This is the Year of the Volunteer.

More than 26 million people in England and Wales have done voluntary work and you can become one of them by visiting www.yearofthevolunteer.org. Just enter your postcode and the website will tell you about the nearest voluntary opportunities in your area and provide you with contacts for locally-based groups.

“The Manolo” loves shoes. At www.shoeblogs.com you will find regularly updated footwear news and opinion, shot through with a wicked sense of humour, posts with headlines such as “Ayyyy!” and pictures of low-heel suede boots by Gucci. The real Manolo Blahnik has denied authorship but has called it “hilarious”.

As £25 billion worth of business can attest, junk mail works. But you can avoid it: just sign up to the Mailing Preference Service at www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr. There is no charge to register to get your details removed from those pesky direct-mail lists.