In all the Nordic countries there is a declared policy of increasing work participation among seniors. The most important reason comes from a more long-term population, generation and welfare perspective: gradually, as more and more older people live longer, it is becoming increasingly expensive for younger age groups to finance and maintain relatively generous welfare schemes. The report a matter of health and job satisfaction compares and analyses the situation of seniors on the labour market in the Nordic countries as well as pension and social insurance systems. Seven in ten seniors aged 50-64 are in work, while three in ten have either retired early or are on the way out of working life. Impaired health and capacity for work represent the most important "exit route", followed by voluntary, flexible pensions, unemployment and working environment. Other causes include formal and informal barriers and age discrimination. People are different, seniors not least. Health, duties and working environment are crucial to more seniors being able and wanting to work for longer, in addition to which they want to be seen, made use of and appreciated!

Over the last century, the industrialization of agriculture and processing technologies have made food abundant and relatively inexpensive for much of the world’s population. Simultaneously, pesticides, nitrates, and other technological innovations intended to improve the food supply’s productivity and safety have generated new, often poorly understood risks for consumers and the environment. From the proliferation of synthetic additives to the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the chapters in Risk on the Table zero in on key historical cases in North America and Europe that illuminate the history of food safety, highlighting the powerful tensions that exists among scientific understandings of risk, policymakers’ decisions, and cultural notions of “pure” food.

Writing this book has been a pleasure, but it has also been frustrating. It was a delight to see that the facts of food preferences, eating, and food behavior conform in many ways to the general principles of psychology. Matching these, however, was often like putting together a jigsaw puz zle-looking at a fact and trying to figure out which psychological theories or principles were relevant. This was made more difficult by conflicting principles in psychology and contradictory findings in psychological as well as food-preference research. The material cited is not meant to be exhaustive. Undoubtedly, I have been influenced by my own research interests and points of view. When conflicting data exist, I selected those that seemed to me most representa tive or relevant, and I have done so without consistently pointing out contrary findings. This applies also to the discussion of psychological prin ciples. Much psychological research is done in very restrictive conditions. Therefore, it has limited applicability beyond the confines of the context in which it was conducted. What holds true of novelty, complexity, and curiosity when two-dimensional line drawings are studied, for example, may not have much to do with novelty, complexity, and curiosity in rela tion to foods, which vary in many ways such as shape, color, taste, texture, and odor. Nevertheless, I have tried to suggest relationships between psy chological principles and food preferences.

This book explores the experiences, causes, and consequences of food insecurity in different geographical regions and historical eras. It highlights collective and political actions aimed at food sovereignty as solutions to mitigate suffering. Despite global efforts to end hunger, it persists and has even increased in some regions. This book provides interdisciplinary and historical perspectives on the manifestations of food insecurity, with case studies illustrating how people coped with violations of their rights during the war-time deprivation in France; the neoliberal incursions on food supply in Turkey, Greece, and Nicaragua; as well as the consequences of radioactive contamination of farmland in Japan. This edited collection adopts an analytical approach to understanding food insecurity by examining how the historical and political situations in different countries have resulted in an unfolding dialectic of food insecurity and resistance, with the most marginalized people—immigrants, those in refugee camps, poor peasants, and so forth—consistently suffering the worst effects, yet still maintaining agency to fight back. The book tackles food insecurity on a local as well as a global scale and will thus be useful for a broad range of audiences, including students, scholars, and the general public interested in studying food crises, globalization, and current global issues.

Health Insurance is a Family Matter is the third of a series of six reports on the problems of uninsurance in the United Sates and addresses the impact on the family of not having health insurance. The book demonstrates that having one or more uninsured members in a family can have adverse consequences for everyone in the household and that the financial, physical, and emotional well-being of all members of a family may be adversely affected if any family member lacks coverage. It concludes with the finding that uninsured children have worse access to and use fewer health care services than children with insurance, including important preventive services that can have beneficial long-term effects.

What accounts for our tastes? Why and how do they change over time? Stanley Lieberson analyzes children's first names to develop an original theory of fashion. He disputes the commonly-held notion that tastes in names (and other fashions) simply reflect societal shifts.

In the United States, people living in low-income neighborhoods frequently do not have access to affordable healthy food venues, such as supermarkets. Instead, those living in "food deserts" must rely on convenience stores and small neighborhood stores that offer few, if any, healthy food choices, such as fruits and vegetables. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council (NRC) convened a two-day workshop on January 26-27, 2009, to provide input into a Congressionally-mandated food deserts study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. The workshop, summarized in this volume, provided a forum in which to discuss the public health effects of food deserts.

Wallace and Gromit star as bakers who fall foul of a baker-bashing cereal killer!