Historical coastline adjustment at MacVanes Pond Inlet, Eastern Prince Edward Island

Sea levels are rising throughout the Atlantic Provinces at present and this is expected to continue throughout this century, forcing general coastline retreat and adjustment. In this study, a part of the coastline of eastern Prince Edward Island is examined for changes during historical time (1784–1994) using maps and aerial photography. MacVanes Pond is located between Basin Head Harbour and South Lake, all three of which were once lagoons connected to the same tidal circulation system. Sand barrier retreat has closed the connection to Basin Head Harbour and it is now a separate body of water. Meanwhile, the location of a tidal inlet at MacVanes Pond has been strongly influenced by longshore drift and the inlet has closed, re‐opened to the northeast, and subsequently shifted to the southwest. Human activities in the area have previously been, and will continue to be, affected by sea level rise and transgression. Actuellement, le niveau de la mer s'élève dans la région des provinces de l'Atlantique et l'on prévoit que cette tendance se maintiendra tout au long du présent siècle, ce qui aura pour effet général de faire reculer le littoral et de le modifier. La présente étude examine une partie du littoral est de l'Île‐du‐Prince‐Édouard pour y déceler des changements qui se sont produits dans le temps (1784–1994) à partir de cartes et de photographies aériennes. L'étang MacVanes est situé entre le bassin Head‐Harbour et le lac South, trois plans d'eau qui étaient autrefois des lagunes reliées au même système de marée. Or, une barre de sable a fermé le lion avec le bassin Head‐Harbour, qui est maintenant une masse d'eau distincte. Entre‐temps, l'emplacement d'un goulet de marée à l'étang MacVanes a été grandement influencé par la dérive littorale, au point de se fermer pour se frayer une nouvelle ouverture au nord‐est et par la suite au sud‐ouest. Les activités humaines de cette région ont été affectées, et continueront de l'être, par l'élévation du niveau de la mer et sa transgression.     

The 1908 Pankhurst Medal: Remembering the Campaign for Votes for Women in Parliament

The house of commons has recently acquired the medal awarded to Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928), founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). This acquisition provides a timely reminder in 2008 that it is only 90 and 80 years respectively since women in Britain were granted the vote as well as marking the centenary of the ‘rush’ on the house of commons for which the medal was awarded. The ‘rush’ was just one of many occasions when members of the WSPU brought their campaign and protests to the Palace of Westminster. The palace was a site, both physically and ideologically, of suffragette protest, evidence of which remains on the building itself and, increasingly, as the acquisition of the medal suggests, in gestures of marking and remembrance of women's fight for the vote by parliament.     

Effect of Scale on the Links between Walking and Urban Design

Studies of the relationship between walking and urban form consistently show that pedestrian‐friendly neighbourhoods encourage local walking. However, the geographic scale of measurement of the built environment for developing walkability indices and their relationship with different types of walking (e.g. for transport and recreation) has not been fully examined. In this study, objective measures of the built environment were developed at three geographic scales: suburb, census collection district, and 15 min walk neighbourhood for each participant. Walking for transport and recreation within the neighbourhood was measured using the Neighbourhood Physical Activity Questionnaire. The likelihood of walking at all (yes/no) and as recommended for health benefit (150 min per week) were assessed using logistic regression. The walkability index captured a strong positive relationship between urban form and walking for transport, but found no relationship at any scale for recreational walking. Participants walking for transport and living in high versus low walkable areas were 63% more likely to walk at the suburb scale (odds ratio 1.63; 95% confidence interval 1.22–2.18), twice as likely to walk at the census collection district scale, and nearly three times more likely to walk at the 15 min walk scale (odds ration 2.79; 95% confidence interval 2.09–3.73). The scale at which environmental data are measured influenced the strength of the relationship, showing that the neighbourhood 15 min from home was most predictive of transport walking. This has research and policy implications. Standardised scales across studies would both improve comparability of results and enhance understanding of the influences on walking.     

With Our Eyes Closed: The United States and the Creation of South Vietnam

David L. Anderson. Trapped by Success: The Eisenhower Administration and Vietnam, 1953–61 . New York Columbia University Press, 1991. xv + 276 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $39.50.     

MAKING METAL AND FORGING RELATIONS: IRONWORKING IN THE BRITISH IRON AGE

Summary.   This article explores the social significance of metalworking in the British Iron Age, drawing ethnographic analogies with small-scale, pre-industrial communities. It focuses on iron, from the collection of ore to smelting and smithing, challenging the assumption that specialized ironworking was necessarily associated with hierarchical chiefdoms, supported by full-time craft specialists. Instead, it explores more complex ways in which social and political authority might have been associated with craftwork, through metaphorical associations with fertility, skill and exchange. Challenging traditional interpretations of objects such as tools and weapons, it argues that the importance of this craft lay in its dual association with transformative power, both creative and destructive. It suggests that this technology literally made new kinds of metaphorical relationships thinkable , and it explores the implications through a series of case studies ranging from the production and use of iron objects to their destruction and deposition.     

'J'y Suis, J'y Reste': The Parliamentary Statue of Oliver Cromwell by Hamo Thornycroft

The conservation of the statue of Cromwell by Hamo Thornycroft in 2009 (for full details and images see http://www.parliament.uk/about/visiting/exhibitions/cromwell_conservation.cfm ) provided an opportunity to review the history of this most controversial of parliamentary statues both within the context of the proposed statue programme for the new palace of Westminster and the development of British sculpture which the Royal Commission for the Fine Arts hoped to encourage with its commissioning programme. Whilst 2009 marked the 350th anniversary of Cromwell's death it was the tercentenary of his birth in 1899 which brought forward a clutch of statues, including parliament's, reflecting the Victorian reassessment, and indeed repopularisation of Cromwell, as a historical figure.