London

Get a video on ‘You've Been Framed’
All you need is a video camera, a step ladder, two friends and an utter lack of shame. Place the ladder too near a closed door, climb up it and wait for your first friend to open the door, ‘accidentally’ knocking you to the ground in the process. Make sure the whole ‘hilarious’ stunt has been caught on camera by your second friend and then send it off to ITV's ‘You’ve Been Framed’. If your clip makes it on to the show, you'll win yourself £250. The loss of dignity is a small price to pay. Don't hold your breath, though: it can take up to a year for clips to be viewed by the production team, never mind broadcast.
Visit www.itv.com for application details.

Put your kids to work
Payback time for parents – and good practise for the obligatory paper round. A great way to recoup a little of the loot you’ve splashed on the bairns over the years is to put the blighters out to work. Child modelling and acting agency Bizzy Kidz offers very generous rates of £250 per day for 0-3 year olds, £275 for 4-8 years, and £300 per day for 9-12 year olds. If you’ve got teenagers then you can really cash in, as they command a daily rate of between £350-600. And don’t worry if your little nipper isn’t a complete oil painting; apparently most clients want ‘normal’-looking kids. According to Bizzy Kidz, the most important thing is that the children are ‘confident, enjoy having their photo taken, have a great personality and plenty of character’. Being cute helps of course.
www.bizzykidz.com Feature continues

Take drugs
London’s universities and colleges are awash with urban myths about medical trialling and the money to be made from it, most of which are dazzling nonsense (it is highly unlikely that you are going to be able to snip off your little toe, hobble down to the hospital and exchange it for a crisp cheque for £10,000). So what are the facts?

A medical trial is carried out to ascertain if a potential treatment is safe, that it works and that it doesn’t have unacceptable side effects. Trials are usually for drug, but could also be for a surgical procedure, therapy or medical device. Before treatments can be tested on humans, they will have already undergone extensive investigation in the laboratory and animal testing. Some trials need healthy volunteers, others need patients with a specific illness (cancer or asthma, for example). Volunteers are well paid for taking part in trials, and the money involved can be very tempting. Tempting, certainly, but is it safe?

All trials are subject to rigorous rules and restrictions and are carefully monitored to ensure they meet stringent legal guidelines. All trials must go before an ethics committee and an independent scientific review before they can go ahead. However, trials do carry risks, as emphasised by the notorious Northwick case. If you are considering doing a trial, read up thoroughly on the specific risks involved. Also consider whether you really are being well paid (a lump sum of £500 might seem a huge amount, but for a time-consuming trial this might work out at an average of £5 an hour). And is the money still good if you are going to feel unwell for the duration of the trial? As a final point, bear in mind that you can leave a trial at any point, and need not explain your reasons for doing so.
The British Medical Association is a good starting point: www.bma.org.uk