The Rover Task Force:a case study in proactive and reactive policy intervention?

The paper examines the policy responses in the UK West Midlands to the successive crises at the car maker MG-Rover. Whilst the firm’s eventual collapse in 2005 was a substantial shock to the West Midlands economy, the impact was much less than was anticipated when the firm was first threatened with closure in 2000 at the time of its break-up and sale by the German car firm BMW. Although the firm struggled as an independent producer, the five years of continued production until 2005 and the work of the initial Rover Task Force (RTF1), enabled many suppliers to adjust and diversify away from their hitherto dependence on MG-Rover resulting in as many as 10,000–12,000 jobs being ‘saved’. This first intervention was later followed by a programme to help ex-workers to find new jobs or re-train and assist supply firms to continue trading in the short term. Examination of the effectiveness of these emergency initiatives enables a wider discussion about the nature of industrial policy in the region and the work of the local regional development agency’s cluster-based approach to economic development and business support. Whilst the actions taken were successful in a number of aspects, there were a number of significant ‘failures’ at both national and local level. The MG-Rover case also illustrates a number of critical issues pertaining to regionally based cluster policies and the organization of cluster management groups where the ‘cluster’ in question not only crosses both administrative and ‘sector’ boundaries but is also subject to the imperatives of the global market car market.

Anticancer effects of Curcuma C20-dialdehyde against colon and cervical cancer cell lines

Background: Recent attention on chemotherapeutic intervention against cancer has been focused on discovering and developing phytochemicals as anticancer agents with improved efficacy, low drug resistance and toxicity, low cost and limited adverse side effects. In this study, we investigated the effects of Curcuma C20-dialdehyde on growth, apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in colon and cervical cancer cell lines. Materials and Methods: Antiproliferative, apoptosis induction, and cell cycle arrest activities of Curcuma C20-dialdehyde were determined by WST cell proliferation assay, flow cytometric Alexa fluor 488-annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining and PI staining, respectively. Results: Curcuma C20 dialdehyde suppressed the proliferation of HCT116, HT29 and HeLa cells, with IC50 values of 65.4±1.74 μg/ml, 58.4±5.20 μg/ml and 72.0±0.03 μg/ml, respectively, with 72 h exposure. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that percentages of early apoptotic cells increased in a dose-dependent manner upon exposure to Curcuma C20-dialdehyde. Furthermore, exposure to lower concentrations of this compound significantly induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase for both HCT116 and HT29 cells, while higher concentrations increased sub-G1 populations. However, the concentrations used in this study could not induce cell cycle arrest but rather induced apoptotic cell death in HeLa cells. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the phytochemical Curcuma C20-dialdehyde may be a potential antineoplastic agent for colon and cervical cancer chemotherapy and/or chemoprevention. Further studies are needed to characterize the drug target or mode of action of the Curcuma C20-dialdehyde as an anticancer agent.

The MG Rover closure and policy response: an evaluation of the Task Force model in the UK

In recent years there have been a number of high-profile plant closures in the UK. In several cases, the policy response has included setting up a task force to deal with the impacts of the closure. It can be hypothesised that task force involving multi-level working across territorial boundaries and tiers of government is crucial to devising a policy response tailored to people's needs and to ensuring success in dealing with the immediate impacts of a closure. This suggests that leadership, and vision, partnership working and community engagement, and delivery of high quality services are important. This paper looks at the case of the MG Rover closure in 2005, to examine the extent to which the policy response to the closure at the national, regional and local levels dealt effectively with the immediate impacts of the closure, and the lessons that can be learned from the experience. Such lessons are of particular relevance given the closure of the LDV van plant in Birmingham in 2009 and more broadly – such as in the case of the downsizing of the Opel operation in Europe following its takeover by Magna.

Social Learning Capabilities in Broward’s Black Male Success Task Force: Informing Collective Impact Initiatives

Broward Schools is addressing an achievement gap for Black males with a collective impact initiative. Collective impact initiatives address complex social problems. The social learning capability of the initiative can be enhanced by applying Wenger’s (2009) social learning spaces, learning as citizenship, and social artists concepts.