It’s January 22nd, it must be time for another Cliff Arnall bollocks-fest. According to Arnall, his ‘formula’ predicts that today is officially the most depressing of the year.
Yes, Cliff, it is, but only because we have to put up with more utter nonsense from you.
Exactly the same story appeared in 2005 and 2006, and what a coincidence that all of these ‘most depressing days of the year’ have happened on a Monday.
As is traditional, it’s a commercial tie in, this time with a management consultancy and a PR firm.
What is genuinely depressing, is that mental health charity The Samaritans (who should really know better) have now been roped into the sorry affair.
Cliff Arnall specialises in creating nonsense formulas predicting almost anything that helps promote something or other, and gets credibility by being described as a psychologist.
Link to a suitable Arnall antidote from Ben Goldacre.
Mind Hacks 
According to Dr Cliff Arnall, today is the day we realize we are not giving up alcohol after all, regardless of what we promised after that New Years Eve binge.
Our self esteem might take a drop, and a remedy is urgently needed. Fortunately Dr Arnall formulas’ come to the rescue, mathematically proving we are not that bad at math after all, since we still remember you can’t add apples with pears, whilst someone with a doctorate has clearly forgotten it.
Marco 😉
http://www.EvenHappier.com
Despite the fact that the media often describe him as ‘Dr.’ Cliff Arnall, he doesn’t have a doctorate. You can see his qualifications from his webpage:
http://www.nopills.demon.co.uk/
Furthermore, he’s nothing to do with the psychology department at Cardiff University, who happen to think he’s an arse (I should know, I used to work there).
In fact, he’s a part time tutor in the Adult Education Centre. The Adult Education Centre at Cardiff Uni are excellent, so God know why they put up with his nonsense.
Actually, he no longer even works at Cardiff U. A recent article by the Guardian UK now contains a requested correction stating same.
NPR had an article on Cliff’s depressing day this morning, complete with wrong credentials and a reference to his work being “science”.