Dynamics of a Non-Decision: the 'Failure' to Devalue the Pound, 1964-7

Harold Wilson's delay in devaluing the pound until November1967 is still widely thought of as a fatal mistake, despiterecent work which has emphasized the economic case for not surrenderingsterling's parity with the dollar. This paper re-examines notjust the economic but also the political reasons behind theLabour government's defence of the national currency—anddoes so in order to explain both the initial rejection of devaluationand its eventual acceptance. It concludes that the governmenttried to avoid devaluation in order to avoid disruption to theworlds financial system and because it believed it would notsolve Britain's long-term economic problems. The governmentalso knew that it would be electorally damaging, and that theattack on public and private spending that would have to accompanyit would threaten its parliamentary survival. Devaluation occurredin 1967 because of a complex series of contingent events. Butdevaluation also took place because the government could convincinglyargue to the outside world that it had done its utmost, becauseits alternative approach failed to deliver the goods in time,and because, having an increased majority, it decided to facedown rather than pander to its own parliamentary supporters.     

DISPLAY, DISCLOSURE AND CONCEALMENT: THE ORGANIZATION OF RAW MATERIALS IN THE CHAMBERED TOMBS OF BOHUSLÄN

Summary.   The Neolithic chambered tombs of Bohuslän on the west coast of Sweden were built out of locally occurring raw materials. These exhibit a wide variety of colours, textures and mineral inclusions, and all were used to contrive a series of striking visual effects. Certain of these would have been apparent to the casual observer but others would only have been apparent to someone inside the passage or the burial chamber. There is no evidence that the materials were organized according to a single scheme. Rather, they permitted a series of improvisations, so that no two monuments were exactly alike. The effects that they created are compared with those found in megalithic art where the design elements were painted or carved, but in Bohuslän all the designs were created using the natural properties of the rock.     

MAKING PLACES MATTER IN EARLY NEOLITHIC DORSET

Summary.   By exploring an Early Neolithic site this paper demonstrates how landscapes are constituted from connected places and, in turn, how places are constituted by materials. The paper aims to develop an approach that acknowledges the role of memory and emotion within this, and posits that these factors are crucial to how senses of place and community were formed in this period. By considering memory and emotion the paper demonstrates their centrality to any human experience of landscape.     

'Democratizing' Consumerism?: Coalescing constructions of subjugation in the consumer landscape

Charges of sexism and the destruction of nature in the social construction of the built environment are not new. But the notion has been sporadically forwarded that the consumer landscape represents a democratizing environment within the traditional social hierarchy premised on class, gender, and ethnicity/race. The consumer landscape is presumed to accomplish this by allowing the individual consumer the freedom to construct self-identity through the process of consumption. It is the premise of this paper that this contention is incorrect. In fact, what is of interest is the way sexism and the subjugation of nature are integrated and commodified in the consumer landscape, and why they coalesce and reinforce each other so effectively. This process can be observed in the social construction of Texas's second most visited tourist attraction located in downtown San Antonio. In the social construction of the Paseo del Rio \[River Walk] it can be seen how the presentation of gender subjugation (closely linked with nature and race) is a necessary component in the construction of a successful and socially stratified consumer landscape. Far from being democratizing, in this landscape the consumer is socialized according to traditional notions of cultural power.