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LSE NEWS

Research update Join the global debate at LSE The third and final issue of LSE Research is now online. Edited by eminent Newsweek journalist Stryker McGuire, LSE Research showcases and highlights School research and impact on world affairs. Read LSE Research at www.alumni.lse.ac.uk/research

BNP downplays “race card” to boost legitimacy The British National Party (BNP) has attempted to boost its legitimacy by downplaying the issue of race, according to research from Daphne Halikiopoulou, Department of Government, and Sofia Vasilopoulou, European Institute. The researchers analysed party manifestos from before and after 1999 – when Nick Griffin took over the party’s leadership and began a reform agenda. They found that the BNP, whilst maintaining its anti-immigration stance, has shifted its language from emphasising a nationalism based on race to one based on British values and institutions. lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2010/12/Bnp_modernisation.aspx

Child protection must focus on the child, not on rules and targets Professor Eileen Munro, Department of Social Policy, has published the interim report of the Munro Review, signalling a new approach on child protection which focuses on helping children, rather than on the regulations, inspections and procedures that have thrown the system out of balance. The report for the Department for Education highlights the importance of having multi-agency services based in the community, advises that experienced, more senior social workers be kept on the front line so they can develop their skills and better supervise more junior social workers, and stresses the need for refinements to be made to the management and inspection process. lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2011/02/childprotection.aspx

UK carbon tax would not reduce European-wide greenhouse gases The introduction of a carbon tax would help the UK meet its greenhouse gas target, but make no difference to emissions of greenhouse gases across Europe, according to research by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. Combining Multiple Climate Policy Instruments: how not to do it, points out that a Europe-wide cap on emissions under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme means that the rest of Europe will continue to emit up to this “capped” level whatever policy instruments are introduced at a national level. lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2011/02/carbon_tax.aspx

Impact of Labour policies on the NHS The most comprehensive overview of the health and social care system in England produced this century has found that, while public expenditure on health care in England more than doubled between 1997 and 2010, the impact on health system performance has been mixed. The Health System in Transition report on England by Seán Boyle, LSE Health, finds that although health expenditure in cash terms more than doubled over this time, NHS productivity did not increase. Health inequalities also worsened, even though the health of the population overall has improved. The NHS did make substantial progress in some areas, however, improving access to elective care and outcomes. lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2011/03/NHSreport.aspx

LSE Connect

Summer 2011

Global ranking shows Asian and Latin American cities flourishing post recession Asian and Latin American cities have topped a ranking of the best performing metros in the world after the Great Recession. The Global MetroMonitor, a joint report of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and LSE Cities, is the first analysis of international metropolitan economic performance before, during, and after the Great Recession. Twenty-nine of the top 30 performing metros postrecession (2009-10) are found to be outside the United States and Europe. lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2010/11/ globalMetroMonitor.aspx