There may be troubles ahead, but here’s my Christmas recipe for keeping the pecker up

I tried, I really did, right to the bitter end. No column has made more effort than Any Other Business to spot pinpoints of light on this year’s dark economic horizon. If there was a Spectator Optimist of the Year award, I’d walk it. But with the Chancellor and the Governor drowning out the carol singers with what has become a dirge-duet about the long, hard and winding road to recovery — and with evidence even I can’t deny of an autumn setback after the late summer bounce — my self-appointed role in the national conversation has begun to look more eccentric than ever. All I can do at this stage is invite you to charge your glass for a toast or two, and offer my Christmas recipe for staying cheerful against the odds.

Here goes. First — this might sound a bit odd, I know — wear bedsocks. They guarantee a refreshing extra half-hour’s sleep because you’re not woken by cold feet.