Mixing drink and drugs: ‘Underclass’ politics, the recovery agenda and the partial convergence of English alcohol and drugs policy

'Playing the game': Contemporary landscapes of alcohol policy and faith-based service-users everyday lives

Against a backdrop of faith-based alcohol treatment 'filling the gaps' left by long term restructuring of service provision, funding cuts and marketisation of health and social care this paper makes connections between critical geographies of alcohol policy and service-users everyday lives in England and Wales. Presenting ethnographic research I highlight strategies, practices and performances - 'playing the game'- as service users navigate the multi-scalar impacts of 'austerity' policies, rollback neoliberal governance and 'recovery citizenship' focused on notions of vulnerablity, responsibilisation and 'underclass' behavioural politics. More specifically, the study foregrounds 'fitting in'; 'faking it'; 'conspiracy theories'; and/or 'spiritual journeys' to evidence service-users complex and sophisticated knowledges and experiences of contemporary landscapes of alcohol policy and treatment regimes. The conclusion signposts future directions for research.

Faith-based alcohol treatment in England and Wales: New evidence for policy and practice

While the historical importance of religion in alcohol treatment is well known, the size, scope and significance of contemporary activities remain unclear. Here we begin to address this gap in knowledge by presenting results from a mixed methods study of faith-based alcohol treatment in England and Wales. The paper begins by mapping location, religious affiliation, organisational structure and service provision. We then discuss evidence regarding challenges, opportunities and tensions bound up with faith-based organisations 'filling gaps' left by long term restructuring of alcohol service provision, recent 'austerity' funding cuts and relationships between secular and faith-based organisations. In the final substantive section, we engage with questions of ethics and care by focusing on the internal workings of a subset of faith-based programs that make requirements for religious participation. Drawing on the variegated experiences of service-users, we reflect on the ethics of religious conversion in faith-based alcohol treatment. The conclusion offers policy and practice relevant insights and outlines areas for future research on religion, austerity, and alcohol treatment.

History and the future: Looking back to look forward?

History is often dismissed as of little utility in the analysis of policy. This paper provides a justification for its use as evidence. It surveys the rise of the use of history, including public history and history and policy. It looks at two issues which draw on the author's own work: the relationship between regulation and culture for smoking and alcohol; and the response to electronic cigarettes in the light of smoking and public health history. It analyses what history can contribute. Responses are time dependent and change is an essential parameter in understanding policy. Historical research can challenge stereotypes, for example that prohibition was abandoned because it 'failed'. It also forms the bedrock of historical interpretation, which is mutable and often misunderstood outside the profession. History provides policy analysis rather than policy prescription and is a challenging approach, not just a convenient support for established positions. The paper concludes that history is far from moribund as a policy science.