Obesity is it a problem?

This week the UK government launched a strategy for tackling obesity

Search NHS evidence for access to recent government reports and strategy

Food and Drink Federation reaction

Obesity Uk response

British Dieticians response




UNICEF The State of the World’s Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition

in terms of the UK they refer to children in a swamp of obesity.

OECD has recently published a report

The Heavy Burden of Obesity The Economics of Prevention

Using microsimulation modelling, this book analyses the burden of obesity and overweight in 52 countries (including OECD, European Union and G20 countries), showing how overweight reduces life expectancy, increases healthcare costs, decreases workers' productivity and lowers GDP.

On this topic

Do people eat junk food because it is cheaper?

A systematic review of literature published in 2013

Do healthier foods and diet patterns cost more than less healthy options? A systematic review and meta-analysis of 27 studies from 10 countries did provide some evidence especially in terms of meat that healthier options were more expensive.

longitudinal study in UK found prices of healthy  foods rose quicker than unhealthy on 94 items 

The Growing Price Gap between More and Less Healthy Foods: Analysis of a Novel Longitudinal UK Dataset Nicholas R. V. Jones, Annalijn I. Conklin, Marc Suhrcke,

Pablo Monsivais

 In 2017 the same CEDAR research centre  found that cost of meeting the recommended dietary intake for  fruit and vegetables, oily fish, sugars, fat, saturated fat and salt  was between 3% and 17% more expensive than other alternatives.

However there have been some disputes about metrics used to calculate costs . This IEA discussion paper from 2017 found the margins were  small. But as others have discussed factors such as time and access to healthy food outlets can also be key 

A government report obesity and the environment found a link between the number of fast food  outlets, child obesity and socio-economic background. Poorer people were likely to live near more fast food shops and to be overweight. It has an interesting map from 2016 showing the geographical spread of fast food outlets.

impact of COVId 19 on vocational education

World Youth Skills day 15th July focused upon the impact on technical and vocational education.

This is important as The latest Global Employment Trends for Youth 2020: Technology and the future of job showed that since 2017, there has been an upward trend in the number of youth not in employment, education or training (NEET).

The impact of Covid 19 on school closures is mapped on this UNESCO site


In Britain this House of Commons Library Briefing series map the impact of the lockdown and reopening on HE and FE sectors

In Europe this website has details / reflection on the possible impact on TVet systems

The OECD also has an excellent site with summaries from TVET system responses in OECD nations, there are useful links to their websites

French revolution some free academic primary sources for social scientists

French Revolution Digital Archive (Stanford University and Bibliotheque Nationale de France) enormous site which includes the data project which OCRed, and encoded the first 82 (of 102) volumes of the Archives parlementaires (AP), the record of speeches and deliberations from French Revolutionary constitutional and legislative assemblies. over 5,000 images and icons


Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution
more than 600 primary documents from a site created by Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the American Social History Project at City University of New York, Also includes a timeline of the revolution

major internet archives have individual memoirs including:

The principal speeches of the statesmen and orators of the French Revolution, 1789-1795 (1892)

Letters from Paris, on the Causes and Consequences of the French Revolution, by William C. Somerville, 1822

Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution, by Francois-Claude-amour Bouille, marquis de. 1797

On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship, by Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, 1790Another excellent starting point to search is Gallica
the digital library of the BNF which has images, books and more online

July 11th World Population Day - here are some free social science resources

United Nations Population Division
produces regular demographic estimates and population projects for countries worldwide. Its website provides free access to reports and data including world fertility, mortality and World Population reports
United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) sexual and reproductive health agency. Its website includes free access to recent editions of its annual State of World Population report which highlights recent trends.

UN Demographic Yearbook
Free access to all editions from 1948 onwards. Covers population size, births, deaths, marriage, divorce for nations worldwide. Also covers foreign born populations.


For Uk data try ONS website
there is also a pyramid by age and ethnicity for your local area
for historical sources try Histpop - Online Historical Population Reports

Provides online access to the complete population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937. In addition to the census; the site also includes essays from historians which set the materials in context.

A Vision of Britain through time
This well-designed site, created by staff at the University of Portsmouth, provides free access to a wealth of historical maps, census data and statistical reports giving a real sense of how the country has changed since 1801. It includes lesson materials for teachers. Some full datasets restricted to UK education use only.

July 4th Independence Day- some academic resources for social scientists

The Document

Read the full text of the Declaration via the Library of Congress website
Find out about its drafting using this online exhibition. It gives insight using primary source documents into the editing and writing It also has a timeline of events. It is helpful to look at the original debates and proceeding relating to the constitution which are also available via the Library of Congress

The history of the celebrations.

The Library of Congress has a good succinct summary of the history of the celebrations with some historic photos.

History Channel has a fun history of the use of fireworks in the celebrations
Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820 to 1910 contains Independence Day memories from citizens if you search by keyword. The good example highlighted by the Library of Congress is .Celebrating The Fourth,” a chapter of Lewis Reimann’s Between the Iron and the Pine: A Biography of A Pioneer Family and A Pioneer Town.

4th of July orations
The Internet archive provides free access to over 500 sermons and addresses given on the 4th July before 1913. they offer insight into issues of nationality and national identity.

For a different viewpoint consider the famous speech The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by slave Frederick Douglass which was delivered on July 5th 1852.

"Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?