Tag Archives: United Kingdom

Microchip Law Passed in the U.K.

The British government has just passed a controversial new law: all dogs are required to have microchips by 2016.  After then, the owners of any dogs found without microchips will be fined the equivalent of nearly $800.  The government isn’t marching door to door testing dogs for microchips, but the owners of any unchipped dogs taken to shelters will face the fine when they come to pick up their dog. The move is controversial because it’s seen as the government interfering too much in private affairs, as an Orwellian move.  Officials say they have everyone’s best interests at heart.  No … Continue reading →

A School By Any Other Name

What’s a six letter word for the place your children go each day to learn important life lessons? It’s not a trick question. The answer is SCHOOL. Unless, of course, you live in the United Kingdom. Students attending Watercliffe Meadow Primary in Sheffield, UK no longer attend “school.” Rather, educational leaders there have decided to refer to their building as a “place of learning.” According to news reports, the head teacher of Watercliffe Meadow Primary recently confirmed that administrators dropped the word “school” from the place of learning’s name. Watercliffe Meadow leaders explained the decision this way: “We decided from … Continue reading →

Book Review: After Adoption: Direct Contact and Relationships

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The book After Adoption: Direct Contact and Relationships, by Carole Smith and Janette Logan, fills a void in the adoption literature by providing real examples of how contact between birth relatives, adopted children and their adoptive families are arranged. The authors include comments from all parties regarding their feelings about these contacts. The authors, who are on the faculty of Applied Social Science at a British university, note that while there is an increasing presumption in favor of open adoption (in both the UK and the US), there is little substantive research as to its benefit. One interesting thing to … Continue reading →

Denmark: “The Happiest Place on Earth”

“The Happiest Place on Earth.” No, this isn’t a blog about a Disney theme park. Rather, the title typically used to describe the land of Mickey and Minnie has been adopted by a European scientist to describe a country not everyone would consider a prime vacation destination. According to Adrian White, an analytic social psychologist at the UK’s University of Leicester, Denmark has won the title of “the happiest place on earth.” White used responses from 80,000 people worldwide to create a “world map of happiness,” though some say its better classified as a “map of subjective well-being.” The study … Continue reading →