Who’s trying to persuade us to give things up in January?

Finishing touches

A reminder of the campaigns trying to persuade us to give stuff up for January:

– Veganuary: crowdfunded campaign set up in 2014 by a UK-based charity to persuade us to give up meat for a month. Claimed 500,000 supporters in 2021, although there is no data on how many people kept up their promise for the whole month.

– Dry January: campaign established by Alcohol Change UK in 2014. Claimed 215,000 adherents last year.

– Sugar-free January: no organised campaign but quoted by a number of charities in efforts to raise money.

– Kick the caffeine: campaign by the NSPCC to try to persuade us to donate to it the money we would normally spend on coffee in the first month of the year.

– No-spend January: Campaign by Money for Life encouraging 16- to 25-year-olds to ‘turn off lights, wear a jumper’ and ‘walk instead of taking transport’.

Sorry figures

Kemi Badenoch accused Reform UK of using a ‘fake’ counter when claiming its membership figures have surpassed the Conservatives’ 132,000 members. The Conservatives themselves have been very shy of publishing membership figures in the past. Some snapshots:

1953 2.8m

2002 273,000

2013 134,000

2014 149,800

2018 124,000

2022 172,000

Source: House of Commons Library