UK Subjective Wellbeing Q3 to September 2025 - this is now presented as a % people in total misery

UK Measures of National Wellbeing 1/4ly data is out new chart is interesting overview of Economy Environment & People, aka livelihoods & life 2012-2025 Top = Environment greenhouse gas 📉 Mid = Economy GDP per capital ↔️ Bottom = People good & happy life ↔️ www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

This is such a wonderful research finding. Ocytocin is the baby cuddles hormone known as the love hormone. You can get sprays of it. This finds that the hormone plus loving touch and words help wounds heal faster. Love for the win

💕 Does oxytocin help wounds heal faster? Not on its own. In 80 healthy couples, intranasal oxytocin accelerated wound healing only when paired with affectionate touch and partner appreciation. Oxytocin acts as a "social amplifier". buff.ly/IvuBcTq #Oxytocin #SocialHealth #RelationshipScience

How can advance notice of disasters be better to save lives & livelihoods? Great working with @globalnetworkdr.bsky.social on this World Risk Poll early warnings data project. 👀 more deeply how early warning of landslides & floods from storms, earthquakes, glaciers can be improved 👀 Data ⬇️

We've partnered w/ @lr-foundation.bsky.social to use #WorldRiskPoll data in #Ethiopia & #Nepal to support communities at risk of landslides. By working #GNDRMembers, Light for Generation & NSET Nepal, we'll strengthen the development of localised #earlywarningsystems. Read more about the project 👇

Do you have reports or studies on Disaster Early Warning Systems? The Global Safety Evidence Centre has published its first evidence review protocol on the effectiveness of disaster early warning systems. Please share with colleagues and networks who may have work we haven’t yet found.

Also expected 27th February from ONS is a smaller set of updates (with a full set to follow in May 2026) to the overall UK Measures of National Wellbeing. This is *GDP and* beyond - beyond income, beyond average, beyond today. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

Checking the q2 2025 UK wellbeing stats ahead of Feb release surprised by 50s SWB - highest 65+ yo - lowest & highest % in misery 50-54yo Worthwhile - high 75-79yo - low 16-19 & 90+ - most low 50-54yo Happy 😃 - high 60-74 - low 40-54 - most people low 50-59 Anxiety - high 20-24yo - low 70-75yo

In a world that is more connected than ever, why do so many of us feel lonely? How can we change this? And what if anything should policymakers do to help address feelings of isolation and disconnection in society? I’ll be chairing this event on 19 March www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/the-a...

‘Be creative & play’ made it into the children’s version of the five ways to well-being replacing ‘give’. There’s aren’t actually age specific needs. Just that five is the magic memory number. Also some ideas that children don’t do ‘purpose’ and adults don’t do ‘fun’. The opposite is needed

Quite persuaded by analysis that voters just wanted the last lot out & are a bit surprised by the politics of the government they got. It’s likely incumbents everywhere got kicked out because voters wanted their lives to be better after Covid & this was interpreted as policy support. It wasn’t.

Small grants now open for global safety projects - evidence projects welcome

In 2025, we funded 81 new projects across 21 countries, totalling more than £16 million. Read more about our work in 2025. Explore our ‘Year of Impact’ report now 🔗 https://loom.ly/LRPig_Q

The International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) has launched Phase 2 of its #FutureSAR initiative, funded by Lloyd's Register Foundation, to help search and rescue organisations prepare for the growing impact of climate change. Read more about the programme: https://loom.ly/A__ZT2Q

This a great piece on something that really matters for people - that is well known from our daily lives - and on the difficulties as to why this is hard to solve for. The solution is one that there’s been some great work on over 20 years and can be built on now

If you are a senior leader of an organisation you have an impact on safety You do this through 1. Setting strategic direction 2. Visible leadership of safety 3. Cultural leadership 4. Systems oversight CEOs change is a safety risk to be managed. Financial incentives need to be used with care.

Some good news in the world

An occupational medic on today programme is fantastic - this was on of our leading indicators for wellbeing & work happening.

Public trust in science and technology is a serious, growing problem, especially now. Instead of trying to solve it with better communication, we should adopt a more inclusive approach to innovation that takes low-tech, incremental, and system-wide solutions seriously. My new piece @science.org 👇🏽🧵

NCCH is recruiting a new Trustee. We’re keen to hear from people with social care experience and local authority leadership backgrounds. Deadline: 25 Jan 2026. Apply: ncch.org.uk/news/adverti... (Image from Unsplash)

Join us as we host leading safety academics, alongside standing setting practitioners, to work out how effective Safety Management Systems are. Three studies telling us different things - what do we do with that and what we can do about it next.

Daisy Fancourt has done some fascinating work at the intersection of social behaviour, psychology and epidemiology (we were both British Science Association award lecturers, and I was on advisory group for her COVID Social Study). Her new book is a great read so far, and looks like others agree!

👏 💡 Four great new project teams funded on: 1) severe weather & landslide warnings (South Africa, Nepal & Ethiopia) 2) resilient cities (Brazil & Nigeria) 3) better waste management to reduce open burning of dangerous rubbish. All using the awesome World Risk Poll and Resilience Index data

My latest maths column looks at what we actually mean when we use words such as "likely" or "probable". Join me on a trip from the ancient Greeks to the CIA, via Jeremy Bentham www.newscientist.com/article/2510...

The ‘surprisingly good science of arts and health’ on radio 4 this morning www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Dr Elizabeth Adjoa Kumah discusses the importance of early warning systems - what makes them effective, why they matter, and the work our Global Safety Evidence Centre is doing to collate existing #evidence on what works in disaster risk management. 🔗 https://loom.ly/w1UB3Nw

Do you have reports or studies on Disaster Early Warning Systems? The Global Safety Evidence Centre has published its first evidence review protocol on the effectiveness of disaster early warning systems. Please share with colleagues and networks who may have work we haven’t yet found.

Good to see happiness (actually life satisfaction) in here alongside traditional metrics. And even within the normal categories like gdp and health more sophisticated analysis inc PPP, per capita & mental health. Is Britain still great? Here’s what the data says www.thetimes.com/article/bd5c...

Happy New Year

Some rather wonderful and unexpected personal news from the New Years Honours List that recognises the progress being made on wellbeing and tackling loneliness by so many as well www.lrfoundation.org.uk/news/nancy-h...

🔋China has finalized hundreds of new and revised national standards, including EV battery safety rules. The updated standard, GB 38031-2025, takes effect July 1, 2026, and requires EV batteries to not catch fire or explode under standard test conditions. #battchat #batteries #energysky #greensky

NCCH is looking for a new Trustee to help guide our work embedding creative health across health and social care. We’re keen to hear from people with social care and local authority leadership experience. 🗓 Apply by 25 Jan 2026 🔗 Details: ncch.org.uk/news/adverti...

Across the world, more than 8,500 #shipwrecks left by two world wars still contain vast amounts of oil. This year, Project Tangaroa launched the Malta Manifesto, an urgent call to tackle the toxic global legacy of these potentially polluting wrecks.

We are pleased to announce our new panel for the Lloyd's Register Foundation Global Safety Evidence Centre. This panel of independent sector leaders will provide strategic guidance, expert advice and vital stakeholder perspectives to support the Centre. Find out more: https://loom.ly/u41kbbI

So many people enjoying this view this morning 📸

HM Treasury have confirmed the review of the 'discount rate' used in the Green Book. This is the rate used in business cases to discount future values in the calculation of benefit cost ratios. Is usually 3.5% now. The higher the rate, the lower the value of the future. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Looking forward to becoming nocturnal next July

Celebrating 100,000 people already using the Global Safety Evidence Centre with our formal launch in the fabulous Lloyd’s Register Building yesterday.

Innovation happening at pace in engineering globally & is shifting rapidly. Innovation matters for productivity & infrastructure = thriving economies. Enabling innovation to happen safely - not hurting people or places & not breaking things - helps accelerate that progress. See what & where ➡️

We are pleased to announce Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB as our next CEO. She will take up the role substantively in February, following a long and successful career as a senior leader in the civil service. Find out more: https://raeng.org.uk/news/royal-academy-of-engineering-announces-new-ceo/

Chuuk Lagoon is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, where shipwrecks dating back to the Second World War are leaking toxic oil at this very moment – threatening the #safety of this protected reef. Read more about what we are doing to tackle this urgent safety threat: https://loom.ly/w9RCpr0

Having tried to do prevention (and promotion) of health and overall wellbeing for the best part of 15 years, this from Rosie is good ⬇️ especially the last point.

Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/e5b7...

I’m all the way out in Bali Indonesia (for work!) and it’s brilliant to see the Five Ways to Wellbeing in fishing safety - what an amazing legacy this public mental health messaging has had since its inception in 2008

NCCH is looking for a new Trustee to help shape the future of Creative Health in the UK. If you have experience in social care or local authority leadership, we’d love to hear from you. 🔗 ncch.org.uk/news/adverti... 📅 Apply by 25 Jan 2026 Image from Unsplash

New from NCCH: From Care Homes to Community Centres explores how #CreativeHealth is transforming social care — helping people live well & stay connected. Read the blog 👇 ncch.org.uk/blog/from-ca...

How is this 31 years ago? 🤷‍♀️

The opposite of the IMD - collective Wellbeing scores by region from the @carnegieuk.bsky.social Life in the UK report.

Lloyd's Register Foundation has awarded an additional £500,000 in #funding to four new projects that are using #WorldRiskPoll #data to improve occupational safety and health (#OSH) around the world. Find out more: https://loom.ly/3rdn4Kg