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Headscarves and the Court of Justice of the European Union: an analysis of the case law
No full textThis book contains an in-depth examination of the Islamic headscarf cases of the Court of Justice of the European Union and places these against the background of the Islamophobia existing across Europe. It assesses how EU law can best protect women who want to wear Islamic headscarves at work for religious reasons and why this protection is important not only for the women themselves but also for the EU, taking into account the values of the EU as laid down in the Treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and in the anti-discrimination Directives. It puts forward arguments for a finding that work place neutrality bans constitute direct religion or belief discrimination and examines the way the justification test for indirect discrimination has been applied by the CJEU. The book suggests that such bans could be more successfully challenged as gender and/or racial or ethnic origin discrimination, because the protection against these forms of discrimination is stronger. It also suggests that a claim for intersectional discrimination (on the grounds of gender, racial and ethnic origin and religion or belief) should be possible in EU anti-discrimination law
If reading for pleasure is key to writing, has COVID-19 changed the lock?
No full textbeen recognised. This study, situated within a relativist ontology and interpretivist epistemology, explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on reading in primary schools, and considered the potential impact on pupils’ wider academic achievement, wellbeing and life chances, given the disruption to school opening in the UK and the subsequent changes to priorities and pedagogies in the post-pandemic landscape. A mixed-methods approach, falling within the realms of ethnography and phenomenology, was used to collect data from primary teachers and school leaders in several north London boroughs, using online questionnaires and interviews. Content analysis of questionnaire responses and interview transcripts suggests that post-pandemic, teachers and leaders were most concerned about attainment and access to texts, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, with widening gaps in reading fluency and comprehension competing with gaps in other areas of the curriculum for priority in the school timetable. An increased focus on the teaching of the skills of reading and writing in participants’ schools, through rigorous teaching of phonics, grammar and punctuation, as well as comprehension strategies, has led, in some cases, to a somewhat decreased focus on activities associated with reading for pleasure, such as the class story, library visits, time for independent reading and talking about books. This could lead to impacts on pupils’ writing, future academic success, wellbeing and life chances and has implications for school leaders and also for teacher educators in designing Initial Teacher Education course content
Key trends in states use of digital technologies to enhance surveillance-privacy and data protection challenges for international law
No full textThe presentation identified current trends in states' and non-state actors surveillance and explored challenges this poses to the traditional international human rights architecture, with particular emphasis on privacy and data protection rights
Divergent democracy: notes on a mediatised affective activism renewal of feminist and anti-fascist struggle in contemporary Greece
Get PDFWhile the shackles of austerity continue to shatter the remnants of once dignified, and now, mostly dehumanising lives, for most Greeks who have suffered decades long of economic and social crises, the rapid rise of the far right and its incipient racist and xenophobic discourse has had a profound impact on the country. This paper attempts a twofold objective: on the one hand to contribute to the global feminist dialogue by making visible and vocal the case of Greece, and, on the other to advance a plea for a current consciousness raising era in Greece as regards particularly contemporary youth who can transform instances of despair into action and social change by adopting feminist principles in their everyday lives. I draw on the representational politics of far-right fascist discourse and individual behaviour articulated and depicted in contemporary Greek films, and its gendered and xenophobic normalisers, to contextualise an interdisciplinary feminist analysis of such phenomena in contemporary Greece
Increasing the agricultural sustainability of closed agrivoltaic systems with the integration of vertical farming: A case study on baby-leaf lettuce
Get PDFThe photovoltaic (PV) greenhouses are closed agrivoltaic (CA) systems that allow the production of energy and food on the same land, but may result in a yield reduction when the shading of the PV panels is excessive. Adopting innovative cropping systems can increase the yield of the CA area, generating a more productive and sustainable agrosystem. In this case study we quantified the increase of land productivity derived from the integration of an experimental vertical farm (VF) for baby leaf lettuce inside a pre-existing commercial CA. The mixed system increased the yield by 13 times compared to the CA and the average LER was 1.31, but only 12 % of the energy consumption was covered by the CA energy. To achieve the energy self-sufficiency and avoid the related CO2 emissions, the VF area should not exceed 7–18 % of the CA area, depending on the PV energy yield and the daily light integral (DLI) of the LED lighting, meaning a land consumption from 5 to 14 times higher than the VF area. The support of the PV energy was essential for the profitability of the VFCA. Design features and solutions were proposed to increase the agronomic and economic sustainability of the VFCA. The VFs can be considered a possible answer for the reconversion of the actual underutilized CAs with high PV cover ratios into productive and efficient cropping systems, but a trade-off between energy production and land consumption should be identified to ensure an acceptable environmental sustainability of the mixed system
Engaging with religious history and theological concepts through music composition: Ave generosa and The Song of Margery Kempe
Get PDFThis article explores the intersections among music composition, religious history and spiritual texts, with their attendant concepts. It focuses on two works with medieval sources—the concert piece Ave generosa (1996) and the chamber opera The Song of Margery Kempe (2008)—which were featured in the online Gallery of the conferences in 2021 and 2022, respectively, of the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology (BIAPT). Through the lenses of semiotics and intertextuality, it explores the ways by which theological concepts and spiritual contexts can be evoked and ‘translated’ into musical sound, both instrumental and vocal. A sampling of the literature on medieval monasticism and St Hildegard of Bingen, whose corpus forms the source of Ave generosa, supports a musical exegesis of its ‘spiritual programme’. In the case of The Song of Margery Kempe, recent scholarship on the text frames examples of the multiplication of meanings provided by dramatisation and musical setting. Art in general and music composition in particular are presented as a commentary, or gloss, on both religious history and enduring spiritual themes, and a different way of thinking about religion and spirituality
Moderating online child sexual abuse material (CSAM): does self-regulation work, or is greater state regulation needed?
Get PDFSocial media platforms serve a role in the Internet age as crucial public forums connecting users around the world through a decentralised cyberspace. These platforms host high volumes of content and, as such, the role of content moderators (CMs) employed to safeguard users against harmful content like child sexual abuse material and gore is critical — however, despite how essential CMs are to the social media landscape, their work as “first responders” is complicated by legal and systemic debates over whether policing cyberspace should be left to the self-regulation of tech companies, or if greater state-regulation is required. In this scoping review, major debates in this area are identified and evaluated. This includes the issue of territorial jurisdiction, and how it obstructs traditional policing online; concerns over free speech and privacy if CMs are given greater powers; debates over whether tech companies should be legally liable for user-generated content and; the impacts (mental and professional) on the very CMs now operating as the new frontline against harmful, often traumatic, materials shared on social media. In outlining these issues, our objective is to highlight issues requiring further attention in order to best support CMs, and to enhance responses to harmful online content
The role of information in evolutionary biology
Get PDFThe Modern Synthesis has received criticism for its purported gene-centrism. That criticism relies on a concept of the gene as a unit of instructional information. In this paper I discuss information concepts and endorse one, developed from Floridi, that sees information as a functional relationship between data and context. I use this concept to inspect developmental criticisms of the Modern Synthesis and argue that the instructional gene arose as an idealization practice when evolutionary biologists made comment on development. However, a closer inspection of key claims shows that at least some associated with the Modern Synthesis were in fact adopting the data led definition I favour and made clear arguments for the role of developmental processes beyond genetic input. There was no instructional gene
Paix à la paix: Hymne, pour voix seule (Hymn for solo voice)
No full textA performing edition of Charles-Valentin Alkan’s hymn for solo voice Paix à la paix (1867), a piece discovered by musicologist Hugh Macdonald in the French Archives Nationales. Written by Alkan in response to a competition for an anthem to be sung at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, setting a text by François Coppée, for solo voice or massed voices. For further information on the competition and Coppée’s text, see Jacques Cheyronnaud, Introuvable «Hymne de la paix», Amnis [online], 10 | 2011, URL: http://journals.openedition.org/amnis/1330; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/amnis.1330). For further information on Macdonald's discovery, see Alkan Society Bulletin no 90 (January 2014), pp 5-6 (available online at http://www.alkansociety.org/Publications/Society-Bulletins/society-bulletins.html).
This edition premiered at Middlesex University, 21 March 2023
Fifteen years of the statutory derivative regime under the Companies Act 2006: a reflection on an unfulfilled superfluous statutory regime
Get PDFThis article explores the effectiveness of the codification of the statutory derivative regime as a remedy to members/shareholders of a company to which a wrong has been committed by those in charge – the directors – and no steps have been taken by the company to seek a remedy. This is to assess whether a derivative action as a shareholder remedy has been effective, since its codification in the Companies Act 2006 15 years ago, as a means of enhancing public confidence in the business/corporate sector, and as a way to reassure investors that directorial mismanagement/abuse of office leading to loss or harm to shareholders could be punished.
The article analyses the relationship between directors’ breach of their statutory duties and corporate insolvency, premised on the contention that where directors are well regulated and governed in the execution of their duties, corporate insolvency may be avoided and shareholder actions, such as derivative claims, would be rare. The article concludes with an analysis of whether the statutory derivative regime has indeed, or has not, fulfilled its purpose of simplifying access and enhancing shareholder remedies as initially recommended by the Jenkins Committee and taken forward by the Cork Committee Report leading to its codification in the CA 2006