Recent
Insights from three generations of mothers
The report seeks to answer some specific questions about the changing face of motherhood and determine the extent to which modern ‘solutions’ to motherhood are more or less beneficial than the solutions of the past. more
Report of an independent assessment
Two years ago, in the Children's Plan, the DCSF committed itself to commission an independent assessment of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. That assessment, led by Professor David Buckingham, is now complete. As part of the process SIRC was commissioned to undertake two major reviews: Children and Family Life: Socio-Demographic Changes and The Ecology of Family Life. more
Psychological impact & the lessons of recession
There can be very few people in Britain who are unaware that we have been living in times of recession…It is clear that people — even those unaffected directly — are worried, especially about their future financial security. But are there some positive lessons to be learnt? more
The role and citizen impact of Public Service Broadcasting
As a complement to the extensive work contributed by other players on the rapid advances in technology and consumer behaviour, the work is designed to review and present the available data on broader social trends which may impact on PSB in the future…more
Pride, prejudice and pylons
Sir Richard Doll's exhaustive study has now finally confirmed that, in the UK at least, there is no causal link between electricity pylons and childhood cancers – discrediting the scares published in every newspaper on Thursday, December 02. (BBC, Guardian). Reason would now suggest that we start devoting time and research resources to looking for other possible causes, and treatments.
The problem is that the issue is no longer one of reason, or science, or even concern for children with cancer, but of vested interests. The scientists whose findings were reported yesterday have staked their reputations (and prospects of future research funding) on the notion that pylons are a cancer risk, and will not lightly give up their cause, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. We can expect to hear repeated attempts to show that the Doll study is not 'definitive' – indeed, some were trying to make this pre-emptive claim on Thursday, before the Doll findings were published – and yet more resources devoted to research and publications on pylons, which could have been used to find real causes and possible cures. When pride, prejudices and careers are at stake, dying children can wait.
