Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at You

Children’s piggy banks have been raided by a quarter of parents this year, struggling to pay their bills during lockdown. A survey by Direct Line Life Insurance has found that buying food was among the most common reasons for 23 percent of adults admitting they had actually had to dip into their children’s savings.

Latest government figures for 2018-19 show that nine per cent of households in England – about 2.17 million – do not have a working alarm. And only 26 per cent of people who do own an alarm bother to test it at least once a month. This is despite experts warning that people are around...

A recent poll has found that the over-60s often face patronising, though usually well-meant, comments from the younger generation. One older woman was amused, when going into a shop before Christmas, to be met by a younger assistant who asked, ‘And how are we doing so far today?’ ‘I suspect she had taken one look...

Before you take your bucket out to do a street collection… Zoom Zoom Zoom! Does marriage make you happy? Social lifeline to older people In praise of peanut butter Women like hugs Diamonds are for lockdown… Spare a thought for your furry friend Nurture your friendships Cost of plastic bags to increase Lower your hostility...

Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: do what I told the Galatian churches to do.  On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.  (1...

The pandemic is leaving a “lasting digital legacy”, and changing the UK’s internet habits and behaviour “indelibly”.  So says a recent Ofcom study. Since March we have broken the four-hour barrier, which means that, on average, we spend more than a quarter of our waking hours each day online. That is up from an average...

It may. But then again, it may not. Research spanning 40 years has found that being married does not necessarily make people significantly happier than if they were divorced or single. Psychologists at Michigan State University found that, while married people showed a slight increase in happiness, the difference was still less than one percentage...

It is not a surprise that older people are demonstrably happier when they can stay in touch with friends and family. Now recent research by University College London (UCL) has found that people over 50 who use the internet for communicating with loved ones, have better mental health. But they tend to feel worse when...

One quirky change of life under Coivd-19 is that for some reason, we are eating more peanut butter.  According to a recent report in The Grocer, sales of the stuff rose by 35.5 per cent in the Spring. Peanut butter producer Kirstie Hawkins (Whole Earth brand) is delighted. “Peanut butter offers an easy way to...

Women are more genetically predisposed to giving you a hug than a man is. According to a recent study at Arizona University, about 45 per cent of a woman’s desire for affection is hereditary, while the remaining 55 per cent is due to environmental factors. In comparison, men’s ‘skin hunger’ is due to entirely environmental...

Here’s an unexpected outcome of Covid-19: it has inspired more of us to get engaged. Engagement rings sales have risen this year, in some firms by up to 73 per cent, a survey of various jewellery firms has discovered. When, at the beginning of lockdown, Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, suggested that...

Many dogs have struggled to adjust to the changes that Covid-19 has brought to their owners this year, according to the Dogs Trust. For one thing, coronavirus has meant greatly reduced walkies for many dogs, more people around the house all day, less quiet for rest, and little or no contact with other dogs.  No...