Thanks in large part to the work of TNI and other local organisations, Kenya is now leading the way globally in terms of ending this abuse. Prevalence has fallen to 11% for teenage girls - significantly lower than for middle aged adult women, where the figure is closer to 50%.

By understanding these social structures and involving grandmothers as allies, the programme has not only succeeded in reducing FGM, but has also increased older women's sense of self-confidence, and their feeling of being respected and useful in their own community

For some children, debt means not being able to socialise or take part in activities like sports or school trips, and missing out on birthdays, family gatherings and holidays. They can feel embarrassed for not owning things that are considered normal by their classmates.

I'm mostly writing this because social media has been ruined for me, and many others like me. If I didn't need it for work I would flounce off in a huff (for at least a week) and refuse to look at my timelines ever again.

It was a big decision to put my job on the line and take a financial hit, but to walk away and ignore the situation would have been wrong. I know what it's like to work under these conditions, and I've seen the pressure put on my colleagues. If you ask me if I would do the same thing again, my answer would be yes.

Until there is solid evidence that burning your toast, cleaning your teeth, and having some gravy-drowned roast potatoes with your Sunday dinner causes cancer, I suggest you take these articles (and any others with equally tenuous links) with a pinch of salt and carry on living your life. Life is short - make sure you live it, don't just survive it.

I am one of the people who didn't find that news shocking at all. In fact, in an odd way I was pleased that it had happened to someone in the public eye, someone who was brave enough to come forward and tell the media about it so that finally our voices have a chance of being heard.

What counts as a hate crime? Citizens Advice say hate incidents are where the victim or anyone else believe crimes were motivated by hostility or pre...

Who is better at the 'twitter' race to keep entire nations amused - Michael Gove or Donald Trump? Reading through twitter, I am in fits of laughter! ...

I'm not saying 'I told you so' as today's media world is unrecogniseable from 1986. But the fact remains: news is news. Entertainment is entertainment. I welcome the distillation - and I'm glad our multi-channel world now allows us a real choice.

My heart sank when I read her statement. While I hadn't shared one myself, I still felt guilty for not realising the impact they could actually have. We are forgetting the strangers that are being mocked are real people with real feelings.

A double in a person's pay led to less than a 0.2 increase for their happiness on a scale of one to ten. In spite of that, love seems to be the key to happiness with the presence of a partner resulting in their happiness increasing by 0.6 on the same scale. Furthermore, having depression and anxiety resulted in a 0.7 reduction in happiness, alongside the loss of a partner impelling a decreasing plunge in happiness.

The warm pubs, the parties, the bottle of wine before going to bed... they all translate to more alcohol, and more peril on our roads at Christmas. According to figures released under the Freedom of Information act in a piece of research commissioned by Jennings Motor Group there is generally a rise in drink-driving of around the festive period.

On hearing the revelation I reacted in the usual ways. I searched for the inevitable petition, signed it and shared it. I tweeted to the self-validating echo chamber that is my twitter following. Naturally, I attacked the trolls who were insensitively (if slightly amusingly) telling distraught vegetarians "they shouldn't be eating £5 notes anyway".

Donald Trump's red wave changes everything. His rise to power upended the establishments of both parties, dispatching dynastic establishment candidates. His right-wing populist movement mobilized voters against the elites, reminding us it could no longer be dismissed as just a glitch. His surprising victory could herald the end of the global political and economic structures as we know them.

In a year where post-truth has come to dominate, we should take a step back, avoid self-inflicted damage, and do everything we possibly can to retain our membership of the single market. If not, this ugly truth will hurt for a very long time.