Amid all the doom and gloom in the press, it can be hard to remain upbeat. If we believe the pundits, “we’re all doomed”, as Private Fraser from Dad’s Army would say. But tough times tend to highlight priorities and call for different thinking, so I’ve been consciously trying to take a leaf out the late Ian Dury’s book. And, though this might be a triumph of hope over reality, here are some of my “reasons to be cheerful” in this early part of 2009.

1. We’re living in a record-breaking era in lots of ways, some good, some not so good. This is one of the coldest winters on record, which bodes well for a good summer. America’s first black president has begun his term of office with a visionary agenda. The value of the euro matched the pound for the first time: good for exports, bad for tourists.

The Bank of England slashed interest rates to their lowest levels ever last month: bad news for savers but great news for people on certain types of tracker mortgages who’ve suddenly got money in their pockets.

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