‘A Tiny Little Footnote in History’: Conservative Centre Forward

In May 1985, two years after he had returned to the back benches, Francis Pym launched the first organised display of dissent within the parliamentary Conservative Party against Margaret Thatcher's leadership: Conservative Centre Forward. Those Conservative MPs who joined the group were very much believers in One Nation Conservatism. Conservative Centre Forward survived for barely a week after going public; it rapidly collapsed amid accusations of disloyalty and inept leadership. The group proved to be a short-lived experiment which achieved little of note and exposed those who were involved to widespread ridicule. Yet, it was precisely because Conservative Centre Forward collapsed so quickly and achieved so little that it was significant. In its own way, the short life of the group provided a revealing commentary upon the character of the mid-1980s Conservative Party. It was a party which, on the one hand, was moving inexorably to the right and therefore ever further away from the values of One Nation Conservatism which Conservative Centre Forward espoused. On the other hand, it was a party which was still traditional enough to view open displays of dissent, of whatever magnitude, as a threat to the unity upon which its continued electoral success depended.     

DESSICATION AND DESTRUCTION: THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF DE-WATERING AT ETTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE

This paper presents the first results of a long-term project to monitor changes in ground water conditions in parts of the East Anglian Fenland. So far the project has been concerned with two sites immediately north of Peterborough, at Borough Fen and Etton. The Borough Fen data are still being assessed, but Etton has provided results which warrant prompt publication.
The water levels were monitored in a series of boreholes across the Etton Neolithic enclosure for a period of two years (1982–4), to study the effects of the variation in the local groundwater table on the waterlogged contents of the enclosure ditch.
The first part of the paper (CF) assesses the results of this programme. The ambient water table remained at or above the level of the primary and lower secondary deposits in the ditch, thus accounting for the excellent preservation of botanical remains. Within one month of the adjacent quarry pumps being turned on the water table had fallen by up to one metre below the lowest archaeological deposits, and has not recovered since, to the almost immediate detriment of the botanical record.
The second part of the paper (MT) discusses the observed variation in the preservation of wood in particular, and describes the effects of de-watering on the deposits of wood in the enclosure ditch.     

From Babylon to Christianity: William Foxwell Albright on Myth,Folklore, and Christian Origins

The American Orientalist William F. Albright (1891–1971) is remembered as a leading voice of twentieth‐century “biblical archaeology,” a field that aimed to demonstrate empirically the Hebrew Bible's substantial historicity. Less well known is Albright's research on Christian backgrounds, which by contrast reflected modernist theology's scepticism about the gospel narratives' literal truth. Drawing ideas from the “Pan‐Babylonian” school of biblical criticism, Albright invoked the influence of ancient Near Eastern myth and folklore on the Christ story, this being the culminating theme of his magnum opus From the Stone Age to Christianity (1940). Originally Albright believed that this mythological interpretation would reestablish Christianity's intellectual credibility in the twentieth century and thus help revive New Testament theology. Yet in the latter part of his career he omitted the mythological thesis from his writings, apparently having concluded that it was harmful to orthodox Christian faith.     

On Greenfield's Review of The Encyclopedia of African and African American Religions: A Response

Jack M. Potter. Thai Peasant Social Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.     

PALMETTES ON THE CUIRASS FROMDLBOKI

The Dlboki cuirass was unearthed from a Thracian grave of the fifth century BC over a hundred years ago but only recently has close inspection revealed the presence of three palmette designs traced on its surface. The chronology of this type of cuirass is re-assessed.     

Exploring the Transition: Coursework to Research‐Based Study in the Geography Honours Year

The transition from coursework study to independent research is a component of many geography Honours programs in Australian tertiary institutions. Despite being canvassed at the 2003 annual meeting of the Australian Heads of Geography Units, it is a topic that has, to date, received relatively little academic attention. This paper developed from a review of the Geography Honours program at the University of Sydney, conducted by the authors in early 2004. The paper aims to help address the perceived deficiency of research into Honours study. Three topics, related to the Honours year transition, are discussed. These are: the rationale for the Honours year transition from undergraduate coursework to research‐focussed study; the composition and rationale behind coursework programs for geography Honours students, and student‐supervisor relations and their impact on independent Honours research. In the process of examining these issues this paper offers suggestions as to how tertiary geography schools can look to develop their Honours year programs. These recommendations are made with the understanding that all tertiary Honours programs are unique and that issues such as staffing levels and departmental structure will influence what suggestions are appropriate for individual institutions. It is hoped that this paper will encourage more discussion about the nature of the Honours year. It is through such communication that the value of the Honours year in student development can be enhanced