LOL: is that the extremly polite "british way" of saying something rude? (starting with the sixth letter of the alphabet followed by "off")

YES!

Oz is right. On a different note, why is this thread not in the Off-Topic section? It's not really PhD-related, is it?

Similarly, if you go to PC WORLD to buy a brandnew PC for, let's say £400, they will take you to a desk to ask for your address, date of birth and so on. Then they will try to sell you an insurance. I said: NO, I don't need an insurance and I will not give you my personal details. Here is the money, all I want to do is to buy this PC. This resulted in a big argument and I was asked to leave the shop!!! (without the purchase).

There are many more examples. I see this as a very negative development.

Yes, just a final statement from me:

The customer has no obligation to give out their personal data, no matter what they try to tell you. If you come to a hotel and don't want to pay with a credit card and you got, for example, £100 (£50 for the room and £50 for security) then, in this country, they will probably not give you the room. but they have no right to do so.
If you go to IKEA to buy a light bulb and they ask you for your post code at the check out, just see what happens if you don't give it out. They will make a big fuss and the queue behind you will become really angry at YOU. this is weird.

They try to manipulate our minds. We have rights and our privacy needs to be protected!

Let's say I know that from substantial arguments with my British girlfriend who does not share/accept my view on this issue and wants even more control by the state, welcomes the employment of customer cards by TESCO and other dubious institutions. Also, that's my impression from conversations with other UK citizen, maybe I'm wrong but I cannot see any resistance to these and similar measures in the British public.

. No other country is thinking about issueing of hundreds of thousands of "permits" to get access to this database, for employees in the public and private sector.

Sorry, but the most shocking fact is the patience with which UK citizen accept all this and more. Stupidly, people say: "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of". This only shows a lack of inability to understand the impact of these changes for society. And a lack of historical knowledge. And by the way, the Nazis were thinking about very similar control mechanisms about 60 years ago but did not have the technological possibilities of

"Bit of a sweeping statement that Otto. Where can I review the research you undertook to back this up?"

Sweeping yet true. The UK is sliding in a "Big Brother" nation.
1.No other country in Europe has so much CCTV surveillance (although studies show that cameras do not reduce crime).
2. No other European government does so little to protect privacy and data.
3. No other country thinks about establishment of a "super"database, which includes your consumer behaviour, your health history, your offences (yes, offences, not crimes) and a lot of other private information.
4today.

good question!

Actually, despite the reasons I mentioned above, I have to admit that I've been addicted to a similar social online network about two years ago. Currently (i.e. the last two weeks) I am just addicted to this forum and to writing useless comments from time to time..

A good advice from me: stay far away from this and similar online networks if you want to protect your identity.

Don't be surprised if the network is sold in a couple of years and all the data will be used by unethical companies to spy on people. I know that majority of UK citizen appear to like being subject to totalitarian control by the government, CCTV and have waved goodbye to any human rights ("if you don't have anything to hide, did not committ a crime, BLA BLA BLA"), but my advice is to stay away from this stuff.

In my opinion, what she did was very patronising. First of all, she said she doesn't like younger men, than she gave you the money. It implies that she thinks you are not wealthy enough and that she feels sorry for you. I don't know why you took the money from her. I would have said: keep the money, b.

Thanks Oz, I'll not give up and submit it definitely.
SixKitten, I'm social sciences, too. Apparently there are some journals which explicitly welcome literature reviews in order to see future trends of certain theoretical areas and so on. However, it still seems very difficult to publish there as they have strict criteria. You need to clarify, for instance, why you include some literature and exclude other stuff and it is necessary to highlight methodological contradictions,etc.

Back to reality. Let's say, I've identified the only journal in my area which explicitly encourages literature surveys only. Hopes were high, but unfortunately I discovered a statement by the managing editor of that journal:

"Judging by current trends in the review cycles, it is likely that fewer than 20% of these [articles submitted] will eventually be published in the Journal"

It's funny how it only took 3 hours to destroy my hopes..

Thanks a lot, that sounds really useful. Writing a literature review for my PhD has resulted in me having particular views about this particular theoretical issue but I also feel like I can see the wider implications for my subject discipline. Also I don't want somebody else to publish exactly the same in a year or so.

It sounds like a really difficult process but I'll try definitely. All they can do is reject but hopefully with useful suggestions for changes etc. I'm a beginner in academia but I kind of realised that nobody takes you serious in this environment unless you have publications?

I've written an extensive literature review (about 30k) for my PhD and discussed various drafts with my supervisor. He said it's definitely PhD level and good enough. I haven't discussed the publication issue with him. He'd probably say: wait until you analysed your data. I just don't wait that long, though, because I feel that there is a time window for that particular theoretical issue which may pass by quickly if I don't publish now. It's a dilemma.