James Nayler and the Lamb\u27s War

James Nayler was perhaps the most articulate theologian and political spokesman of the earliest Quaker movement. He was part of a West Yorkshire group of radicals who added revolutionary impetus to George Fox\u27s apocalyptic preaching of Christ\u27s coming in the bodies of common men and women. With other Quaker leaders, Nayler insisted upon disestablishment of the Church, abolition of tithes, and disenfranchisement of the clergy, in order that Christ might rule in England, through human conscience. For early Friends, Christ\u27s sovereignty in the conscience was less a principle of individual freedom to dissociate religiously than a basis for collective practices of revolutionary worship, moral reform, social equality, and economic justice. All these were features of the nonviolent struggle Nayler called the \u27Lamb\u27s War\u27. His meteoric career is outlined in this study, a movement from apocalyptic prophet, to stigmatized Christ-figure, to withdrawn quietist

‘Half a loaf is better than none’: The framing of political and national identity in Welsh border newspapers in the aftermath of the Mold Riots, 1869-1870

Preprint submitted to Media History, 2012.The Mold Riots of 1869 came at a time of social and cultural upheaval throughout Wales. Several distinct contexts intersect, and this paper will attempt to synthesize and interpret them by analyzing archival coverage of the events in the local press. The period was a dynamic one for local newspapers across the UK, with Benson arguing that the English provincial press at the time was ‘less cautious, more calculating, and more sensationalist than much of the existing literature would lead one to suppose’. Welsh newspapers have, however, been hitherto largely ignored by that literature. This would seem to be something of an oversight, because Welsh identity became politicized for the first time in the 1860s. In the particular context of North-East Wales, where - as in many border regions - identity is contested, the coverage of the Mold Riots in the local press offers an instructive opportunity to examine early attempts to negotiate identity politics in what was already a mixed, semi-anglicised region in which questions of religion, language, class and loyalty were emerging as potentially divisive political issues. The paper will examine local newspapers’ rhetorical frames, in which audiences are encouraged to interpret events in ways sympathetic to the actions of the authorities. This paper sees the event as a pivotal example of changing interpretations of political and national identity in local newspapers with a cross-border remit

Clear red water? Devolved education policy and the Welsh news media audience

Preprint submitted to Participations, 2012.The long-running debate about the information gap between the Welsh voting public and the processes of devolution tends to revolve around structural, cultural and economic deficiencies in the media. However, there is little empirical evidence for assertions about the effects of these alleged deficiencies on public opinion, which typically argue that an inadequate news media fails to properly inform Welsh residents about the evolution of, and rationale for, devolved policy. The earlier work of Thomas, Jewell and Cushion (2003) examined the public consumption of news about Welsh Assembly elections, finding that ‘very substantial’ proportions of the population consumed little or no news relating to devolved politics. But fewer attempts have been made to examine the ways in which audiences understand specific areas of devolved policy via the media. This article focuses on a key area of devolved decision-making, education, and attempts to quantify that alleged ‘disconnect’ through the use of focus groups in which the parents of children progressing through the foundation stage of a Welsh primary school (a key post-devolution policy difference) are questioned about their understanding of the main issues

Animal cell cytokinesis: the role of dynamic changes in the plasma membrane proteome and lipidome

In animal cells, cytokinesis is characterised by the formation of the mitotic spindle that signals the assembly of an actomyosin ring between the spindle poles. Contraction of this ring drives ingression of the cleavage furrow, and culminates in the formation of a thin intercellular bridge between the daughter cells. At the centre of this bridge is the midbody, which is thought both to provide a site of attachment for the plasma membrane furrow and act as foci for the spatial and temporal control mechanisms that drive abscission. This review will focus upon recent studies that offer new insight into these events, in particular studies that elaborate on the mechanism of attachment between the furrow plasma membrane and the underlying cytoskeleton, and how dynamic changes in membrane composition might underpin key aspects of cytokinesis

A Markov Chain state transition approach to establishing critical phases for AUV reliability

The deployment of complex autonomous underwater platforms for marine science comprises a series of sequential steps. Each step is critical to the success of the mission. In this paper we present a state transition approach, in the form of a Markov chain, which models the sequence of steps from pre-launch to operation to recovery. The aim is to identify the states and state transitions that present higher risk to the vehicle and hence to the mission, based on evidence and judgment. Developing a Markov chain consists of two separate tasks. The first defines the structure that encodes the sequence of events. The second task assigns probabilities to each possible transition. Our model comprises eleven discrete states, and includes distance-dependent underway survival statistics. The integration of the Markov model with underway survival statistics allows us to quantify the likelihood of success during each state and transition and consequently the likelihood of achieving the desired mission goals. To illustrate this generic process, the fault history of the Autosub3 autonomous underwater vehicle provides the information for different phases of operation. The method proposed here adds more detail to previous analyses; faults are discriminated according to the phase of the mission in which they took place

New conflicts across the Middle East mean that defence strategy making is more important than ever: history shows that we cannot afford to think of defence in solely monetary terms.

British defence and security policy has recently come under attack for lacking strategic vision. In a historical study of British strategy-making, Gwyn Prins pulls out key lessons for current defence strategists, finding that it is often best to leave the Treasury out of strategy-making.

Implementing State Health Reform: Lessons for Policymakers

Drawing on five states' experiences, discusses questions and considerations, including the need to coordinate state agencies' work and share data, simplify eligibility and enrollment procedures, and involve community groups and businesses in outreach