Wellbeing news

Recent articles concerning wellbeing:

Councils Looking for Happiness
The MJ, 2 September 2008
What role can local governments play in improving people’s wellbeing? This is one of the questions that the Young Foundation’s Local Wellbeing Project is trying to answer. Heather Jameson talks to Geoff Mulgan, the director of the Young Foundation, about whether it is possible to measure happiness and how a focus on wellbeing could lead to more effective local policies.

Britain’s happiest places mapped
BBC news, 28 August 2008
A team of researchers from the University of Sheffield and Manchester have produced a report that maps the wellbeing of the nation. From the 273 districts listed, Powys tops the ranks, whilst Edinburgh comes in last. The study stresses that personal circumstance is more significant than geography when it comes t determining happiness, though the report is designed to incorporate the effect of both.

The bust is a boom time for happynomics
Financial Times, 7 August 2008
Happiness economists are finding their work increasingly in the spotlight in this period of financial downturn. For those inspired by happynomics, wellbeing does not simply rise in line with income after basic needs are met, and limiting unemployment becomes a crucial focus, as joblessness becomes far more than merely loss of income.

Why smiles are better than Prozac
The Observer, 27 July 2008
Two important figures in today's scientific community provide somewhat unorthodox  guidance about how to achieve happiness in their new book Beating Stress, Anxiety and Depression.  Their focus is on non-drug treatment - they propose many interesting alternative ways to lift your mood, namely abandoning Prozac and welcoming smiles...

Is Happiness... Getting Old?
Washington Post, 14 July 2008
Findings from the General Social Survey shake one of America stereotypes about happiness - that the young are happier than the old. Research shows that levels of wellbeing are, contrary to popular belief,  higher amongst the elderly. The authors of the study long-run study, which began in 1972, explore reasons for this disparity as well as looking at the important issue of health.

Happiness 'immune to life events'
BBC news, 13 July 2008
Is our level of happiness stable in the long run? Economic studies based in Germany show that the level of happiness in a person's life generally returns to its original level after ‘life-changing' events. The research suggests that humans adapt to both positive and negative changes - from winning the lottery to widowhood - and provides validity to the claim that ‘time heals'.

Denmark 'world's happiest nation'
BBC news, 3 July 2008
Findings from the latest US National Science Foundation's World Values Survey. Denmark, Puerto Rico and Colombia make up the top three happiest countries in the world. The current political and economic climate drop Zimbabwe to the bottom of the list. What is it that makes a country happy? The director of the study, Dr Ronald Inglehart of the University of Michigan, seeks to find what causes and contributes to a happy nation.

Local involvement leads to happier communities
eGov monitor, 26 June 2008
The IDeA explores the link between community empowerment and wellbeing, following findings from the Local Wellbeing Project (a joint programme of work by the Young Foundation, the IDeA and Lord Layard from LSE). Contact between neighbours and power in the local decision making process are examples of the many ways in which neighbourliness can have a positive impact on wellbeing.

Dog ‘socials’ to aid local regeneration
Regeneration and Renewal, 20 June 2008
Can our dogs improve our social networking? This article summarises a report by the Local Wellbeing Project (a joint programme of work run by the Young Foundation, the IDeA and Lord Layard from LSE), which recommends different ways to build up community ties. Research suggests that events such a dog get-togethers and traditional street parties aid local regeneration, by providing opportunities for neighbours to interact.

Will this man make you happy?
Guardian, 24 June 2008
What can be done to raise happiness levels in an increasingly stressed and depressed Britain? Stuart Jeffries talks to LSE ‘happiness tsar' Lord Richard Layard who firmly believes that money is not the answer. After discussing what he sees as the real underlying causes of unhappiness, he talks us through a series of groundbreaking reforms designed to address these issues, such as emotional resilience classes. His ideas have been positively received by government, and are being taken forward by the Young Foundation's Wellbeing Project.

Councils can help spread the joy
Guardian Society, 11 June 2008
Can councils make us happier? asks Patrick Butler

A civic recipe for happiness. Can local authorities find a way to make us all happy?
New Start, May 2008
A groundbreaking project plans to find out, as Marcia Brophy explains

It's official - working makes you happy, study shows
New Zealand, May 2008
A study by Massey University in New Zealand found that people aged 65 and over who were still working were happier than their retired counterparts. The link between retirement and mental health in these new findings is investigated.

Should the Government make us happy?
Ryan Blitstein in Miller-McCune.com, May 2008
In Europe and elsewhere, governments are using ideas from the new science of well-being to try to make citizens more content. The Young Foundation’s Local Wellbeing Project is hailed as one of these new initiatives. Will America follow their lead? Professor Kasser is striving to get US government policy to take into account its citizens’ happiness.

Promoting wellbeing and neighbourliness  
Solace, April 2008
Nicola Bacon and Geoff Mulgan of the Young Foundation write about how wellbeing and neighbourliness can become central to promoting equality at the very local level. 

Happy Mediums 
Guardian, 30th April 2008
Can we 'immunise' young people against unhappiness and depression? Madeline Bunting reports in The Guardian on the Local Wellbeing Project's emotional resilience work with 11-13 year olds in three local authorities.

The IoS happy list - the 100  
The Independent on Sunday, 27th April 2008
The Independent on Sunday has compiled a ‘Happy List’ of 100 leading people in Britain who make our lives happier. These range from artists to environmentalists, through experts in mental and physical health, charity workers, innovators, volunteers, entertainers, philanthropists and prominent figures in community service. This list testifies to the increasing importance we are giving happiness in today’s society, and recognises the critical role of happiness and wellbeing promotion, in improving lives in Britain.

One in four teeenagers 'unhappy'  
BBC news website, 24th April 2008
According to recent surveys, over one quarter of children in the UK often feel depressed. The latest report from the Good Childhood Inquiry brings together recent studies on child wellbeing and the latest thinking in the field, to expose the widespread mental health problems experienced by young people in the UK, and propose ways to address them. The UK scores bottom of the league of European countries for child wellbeing. Support for parents, good schooling and effective treatments are all highlighted as critical areas to address in improving child mental health.

Parents stop children choosing vocational route
Guardian, 11th March 2008
An international survey to find the levels of esteem of vocational education has found that  Germany is not a ‘paragon’ of job-specific, technical education. Indeed, vocational education seems to be suffering from a ‘global image problem’.

UK life satisfaction indicators
Sustainable Development Unit, Defra, 31st January 2008
For the first time in 2007, the National Sustainable Development indicator set included wellbeing measures. This is a link to a graph displaying the distribution of the overall life satisfaction indicator, on a scale from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied). The average national rating for 2007 was 7.3. The life satisfaction data is also broken down by region.  

Happiness is being young or old, but middle age is misery
Guardian, 29th January 2008
According to a recent study people’s levels of happiness follow a U-shaped curve with people happiest toward the beginning and end of their lives. For both men and women in the UK, the probability of depression peaked at around age 44.

PM backs apprenticeships to boost UK in ‘global skills race’’
Guardian, 28th January 2008
Amid the launch of the government’s welfare reforms around training, apprenticeship provision and general skills, Gordon Brown claims that ‘a generation ago a British prime minister had to worry about the global arms race. Today a British prime minister has to worry about the global skills race’.

Schools ordered to ditch ‘sexist’ career advice
The Telegraph, 14th January 2008
Comments on the gender divide within apprenticeship schemes: sectors which offer the most training, pay apprentices the highest wages, and have the best job prospects are male dominated.

Wellbeing: Positive thinking pays off
PersonnelToday.com, 3rd December 2007 
Each year stress costs the economy £3.8 billion. The writer explores the benefits of ‘positive psychology’ in the workplace as a means of decreasing stress and boosting productivity and co-operation.

International experts claim that economic gain is not the key to happiness
Brunel University, Conference findings, 8th November 2007
The research findings of a recent conference at Brunel University looking at personal wellbeing.. The conference focussed on the way that people adapt to events and to changes in personal circumstances and the effect that this has on life-satisfaction. Key research notes the disparity between what people believe will make them happy and what actually affects their levels of happiness.

What really makes us happy?
Independent, 11th September 2007 
The article summarises some of the factors that influence a person’s levels of happiness. A brief overview of international research into wellbeing and happiness follows.

Teaching happiness: the classes in wellbeing that are helping our children
The Times, 18th February 2008
Discusses the experiences of students undertaking emotional resilience learning in South Tyneside 

The greatest gift that we possess
Guardian, 5th October 2007
Discusses recent political shift towards wellbeing and highlights recent intiatives and literature in this field

New powers for headteachers to tackle poor behaviour - parents responsible for keeping excluded children off the streets
DCSF, 4th September 2007
Press release from the Department for Children, Schools and Families highlighting the government's Social and Emotional Aspect of Learning (SEAL) programme

Happy land: some reasons to be cheerful in England
Guardian, 4th August 2007
Results of a government survey asking about life satisfaction in England

UK Sustainable Development Indicators
National Statistics and Defra, 27th July 2007
The publication of the 2006 UK sustainable development indicators which includes many factors relevant to wellbeing.

The changing face of inequality
Guardian, 24th July 2007
David Lipsey argues that whilst British society appears to be becoming classless, the ‘super-rich’ are a cause of discontent. As a means of addressing this he calls for a more ‘progressive’ tax system.

Nef Happy Planet Index
New Economics Foundation, 16th July 2007
The publication of an league of countries which charts both carbon efficiency and wellbeing, in which the UK ranks 21st of 30 European Countries

The pioneering technique that's helping to combat depression in the classroom
Independent, 20th July
A discussion of the emotional resilience for 11 to 13 year olds program as teacher training begins.

Happy Talk
Guardian, 3rd July 2007
An article noting the rise of wellbeing as a concept and the increasing influence it is having on public policy.

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