Blue Monday, How I Hate Blue Monday

Blue Monday is complete nonsense.

As Dean Burnett says in the Guardian today:

every year, much of the media become fixated on a specific day – the third Monday in January – as the most depressing of the year. It has become known as Blue Monday.

This silly claim comes from a ludicrous equation that calculates "debt", "motivation", "weather", "need to take action" and other arbitrary variables that are impossible to quantify and largely incompatible.

He adds:

Its creator, Dr Cliff Arnall, devised it for a travel firm. He has since admitted that it is meaningless (without actually saying it's wrong).

In today's Mail, Luke Sakeld also writes about Blue Monday:

It has been suggested that the concept of ‘Blue Monday’ was based on junk science drummed up by a travel company as a clever ploy to have us booking holidays to sunnier climes.

But this comes halfway through the article - after many sentences which clearly suggest Blue Monday is a genuine thing. The spur this year appears to be a press release from Anglian Home Improvements, which may just have an ulterior motive for suggesting natural light and windows can improve a person's mood. 

The headline on today's article is:

However, the sheer emptiness of Blue Monday - and the laziness of the 'journalism' - is revealed by this:

Yes, that's the 'today is Blue Monday' article, based on the same press release, but written by Sean O'Hare, that the Mail published last week.

It said :

it comes as little surprise that today is said by experts to be the most depressing day of the year.

Depressing, indeed.

Ben Goldacre's excellent article - from 2006 - on the background to Blue Monday is worth reading.

(hat-tip to Edward)

Churnalism to sell coffee machines and a 'sleazy' app

Yesterday, the Mail reported:


This app is so 'sleazy', Daily Mail Reporter and the photo caption writer managed to mention the name of it eight times in the 600-word online article.

A shorter version appeared on page 13 of the print edition. But despite the 'sleaziness', both versions include a detailed desciption of how the app works, which makes it sound as if it has been copy-and-pasted from a press release:

The app, which caters to men and women of all sexual preferences, gives users access to a real-time ‘passion map’, a list showing the location of ‘compatibles’ – other users with similar interests or profiles – in the area.

They are then able to contact each other directly and propose a meeting. Recipients must approve an ‘interaction request’ first, and can also choose to hide their real location.

It uses GPS-style software to provides users with a real-time list of 'willing' singles in the immediate area. The system means users can check how many singles are in a given place - such as a bar, nightclub, or city centre - before heading out.

Also in yesterday's Mail - placed prominently on page 5 - was an article with the headline:


This utterly transparent bit of 'research' was also covered in the Express:

Britons spend an average of £450 each on their favourite high street coffee every year, more than their home’s annual electricity bill...

Research shows we spend £430million a week on 511 million cups. The annual bill per person, £452.28, is higher than a typical electricity bill of £424.

And who produced this 'research' (based, as usual, on survey of 2,000 people)?

A company that makes espresso coffee machines.

What possible interest could they have in showing people how much they (apparently) spend in coffee shops?