Anyone who has lived in poverty knows that it is not a life of luxury, but one of hard grind. Millions of people throughout the country are faced with desperate choices, not, for example, whether to buy Nike or Reebok, but whether to pay the rent or feed their children.

Looking down at people on benefits is unhelpful. It's counterproductive, mean and unnecessary. What families on benefits need right now, in this changing world is love, support and a chance.

Be very wary of jumping into bed with a party that promises to fight to remain in the EU but is happy to be in government with a regressive party. When should we progressives start openly trusting the Lib Dems again? Well if they can rule out forming another government with the Tories that would be a start.

January is all about abstinence. Whether you're cutting down on drinking, meals out or nights in front of the TV, it's a time to readjust after weeks of excess. So when I told friends I'd committed to spending the last week of the month gorging on restaurant food, they were a bit confused.

By injecting honesty and integrity into our politics we may have a chance of fighting back against the 'fake news', 'post-truth' normalisation that is taking place. Needless to say politics is a dark art, and we'll never have a political order based on complete honesty, however all I'm really talking about here is the need to take responsibility for their own actions.

We all need to stand together to protect women's health and make our voices heard if we are to move toward a more equal society, both for ourselves and for the women who do not have access to reliable contraception and safe reproductive health choices.

Huff Post UK

In this vlog for The Huffington Post UK Ollie talks about finding it hard to meet people, why online dating wasn't working for him and his new venture, a dating app called Chappy.

'I'm fine!' - my automated response when someone asks me how I am and even that is a massive overstatement. Rewind two months and I would have said 'Amazing!' or 'Really Good!' with enough gusto to ensure that whoever was asking knew that I meant it, because it was true.

There's power in music, that's undeniable. Yet for such a long time, with a few exceptions, it seemed that the entire 'pop' genre had centered around vacuous, manufactured songs about excess, partying, alcohol and sex... generally, most chart-toppers were feel good songs about, well, nothing meaningful at all really.

Over a third of older people living with sight loss suffer with depression, which is an issue not often discussed or considered. And more than two million people in the UK live with sight loss. That's 1 in 30, and the figure is rising.

Upon taking a peek into the archives of our modern political history, it's easy to forget the significant progress our nation has made in overhauling discriminatory laws and policies towards the LGBT community and most importantly, shaping the views of society at large.

I went to a Cuddle Club (CC) the other day. Yes you heard right. It's a two hour gathering where a group of gay men experience a series of activities that basically involve hugging, holding and, you guessed it, cuddling. And before you ask... it's fully clothed.

A tug at my trouser leg brought me back into the room. I looked down to find an eighteen month old offering me a small fistful of peanut butter and, for the first time since I gave up nutty spreads as a five year old, I accepted it.

It was only as time moved on -- when we realised that Brody had various disabilities and I had the opportunity to meet more doctors, therapists and mums walking similar paths-- that I discovered sensory issues was a thing. And that it was known to many as sensory processing disorder (SPD).

Wayne Hemingway

Early on in building our first brand we developed a philosophy that went "Red or Dead would be the world's first affordable designer label for people that grew up not knowing what design was and if they did couldn't have afforded it anyway" Admittedly this was a bit of a mouthful and ultimately we shortened it to "The first affordable designer label".

I am not sure why I thought standing outside on those cold afternoons was appropriate. Maybe I thought it would actually make a positive difference. I'm now certain it didn't. No woman arriving to have an abortion was comforted by our presence.

Ryan McVay

I sat on my own watching, soaking wet and saying my goodbyes. I knew he was gone. I knew I would have to tell the family. I knew we would be flying home with a spare seat. I knew my life would never be the same again. I knew a heart attack has just killed my stepdad.

2016 was a year of referendums. A year when politicians around the world put some of the biggest questions of our time to the people in a bid to settle them once and for all. But rather than heal divisions, many of last year's votes only further exposed our societies' rifts.

I am well aware I am going to be called a lefty, liberal snowflake and be sent tweets about how Isis will bomb my family (and yes, I have had that tweeted to me before!) but it starts with us connecting as human beings and doing what's right.

Centrepoint's research shows that for each one of those young people we see on the streets, dozens more are sleeping on the sofas of extended family and friends and, in some cases, in the beds of strangers.