This paper makes the urgent case for the Government not to cede control of the Chagos Islands. In November 2022, the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK was entering into negotiations with... Show moreThis paper makes the urgent case for the Government not to cede control of the Chagos Islands. In November 2022, the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK was entering into negotiations with Mauritius about the exercise of sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), one of the United Kingdom’s fourteen overseas territories.The BIOT is situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean and is made up of more than a thousand islands in the Chagos Archipelago, most of which are very small. The largest island, Diego Garcia, is the site of a US/UK joint military facility, which is vital to the defence of the UK and our allies.As the report outlines, the strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific region is only increasing. With the return of great power competition, and an increasingly aggressive Chinese regime active throughout the region, the BIOT is of fundamental importance to UK security and foreign policy.Its authors argue that the Government should revert to the longstanding, cross-party position that the UK enjoys sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. It should explicitly reject the assertion that the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion was legally binding and should make clear that the Chagos Islands will not be ceded to Mauritius. Show less
In recent years, China has become one of the most prominent voices in the debate on the future of Internet governance, in part through the aggressive promotion of what it calls a doctrine of ... Show moreIn recent years, China has become one of the most prominent voices in the debate on the future of Internet governance, in part through the aggressive promotion of what it calls a doctrine of “cybersovereignty”. To date, studies of Internet governance have primarily focused on China’s diplomatic efforts in this area from a security perspective and emphasized the explanatory power of China’s authoritarian system when discussing the concept’s underlying logic. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the historical origins of China’s vision of a sovereigntized Internet, which predate the People’s Republic of China and are crucial to understanding cybersovereignty in all its dimensions. This article aims to fill this gap by putting China’s cybersovereignty doctrine into its proper historical context. It first charts the rise of cybersovereignty, notably through an examination of the extensive Chinese literature on the concept. The article then turns to historical antecedents for cybersovereignty within Chinese policy discourse. We argue that cybersovereignty should be understood as part of a tradition which we describe as “compound sovereignty”, a discursive strategy of legitimation which arose from China’s distinctive historical experiences with the idea of sovereignty, and which is used as a strategy of legitimation and reassertion for state authority. By cross-pollinating cyber studies with insights from historical International Relations scholarship, we seek to present a less presentist, more historically anchored and methodologically diverse approach to the study of global Internet governance. Show less
The parliamentary authorities have taken the view that because the Supreme Court has quashed the prorogation of Parliament, everything else done by the Royal Commission in the morning of 10... Show moreThe parliamentary authorities have taken the view that because the Supreme Court has quashed the prorogation of Parliament, everything else done by the Royal Commission in the morning of 10 September has been quashed as well. Accordingly, both the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker have indicated that Royal Assent for the Restoration and Renewal Bill would need to be signified again. This paper argues that the Speakers have wrongly understood the Supreme Court’s judgment in this respect. Show less
Objectives Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent form of arthritis and accounts for substantial morbidity and disability, particularly in older people. It is characterised by changes in joint... Show moreObjectives Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent form of arthritis and accounts for substantial morbidity and disability, particularly in older people. It is characterised by changes in joint structure, including degeneration of the articular cartilage, and its aetiology is multifactorial with a strong postulated genetic component. Methods A meta-analysis was performed of four genome-wide association (GWA) studies of 2371 cases of knee OA and 35 909 controls in Caucasian populations. Replication of the top hits was attempted with data from 10 additional replication datasets. Results With a cumulative sample size of 6709 cases and 44 439 controls, one genome-wide significant locus was identified on chromosome 7q22 for knee OA (rs4730250, p = 9.2 x 10(-9)), thereby confirming its role as a susceptibility locus for OA. Conclusion The associated signal is located within a large (500 kb) linkage disequilibrium block that contains six genes: PRKAR2B (protein kinase, cAMP-dependent, regulatory, type II, beta), HPB1 (HMG-box transcription factor 1), COG5 (component of oligomeric golgi complex 5), GPR22 (G protein-coupled receptor 22), DUS4L (dihydrouridine synthase 4-like) and BCAP29 (B cell receptor-associated protein 29). Gene expression analyses of the (six) genes in primary cells derived from different joint tissues confirmed expression of all the genes in the joint environment. Show less
Objective. To identify novel genes involved in osteoarthritis (OA), by means of a genome-wide association study. Methods. We tested 500,510 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,341 Dutch... Show moreObjective. To identify novel genes involved in osteoarthritis (OA), by means of a genome-wide association study. Methods. We tested 500,510 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,341 Dutch Caucasian OA cases and 3,496 Dutch Caucasian controls. SNPs associated with at least 2 OA phenotypes were analyzed in 14,938 OA cases and similar to 39,000 controls. Meta-analyses were performed using the program Comprehensive Meta-analysis, with P values <1 x 10(-7) considered genome-wide significant. Results. The C allele of rs3815148 on chromosome 7q22 (minor allele frequency 23%; intron 12 of the COG5 gene) was associated with a 1.14-fold increased risk (95% confidence interval 1.09-1.19) of knee and/or hand OA (P = 8 x 10(-8)) and also with a 30% increased risk of knee OA progression (95% confidence interval 1.03-1.64) (P = 0.03). This SNP is in almost complete linkage disequilibrium with rs3757713 (68 kb upstream of GPR22), which is associated with GPR22 expression levels in lymphoblast cell lines (P = 4 x 10(-12)). Immunohistochemistry experiments revealed that G protein coupled receptor protein 22 (GPR22) was absent in normal mouse articular cartilage or synovium. However, GPR22-positive chondrocytes were found in the upper layers of the articular cartilage of mouse knee joints that were challenged with in vivo papain treatment or methylated bovine serum albumin treatment. GPR22-positive chondrocyte-like cells were also found in osteophytes in instability-induced OA. Conclusion. Our findings identify a novel common variant on chromosome 7q22 that influences susceptibility to prevalence and progression of OA. Since the GPR22 gene encodes a G protein-coupled receptor, this is potentially an interesting therapeutic target. Show less
