Sports Calendar

Every little helps at the supermarket

A to-do list for the supermarket tsar

Why British children are pushed too hard

British children are pushed too hard, too early at school. One writer explains how daughters read less but learnt a lot more in Africa

The stepfamily files: flirty stepdaughter?

How to cope when a stepdaughter appears to be behaving inappropriately

Take it from an expert: the fireman

Story behind the picture: The burning books

Bradford, February 1989

Urban flocks: Brighton’s new shepherds

As shepherds watch their flocks by street light, Brighton and Hove Council is using sheep to save its grassy downlands

Eton, Oxford, then down and out

Homelessness is hitting a much broader section of society than we care to imagine. There is of the growing ranks of sofa surfers

Meet the lipstick entrepreneurs

Trendspotters are forecasting huge gains for women in business over the next decade. We meet the new band of sisters doing it for themselves

Going up

The secret to living a good life

Happiness is something that all of us, rich or poor, can easily achieve. Here, we reveal the key to self-fulfilment

So, what really makes you happy?

Chocolate? Not exactly. Fame? Don’t think so. Seven writers and novelists reflect on what makes them truly content

Why I hate corporate holiday emails

I couldn't care less if a computer wishes me a happy new year.

Microtrends

"Unnecessary quotes"

Three to watch

Who, what, wear

The happiness professor

Dr Martin Seligman is the unofficial father of positive psychology, the controversial study of human happiness. Alan Franks visits him to discover...

Welcome to the happiest place in Britain

What is it about Powys that, according to research presented at the Royal Geographical Society, makes its inhabitants the most content in the land?

My big-bum blues in an Italian lingerie shop

Italians are slim because their food is disgusting

Sex advice: I don't fancy my overweight wife

After three kids she is a couple of stone heavier than when we first met. She does nothing about losing weight

Is 2010 the decade of Terrible Teens?

Few people fell in love with the Noughties. To find a better successor leaves pundits struggling with a teensy few tensions

No kidding: Diary of a child-free couple