House-swaps instead of holidays, three generations living under one roof, adults living off the ‘bank of mum and dad’ – is this how our living habits will adapt to the current economic, political and environmental climate over the next year? Caroline McGhie of the Telegraph makes her predictions. Queen Elizabeth’s speech this Christmas placed great read more »

Health experts at the National Obesity Forum have warned that now is the time to tell your loved ones if they are carrying a little too much weight. With the evidence piling up as fast as the chocolate wrappings, the message this Christmas is simple: face the flab. Abdominal fat is increasingly thought to be strongly linked read more »

Struggling with your Christmas shopping? Instead of the endless pairs of socks and toiletries destined for the back of the cupboard, why not get someone something special this Christmas? Oxfam Unwrapped is a way for you to give a loved-one the opportunity to change someone’s life. Why spend £5 on a box of chocolates when read more »

Obesity is at an all time high, good parenting is at an all-time low. Have we ‘squandered’ our chance to create an Olympic legacy of fitness, as sports medicine specialists claim? One leading sports medicine specialist, Dr Andy Franklyn-Miller, has warned that the government’s failure to give PE the same priority as other subjects has read more »

After health and safety laws put an end to ‘bob-a-job’ week 20 years ago, the Scout Association have decided it is now time once again to encourage young people to help out their local communities. Bob-a-job week was a long lived scouting tradition in which our knot tying friends helped out people in their local read more »

50,000 families across the country have been chosen to trial a new parenting programme devised by the government in a bid to make society more responsible. The classes have been designed for parents with children under the age of 5 and will provide training in communication, managing conflict, creating routine, stating boundaries and enforcing discipline. read more »

Record numbers of single women and teenagers who want babies are abandoning the search for Mr. Right and turning instead to online sperm donors.   A staggering ¼ of all women registered to online sperm donor sites are under the age of 25 and some are as young as 18 and 19. Many women frustrated read more »

A survey of ten European developed countries has ranked the UK as the worst place to live in Europe whilst France reigns supreme on the top spot. According to the uSwitch quality of life index, the UK has the second lowest hours of sunshine per year, the forth highest retirement age, the third lowest spend read more »

Last week it emerged that the health and behaviour of teenage children can be improved by making sure they eat with family at meal times. Results from both UK and US studies revealed that children who rarely eat with their parents are unhappier and far more likely to take drugs, smoke and drink. According to read more »

Four years ago children’s charity Unicef released a report which showed the well-being of British children to be among the lowest of a number of developed nations. Unicef suggested that the reason for this, in part, could be related to the fact that many British parents try to compensate for a lack of quality time read more »