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Motherhood in Western Europe

Insights from Western European Mothers

The changing face of motherhood — Western Europe

The accompanying reports combine a review of existing literature with an analysis of original quantitative data derived from a poll of 9,582 mothers from 12 countries in Western Europe, making it one of the largest studies of this kind ever conducted

Child Obesity and Health

An analysis of the latest available data from the Health Survey for England (HSE)

Child Obesity and Health — download the full report in pdf format

In this ‘National Childhood Obesity Week’, the SIRC report, Children, obesity and heath: Recent trends, holds up a true mirror, accurately reflecting the trend towards slimmer, healthier children. more

The Future of Freemasonry

An examination of the role of Freemasonry in the 21st century

Freemasonry

This report is, as far as we know, an account of the first ever study that has been commissioned by Freemasons from a non-Masonic body. None of the SIRC members involved in the project are Freemasons, a fact that evoked surprise and welcome in equal measure from the Lodge members we met. more

The Changing Face of Motherhood

Insights from three generations of mothers

Motherhood

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

Naming & Praising update

The SIRC Naming & Praising campaign highlights two examples of responsible reporting of health issues in the 10th January Express.

Maggie Morgan reports on a researcher's claim that most heart disease and cancer deaths are caused by x-rays, but avoids causing unnecessary alarm by stating in the first line of her piece that these claims have been widely denounced as misleading and unscientific. Such messages are all too often relegated to the very end of reports, with the more dramatic 'scare' elements dominating the lead paragraphs. Morgan's piece is a refreshing and welcome exception to this common practice. As well as generating false fears, news reports often raise false hopes.

Martin Stote is careful to avoid this in his report on research showing that curry spices might play a role in fighting colon cancer. He makes it clear that while initial findings seem promising, much more research and testing will be required to determine the effects of the curcumin spice, and that this work could take up to ten years to complete. (A report on the same story in the Mirror, by contrast, makes no mention of such caveats.)