WITH banks tumbling, the financial world seemingly in meltdown and the alarming prospect of a winter of discontent looming on the horizon, is it any wonder even the most optimistic of us are finding it hard to obey that old Monty Python entreaty to always look on the bright side of life?

Everywhere you look, it seems, the credit crunch is biting. Firms are trimming budgets, motorists are cutting back on petrol, some local authorities are now looking at pruning back on this year’s festive celebrations.

It all seems uncannily similar to the days of 1979 when power cuts, strikes and a Labour government in terminal decline dominated the headlines.

Yet everything is relative and you do not have to look very far in this week’s Guardian for stories that carry a well-needed feel-good factor.

Coal House At War is a timely reminder of how past generations coped at a time when the entire world really was staring into the abyss.

And Llandybie Male Voice Choir’s decision to press ahead with their north American tour despite the collapse of Zoom Airlines clearly paid off if the bumper audiences they attracted are anything to go by.

In the Swansea Valley police are seeking a schoolgirl who – without any thought for her own safety – may well have foiled an alleged abduction.

And on this very page, an Amman Valley cancer patient conveys his gratitude to the NHS staff at Morriston and Singleton Hospitals.

It’s not all doom and gloom out there.