London Office Research Articles

The price of loyalty to Vladimir Jabotinsky: moral honesty and political irrelevance – Yehuda Benari’s life and work (1940–48)

ABSTRACT This essay draws attention to Yehuda Benari, a forgotten figure in the Revisionist Zionist movement who, in addition to serving as the movement’s attorney general (1938–46) and the head of the London office (1947–48), was a leading Zionist lawyer, activist, historian, and journalist. My thesis is that Benari modeled his life, both actively and intellectually, on the leading principles and ideals of Vladimir Jabotinsky. However, his unwavering commitment to Jabotinsky’s interpretation of Revisionist Zionism impeded Benari’s chances of adapting to change and prevented a political career in independent Israel. Nonetheless, his work in the 1940s on behalf of political prisoners sheds light on the way Revisionists used British law as part of their overall struggle. This piece also helps us interpret the political fate of a generation of Revisionist Zionists between Jabotinsky’s death (1940) and the establishment of the State of Israel.

Survey of screw-retained versus cement-retained implant restorations used in both education and private dental practices.

In the literature, it is still unclear if the decisions for selecting the type of implant crown-retaining system are based on scientific-based research or if the Universities' choices, Implant marketing trends, or finances could have a major influence on the private dentists' decisions. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the crown-retaining system (cement- or screw-retained) used in dental schools and private dental practices. A 13-item questionnaire was sent to Canadian dental schools (n=10) and dental offices in London (n=298), Canada. The questionnaire included demographic questions and questions to reveal the dentists' perspectives on prosthetic implant treatment between the two-retaining systems. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression (p=0.05). Twenty-four private dentists and five dental schools responded to the survey - 62.5% of private practitioners and 60% of universities reported using both systems. A trend was observed in using screw-retained systems by dentists who graduated 5-10 years ago. Straumann, Astra, and Nobel Biocare were the private practices and dental schools' preferred implant systems. The use of platform switching for all cases was selected by 54.2% of the private practitioners and 40% of the dental schools. Resin cement was the private practice's preferred cementation method; the dental schools used glass ionomer and zinc phosphate cement. The multinomial logistic regressions showed no statistical difference between the crown-retaining system chosen and the decision factors. The laboratory technician's recommendations and cost influenced the decision-making process for private dentists. For the universities, perio-restorative outcome, implant position, survival rates, institute preferences, and evidence-based research influenced the crown-retaining system's decision-making process. CONCLUSION: The Canadian dental schools and private practice reported using both screw- and cement-retaining systems. However, there was a difference in the selection criteria as the universities showed a tendency towards a more research-based approach in their decision, while for the private practices, the technicians' recommendations and cost played a major role in the decision process. It was noted that the implant systems preconized by the Universities were observed to be used in private practices.

Tracing young people's engagements with the diplomacy and geopolitics of a British Overseas Territory

AbstractResearch from political geographers has increasingly identified the diverse actors, practices, and performances of diplomacy, challenging narrow conceptions that had tended to associate them with the state alone. The following paper engages this plurality directly through, on the one hand, its focus on young people as diplomatic actors and, on the other, the diplomacy of a British Overseas Territory (OT)—the Falkland Islands—a polity characterised by its liminal subjectivity between colonial dependency and independent statehood. In 2022, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, we partnered with the Falkland Islands Government Office (FIGO) in London, to design, deliver and evaluate a national schools' competition. The Falklands Forty Schools Competition (FFSC) culminated in an eight‐day trip to the Islands for seven prize winners. The paper reflects on our role in co‐organising the competition and the opportunities it afforded to observe young people probe and critically question the official narratives presented to them by government representatives. This offered us the opportunity to explore how geopolitical and diplomatic narratives can be projected, negotiated and challenged by young people in the context of a highly curated trip with narrative projection at its heart. We show how young people through their participation in the competition and, more specifically, a trip to the Falkland Islands, were able to identify slippages and inconsistencies in these ‘stable’ narratives related to governance of the Islands. The young people, far from being passive diplomatic ‘delegates’ unquestioningly imbibing the information presented to them were, instead, highly aware of narrative tipping‐points, tensions and slippages in their engagements with government representatives and diplomats.

AI, Art and the Human Condition

Abstract On the 8th of November, BCS held an evening of presentations and discussions with four Lumen artists at our London offices, facilitated by Goldsmiths University's Head of Digital Arts Computing, Rachel Falconer. The panel featured 2023 3D/ Interactive award winner Sarah Selby and shortlister Max Colson, BCS Futures Award shortlister Adam Cole, and Student Award winner Yuqian Sun.

The effectiveness of climate change regulations in the commercial real estate market

Legislation to increase building energy efficiency is a key climate change policy instrument in many countries. Although most of these regulations concern the housing stock, office buildings are also a considerable source of greenhouse gas emissions. Office markets face fewer pricing regulations than the residential market and may thus provide a clearer pricing signal of any policy impacts. This paper focusses on the introduction of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) in England and Wales. Applying machine-learning methods, Difference in Differences (DiD) and Fixed Effects (FE) panel data estimation to a comprehensive database of the London office market, our results suggest that the MEES policy has had a measurable and significant impact and lowered the rents of the combined group of affected office units by 6–8% following the announcement of MEES and in the run-up to implementation. A weakly significant 4.4% rental discount is detected for the bordering but unaffected class of EPC E-rated office buildings relative to the A–C EPC group, perhaps due to market expectations of a further expansion of MEES.

Event summary: A focus on domestic violence and forced marriage in adults with a learning disability

The North Thames Special Interest Group Annual Study Day was held in the BPS London Office in December. The day consisted of a business meeting and two presentations from Professor Michelle McCarthy, an expert in the area of sexuality and relationships in individuals with a learning disability. The first presentation focused on the issue of domestic violence affecting women with a learning disability. The second raised awareness of forced marriage of individuals with a learning disability. Both presentations discussed the characteristics, risk factors and considerations for clinicians to be aware of.Easy to read summary■This article describes a meeting that many psychology professionals working within learning disability services attended in the North London area.■There was a business meeting in the morning and two presentations by Michelle McCarthy in the afternoon. Michelle McCarthy has done a lot of research on sexuality and relationships for people with a learning disability.■She talked about two dangers that can affect people with a learning disability (domestic violence and forced marriage). The article summarises what the authors learned from both presentations.

The Charting of Arousa Bay: A Case Study in British Naval Pathfinding in the Peninsular War (1807–1814)

ABSTRACT Military reconnaissance and mapping in the Peninsular War have been well studied; less attention has been given to the analogous provision of navigational intelligence for the Royal Navy. This depended on exploitation of such data as was held in the Hydrographical Office in London, supplemented with information from pathfinders on the front line. The present case study examines survey and charting of the rias of the Galician coast, which were of strategic importance for support to Spanish guerillas and to the Duke of Wellington’s army as it advanced through northern Spain.

‘Space-as-a-service’: A premium to office rents?

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of “space-as-a-service” (SAAS) provision on office rents in the UK and quantify premia to office rents.Design/methodology/approachUsing hedonic modelling techniques the authors are able to quantify the impact of a number of SAAS features on office rents in the City of London using CoStar data. The authors control for the quality of the buildings by focussing on five-star buildings, rated by CoStar, as these buildings are more likely to incorporate SAAS features.FindingsUsing data on 317 transactions in 37 City of London Office buildings over the period 1 November 2004–15 July 2020, the authors find that tenant exclusive mobile applications (MAPPS) and a public terrace or rooftop command a rent premium of around £13 and £6.5 per sq. ft per annum, respectively. However, other SAAS features such as conferencing facilities, on-site fitness centre and touch down space have no significant impact on office rents. The impact of exclusive MAPPS varies with size of net lettable area.Research limitations/implicationsThe SAAS real estate model is an emerging trend in the office market. As it grows in importance more research questions will have to be investigated. The present study raises awareness of the need to specify SAAS features and form a rating system that will facilitate future research on the subject.Practical implicationsThe conclusion from the present investigation is that only two SAAS features have a positive impact on office (tenant exclusive mobile apps and a public terrace or rooftop), which suggest that these two features may form the basis of any future SAAS rating system. These two SAAS components should carry more weight in valuations and pricing.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that attempts to quantify the impact of SAAS features on office rents.

Intrigue and Feud in Colonial Cyprus: Professor Talbot Rice’s Tendentious Report (1936) on the New Antiquities Department

ABSTRACTIn response to criticism about the state of the monuments there, the British government in 1935 set up a Department of Antiquities in its colony of Cyprus. The instability of its first two years owed much to local intrigues and feuds that the colonial governor, Sir Richmond Palmer, failed to resolve. His equivocal stance was tested when, immediately following a visit to the island in 1936, David Talbot Rice, the Watson Gordon Professor of Fine Art at Edinburgh University, submitted to the Colonial Office in London a report criticizing the Department’s work. Dismissed at once by the governor as wildly inaccurate and unhelpful, the report raises questions about Talbot Rice’s possible motives in writing it. The episode reveals the strained nature of metropolis-colony relationships, the fallibility of reports made by visiting experts, and—specifically for the Cyprus case—the governor’s questionable commitment to the new Antiquities Department.

Interrogating Orientalism: Hindu Festivals and Travellers’ Tales in the Colonial Indian Ocean

ABSTRACT Thimithi – the Tamil Hindu fire-walking ceremony has always attracted the attention of the curious and the thrill seeker and remains a tourist attraction as well as the performance of a solemn vow in many parts of the world where it continues to be enacted. A source of much speculation as to the participants’ apparent ability to withstand the pain of walking over hot coals, travellers’ often exaggerated accounts of eye witness attendance at such events regularly graced the columns of western journals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This article focusses on an unusual investigation carried out in colonial Mauritius in mid-1874. The enquiry resulted from a published description of thimithi written by Nicolas Pike, former American consul on the island which caused concern at the colonial office in London, who asked for an explanation. This produced a set of reports, firstly by British police officers, and secondly, but more remarkably, by leading members of the Tamil community on Mauritius. Their detailed and occasionally humorous responses to the western orientalist gaze deftly unpick the absurdities and hypocrisies of the so-called ruling caste whilst their very involvement serves to complicate our understanding of the relationship between white settler and Indian ‘subject’ in the mid-Victorian colonial empire.

Konstytucja 3 maja w relacji posła brytyjskiego Daniela Hailesa

George III’s extraordinary envoy Daniel Hailes was stationed in Warsaw in the years 1788–1792. On the one hand, he was an astute observer of the Polish political scene, capable of making an accurate and in-depth analysis of the events described, as evidenced by his extensive reports sent to the Foreign Office in London. On the other hand, when reporting on the May coup in the Commonwealth and the changes it aroused, the diplomat was unable to be completely impartial. This became clearly evident from the autumn of 1791 onwards when the envoy’s reports increasingly contained unduly harsh criticism of the reformers and their great work.

Thalassaemia - part 2: the patient perspective.

This is the second part of the thalassaemia update series which focuses on the dental journey of thalassaemia patients and the challenges encountered. This paper is a guide for recently qualified dentists who may not be experienced in the clinical implications of thalassaemia. A patient focus group was carried out with the UK Thalassaemia Society (UKTS) using a semi-structured interview format. All participants suffered from beta-major thalassaemia. The interview was conducted at the UKTS head office in London, UK. Participants consented for this interview and written consent forms were reviewed and completed by the author. The objectives were to: 1) review feedback from thalassaemia patients on the quality of dental care they receive in primary dental services; 2) evaluate the influence of social media in the thalassaemia community and how this has affected the self-confidence of thalassaemia patients; and 3) identify protocols that can be implemented for the primary care management and criteria for secondary care referral of thalassaemia patients.

Association of sleep duration at age 50, 60, and 70 years with risk of multimorbidity in the UK: 25-year follow-up of the Whitehall II cohort study.

Sleep duration has been shown to be associated with individual chronic diseases but its association with multimorbidity, common in older adults, remains poorly understood. We examined whether sleep duration is associated with incidence of a first chronic disease, subsequent multimorbidity and mortality using data spanning 25 years. Data were drawn from the prospective Whitehall II cohort study, established in 1985 on 10,308 persons employed in the London offices of the British civil service. Self-reported sleep duration was measured 6 times between 1985 and 2016, and data on sleep duration was extracted at age 50 (mean age (standard deviation) = 50.6 (2.6)), 60 (60.3 (2.2)), and 70 (69.2 (1.9)). Incidence of multimorbidity was defined as having 2 or more of 13 chronic diseases, follow-up up to March 2019. Cox regression, separate analyses at each age, was used to examine associations of sleep duration at age 50, 60, and 70 with incident multimorbidity. Multistate models were used to examine the association of sleep duration at age 50 with onset of a first chronic disease, progression to incident multimorbidity, and death. Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic, behavioral, and health-related factors. A total of 7,864 (32.5% women) participants free of multimorbidity had data on sleep duration at age 50; 544 (6.9%) reported sleeping ≤5 hours, 2,562 (32.6%) 6 hours, 3,589 (45.6%) 7 hours, 1,092 (13.9%) 8 hours, and 77 (1.0%) ≥9 hours. Compared to 7-hour sleep, sleep duration ≤5 hours was associated with higher multimorbidity risk (hazard ratio: 1.30, 95% confidence interval = 1.12 to 1.50; p < 0.001). This was also the case for short sleep duration at age 60 (1.32, 1.13 to 1.55; p < 0.001) and 70 (1.40, 1.16 to 1.68; p < 0.001). Sleep duration ≥9 hours at age 60 (1.54, 1.15 to 2.06; p = 0.003) and 70 (1.51, 1.10 to 2.08; p = 0.01) but not 50 (1.39, 0.98 to 1.96; p = 0.07) was associated with incident multimorbidity. Among 7,217 participants free of chronic disease at age 50 (mean follow-up = 25.2 years), 4,446 developed a first chronic disease, 2,297 progressed to multimorbidity, and 787 subsequently died. Compared to 7-hour sleep, sleeping ≤5 hours at age 50 was associated with an increased risk of a first chronic disease (1.20, 1.06 to 1.35; p = 0.003) and, among those who developed a first disease, with subsequent multimorbidity (1.21, 1.03 to 1.42; p = 0.02). Sleep duration ≥9 hours was not associated with these transitions. No association was found between sleep duration and mortality among those with existing chronic diseases. The study limitations include the small number of cases in the long sleep category, not allowing conclusions to be drawn for this category, the self-reported nature of sleep data, the potential for reverse causality that could arise from undiagnosed conditions at sleep measures, and the small proportion of non-white participants, limiting generalization of findings. In this study, we observed short sleep duration to be associated with risk of chronic disease and subsequent multimorbidity but not with progression to death. There was no robust evidence of an increased risk of chronic disease among those with long sleep duration at age 50. Our findings suggest an association between short sleep duration and multimorbidity.

The Digital Skills Network Launch

Abstract At a recent event held in its London office and attended by over 70 high-profile guests, BCS announced the Digital Skills Network – a new community founded to meet tomorrow’s societal challenges through filling today’s digital skills gap.

Andrew Clennel Palmer. 26 May 1938—21 December 2019

Andrew Clennel Palmer was internationally recognized for his major works on submarine pipeline design and engineering, although his work on the properties of ice and arctic engineering is equally noteworthy. His early research work at Cambridge, Brown and Liverpool Universities related to the mechanical properties of soils and sediments and the effect of temperature; this led to him aiding with the design of the trans-Alaska pipeline and work on major oil and gas pipelines in the UK sector of the North Sea. Andrew's successes drew him deeper into pipeline engineering and he worked with R. J. Brown &amp; Associates in Houston, Texas, and in Holland, becoming vice-president and head of the London office in 1982. During a lull in the pipeline industry, Andrew returned to academe at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to develop a new course in offshore engineering. When the pipeline engineering industry recovered, Andrew started a company specializing in solving the many complex problems resulting from the installation of pipelines in ever-deeper waters. Andrew returned to Cambridge in 1996 as the first Research Professor of Petroleum Engineering in the Department of Engineering, a new post supported by the Jafar Foundation. He led a vigorous research group with strong connections to the pipeline industry, becoming president of the Pipeline Industries Guild in 1998; and he returned to the study of ice forces on offshore structures, also working with the university's Scott Polar Research Institute. On his retirement from Cambridge, Andrew moved to the National University of Singapore in 2006 as Keppel Chair Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering.

Where we work determines what we eat: A qualitative exploration of the multi-dimensional influences on meat consumption when home and office working during the Covid 19 lockdown in London, UK

Food choices, including the decision to consume meat, are complex and determined by many inter-related influences. This study examined the choice of working professionals to consume meat in the context of forced changes in working conditions during lockdowns in London during the Covid 19 outbreak in 2020–21. Guided by an adapted Ecological Framework depicting influences on food choice in this context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 employees of a financial services consultancy who normally work from offices in central London but were homeworking at the time of research. Food choices associated with all meals (but especially lunches) when working in each setting were explored. Four key themes emerged from the research. Firstly, when office-working the influence of colleagues (social environment factor) on the choice to consume meat was variable and individual-level factors, particularly personality traits, impacted the extent of social influence. Secondly, limited availability of non-meat options and preferences for buying meat-based meals outside the home (physical environment factor), contributed to more meat consumption when office-working. Thirdly, alignment of food choices between household members (social environment factor), largely for convenience reasons, resulted in a greater likelihood of non-meat meals being eaten when homeworking. Finally, not having to commute (physical environment factor) meant participants had more time available, resulting in changes to routines and priorities (individual-level factors), with some reduced meat consumption. Overall, research findings contribute to building understanding of how both home and office-working influence the choice to consume meat. Findings may be used to inform strategies to reduce meat consumption, which will in turn play a role in supporting global climate change targets and reducing harm to the natural environment associated with food choices.

Межкультурные виртуальные производственные туры как лингво-профессиональная составляющая обучения иностранному языку студентов технических специальностей

Profession-oriented component in foreign language teaching at a university is considered essential for compliance with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education within the competence approach. Information technology and the Internet resources involvement contribute much to the increased opportunities of professional development in foreign language training. The virtual reality technology development has a certain value for foreign language teaching process. Virtual excursion technologies are used as socio-cultural and country studies specific components of the process. Innovative virtual industrial tours are considered by the author as a means of profession-oriented exercises and task development for engineering students. The aim of the article is to justify virtual industrial tours introduction into foreign language teaching process for IT and technical education students. The author also gives a problem-based task of a virtual tour to the Google office in London as an example. The conclusion is made that there are plenty of opportunities for introducing virtual industrial tours into foreign language teaching and developing professional foreign language communicative competence.

Influence of the global environment on capital flows in the London Office market

PurposeThe London office market is a major destination of international real estate capital and arguably the epicentre of international real estate investment over the past decade. However, the increase in global uncertainties in recent years due to socio-economic and political trends highlights the need for more insights into the behaviour of international real estate capital flows. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of the global and domestic environment on international real estate investment activities within the London office market over the period 2007–2017.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts an auto-regressive distributed lag approach using the real capital analytics (RCA) international real estate investment data. The RCA data analyses quarterly cross-border investment transactions within the central London office market for the period 2007–2017.FindingsThe study provides insights on the critical differences in the influence of the domestic and global environment on cross-border investment activities in this office market, specifically highlighting the significance of the influence of the global environment in the long run. In the short run, the influence of factors reflective of both the domestic and international environment are important indicating that international capital flows into the London office market is contextualised by the interaction of different factors.Originality/valueThe authors provide a holistic study of the influence of both the domestic and international environment on cross-border investment activities in the London office market, providing more insights on the behaviour of global real estate capital flows.

Brexodus and the Commercial Real Estate Markets of London and Paris

This paper draws on recent conceptual work in the field of border studies in order to analyse the island economy - of which London and Paris are a part - as a dynamic functional process of bordering. The particular focus is on the commercial real estate markets of the two cities, and the discourse of firms of international property consultants. It is shown that these non-state actors play a key role in standardising information so that investors perceive the office markets of global cities as transparent. A brief account is given of the evolution of these cross-border consultancy relations since Big Bang in 1986 and in the context of the financialisation of real estate. The paper then goes on to examine research reports and commentaries published since the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum by the three leading firms of property consultants covering the London and Paris office markets. This was a period marked by much speculation about the transfer of jobs (Brexodus) in financial services from London to Paris. For international investors in real estate, Brexit added a new variable to their calculations of risk, and one that seemingly muddied the waters of the relatively transparent property markets of London and Paris. The analysis of market commentaries concludes that the international network of glocal property consultants plays a role in the on-going process of bordering and filtering flows of finance that reflect the normative power of international real estate investors.

Introduction to Andrea Levy's Selected Excerpts from The Adventures of Mrs Seacole

Introduction to Andrea Levy's Selected Excerpts from The Adventures of Mrs Seacole Michael Perfect (bio) In July 2012 Andrea Levy completed a screenplay based on Mary Seacole's 1857 autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands. In addition to using Seacole's own text, Levy also drew on Jane Robinson's 2005 biography of her as well as a number of other resources. At the time of writing, Levy's screenplay has been neither televised nor optioned, although this may yet change. Like Seacole herself, Levy's screenplay is full of warmth, energy, and wit; it offers a lively and insightful portrait of a woman who has been voted the "greatest black Briton" (Taylor) but who nevertheless remains unknown to many British people. Indeed, like other projects that Levy worked on in her final years, The Adventures of Mrs Seacole sought to increase public awareness of and interest in neglected aspects of British-Caribbean history. Two excerpts from The Adventures of Mrs Seacole are reproduced below. The first is from the beginning of the screenplay. These opening scenes cover Seacole's arrival at the British military hospital at Scutari, near Istanbul, in 1855. Having applied at the War Office in London to join the nursing contingent famously led by Florence Nightingale, and having been rejected, Seacole has made her own way to the military hospital. At Scutari she encounters Nightingale, who receives Seacole frostily. The second excerpt features scenes from much later in Levy's screenplay. They find Seacole back in London, in 1856. Despite her enormously heroic exploits in the Crimea, Seacole faces obscurity and destitution—until, that is, she encounters some of the veterans who she nursed on the battlefields. As is clear from these excerpts, Levy's screenplay takes issue with Seacole being a frequently overlooked figure and, [End Page 293] in particular, one overshadowed by Nightingale—not just in the mid-nineteenth century but in the contemporary moment, too. Bill Mayblin and I have selected and edited these excerpts for posthumous publication. For a more detailed discussion of these excerpts in particular, the screenplay as a whole, and Levy's late unpublished work more generally, see my article in this special issue. Michael Perfect Michael Perfect is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Liverpool John Moores University. His research interests are in twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature and culture. His first book, Contemporary Fictions of Multiculturalism, was published with Palgrave in 2014, and his work has also appeared in The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, The Journal for Cultural Research, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and numerous edited collections. He has written for The Guardian's Higher Education Network and been interviewed on local and national radio. His second book, forthcoming with Manchester University Press, focuses on Andrea Levy. He was the first academic to carry out research on Levy's archive, and his ongoing work on the archive is supported by a BA/Leverhulme research grant. In addition to his work on Levy, he is currently developing a project that relates to screen adaptations of contemporary transnational novels. Works Cited Robinson, Jane. Mary Seacole: The Charismatic Black Nurse Who Became a Heroine of the Crimea. 2005. Constable and Robinson, 2006. Google Scholar Seacole, Mary. Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands. 1857. Edited by Ziggi Alexander and Audrey Dewjee, Falling Wall, 1984. Google Scholar Taylor, Matthew. "Nurse Is Greatest Black Briton." The Guardian, 10 Feb. 2004, theguardian.com/uk/2004/feb/10/britishidentity.artsandhumanities#:~:text=A%20little%2Dknown%20nurse%20who,voted%20the%20greatest%20black%20Briton. Accessed 14 June 2020. Copyright © 2022 Johns Hopkins University Press and the University of Calgary