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A succession of well-publicized incidents in Britain, and elsewhere, has highlighted the dilemma of refugees and seekers of asylum. A number of desperate human tragedies allied to some very dubious institutional practices and decisions have been a cause for concern. Drawing upon that vast corpus of information we call `common knowledge', together with other more exclusive sources of knowledge, British national newspapers and their readers, among others, are involved in the social construction of asylum-seekers. Ideas of citizenship, identity and Nation-hood are employed within a variety of discursive and rhetorical strategies that form part of an `elite' discourse, one that contributes to a `new Apartheid'. This article presents a discursive and rhetorical analysis of letters written to British national newspapers by members of the public. Asylum-seekers find themselves [re]positioned and contrasted with a variety of other social groups in such a way as to justify disregarding some of the central tenets of British democracy. Dissenting voices and a `counter' discourse are evident although very much a minority. It is argued that applied discursive work is necessary to bolster resistance and deconstruct the `new Apartheid'.

The last 20 years have witnessed an increase in the attention paid to crimes of sexual violence. Academic research, social services, and the general public have responded to the steady rise in these crimes by subjecting them to increased scrutiny and address. Professionals and paraprofessionals responsible for the processing, supervision, and treatment of sex offenders are under increasing pressure. This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of professionals and paraprofessionals working with sex offenders. Such research is important because these perceptions influence practice. Using a semistructured interview schedule, 23 men and women were interviewed about various aspects of their work with sex offenders for between 1 and 2 hours. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings are discussed in terms of professionals’and paraprofessionals’ perceptions of sex offenders and their offences and the manner in which such perceptions affect their professional practice.

The idea of citizenship dates back to classical antiquity. It was originally concerned to address legitimacy of occupancy in the public sphere. Our empirical study contributes to the project of developing a social psychology of the citizen by focusing on the dynamics of such membership, specifically rights and identities. The authors briefly describe a number of existing psychological models of the citizen. Drawing on the main theoretical principles of discursive psychology, rather than asking, 'who is the citizen?' in terms of mental states, we suggest a shift in focus to the more social question, 'how do people claim citizenship and to what ends?'. We present an analysis of private letters of complaint that formed part of a larger mixed data set used in a recent research programme centred on disputes over Britain's newer travellers' rights of settlement. Specifically our analysis demonstrates how some of the letter writers generate a basis for claims-making by making relevant a citizenship/ governance alignment of identities. We also demonstrate how the entitlements associated with the category citizen are built up and action-oriented rather than flowing from the (unproblematic) assumption of citizenship. Finally we discuss how citizenship can be used for the purposes of inclusion and exclusion.

To prevent deskilling, Registered Nurses should continue to practise and refresh all the different types of drug calculations as often as possible with regular (self)-testing of their ability. Time should be set aside in curricula for nursing students to learn how to perform basic numerical and drug calculations. This learning should be reinforced through regular practice and assessment.

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Nurses need to be able to make drug calculations competently. In this study, involving 229 second year British nursing students, we explored the influence of mathematics anxiety, self-efficacy, and numerical ability on drug calculation ability and determined which factors would best predict this skill. Strong significant relationships (p < .001) existed between anxiety, self-efficacy, and ability. Students who failed the numerical and/or drug calculation ability tests were more anxious (p < .001) and less confident (p ≤ .002) in performing calculations than those who passed. Numerical ability made the strongest unique contribution in predicting drug calculation ability (beta = 0.50, p < .001) followed by drug calculation self-efficacy (beta = 0.16, p = .04). Early testing is recommended for basic numerical skills. Faculty are advised to refresh students' numerical skills before introducing drug calculations.