Burns Night - some free academic sites for Social Scientists

Today people in Scotland often hold a Burns supper isa celebration of the life and poetry of Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), the author of many Scots poems.

National Library of Scotland 1971 recording of a burns supper

National Records of Scotland has some text and images of official recordss relatng to him including baptism, his work as an exciseman and court cases !
'Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect'
was the first collection of Burns's work to appear in print. Published in Kilmarnock by John Wilson in 1786. The National Library of Scotland has an edition online . Look inside for the famous poem to a Mouse .
The National Library also has an online Broadsides of the Street Collection that includes some poems read at early Burns celebrations

and an exhibition of illustrations that appeared in his early printed editions

School meals - what are the facts sources for social scientists

This week school meals during lockdown have been controversial as lunch packs supplied for those receiving free school dinners were criticised.

These twitter references set the story in context
Footballer Marcus Rashford has led the meal campaign https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford

He posted and commented on poor standards of lunches provided on Twitter

Image of the meals included these sent in by parents

Chef Tom Kerridge also supported him
Prime Minister even agreed
Department of Education resumes lunch vouchers
commentary on child poverty and food from Food Foundation
CPAG

ChildrenNE

How many children get free school Meals?
Get the latest Uk data
What are the nutritional standards?

Uk House of Commons Library briefing on the recent debates and backgrounds
Uk government literature review of the importance of school food and its link with educational attainment
School Food Matters news and research reports on standards and their importance

International equal pay day - get some facts with our free academic links

 18 h September is designated International Equal pay day

Some key documents are: 

• Human Rights Council resolution on Equal Pay (2019)
• ILO Centenary Declaration (2019)
• World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends for Women (2018

Key organisations 

• Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC)
• Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Women’s Economic

For information on the UK see

Gender pay gap reporting service- find data on companies with over 250 employees

2019 ONS gender pay gap data

Fawcett society campaigns and commentary 

TUC trade union commentary 

Equal Pay Portal has a good set of links to statistics and advice

IFS has detailed economic analysis of trends

Eurostat data from EU nations

ILO global trends and analysis in wages

South - South cooperation - why is it important? our research links

UN Day South South Cooperation is held on the 12th September 

it is intended to mark the importance of networks of collaboration amongst nations in the Global south as a key to development.

This report  summarises the challenges and opportunities it offers.

• Role of South-South cooperation and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Challenges and opportunities 2018 (A/73/383)

There are annual reports on recent activities

• State of South-South cooperation 2019 (A/74/336)

These are key outcomes from recent conferences

• Nairobi Outcome Document of the United Nations High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation (2010)
• BAPA+40 Outcome Document, Report of the Second High-Level United Nations Conference On South-South Cooperation

Key bodies for finding reports from agencies on the topic.

• United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) has regular project reports 
• UNDP-South-South Cooperation
• FAO-South-South Cooperation
• FAO's South-South Cooperation Gateway
• UNICEF South-South Cooperation for children

practitioners reports

try searching the ALNAP library for examples of case studies

 

International Day of charity - resources for social scientists on the impact of Covid

The United Nations has designated by resolution A/RES/67/105 the 5th of September, the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa, as the International Day of Charity.

Who gives to Charity?

The CAF World Giving index ranks over 140 nations worldwide on levels of charitable giving . It bases this on whether individuals give money, volunteer or help a stranger.

There is also a UK giving index 

the financial status and income of UK charities.

This site from NCVO provides information on data from UK charities supplied by the Charities Commission. They include income and employees

What has been the impact of Covid on giving ?

the Charities Aid Foundation  website is a good starting point for tracing recent news stories and research

#NeverMore - is a campaign by a coalition of Uk charity organisations to campaign for assistance and to raise the profile of charities during the Covid pandemic when they are needed more but incomes are lower. They include ACEVO, Womens Resource Centre . The site has campaign materials as well as press releases and research on the impact from the charities

national dog day for social scientists

26th August is National Dog day

How many dogs are there in the UK?
According to RSPCA data in 2019. Dogs are the most popular pets
26% of the UK adult population have a dog with an estimated population of 9.9 million pet dogs


According to Statista this isnt the highest percentage as Germany is the nation with the most pet dogs in Europe

This makes a growing market for pet products
Statista quotes the market for dog treats in the uk as 462 million pounds in 2018. A rise from 268 in 2007.
Perhaps this contributes to the high cost of dog ownership as they give the figure of minimum annual costs of keeping a dog ranging from 840 British pounds for a small dog to 1,260 pounds for a large dog.

The economic outcome of pet ownership for the economy as a whole may be beneficial according to this fascinating article from the Adam Smith Institute in 2018 which considers the economic savings on healthcare .This summary from CABI also gives an abstract of the findings of a companion animal economics report


To get some facts on if dog ownership try searching Pubmed for medical articles.
This systematic review on dog ownership and survival examined
Studies published between 1950 and May 24, 2019. It found Dog ownership is associated with lower risk of death over the long term, which is possibly driven by a reduction in cardiovascular mortality. Dog ownership can also be associated with more physical exercise and contact with nature
other studies have focussed on mental health, an Australian study Longitudinal evidence of the impact of dog ownership and dog walking on mental health

VJ Day - research resources

Last week was the 75th anniversary of VJ the ending of the Second World War with Japan
Here are some recommended study resources

A good Starting point is the US government website
They have the official surrender document 
They also have this  blog posting which links to original photographs and other documents from the American Allied perspective

For the Uk, The Imperial war museum has some photographs of the VJ day celebrations
plus some rare colour footage of Londoners on the day

The National Archives blog has an interesting discussion, with original documents, of secret plans for British involvement in a possible invasion of Japan in 1945

Plus materials relating to the bombing of Hiroshima

Their website also has a detailed research guide covering the Second World War

Don't forget how the war ended. Hiroshima Peace Museum has an English language version for those not able to read Japanese. It includes atomic survivor oral testimonies.