Addressing the Social Determinants of Subjective Wellbeing: The Latest Challenge for Social Policy?

The idea that the happiness and wellbeing of individuals should shape government policy has been around since the enlightenment; today such thinking has growing practical policy relevance as governments around the world survey their populations in an effort to design social policies that promote wellbeing. In this article, we consider the social determinants of subjective wellbeing in the UK and draw lessons for social policy. Survey data are taken from the ‘Measuring National Wellbeing Programme’ launched by the UK's Office for National Statistics in 2010. For the empirical strategy, we develop bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models, as well as testing for interaction effects in the data. The findings show that wellbeing is not evenly distributed within the UK. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, employment, household composition and tenure all matter, as does health status. Influencing population wellbeing is inherently complex, though, that said, there is a clear need to place greater emphasis on the social, given the direction of current policy

Perspectives on “Nest construction and function 2012"

Non

Clarifying Resilience: an invited comment

So, we all know what resilience is, don’t we? The National Academies recently said building disaster resilience capacity in our communities should be a national imperative (National Academies 2012).So resilience must be a tangible thing, right

Recommendations for changes in UK National Recovery Guidance (NRG) and associated guidance from the perspective of Lancaster University's Hull Flood Studies

This report was commissioned by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) following the publication of Lancaster University‟s Hull Flood Project and Hull Children‟s Flood Project. Its principal purpose is to identify how findings made as a result of the two research projects could be integrated into the Cabinet Office‟s National Recovery Guidance (NRG), as a means to improve affected communities‟ ability to recover from emergency events. The report, in effect, details a desktop analysis of UK Civil Protection (CP) guidance, from a bottom-up perspective (i.e. using as its critical lens, the lived experiences of members of the public who were tested by the Hull flooding of 2007 and its aftermath)

Measurement of brood patch temperature of British passerines using an infrared thermometer

Capsule An infrared ear thermometer can be easily used to measure brood patch temperature in passerines caught on the nest or in mist-nets

Electrolyte and Water Balance of the Early Avian Embryo: Effects of Egg Turning

Formation of sub-embryonic fluid (SEF) is a key aspect of the physiology of the early avian embryo.Here we review the process of SEF formation and the factors which influence its composition and the rate of SEF production and depletion in the Japanese quail and domestic fowl.There is particular emphasis on the role of turning of the egg during incubation and we briefly consider the broader role of egg turning during avian incubation. The bulk of the review deals with the growth of the area vasculosa of the yolk sac membrane, the cellular processes of SEF formation, and the water and electrolyte physiology of the avian embryo during the first half of incubation.We conclude with a brief discussion of the areas for future investigation

Guy Standing (2011), The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class

The historic trade-off between 'capital' and 'labour' in the industrialised world was, arguably, the 'welfare state'. The emphasis of social policy throughout much of the twentieth century was placed on the protection of working-class families within the capitalist state. Ongoing structural changes in society, a result of Global Transformation, continue to facilitate the mobilisation of wage-earners for collective action (Standing, 2009 ). However, it is no longer the old 'working class' (which has been in decline) that poses the real threat to society, but the growing 'precariat' according to Guy Standing in his latest work

The lost and the new 'liberal world' of welfare capitalism : a critical assessment of Gøsta Esping-Andersen's the three worlds of welfare capitalism a quarter century later

Celebrating the 25th birthday of Gøsta Esping-Andersen's seminal book The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1990), this article looks back at the old ‘liberal world’ and examines the new. In so doing, it contributes to debates and the literature on liberal welfare state development in three main ways. First, it considers the concept of ‘liberalism’ and liberal ideas about welfare provision contained within Three Worlds. Here we are also interested in how liberal thought has conceptualised the (welfare) state, and the class-mobilisation theory of welfare-state development. Second, the article elaborates on ‘neo-’liberal social reforms and current welfare arrangements in the English-speaking democracies and their welfare states. Finally, it considers the extent to which the English-speaking world of welfare capitalism is still meaningfully ‘liberal’ and coherent today

Perspectives on “Nest construction and function 2015”

The second meeting was held in September 2015 at the University of Lincoln (UK) and was attended by delegates from the UK, from four different countries across Europe, and the USA