Stay positive
Where to read good news
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our researchers heard from many people affected by dementia who were struggling with the amount of bad news in newspapers and on the television or internet.
On this page we make you aware of four different places where you could find good news to read.
The news has been terrible – no good news, total confusion. As a backdrop this has been horrendous.
The hardest part has been listening to it on the news and seeing what is going on.
He hasn’t changed his watching habits, he’s just found it hard to watch… He tends to only turn on to the second half of news programmes to avoid watching the COVID news.
Three different people affected by dementia talking to our researchers
The news can be a bit overwhelming. If you want to keep up with the national news but are worried it will bring your mood down, you could:
- have a friend or family member ‘filter’ the news for you, only telling you the information you need to know and otherwise sharing more positive stories
- try reading more local news instead of national or international news
- focus on an aspect of news which interests you such as sport, or nature, rather than trying to take it all in
However, you also have options for receiving positive news, which is what we explore here. We do not endorse any of these, but we know that people affected by dementia have found them useful.
Positive News
Positive News ‘is the magazine for good journalism about good things’. They gather positive stories from around the world and publish only those. Positive News is a co-operative owned by readers and journalists worldwide.
- If you go to their website, you can read a range of articles online for free.
- If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can subscribe to a free weekly newsletter using your email address.
- You could also choose to subscribe to their paper magazine, which is £30 a year for quarterly issues.
OGN (Only Good News) Daily
The clue is in the title! This website only publishes good news ‘and Other Stuff to Make you Smile’. Their team is based around the world, so the stories come from all over the globe.
- You can access lots of articles on their website and filter by categories such as ‘Environment’, ‘Travel’, or ‘Culture’.
- You can sign up for a free Only Good News Daily to be delivered to your inbox every morning.
The Happy News
The Happy Newspaper exists ‘to celebrate all that’s good in the world’. It is released quarterly and is a 32-page publication organised chronologically. Each issue is based around a theme, and is a colourful, illustrated publication.
The Happy Newspaper is a subscription service so comes with a cost.
- You can subscribe for £3.99 per issue (every three months).
- You can subscribe for a friend or loved one, so that they receive The Happy Newspaper for a year.
- You can buy multiple copies (5 or 10) so that you could give them out in your village or at your local dementia group.
Daily Sparkle
This company creates activity resources and reminiscence newspapers specifically for older people and people living with dementia. This could be a good option if remembering things about the past helps you to feel positive.
It is a subscription service so comes with a cost.
A lot of the Daily Sparkle website is aimed towards care homes so we are linking you to the page for individual subscriptions.
- For £15 a month you receive one printed copy of The Sparkles Magazine (16 glossy A4 pages) and one printed copy per week of The Weekly Sparkle (8 glossy A4 pages set out like a newspaper).
Click here to visit the individual subscription page for The Daily Sparkle.
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Where to read good news
You can print a paper version of this resource by clicking the button below.
