Start January as you mean to go on - A cup of tea, chips and thee

A day on the beach on the first day of a new year beats a green smoothie and a liver cleanse any day. Start as you mean to go on and be nice to yourself, advises Valerie O’Connor.

January, we are being warned, is a hard time, so take no notice of those heavy feelings and lack of enthusiasm that seems to permeate the post-Christmas season.

Newspaper articles featuring office workers slumped over their desks tell us about the January blues, blue Monday, black Monday, either way we are all meant to be hanging on by our fingernails and keeping our heads down until this month passes.