome!

For more information, contact Heather Dawson at h.dawson@lse.ac.uk

Presidential elections are occurring in Uruguay. Here are some interesting sites that I have taken from the Intute database

A good starting point is the IFES guide which has some basic facts on the electoral system and results from previous elections

The official site of the Corte Electoral contains more detailed information and results from the 1970s onwards.

If you are looking for historical information about elections in the region, other interesting sites include:

The Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP) a rich source of data on citizens, political communication and election campaigns worldwide. It comprises national election surveys conducted in over 19 nations since 1990. There is a section for Uruguay with data for 2004

More specifically Politics and International Relations databank Universidad de la República (UdelaR) Uruguay offers free access to a wealth of online data. These include presidential election results from the 1940s onwards.

However, if you are looking for discussion of this year’s elections, thenwhy not try Seguimiento electoral 2009/2010 a Spanish language blog maintained by the Instituto de Ciencia Política (Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República, Uruguay.

Other blogs discussing events and highlighting key features of the campaign (including its online manifestations) include Global Voices and UY Elecciones and blogger Jorge OYHenard who has an interesting post lonking to all the candidates websites.