Bad debt, stomach bugs, flu, rising petrol prices, failing rail services and cold fronts coming in from Scandinavia: the nation‘s moaning tendency has had a field day recently. But now the fightback has begun. Here, on behalf of the Official Optimists‘ Party, we present 10 reasons to smile:
1. The nights are drawing out again. Why, already there are 25 more minutes of daylight a day compared with 21 December, and in only 11 weeks‘ time, we‘ll put the clocks forward.
2. Flying is safer than it has ever been. Last year saw the lowest number of serious crashes (136) since 1963, when there were far fewer flights. Some 965 people died in crashes last year, a 25 per cent fall on 2006, and only 0.000043 per cent of the world‘s 2.2 billion passengers.
3. Happy people are healthier than pessimists, says a study of 3,000 adults by University College, London. Upbeat folk have lower levels of cortisol, a “stressŽ hormone that can contribute to higher blood pressure, obesity and lowered immune function.
4. George Bush has only 380 more days in the White House.
5. That extra weight you put on over Christmas could be a life-saver. Two men were cooking in a Hartlepool home last week when a fire broke out. They grabbed their XXXL garment from the laundry basket, ran it under the tap, and used it as a fire blanket.
345 days till Christmas!
6. New York‘s murder rate has fallen to its lowest in recorded history. Up to 26 December, 484 people were murdered, less than a quarter of 1990‘s total of 2,245.
7. It‘s a leap year - that‘s 24 hours‘ more fun, laughter and jollification than in the past three years.
8. Only three countries in the world have a lower rate of road deaths per million of the population than the UK: Holland, Sweden, and Norway. The UK is nearly three times safer than the US. All road casualties: 320,578 in 1996, down to 258,404 in 2006.
9. Britain has more Nobel Prize winners than any other country on Earth except the United States.
10. There are still 345 days until Christmas.
