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The Tories held an auction, but can you guess which of these were a sold as a 'Lot' & which surely were 'Not'?

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So you think you know about poverty? Take your quick quiz!

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What is 'frit'? An investigation.

I don't normally watch Prime Ministers' Questions because I am not (at least in this respect) a total loser. However now I work on Free Speech it's apparently my job. Anyway, there we were - (I was winning #PMQsbingo actually) and this happened.

(Full thing here)

What is 'frit' I asked to myself? 

So I did some some high-level investigative journalism and this is what I found: 

Being a designer and a visual person I started with a google image search. At first I got some odd results because I was spelling it incorrectly

Thankfully Ed Miliband also wrote a tweet while he was talking so we've got the correct spelling. 

It seems to be a word to do with debates but not anything else

I'm not the only one confused

Some people were angry about him using the word. 

Perhaps the word has something to do with 'frit away' (or 'fritter away') as in waste something. So Cameron is wasting this chance to have a debate? 

I did also look up fritters on Wikipedia, as in 'potato fritters' and got this picture which is apparently an apple fritter and I'm sure you agree, looks like a turd with a tumour. 

However, Wikipedia also told me that: 

A frit is a ceramic composition that has been fused in a special fusing oven, quenched to form a glass, and granulated. 

This stuff:

Miliband talked about it being the word of Cameron's hero and the internet helpfully informs me this is Thatcher.

And we know Thatcher was a chemist. In fact she invented Mr Whippy ice-cream or something like that, which I remember from that documentary about her.

It's starting to come together. 

I google 'Thatcher frit' and came upon what must be the answer (in fact I first googled 'Thatcher fritter' but that image is NSFW) and Wikiquote tells me it comes from another Prime Ministers Questions, this one in 1983. 

According to the internet deputy Labour leader Denis Healey (this man:

someone with, I'm sure you'd agree, quite incredibly eyebrows) said Thatcher was going to "cut and run". She was upset and replied: 

The right hon. Gentleman is afraid of an election is he? Oh, if I were going to cut and run I'd have gone after the Falklands. Afraid? Frightened? Frit? Couldn't take it? Couldn't stand it? Right now inflation is lower than it has been for thirteen years, a record the right hon. Gentleman couldn't begin to touch!

So here it means 'frightened'. Ah-ha! All is coming clear! 

The internet doesn't tell me what eyebrows man was saying she was going to cut and run away from. It does tell me that she said it at least three times if that's relevant. (She was all-a-fritter?) If you have any clues to help me in this investigation tell me in the comments. 

However, the internet does tell me that 'frit' is (other than a ceramic composition that has been fused in a special fusing oven)

an unusual Lincolnshire dialect abbreviation of 'frightened' which Mrs Thatcher evidently recalled from childhood

Though THIS article is a bit nit-picky about that fact, claiming it's used much more widely in English regional use that just Lincolnshire. 

��And there we have it. Investigation complete. 

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Whatever, January! You Won't Wear Me Down!

Doom, gloom, depression, debt, divorce, broken resolutions and no alcohol. Screw you, January! But, wait… January doesn’t have to be full of (largely media-generated) misery. For every ghastly statistic the newspapers scream, there’s plenty of other weird, wonderful and chipper events to get you through the month. Cheer up, you miserable old bag!

Divorce Day

As everyone slowly crawls back to reality after a Christmas of drowning in food, booze and family arguments, news outlets gagging for something interesting to happen trot out the story that January has the highest divorce rates of any month. If we’re to believe the hype, after the holidays, couples more sick of the sight of each other than they are of mince pies get straight on the blower to lawyers ready to tear the family unit apart. Just in time for Valentines Day.

            A number of sources (largely law firms touting for business) state that the stress of Christmas sees a 30% rise in calls to family lawyers. The Ministry of Justice says the number of people who read divorce pages on the Government’s website was 79% higher in January 2014 than the previous month.  It doesn’t say whether these people actually go through with it... or that most law firms are closed over the holidays so will naturally return to an inbox full of divorce enquiries.

42% of marriages end in divorce anyway. You may as well split up in the summer and go on holiday.

Blue Monday – 26th January

Ah, the day of the year when festive debt, the weather, the end of Christmas and the fact that everyone hates Mondays all commingle into one day of soul-crushing misery. Strangely, this date shuffles around the calendar each year, kind of like Easter but with less chocolate, and this year pops up on the third Monday of January (or the first week of January, depending on which rag you believe).

Just as a bit of background, this entire theory is the brainchild of psychologist Cliff Arnall, who was commissioned to do this study a decade ago by Sky Travel. Yes, a peddler of holidays… Funnily enough, we’ll all be laughing away on a beach in June, ideally booked via Sky Travel. About as scientifically sophisticated as a clairvoyant wielding a Bunsen burner and a bag of leeches.

Dry January

Oh, the pain of it all… you’ve got no money left from Christmas, your partner wants a divorce and Blue Monday looms like a grim reaper on the already rocky path of 2015. Now, health advisors and charities have conspired to make you give up the one thing that gets you through the day: alcohol.

Whilst it’s not only good to have a booze break, particularly if you knock back enough devil’s juice to sink a small Paul Gascoigne, it’s also great to help a worthy cause. But you actually have to donate to charity rather than just piously flaunting your new three-day sobriety around your mates, or making a big announcement about it on Facebook and feeding off the empty validation of ‘likes’. 

Counteract the misery with these actual days of fabulousness…

Friday 9th January – Play God Day

Not quite as egotistical as it sounds, the purpose of Play God Day is to perform some kind act for another person, or just generally contribute to the wellbeing of the world as a whole. If you were God, how would you right some wrong, fight injustice or just put a smile on someone’s face? You’re not God (She’s got much better hair) but you can help make the world more wonderful in your own little corner of it. Kind acts and good feelings are more infectious than herpes. Pass it on…. The good feelings, not the herpes…

Sat 10th January – Peculiar People Day

If you’re tired of your own miserable, generic existence so far in 2015, why not celebrate the lives of those eccentric, non-conformists that make the world just that bit brighter with their oh-so-quirky ways. Yes, make yourself feel better by pointing and laughing at the freaks. Perfect while your waiting for Celebrity Big Brother to start. 

Sun 11th January – Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day

It does exactly what it says on the tin. Find a friend and get them sopping wet. Better still, throw them into the path of a speeding bus that’s about to plough through a monstrous gutter puddle. Oh, how you’ll laugh when they contract cholera.

Sat 17th January - Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day

You’ve spectacularly caved on the no-booze rule thanks to that cheeky Pinot your best mate brought ‘round. That spot in the gym, where you tweeted a picture of yourself in the mirror and did little in terms of exercise, is now once again free for people who actually want to get fit. And cigarette-wise, you’re back to two lighters a day. You’ve counteracted Blue Monday by accepting you’re a lazy, drunk Fag Ash Lil and that you’re bad habits are not only as comfortable as an old cardigan but also part of you. Cheers, sweetie!

Tue 20th January – Cheese Lovers Day

Because cheese is AWESOME! Plus, you could do with putting on that warming layer of fat for the last, bitter months of winter. That’ll help with that crippling loneliness.

 Wednesday 7th January – I’m Not Going To Take It Anymore Day

Probably our favourite of all the (kind of) official days! This is your time to fight back against all those bastards who did you wrong – by putting yourself first!  Buy yourself a present, take that day off, treat yourself to a spa, confront that human-shaped annoyance you can’t stand and tear them a new arsehole, or start some form of industrial action in the job you hate. Don’t feel down, it’s time to make January your own! You probably haven’t earned it, but who the hell cares? You’re a broke, newly-single, sober, cheese-stuffed, friend drenching, freak-judging, depressed husk of a human being with a God complex. This is your time, honey! Grab and take!

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BBC Free Speech Drugs Quiz

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What happens when people learn you've self-harmed? Powerful story from Rebecca

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Some behind-the-scenes photos from our recording at Springfield University Hospital (basically more evidence for my obsession with wires and cables)

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WANTED - Social Media Producer

Free Speech is the BBC Three’s answer to Question Time: a debate programme which goes places our more sensible older brother doesn't. So far this series we've explored all sorts of areas of modern British life from asking if pornography is good for us to looking at the experience of being gay and Muslim, and been everywhere from Birmingham Central Mosque to Broadwater Farm in Tottenham. We have another 6 programmes starting soon and I’m looking for a social media producer to join the team.

Key to Free Speech is what we do online. Not only do we create lots of things for Twitter, Facebook and other platforms (news reactive content, behind the scenes photos, games etc) but we are also the only debate or news show which - through our Audience Questions Page - lets our online audience shape the agenda of each programme.

We need someone with a fun writing style, journalistic instincts, lots of good ideas, good community management skills and knowledge of Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. If that's you do get in touch. The money is pretty good but it depends on experience. Please send a CV and a note about yourself to me, Brendan Miller, on bmiller@mentorn.tv (please include details of your rate, and it'd help me if you put "Social media producer" in the subject title)

Starts August 4th.