Adding the past to the policy mix: an historical approach to the issue of access to general practice in England

Historical perspectives can be embedded into policy initiatives through a process of ‘past-proofing’—ensuring new policies take the study of the past into consideration. We describe how this was done in a project looking at patient access to general practice in the NHS. We argue that current preoccupations with timeliness which have led to the marginalisation of other dimensions of access are connected to a broader process of neo-liberal reform since the 1970s. This reflection can support a reframing of the terms of current debates on a major issue in British health care. It has wider implications for the policy relevance of history.     

Australian children's independent mobility levels: secondary analyses of cross-sectional data between 1991 and 2012

This study investigated changes in Australian children's independent mobility levels between1991 and 2012. Data from five cross-sectional studies conducted in 1991, 1993, 2010, 2011 and 2012 were analysed. Parent and child surveys were used to assess parental licences for independent mobility and actual independent mobility behaviour in children aged 8–13 years. Findings show declines in the proportion of young children (≤10 years of age) being allowed to travel home from school alone (1991: 68%, 1993: 50%, 2010: 43%, 2011: 45%, 2012: 31%) and travel on buses alone (1991: 31%, 1993: 15%, 2010: 8%, 2011: 6%, 2012: 9%). Furthermore, the proportion of children travelling independently to school decreased (1991: 61%, 1993: 42%, 2010: 31%, 2011: 32%, 2012: 32%). Significantly fewer girls than boys travelled independently to school at each time point (p?≤?.001). Overall, the findings suggest that Australian children's independent mobility levels declined between 1991 and 2012.     

City streets and the city edition: newsboys and newspapers in early twentieth-century Ireland

This article examines the newsboy as both an important figure of early twentieth-century Irish streets and also a vital final link in the chain of media production and distribution at the time. Despite the advent of industrial communications and manufacturing processes in print culture well before the end of the nineteenth century, newspapers in particular were ultimately dependent upon boys as young as eleven years old to sell copies, especially in urban areas. Newsboys were very visible and audible figures on Irish city streets, and presumably because of this were themselves the subject of frequent newspaper stories. This article explores the way in which newsboys were both part of the newspaper industry while simultaneously being represented in the press as exemplars of the urban working classes for middle-class readers.     

Visions of My Youth: Representations of the Childhood of Medieval Visionaries

This article is based on visionary narratives and vitae of twenty‐seven female and thirteen male visionaries from Britain and Europe, from the late eleventh to the early fifteenth century. Across this chronological and geographical span, the differences between the childhood representations of male and female visionaries are shaped by prevailing beliefs about the nature of men and women. Male visionaries rarely include reminiscence of their childhood in their narratives, while women offer childhood memories relatively consistently. For male visionaries, childhood seems irrelevant in terms of their adult spirituality. For women, childhood reminiscences reaffirmed their association with the purity of virgin childhood.     

阿富汗巴米扬巨佛雕像的色彩装饰

2001年3月,被塔利班摧毁的位于巴米扬山谷悬崖上的两座巨佛雕像引起了公众的注意。这一爆破不仅成为塔利班疯狂的象征,而且还带来了一个问题,雕像的残迹将怎么办。2004年,国际古遗址理事会计划着手移动佛壁龛的材料,并从而拯救雕塑的碎片。这些碎片不仅包括或大或小的石块,而且还有粘土层,锚梁,木桩和绳索。调查显示,雕像表面明显是由粘土层组成,部分用钉和布加固,以增加石头和外形布料的强度。最后在表面施以彩绘。对有机添加物进行放射性碳测年可以确定粘土层的起源,从而确定雕像建造时间范围。佛雕像的276颜料残片被带到慕尼黑进行研究。颜料和粘合剂目前正在确定中。本报告说明该雕塑被涂上明亮的色彩并且至少被涂染过两次。这里所涉及的信息是一个正在进行的研究项目的部分,并提供了对现况研究的调查。