Like the start of any new year, we are bombarded by the media with all the different ways we are supposed to change our lives.

Yes, we are too fat. Yes, we should stop smoking. Yes, we should find that new job. Yes, we should start saving for that amazing holiday.

After the stress of Christmas and New Year the last thing we need is to suffocate under all this pressure - can we really transform our lives in a matter of weeks? Are our lives really that terrible? (So what if we're a bit fat, skint, and have a shit job?).

NYRs- that's right: New Year's Resolutions - should be documented as a disease, that we should do our best to inoculate ourselves against. They are just not good for you. You're never going to keep up with them and you'll end up feeling a failure, so don't bother.

The best way to avoid the NYR jitters is make a list of all the things you aren't going to do in 2008: 'I will not lose that extra weight, I will not eat less red meat, I will not quit smoking fags' - this way you know you will be able to tick off that list with ease. So what are you waiting for champ? Go go go!