B.J. Epstein

Lecturer in literature and public engagement, University of East Anglia

While I certainly agree that both men and women must recognise and escape the "confines of our gender", and that we need to acknowledge that we have all been ill-served by our culture's emphasis on certain gender stereotypes... I can't quite believe that it is truly down to women that men feel, well, emasculated.

Dr Raj Persaud and Dr Peter Bruggen

Recent events reveal we can't complacently leave the NHS in the hands of the bureaucrats and the politicians. Our experience is they have created a culture of fear and bullying whereby good clinicians are persecuted for standing up for patients or medical science.

Jack Butler

Student, English and Creative Writing

The problem for Miliband, and indeed anyone else looking to crack down on corporate tax avoidance, is that the world has changed. On this issue, the politicians are chasing the rampant forces of capitalism, and they appear powerless at the foot of the economic tornado.

Xenios Thrasyvoulou

Founder and CEO of PeoplePerHour

Think for a minute about how much easier it is today to both start and scale your startup? When I started my first business eight years ago we had to get servers, server cabinets and IT managers to set it all up, buy software licences for practically every tool I needed to run the business.

Jessica McGregor Johnson

International Speaker, Coach & Mentor and Author of The Right T-Shirt Write Your Own Rules and Live the Life You Want.

I was sitting in a coffee shop last week with another coach and we were discussing the fact that we both come across many people who settle for a life and lifestyle that they are in fact not at all happy with. You deserve to do more than settle for the life you chose all those years ago if it's not what you love now.

Nicolas Atkin

Sports journalist

Outgoing interim manager Rafael Benitez may have led Chelsea to Europa League glory and a top-three finish in the Premier League this season - but suggestions the Spaniard has had a successful reign at Stamford Bridge are wide of the mark.

Marek Doyle

Nutritional Therapist, Personal Trainer, Champion of Common Sense

Never do I see suggestions for the one thing that, over 90 percent of the time, fixes the actual problem within 24 hours. This one thing is Magnesium. A mineral found in low levels in many foods, it is a component of more than 325 different enzymes in the human body.

Planet Ivy

News for the bored generation

It's really quite sad if you think about it; not so long ago, Baz Luhrmann was the darling of Hollywood, a breath of fresh air in an increasingly formulaic industry. Audiences aren't so easily distracted these days by shiny colours and slick cinematography. More and more, they crave inner beauty over outer beauty. And perhaps it is that Baz Luhrmann hasn't quite realised this yet.

Jemma Wayne

Author and Journalist

What is sad, and a tad frightening, are the undeniable gains that UKIP has recently made in membership and in elections. Despite the party's claims to want to protect Britain, what UKIP represents is not the deeply ingrained British values of liberty and equality, but actually, everything opposite to that.

Sarah McGiven

PR for Saint Bustier (designer fashion for women with large cup sizes from D to H) and style blogger with a passion for fashion and anything that POPs

Ever since the The Body Shop started the classroom craze for little potted lip balms, I've been hopelessly hooked. Thanks to those tiny, apothecary-style glass jars full of unctuous, sweet smelling goo - Morello Cherry for a cheery tint, Tutti Frutti for a moisturising glaze - I haven't been able to resist a lip balm.

Beth Britton

Freelance writer and blogger, campaigner and consultant

Having a conversation may not seem like a luxury, but there is a point when it can become too late to talk, and you just never know if or when that point may come. I would hazard a guess that the vast majority never had a full and frank discussion with their loved ones about dementia, their wishes for care and their future planning.

Ed O'Meara

One of the UK's top mispronounced stand up comedians

Some people may dread that women will come on and talk about periods. I don't. I dread that the next 20 something white middle class male will come on and do some inadvisable and ill-conceived material on rape or pedophilia or something being LITERALLY the funniest thing that ever happened, when it LITERALLY is not.

The Guyliner

Taking on the internet one gay at a time

"Go on, just suck it. You might like it." I roll my eyes. Yet another date who confuses sleaze and innuendo with flirtation. For me, they're uneasy bedfellows. I'm sitting in the park on an unseasonably warm day for the time of year. Before me is a mini banquet of all manner of romantic foods.

Martina Milburn

Chief Executive of The Prince’s Trust

Sadly, thousands of the young people we help at The Prince's Trust do not grow up surrounded by positive role models. Many have had difficult childhoods, or grown up in workless households, with no one to turn to for advice about how to apply for a job or do well in an interview.

Alistair Darling

Labour MP for Edinburgh South West, former Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the Better Together campaign

Salmond thinks that suggesting a debt free start is good politics, but people understand there are consequences. If you declare yourself bankrupt you don't start anew with a fresh slate, your bad credit history follows you around for the rest of your life. The consequences for borrowing, business and mortgages would be dire.

Nicola Sturgeon

Deputy First Minister of Scotland, SNP MSP for Glasgow

Scotland not only has massive economic strengths - we are financially strong too. This impressive track record in innovation, our wealth of natural resources and skilled workforce means that Scotland has every right to be confident about our economic prospects as an independent country.

Duncan Weldon

Senior Economist, TUC

In most circumstances today's IMF report would be taken as a pretty damning indictment of the state of the economy and our prospects for recovery. However, because the IMF has stopped short of openly calling for a "plan B" the Chancellor's allies appear to be classifying this as a victory.

Harry Cooper

A Brussels-based Brit

Dead-set on proving to their constituents that Ukip are actually fluffy toys when it comes to Europe, Despite Cameron's commitment to a referendum in the next Parliament, Ukip would die. Excuse my Belgian-French, but this is crap.

Emma Seery

Oxfam's head of Development Finance and Public Services

The shady and immoral global tax system is allowing a whopping £12trillion in wealth to be stashed in tax havens. Yes that's trillion. More importantly, these assets are sitting offshore and off the tax man's radar. If governments could get at it to tax it fairly, it could raise an extra £100billion, which is enough to make a serious dent in solving world poverty.

Karen Bryson

Actress

When I look back at my time on Shameless over the last three years, I honestly feel a warmth. The shows spirit, the characters, the writing, the crazy story lines, the constant pushing of boundaries. I am filled with a sense of pride, that I was part of such a groundbreaking iconic show. Like they say..." All good things, come to an end.