IT’S not just the money… it’s finding somewhere to live. Today MPs are debating a Bill to put an end to unpaid internships – the practice where bright graduates desperate to get into the most wanted jobs, generally in media or fashion, have to be prepared to work for no pay. Not just a week or two. Many work months or even a year, doing a full-time job for nothing.

If the Bill is eventually passed, then firms will have to pay at least the minimum wage to any adults they take on. About time too. Unpaid internships are “the scourge of social mobility” said the Bill’s sponsor, Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke. Good for him.

Slave labour with no guarantee of a job at the end of it. Firms do it because they can get away with it. Some young job-seekers and their parents look at it as just another part of their education and pay up – if they can afford it.

Many, of course, can’t. So no wonder then that film, fashion, newspapers, publishing and magazines are increasingly colonised by the privileged. If you can’t afford to work for nothing, you can’t even reach up that first rung. But there’s another problem. London.

It’s where most of the jobs and the opportunities are, the best starting place. But if you’ve got no money and nowhere to live, how on Earth are you meant to make the most of them? Impossible. So the well-off with family homes in London are laughing right to the front of the job queue.

But there are ways around it. When younger son first went to London to seek his fortune, he spent weeks sofa-surfing, dossing down with whichever kind friend could offer him a place for a day or two. There was a whole network of friends from school and university.

It was unsettled and uncomfortable – often not even a sofa, just a floor – but it paid off. He got the job he wanted and once he got his own place he was able to do the same for other Richmond exiles, to get them a start. You can’t get a job without experience. You can’t get experience without a job. You can’t get either if you’ve got nowhere to sleep.

If you want to get ahead – get a friend in London with a sofa.

JEREMY Corbyn’s neighbour was apparently so horrified by the politician’s scruffiness that when Corbyn was re-elected Labour leader, the neighbour forked out for a suit from Marks and Spencer’s for him. Mr Corbyn is now wearing this suit. Good.

However, as leader of the opposition he earns more than £129,000 a year. As a backbench MP he was on £67,000. M&S suits start at £79. You’d think, really, he wouldn’t need to rely on someone else’s generosity to get dressed. Meanwhile, there are a number of charities who provide respectable clothes for homeless people trying to get work. I’m sure Mr Corbyn has made a generous donation.

CHUBBY older fathers are more attractive to women and more likely to live longer, according to the latest research by American scientists.

Tell that to Mick Jagger, 73, and skinny as a rake, whose latest girlfriend, 29, is expecting his baby. It’s his eighth child with five women, which makes me think he knows something that those scientists don’t.

OH for goodness’ sake – Michael Gove and his wife are in trouble for leaving their 11-year-old son in a hotel alone while they went to a literary festival event.

He wasn’t exactly pacing the streets on his own in the rain, or even sitting outside in the car with a bottle of pop and a bag of crisps. Having decided not to go with his parents, he was in a very comfortable hotel with wi-fi, a mobile, TV, two dogs and room service.

If a bright 11-year-old can’t cope with that, then there’s no hope at all.

BARELY had this year’s Poppy appeal been launched then everyone appearing on the BBC and its news programmes was sporting one – on jacket, dress or T-shirt. I’m amazed the Strictly lot haven’t got them stuck on their sequins. Clearly some production assistant is standing by with a barrow-load of them, pinning on them on anyone who might be on camera.

All great for the funds, of course, and for public awareness. But isn’t this compulsion to do away with free choice and make everyone conform to someone else’s rules precisely what people fought wars against?

I’M sorry if your dog doesn’t like fireworks. I’m sorry if too many idiots set off fireworks too late and too often. I’m sorry if all that upsets you.

But as the days grow shorter and nights grow longer, there’s something splendidly primitive and brave about a bonfire, a bold attempt to to ward off the approaching cold and darkness. As for fireworks, yes of course I know they are literally money going up in smoke, but for those few brief seconds, they are glorious. Please don’t begrudge those of us who love them our delight. Remember, remember…

BONO has been named as one of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year. Excuse me? It’s apparently because of his work to combat poverty. But doesn’t he lack a certain basic qualification? Aren’t there enough high-achieving women to fill the space?

Still, it’s not as bad as the United Nations which recently appointed Wonder Woman as a special ambassador.

Bono might be a chap, but at least he’s real.