2009 has been a year of extremes in many ways and a brief inspection of the recent online flurry of annual round-ups seems to indicate a pessimistic obsession. Bad news has been big news this year and even the traditional media ‘silly season’ failed to raise a smile.

It seems a little contradictory that at a time when a little feel good factor would most definitely hit the mark, those sorts of stories are suddenly not newsworthy. From a public relations point of view this has made for a challenging year. The businesses that we represent are as bamboozled as us when a good news story doesn’t make it to print.

There seems to be something uniquely British about this. A truly perilous crisis will bring us out singing but a gloomy situation exploits our innate ability to wallow in our misfortune.

I’m not suggesting that we ignore the issues but hearing a little bit of good news would certainly raise our spirits. What about yours?