The Oldham group had ambivalent views about social inequality. Britain was seen as an unfair ‘plutocracy’ that betrayed the nation’s Christian traditions, and breaking the power of ‘privilege’ and reducing disparities in wealth and educational opportunity were seen as prerequisites for a more Christian society. But ‘mass’ society was also seen to threaten principles of excellence and moral and cultural standards. These tensions between egalitarianism and elitism were apparent in discussions about the need for a culturally guiding elite in a new planned society and about educational reform. The discussions around a Christian ‘elite’ or ‘clerisy’ remained inconclusive, but the group’s thinking influenced discussions about educational reform. Some group members were involved in consultations with minister of education R. A. Butler during the drafting of what became the 1944 Education Act, and played prominent roles in early post-war debates about university education policy.

Chapter 2 analyzes La Motte’s active involvement in the suffrage cause, especially after 1910, drawing on her published writings and newspaper reports. She frequently gave talks in favor of suffrage and served as an editor for several suffrage publications. This chapter examines how her professionalization as a nurse contributed to her political activism. As she found her voice and honed her skills as a writer and speaker in the field of nursing, she developed the confidence to speak about the controversial topic of woman suffrage and found her footing as an outspoken and eloquent proponent of the vote. Her devotion to the cause led her to leave her nursing position for London to write a series about militant suffragettes for Baltimore’s the Sun. The chapter ends with an examination of those writings and a consideration of how they reflect her political development while foreshadowing her views of militarism, upon which she would expand during World War One.

The chapter concentrates on the music of Sinéad O’Connor, encompassing all her albums from The lion and the cobra up to I’m not bossy, I’m the boss, with particular attention to key songs and video performances. It analyses her extraordinary vocal performances in relation to ideas about femininity in traditional Irish music and in popular music. It considers the evolution and significance of her image, especially her rejection of aspects of conventional feminine beauty. Her treatment of trauma, Catholicism, colonialism and her protests against child abuse are also detailed here. The chapter traces an ongoing negotiation in her work between the individual female artist and the idea of the collective.

This chapter provides an overview of the book, the subjects it will cover and the questions that will be addressed. It also establishes the central conceptual and methodological frameworks and sets out the structure of the chapters that follow. The chapter begins by discussing the Conservative victory at the 1979 general election and different interpretations of its meaning. There is a discussion of what is actually understood to be ‘policy’ and how it is formed. The wide range of sources around which the research was built is also introduced. A historiographical review of the existing literature reveals the extensive and growing body of work which touches upon areas relevant to this study.

Radicalism and nationalism would appear to be unlikely bedfellows, given that they tend to be placed on opposite ends of the political spectrum; yet this section demonstrates how many of the radical poems and songs written after Peterloo are underpinned by a radical English nationalism with poets making clear distinction between the un-English characteristics of a tyrannical state and monarchy and the true English patriot fighting for lost freedoms. Although the ideology of nationalism emerged in the revolutionary fervour of the late eighteenth century, this section establishes the nature of English radical nationalism and how the championing of English national identity has resonances with the republicanism of the English Revolution and late seventeenth century, the heroes and martyrs of which, particularly John Hampden, Algernon Sidney and William Russell, were a regular presence in the radical press. Key to English national identity is the myth of the Norman yoke and the yearning for the restoration of lost rights, references to which permeate the eleven poems in this section.

The most successful English history had been penned by a Frenchman, Paul Rapin de Thoyras, whose Histoire d'Angleterre met with immediate critical and commercial success on its publication in 1724, only sharpened the collective sense of embarrassment. Just as the flaws in English historiography were diagnosed with reference to the tensions between ancient and modern, so they were identified with respect to the distinctions between the various literary genres. Library records and subscription lists indicate an increasing social diversity among history's readers as well, with the names of merchant-class and female subscribers beginning to appear alongside aristocratic male ones. Writing for a broader audience, memoirists, scandal chroniclers, historians, and satirists were naturally prompted to depict historical phenomena in ways that differed from the neoclassical ideal.

In 2014 Toronto, the first Canadian sanctuary city, reaffirmed its commitment to improving undocumented migrants’ access to programmes and services from city-funded agencies. However, research shows that official policy has not been consistently realised in practice. Service providers experience difficulties such as unfamiliarity with the needs of undocumented migrants and lack of formal organisational policy. Moreover, confusion still exists as to the nature of and extent to which municipal programmes cohere with federal/provincial law. Consequently, fear of arrest, detention, and removal from Canada still result in the marginalisation of undocumented migrants, and susceptibility to exploitation and abuse. This chapter provides a critical analysis of the operation of sanctuary city policy in the Greater Toronto Area. Using the theoretical framework of ‘local governance’, this chapter offers a reflection on the importance of the municipal context in crafting policy responses to the legal, economic, and social marginalisation of undocumented migrants. The chapter maps the nature and extent to which formal policy effectively protects the human rights of undocumented migrants. Drawing on research conducted from 2015 to 2016, the chapter explores the insights and perspectives of city officials, civil society organisations, and practitioners in the Greater Toronto Area.

From 1990 onwards, Marker has not ceased to impress. The 1990s begin with a video film made for television, which continues the form and output of his documentary work at the close of the 1980s. The films of this decade continue to engage the newest technologies, and when Marker reaches Level 5 (1996), the Internet enters his film space in a transformative manner. Broadcast by Antenne 2 (now France 2) on 29 March 1990, Berliner Ballade was made as part of the current affairs programme Envoyé Spécial. It was not until 1993 and the release of Le Tombeau d'Alexandre that the emotional and intellectual profundity of their special bond was brought to light. Marker's next film, Le 20 heures dans les camps, is the first of several video shorts on the aftermath of the interethnic conflicts of the 1990s, which take him to different areas of the former Yugoslavia.