The Institute of Happiness doesn't sound like something British. It sounds like something one might find in an enlightened Scandinavian country or a far-flung land from a futuristic novel.
I had been planning to eat healthily. You see, I am getting married in two weeks and while I am not concerned that I'll block the aisle with my girth, I also think it's a good day to try to look one's best.
Test your knowledge, courtesy of the compilers of Whitaker’s Almanack
Football quotes of the year
Our football folk spluttered out a whole range of memorable morsels during 2012
Ready to eat: the first GM fish for the dinner table
US decision after 17-year battle over fast-growing salmon could pave way for same step in Britain
O little town with big ideas
Bethlehem turns to tourism
IoS Christmas Appeal
All they want for Christmas? Freedom from fear
Jerome Flynn: 'Being a pop star? It was a Disney ride...'
Actor, singer, recluse: he has walked a long and less-travelled road since 'Soldier Soldier' – and now he's back in a new prime-time thriller
Great Britons 2012
The IoS presents its top 101 stars of the past year; inspirational characters who moved and uplifted us all. Plus the year's Plonkers − better luck in 2013, chaps
David Randall: Long live the spirit of our family Christmas
Reports of festive ill will and tedium are exaggerated. Like our Victorian forebears, most of us will be making our own fun at home together
Rupert Cornwell: Big Yellow Taxi? Not in Washington DC
The city's notoriously laissez-faire taxi industry faces regulation of fares and routes at last. But how should they be painted?
Fallen angel: Lily James is bringing scandal to Downton Abbey
She might have been banished from the Abbey, but that won’t stop Lily James from wreaking havoc on Downton’s Christmas.
A year in The Thick of It...
Political life had a way of imitating art again and again during 2012
Hot Stuff! The trends of 2012
Dancing to a South Korean pop song while pretending to be a horse was one of the more unusual, or rather, inexplicable hits of the past 12 months
Away from the manger
Meet the people who spend Christmas in extraordinary circumstances
Romance? Showmance? Fauxmance?
Henry VIII and Anne, Kylie and Jason, Simon and Carmen – The IoS weighs up the evidence about the true nature of these famous relationships
Yule rules: A middle-class Noël
The authors of ‘The Art of Being Middle Class’ present their essential guide to surviving yuletide