Territorial Variation Research Articles

Analysing vote-choice in a multinational state: national identity and territorial differentiation in the 2016 Brexit vote

ABSTRACT Striking territorial variations in the 2016 Brexit referendum are neglected in the explanatory literature, a gap our analysis of the British Election Study (BES) helps to fill. Rather than modelling Britain as one political system, we present parallel models for England, Scotland and Wales. Typical in other multinational states, this approach is innovative for ‘British politics’. The analysis shows different variables help to explain Leave support in England, Scotland and Wales. To analyse complex multilevel national identities, we develop a relative territorial identity (RTI) measure. The measure shows that those who prioritize their territorial identity in England tended to vote Leave, while the opposite is true in Wales and Scotland. The performance of this RTI measure helps to explain territorial differentiation in the 2016 Brexit vote.

The Subnational Indigenous Quota in Peru: The Paradoxes of Political Representation

ABSTRACTThe objective of this article is to explain the territorial variation in indigenous political representation at the subnational level in Peru. The Peruvian state introduced a weak indigenous electoral quota, and its effects have varied across provinces. This article presents a typology that combines descriptive and substantive dimensions of political representation. Using a subnational comparative method, the four cases studied illustrate distinct dynamics. The article argues that these differing dynamics are explained by a combination of sociostructural variables (i.e., political articulation and cohesion of indigenous organizations as a result of a conflict) and individual variables (i.e., candidates’ political capital). This article demonstrates how, even in an institutionally adverse environment that does not feature ethnic parties, both descriptive and substantive indigenous political representation can be achieved, and that these two dimensions are not necessarily related. The article is based on fieldwork and interviews with key provincial political actors.

Brexit, the Press and the Territorial Constitution

Brexit has unveiled previously hidden aspects of United Kingdom (UK) society, law and politics. It provides a valuable opportunity to investigate the social reception of law, and in particular the mediation of the law and constitution in the press. The distinctive constitutional arrangements and histories of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England have given rise to different territorial interpretations of the UK state. These asymmetries have parallels in the UK’s territorial media landscape, yet we have little understanding of how this landscape contributes to constitutional discourses. This article offers quantitative content and thematic analysis of UK-wide media coverage of major court judgments which have served as critical junctures in the Brexit process. The analysis reveals striking territorial variation in the volume and substance of coverage. Here, the media appears to reinforce divergent understandings of the constitution: while English reporting chimed with a more unitary account of the constitution, reporting elsewhere was more consistent with a vision of the UK as union-state. In the light of these findings, we argue that media analysis can make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the law and the constitution.

Recommendations by the Spanish Society of Epidemiology and Oral Public Health (SESPO) for the healthcare adaptation of public health dental clinics in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundIn March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic and, a few days later, the Spanish Government declared a State of Emergency and the population lockdown. This crisis situation crisis forced deep changes in health care. At dental care level, it became necessary for both public health services and private consultations to plan changes to enable them to face this healthcare challenge. Material and MethodsSESPO and the General Council of Dentists of Spain (CGDE) appointed a Working Group to prepare a protocol for dental clinics after the lockdown stage. Continuing with this teamwork task, a series of recommendations addressed to public health managers and the dental workforce were agreed, according to the COVID-19 protection protocols, with the evidence available at the time of their preparation. ResultsThe SESPO Working Group prepared a schedule with recommendations to be taken. The CGDE presented this document to the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare, and SESPO emailed it to all the Health Councils of the autonomous regions. The document was also uploaded to the CGDE and SESPO websites and was emailed to all SESPO associated members. ConclusionsKeeping in mind the existing territorial variation, both at the organization level of dental public health services, and at the care level (especially in child preventive programs and care for pregnant women), this health crisis has highlighted the importance of teamwork. It is necessary to unify the standards for all dental health care units in the national territory in challenging times. Key words:COVID-19, Dental public health, dental care, dentistry, primary care, infection, SARS-CoV-2.

Neighborhoods, Networks, and Delivery Methods

We investigate potential mechanisms of information transmission among patients when explaining territorial variations in the use of cesarean sections. Defining networks as mothers living in the same Italian municipality (average size approximately 10,000 residents), we show that a one standard deviation increase of the incidence of cesarean sections for the 12 months before the delivery date in the future mother’s municipality of residence increases the probability of her receiving the treatment by 3%. This result captures mainly network effects for Italian mothers, while it captures both network and neighborhood effects for foreign mothers. Both groups adjust for the transmission of complementary information, such as the incidence of complications due to cesarean sections. The selection of mothers across hospitals does not uniquely explain our results, which are robust to alternative sample selections.

Social change and anti-mafia movements: the ‘Addiopizzo’ variable

This article presents the results of a piece of research into extortion in the city of Palermo between 2004 and 2015. Highlighting the importance of the territorial context among the factors that explain the mafia phenomenon, the study draws on two different georeferencing databases: the first relating to the distribution of extortion across the Sicilian capital's various districts, and the second relating to the distribution of Palermo businesses that had joined the Addiopizzo anti-extortion movement. Although the empirical material is problematic, marked territorial variations emerge from a comparative analysis of the two databases, prompting a number of potential interpretations.

Severe Maternal Morbidity in Canada: Temporal Trends and Regional Variations, 2003-2016.

This study sought to quantify temporal trends and provincial and territorial variations in severe maternal morbidity (SMM) in Canada. The study used data on all hospital deliveries in Canada (excluding Québec) from 2003 to 2016 to examine temporal trends and from 2012 to 2016 to study regional variations. SMM was identified using diagnosis and intervention codes. Contrasts among periods and regions were quantified using rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Temporal changes were also assessed using chi-square tests for trend (Canadian Task Force Classification II-1). The study population included 3882790 deliveries between 2003 and 2016 and 1418545 deliveries between 2012 and 2016. Severe hemorrhage rates increased from 44.8 in 2003 to 62.4 per 10 000 deliveries in 2012 (P for trend <0.0001) and then declined to 41.8 per 10000 deliveries in 2016 (P for trend <0.0001). Maternal intensive care unit admission and sepsis rates decreased between 2003 and 2016, whereas rates of stroke, severe uterine rupture, hysterectomy, obstetric embolism, shock, and assisted ventilation increased. Rates of composite SMM in 2012-2016 were higher in Newfoundland and Labrador (RR 1.15; 95% CI 1.04-1.26), Nova Scotia (RR 1.11; 95% CI 1.03-1.19), New Brunswick (RR1.22; 95% CI 1.13-1.32), Manitoba (RR 1.09; 95% CI 1.03-1.15), Saskatchewan (RR 1.15; 95% CI 1.09-1.22), the Yukon (RR 1.74; 95% CI 1.35-2.25), and Nunavut (RR 1.76; 95% CI 1.46-2.11) compared with the rest of Canada, whereas rates were lower in Alberta and British Columbia. This surveillance report helps inform clinical practice and public health policy for improving maternal health in Canada.

ЛИНГВОКУЛЬТУРОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ ТЕРМИНОВ, ВХОДЯЩИХ В ТЕРМИНОСИСТЕМУ ШКОЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ США

The article is devoted to the linguoculturological study of the terminological units included in the terminological system of the United States school education. The author extrapolates the conception of term cultural meaning to the terminology of the US school system. The paper discusses the examples of the territorial variation and uniqueness of the American school education terms. It is concluded that the terminological system of school education in the USA contains about 13% of terms with a cultural component of meaning reflecting the local identity of the American educational system.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: Seven-year itch, or in need of a radical re-think? – Lessons from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, UK

England has struggled to create and sustain intermediate tier institutions of leadership and governance between national government (UKG) and local authorities. This ‘in perspective’ paper reflects on the establishment of 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships between 2010 and 2012, and their assumption of increasing powers and resources during their first seven years of existence (2010–17). This is considered in the light of the lessons of the Greater Cambridgeshire Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership. Greater Cambridgeshire Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership was a first round Local Enterprise Partnerships eventually wound up and absorbed into a Mayoral Combined Authority – itself a new form of intermediate tier institution – in early 2018. Greater Cambridgeshire Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership exemplifies the challenges of intermediate tier leadership and governance in England in many ways – the tensions between administrative and functional economic geographies; between national and local legitimacy and accountabilities; between political, business, and third sector stakeholders; between strategic leadership and delivery effectiveness. In mid-2018 Government’s ‘Strengthened LEPs’ Review – partly stimulated by the Greater Cambridgeshire Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership experience – sought to reconcile some of these tensions. The paper suggests major limitations with the review’s approach, which may also have surfaced fundamental contradictions in Government’s devolution ambitions and policies. England will almost certainly need a new approach to local and regional growth as BREXIT issues play out over 2019–21, and as it seeks to deliver Local Industrial Strategies. The Local Industrial Strategies seek to tackle fundamental industrial and inclusive growth challenges across England’s cities and regions with their wide territorial variations in performance. Whether this can be founded on an evolution of the Local Enterprise Partnership system or requires a radical fresh start remains an open question.

Socioeconomic Development of Regions of Siberia and Russian Far East: Statistical Analysis

The economic development of Russia, given the country’s vast territory, the distribution patterns of natural resources and population, and the diverse climate conditions, is logically uneven and characterized by territorial variation. Particular focus of the federal government should be placed on the conditions emerging in Siberia and the Russian Far East. The major limiting factor is the increasing population outflows to the central federal subjects of the Russian Federation, particularly visible among the working-age population. Apart from it, another limiting factor is the natural conditions in these two federal districts, namely, the harsh weather conditions, the typical inland climate, seismic activity, etc. Moreover, a major part of Siberia and the Far East is designated as a territory with special requirements in terms of natural resource development, which is due to the existing national reserves and parks. The Baikal natural area, the basin of Lake Baikal, are of particular importance. These factors have brought to the foreground the need for a break-up of the Siberia Federal District and the Far East Federal District to improve the economic efficiency of such spacious areas of the country. There is a proposal to establish a new federal district known under the working reference as “Central Eurasia” and meant to include the Republics of Buryatia, Tyva, Khakassia, and Sakha (Yakutia), the Trans-Baikal and Krasnoyarsk Territories and the Irkutsk region. The proposed spatial arrangement of productive forces would improve the efficiency of use of both labor and natural resources.

ЯЗЫКОВАЯ СИТУАЦИЯ В МУЛЬТИНАЦИОНАЛЬНОМ ГОРОДЕ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ГОРОДА УФЫ)

The article substantiates the need to study the language situation in a large city, gives a brief description of the exoglossic language situation in the city of Ufa as a multinational and multilingual regional centre, and analyses the characteristics of urban bilingualism. The endoglossic language situation, studied within the framework of the sociolinguistic problem “the language of the city”, is also considered by the speech material of the city of Ufa. The analysis of Ufa city speech allows us to say that the language of the city, being a complex structured whole, a kind of conglomerate, has its own specificity. The study confirms the thesis of the territorial variation of the urban Russian speech (the language of the city and its subsystems).

Canada's Progress to Make Smoking Cessation a First-Line Cancer Treatment

Background: Evidence indicates that smoking cessation improves the effectiveness of treatment and likelihood of survival among all cancer patients, not just those with tobacco-related disease, yet smoking is rarely addressed in oncology practice. Prior to 2016, only 3 provinces in Canada (out of a total of 10 provinces and three territories) reported implementation of smoking cessation for ambulatory cancer patients. Aim: Based on this evidence, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) implemented a systems change initiative to promote adoption of evidence-based smoking cessation within provincial and territorial cancer systems across Canada. Methods: In 2016, CPAC funded seven provinces and two territories over a 15-month period to plan, implement or evaluate integration of evidence-based smoking cessation for ambulatory cancer patients within cancer systems. Funds were used to plan (2 provinces and 2 territories), implement (3 provinces) or evaluate (2 provinces) systematic, evidence-based approaches to smoking cessation within ambulatory cancer care settings (e.g., establishing routine systems for identification of smoking cancer patients and system to support patients to quit). Funds could not be used for direct service delivery (e.g., cessation counseling). Results: After 15-months of funding from CPAC, 6 provinces reported implementation of smoking cessation for ambulatory cancer patients. The remaining province and 2 territories funded by CPAC reported development of plans for adoption of smoking cessation for cancer patients in the future. Within provinces reporting implementation of smoking cessation for cancer patients, between 65%-97% of ambulatory cancer patients were screened for smoking status; 22%-80% of these patients were offered a referral to cessation services, and 21%-45% of cancer patients accepted a referral. Conclusion: Despite provincial and territorial variations in readiness to uptake evidence-based smoking cessation for cancer patients, CPAC's approach has led to substantial progress in adoption of this approach across Canada. While progress has been made, adoption of smoking cessation and relapse prevention by cancer systems is not yet widespread in Canada. Scale-up to remaining provinces and territory, and spread within existing provinces and territories is required to reach all cancer patients and families who require support to quit smoking. Framing smoking cessation as a therapeutic intervention, not prevention, and a routine part of cancer treatment will be critical for sustainability of this work.

Prevalence of high blood pressure differs across regions in France: Estimations from a cross-sectional analysis of the CONSTANCES cohort

Introduction In France, important territorial variations of diseases such as cardiovascular or chronic kidney diseases have been reported. For example, incidence of end stage renal disease in the east of France is twofold higher compared to that in the north. These diseases share common risk factors, mainly high blood pressure (HBP) which is the leading preventable cause of premature death worldwide. However, few studies had the scope and sufficient power to explore territorial variations of HBP within France. The aims of this study are first to identify the geographical variations of prevalence of HBP across the country using the data from the French cohort CONSTANCES; second to explore the potential contributions of behavioral, socioeconomic and access to care characteristics in these variations. Methods CONSTANCES is a population-based cohort targeting adults aged 18 to 69 years old living in different regions of France. Information on lifestyle was collected by self-administered questionnaire. Blood pressure was measured in 16 different recruitment centers using a standardized protocol. HBP has been defined as blood pressure over 140/90 mmHg and/or taking antihypertensive medication as indicated by matched records from the national database or reimbursements from the French health insurance. Analyses were stratified by gender. We first calculated prevalence of HBP as well as proportion of treated hypertensive participants across the different centers. We then performed logistic regressions to estimate changes in predicted prevalence of HBP between centers after taking into account individual behavioral and socioeconomic as well as neighborhood variables. Results A total of 33,665 individuals (52.5% women) recruited in 2013 and 2014 were included in the analyses. Mean age in men and women was 48.8 ± 12.9 years and 47.3 ± 13.0 years respectively. In total, 10,285 individuals were classified hypertensive, yielding a crude prevalence of HBP of 30.6%. Using 2014 French population as reference, age-standardized prevalence of HBP was 27.1% [95% CI: 26.6–27.7], higher among men (33.7% [95% CI: 32.8–34.6%]) than women (20.8% [95% CI: 20.1–21.4%]). Prevalence increased with age, from 10.3% [95% CI: 9.5–11.2] in 18–34 years to 62.7% [95% CI: 60.2–65.2] in people aged 65 years and more. Pronounced differences between regions were observed. The region of Lille had the highest prevalence both in men (48.6% [95% CI: 44.5–52.6%]) and women (28.3% [95% CI: 25.6–31.1%]), and in all age groups. The lowest prevalence was observed in Paris in men (26.0% [95% CI: 24.2–27.9]) and in the region of Saint-Brieuc in women (16.5% [95% CI: 14.5–18.4]). The proportion of treated hypertensive individuals also varied across regions, from 37.1% in the region of Saint-Nazaire to more than 66% in Saint-Brieuc in women and from 32.5% in Lille to 49.1% in Saint-Brieuc in men. Taking into account behavioral risk factors reduced moderately variations in prevalence of HBP. In men, adjusting on body mass index, physical activity and smoking status was associated with a 3.9% > diminution of the difference between extreme regions in prevalence of HBP (from 22.7% to 18.8%). Adjusting in addition on socioeconomic individual factors such as education, accessibility to a general practitioner or a pharmacist, and on rural/urban typology of residence was associated with a further 3.5% > diminution of the difference between extreme regions in prevalence of HBP (from 18.8% to 15.3%). Thus the global reduction from 22.7% to 15.3% corresponds to a decrease of around 33% in the spread of territorial variations. Conclusions Prevalence of HBP differs markedly between geographical areas in France. The gradient observed in this analysis is in accordance with results from the previous French MONICA study, with a higher prevalence of HBP in the north and the east of France compared to the south. Behavioral and socioeconomic risk factors explain nearly a third of the difference in prevalence of HBP between regions.

Sociocultural Factors of Survival of Males and Females in Economically Active Age: a Regional Analysis

The period, when a person starts and completes his or her professional carrier and labour participation, in general, coincides with the age when the self-preservation behaviour develops. It is a time when a person aims for a healthy and safe lifestyle. During this period, an individual assumes the main standards, values of the self-preservation behaviour inherent in an ethnic, social and cultural macro-environment. To research the sociocultural factors of survival, we applied econometric modelling to demographic processes using the discrete and probabilistic indicators of the mortality tables of male and female in economically active age. The econometric model included the elements of spatiotemporal characteristics of territories. These characteristics are interrelated with the indicators of survival probability and the indicator of average life expectancy in the regions of Russia. We choose the major sociocultural factors by the correlation ratio of indicators and their sensitivity. The econometric analysis has revealed a high degree of sensitivity of a territorial variation of demographic and sociocultural factors in the regions of Russia, including a gender aspect. The most significant socio-economic factors, which determine the self-preservation behaviour of males, are the following: 1) the size of Gross Regional Product per capita; 2) quality of health infrastructure; 3) fixed investments; 4) population with monetary income under the subsistence minimum (share coefficient of income differentials). The female have the same hierarchy of socio-economic factors, except for the sensitivity of variables to the regional differentiation of signs. The household poverty factor has little significance for the women and it is the main difference between male and female. The built model has shown the predictive importance in the assessment of the above-mentioned factors in short and medium-term prospects.

‘Strong’ states and strategic governance: A model of territorial variation in state presence

Regions of limited state presence persist in weak states, but does unevenness persist even in so-called ‘strong’ states? An underlying assumption behind weak states is that they lack capacity to broadcast power evenly over the entirety of their territory. Yet all states have finite resources, thus it is not clear that uneven state presence should be restricted to weak states. I develop a formal model that explores when strong states might strategically retain regions of limited state presence or subcontract state functions to non-state actors. The model demonstrates subnational characteristics that render the broadcasting of power by the state to be suboptimal, creating incentives for even strong states to retain regions of limited state presence.

Do European Union Member States Have to Respect Human Rights? The Application of the European Union's "Federal Bill of Rights" to Member States

The respect of fundamental rights is one of the cornerstones of the European Union. It is a precondition of membership and it is listed among the core values of the Union. Still, as the recent controversies between the European Commission and some Member States revealed, EU law contains no effective mechanism to compel Member States to respect fundamental rights and freedoms in general. This paper presents and examines the EU architecture of fundamental rights protection. First, it demonstrates that the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (the “EU bill of rights”) applies predominantly to EU institutions (that is, “federal” institutions); it applies to Member States only when they act as the EU’s “agents” (when they implement EU law). Although this approach may appear to be illogical, it does have its clear and legitimate reasons and it is far from unprecedented. In fact, it very much resembles the first century of the United States constitutional architecture. It is to be noted that though the EU does have the means to call Member States to account in case they violate fundamental rights, this action is a “nuclear bomb” and is hardly apt for handling human rights problems; not to mention that the application of this is almost politically unattainable. Second, it demonstrates how, in certain cases at least, the Commission “cooked from what it had” in that it used unconnected (that is, non-human-rights-related) provisions of EU law to shelter fundamental rights (e.g., the free movement principles of the internal market to protect minority rights or the prohibition of discrimination based on age to protect the independence of the judiciary). The use of the “supportive by-effects” of these economic rights is novel but not fully unprecedented. In fact, it resembles how the U.S. Congress used its commerce power to protect civil rights. Third, it argues that although the present architecture is certainly not the best of all possible worlds and the full federalization of human rights is a tempting option, the bifurcation of the “federal bill of rights” (the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights) has a solid basis and federalization is compelling only regarding those fundamental values and rights the violation of which qualifies as a “ground of divorce.” Accordingly, while the current system obviously calls for a reform, in terms of approach, this constitutional architecture has its merits in the context of what the multicolored European federation needs. On the one hand, the core of human rights protection cannot be subject to territorial variations and the violation of the nucleus of these rights cannot be justified with reference to constitutional identity. On the other hand, outside this sphere, to use the terminology of the European Court of Human Rights, European federalism demands respect for the Member States’ margin of appreciation.

Capturing Sub-National Variation in State Capacity: A Survey-Based Approach

Though there are many existing measures of state capacity, few capture its sub-national territorial variation in a reliable and valid way. This article proposes a novel, survey-based, measurement strategy for state capacity that is tailored to address this limitation of existing measures, and apply it to contemporary Latin America. We describe cross-national variation in state capacity based on data produced by our measure, engage in a series of validation exercises to show that it taps this concept rather than related elements of the political context, and map variation in sub-national stateness in Latin America. The article closes with an agenda for future research applying our measurement strategy to assess sub-national variation in stateness, in Latin America and beyond.

Territorial variation in mortality from causes amenable to medical care in Poland.

This study examines the geographical variation of amenable mortality in Poland, focusing primarily on the role of health care resources at the level of administrative districts and regions, and selected area socioeconomic characteristics as explanatory factors. The concept was used of amenable mortality, based on the assumption that deaths from certain causes should not occur in the presence of timely and effective health care. Standardized death rates (SDR) from causes considered amenable to health care and, separately, for ischaemic heart disease (IHD), were calculated for each of 379 districts (NUTS 4 level) in Poland in 1991-1995 and 2006-2010, using unit mortality data from the National Causes of Death Register. The analytical procedure involved spatial analysis of the distribution of amenable mortality rates, selection of explanatory variables and fitting multilevel regression models using area-level and regional-level characteristics. The results indicate that mortality from conditions which have become amenable to medical intervention has generally decreased in all districts of Poland in the past two decades. Considerable territorial variation in mortality can be observed. Since the 1990s, these differences have been reduced for IHD-related mortality and have increased for amenable mortality. The presented analysis only partly confirms the correlation between variables reflecting the infrastructure of health care resources and the territorial variation in mortality from these two categories of causes of death. Significant correlations with variation in mortality are revealed for the number of primary care physicians (at district level) and the number of specialist practitioners (at regional level). However, after controlling for socioeconomic variables, such as education and low income, the effect of the health care infrastructure-related variables was considerably reduced. The multi-level models also revealed a substantial variation at the regional level, which implies that there are other unobserved contextual influences on amenable mortality at this level.

Economic crises and the nationalisation of politics

AbstractThe literature on party system nationalisation has yet to provide a better understanding of the impact of short‐term factors upon the nationalisation of politics. This article helps to fill this literature gap by analysing the effect of economic conditions on party system nationalisation. The argument is that economic crises will decrease levels of nationalisation by amplifying territorial variation in preferences for redistribution, limiting political parties’ capacity to coordinate divergent interests across districts and triggering the emergence of new political forces. Data on 47 countries for the 1960–2011 period confirm this hypothesis and show that lower economic growth during the years prior to the election is associated with a decrease in levels of party system nationalisation in the next election. The result is robust to variation in the specification of the econometric model and to the use of different measures of nationalisation. Results also show that federal institutions increase the impact of economic conditions on the nationalisation of politics, whereas any moderating effect of electoral system proportionality on the economy is not found.

SOCIAL AND TERRITORIAL VARIATION OF TEMPO IN YOUTH’S SPEECH

The investigation is dedicated to the analysis of temporal component in the prosody of youth’s speech. Tempo is the speed with which utterances of oral speech are pronounced. Of all prosodic characteristics tempo is considered the most personal and less predicted. The conducted perceptive and acoustic experiment showed that tempo is an informative and relevant characteristic in youth’s speech. The speech of two age groups – “adolence” and “youth” was analysed. The results of the investigation showed that the speech of the male age group of 18-20 is slower as regarded to the age group of 21-25. Distinctive feature of youth’s speech is existence of hesitation pauses, filled with parenthetical words, repetitions, self interruption. Long pauses make male speech much slower in comparison with female, in which short and very short pauses prevail. Territorial variation is characterized by the following peculiarities: representatives of the South of England and Wales sound somewhat slower in comparison with the speech of the representatives of Scotland.