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1. Leeds and Sheffield : economic, social and political change -- 2. Hospital provision : voluntary and municipal -- 3. Patients and access -- 4. Specialization and the challenges of modern medicine -- 5. Finance -- 6. The politics of hospital provision -- 7. Co-operation, competition and the development of hospital systems.

This book addresses the increasing regionalisation of urban governance and politics in an era of industrialisation, suburbanisation and welfare extension. It provides an important reassessment of the role, structure and activities of urban elites, highlighting their vitality and their interdependence and demonstrating the increasing regionalisation of municipal politics as towns sought to promote themselves, extend services and even expand physically onto a regional level. Moreover, it expl...

Si l'histoire des hôpitaux est un secteur dynamique de la recherche en France ou en Grande-Bretagne, les publications sur le sujet sont restées relativement rares lorsqu'il s'agit de l'est du continent. Le présent article entend remédier à cette lacune en étudiant les systèmes hospitaliers de trois États d'Europe centrale (Pologne, Tchécoslovaquie et Hongrie) après la Première Guerre mondiale. Se fondant sur un large éventail de sources nationales et transnationales (parmi lesquelles les archives des services de santé nationaux et locaux, les enquêtes menées par des organisations comme la Société des Nations, d'abondantes sources publiées et les rapports produits par la fondation Rockefeller sur les sujets les plus divers), il cherche notamment à évaluer l'efficacité des services hospitaliers, ainsi que la réussite de chacun des États concernés dans l'instauration d'un nouveau système hospitalier. Après un rapide exposé du contexte historique dans lequel ces pays durent se (re)construire, l'article aborde successivement trois grands thèmes : l'accroissement de l'offre hospitalière ; le mode de financement et de gestion des hôpitaux ; enfin le rôle des institutions sanitaires dans le projet politique d'affirmation de l'identité nationale.

Writing in the mid 1990s, Ewen Green suggested that the Edwardian Conservative Party was locked in a crisis which, after 1910, was leading towards a disintegration of Unionism. Recent research has challenged this view, contending that at constituency level, Conservative activists and parties were recovering, rebuilding around issues such as Ireland, land reform and opposition to National Insurance. However, there are few studies of the causes and consequences of the crisis of Conservatism in urban constituencies or the extent to which the party may have been recovering by the outbreak of the Great War. This article considers these issues in the city of Norwich. It assesses the profile of activists; the fortunes of the Conservatives in the parliamentary election contests of the period, addressing the ways the party used a variety of candidates to attempt to attract popular support; and the particular issues of tariff reform and socialism, to determine the extent to which voters and activists were willing to accept protection as part of a broader defence against socialism. These national issues are contrasted with the performance of the party in municipal elections, considering the basis of the growing appeal they evidenced in council elections after 1906, along with the continuing emphasis on organisational weakness evidenced by party leaders. Overall, it suggests that, despite their municipal strength, the continued commitment of the local party to tariffs prevented them from challenging effectively for the constituency against a Liberal‐Labour alliance with a shared belief in free trade.

In the debates over the politics of National Health Service foundation, there has been little investigation of the attitudes of the inter-war labour movement to a state-run hospital system. In particular, there has been limited assessment of views outside parliament in provincial Labour parties and trade unions. Drawing on a case study of Middlesbrough, Leeds and Sheffield, this article examines the politics of hospital provision prior to the National Health Service (NHS). It focuses on the involvement of the labour movement in hospital provision within localities and on the extent to which the dominant form of labour politics—labourist or socialist—shaped hospital policy. It suggests that, in the heavy industrial towns of Middlesbrough and Sheffield, close involvement with voluntary hospitals through workers contributory schemes dampened the enthusiasm for a state system. However, such a policy was heavily promoted by socialists in more economically diverse Leeds.

The first half of the 1990s was a pivotal period in the development and growth of urban history in Europe. In Britain the Urban History Group began to convene again after a decade in abeyance, work commenced on the three-volumeCambridge Urban History of Britain, theUrban History YearbookbecameUrban Historywhilst the European Association of Urban Historians organized their first conference. It was in this climate that Ashgate Publishing commissioned a new monograph series, Historical Urban Studies, under the editorship of Richard Rodger, editor ofUrban History, and Jean-Luc Pinol, the leading French urban historian and a key figure in the European Association of Urban Historians (EAUH). The aim of the series was and is to be comparative over both time and space, drawing on multiple locations to explore what is common and what distinctive about the urban experience of diverse towns and nations. The broad agenda for the series was shaped by an overarching concern with the administration and governance of the city which underpinned attempts to manage the social, economic and political challenges wrought by 300 years of urban change. In particular, the editors stress the importance of the comparative element which should allow historians to distinguish 'which were systematic factors and which were of a purely local nature'. The editors set themselves an ambitious agenda and this essay aims to explore how the series has developed over the ten or so years since it commenced publication; the degree to which it has provided a platform for advancing the sub-discipline of urban history; and to consider some future directions which urban history might take.