Election Campaigns and Television News Coverage: The Case of the 2001 Australian Election

This paper examines the patterns of television news coverage of the political parties, their leaders and the issues they raised during the 2001 Australian federal election campaign. By focusing on some issues, parties and leaders, television has long been argued to constrain voters' evaluations. We find that television news coverage in the 2001 Australian election campaign focused primarily on international issues, especially terrorism and asylum seekers, and on the two major parties—virtually to the exclusion of coverage of the minor parties and their leaders. Within the major party ‘two-horse race’, television gave substantially more coverage to the leaders than to the parties themselves, thereby sustaining what some have called a ‘presidential’-style political contest. John Howard emerged as the winner in the leaders' stakes, garnering more coverage than Labor's Kim Beazley.     

Are governmental culture departments important? An empirical investigation

It has been often claimed that governmental culture departments are not particularly significant or important for governments as a whole. The extent to which this is true is investigated through a combination of quantitative and qualitative assessments of departmental significance using the United Kingdom and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a case study. Departments are assessed across a number of criteria incorporating expenditure, law‐making, policy centrality, ministerial career trajectories, press coverage, departmental age, executive centrality, manifesto coverage and staffing patterns. On these the British example demonstrates that culture departments are not significantly important for governments as a whole. The comparative implications of this finding are identified, and potential new research areas are indicated.     

Carrier routes in the Northeast of Scotland 1803–1914: Development and change in a service

During the first four decades of the 19th century carrier services in the northeast of Scotland developed rapidly. Most were centred on Aberdeen, the main city and port of the region, but local networks also existed, focused on other towns in the region. Improved road facilities throughout the region, particularly those formed by turnpike trusts, enabled an increasing number of locations to be served in this way. The rapid economic development that took place in the area at this time led to, and was fostered by, an increasing frequency of service.. The arrival of the railway in the region in the middle of the 19th century, and its gradual extension north and west of Aberdeen, had a major effect on the road‐based carrier network. Long‐distance routes centred on Aberdeen declined rapidly, there was rationalisation within the services provided, new services grew up centred on railway facilities, and the number of short‐distance carriers increased. The flexibility inherent in carrier services, however, ensured that they continued to remain relevant to customers in the 20th century.     

Cluster Dynamics: New Evidence and Projections for Computing Services in Great Britain*

Abstract. This paper tests some of the main hypotheses about the importance of horizontal clusters for the growth of employment in small firms using data from Computing Services in Great Britain. In the main section of the paper, spatial econometric models are estimated controlling for supply‐ and demand‐side conditions to isolate the effect of initial cluster intensity. The paper then projects cluster development using the fitted model, showing how clusters are likely to emerge and intensify. One aspect of the paper is the existence of a de‐clustering mechanism due to congestion effects.