Peter G Tatchell, 10/1/12

Human Rights Campaigner

As homophobia diminishes and as future societies eventually embrace a post-homophobic culture, how will this transition to equality, dignity, understanding and acceptance affect the expression of sexuality?

Jonathan Edwards, 10/1/12

Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr

Although many of them have yet to realise it, busy as they are with the ongoing discussions on public sector pensions, the big issue for trade unions in 2012 will be the implementation of regional pay and the break-up of the national pay bargaining schemes.

Gemma Correll, 10/1/12

Cartoonist

I am often entertained by the headlines of the articles in these magazines, promising perfect hair, weight loss miracles and the answers to life's most fundamentally important questions. This cartoon is the first of a series celebrating these headlines.

Mags Waterhouse and Bev Clack, 10/1/12

As we enter 2012, a growing majority of people are living close to the breadline - and in some cases are living beneath it. This contraction in living standards is not something that we in the western world have experienced for a long time.

Christopher Beanland, 10/1/12

Writer

Cult BBC TV hit Great British Railway Journeys has proved so popular with teatime viewers that a host of other 'journey' shows are set to follow in its footsteps. All of which begs the question: why bother leaving the house at all?

Robin Simcox, 10/1/12

Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society

I had never heard of anyone having their limbs blown off while trying to buy property until I learned of Tarek Dergoul, the former British Guantánamo Bay detainee.

Kelly Holgate, 10/1/12

Fiercely creative & famous for being unknown

Andrew Stone is fine with being nominated, no really he is... Kim Kardashian wannabe, Georgia Salpa, is also facing the chop, but who is honestly going to know she was ever there? The highlight of her experience so far was showing her boobs to all the ladies in the loo...

Matthew Tucker, 10/1/12

Journalist and Deputy Picture Editor, Huffington Post UK

The BBC's new adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations rolled across our screens this Christmas, portraying the struggle of young Pip as he made his way in a turbulent Victorian world.' A story of the past' you say, ancient cultural history... but Pip's plight is apparently not so far from reality in 2012.

Philip Hepple, 10/1/12

Comedy writer, eternal bridesmaid

Imagine you are looking at an eight-storey building, on the first floor somebody is waving at you but on the sixth floor somebody is also waving at you, then suddenly someone pops up on the third floor too and then there is a polar bear on the eighth floor doing the macarena! That's what watching a film on IMAX is like.

Mary McGill, 10/1/12

Award-winning Irish broadcaster, journalist and blogger

The name: Celebrity Fatigue Syndrome or C.F.S. whereby the patient develops an acute, sometimes violent aversion to all things 'celebrity' with troubling implications for them, those close to them and indeed the world.

Coldplay Roadie #42, 10/1/12

Coldplay Roadie #42: travelling the world with Coldplay, and then blogging about it

Georgy Jamieson, 10/1/12

Mother, blogger and writer just making it up as I go along!

I never used to like January. But now I don't mind it at all. It's still 12 months until Christmas and its still cold and dark but it's no longer miserable because.... The darts is on! I blooming LOVE the darts.

Sir Christopher Meyer, 9/1/12

Former British Ambassador to the United States and Germany, former Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission

Politics provides one of the most vivid and telling measures of how wide the Atlantic really is. It is not just that the point of gravity in America is so much further to the right, such that David Cameron would be considered by many Americans as 'socialistic' just for his support of the National Health Service. It is that ideas and beliefs that would be thought daft in Britain are part of mainstream discourse in the US.

Matthew Handley, 9/1/12

History student, Debate Mate mentor, football fanatic

The ability to see the effects of racism on a very human level makes one more attuned to the seriousness of the issue. This, coupled with a dedication to punish those who breach the rules, can, is and will continue to change perceptions.

Mike Sutton, 9/1/12

Writer; movie lover

When David Fincher's version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opened in cinemas last week, viewers were sharply divided on its merits. Was it as good as the Swedish original?

Kelly Holgate, 9/1/12

Fiercely creative & famous for being unknown

Take a shot, let's get drunk and hit the dance floor. Sorry, you caught me mid flow of the K Mart Barbie twin's Hollywood anthem, and did you see Andrew Stone grinding upon that kitchen work surface praying it was a woman who actually believes he is straight?

Caryn Franklin, 9/1/12

Fashion Commentator and Co-founder of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk

With the USA following the UK lead in a move towards banning Photoshop in advertising, it's time to reflect on a groundswell of activity that finds us at All Walks Beyond the Catwalk celebrating a shift in energy.

Sheila Hageman, 9/1/12

Author and mom of three

This week gives us two different celebrity mums with differing body images stories that we can learn one message from - all women regardless of their size, experience criticism of their bodies not only from the media, but from themselves.

Dylan Sharpe, 9/1/12

Head of Media Relations, Countryside Alliance

There have always been those opposed to progress. But we're not talking about the Galileo or the Industrial Revolution here - we're talking about 40 minutes off the journey between London and Birmingham - at a cost of £17 billion of public money! And, when no-one can be quite sure of the scheme's success, it does all seem like a little too high a price to pay.

Selina Wilken, 9/1/12

Entertainment news writer

Here's why Harry Potter needs to pull a Lord of the Rings and sweep the Oscars in 2012.