Making the best of the worst of times

It has been a pretty bad year all round, but there's no point in wallowing in our collective gloom - let's take a leaf from wartime Britain and start showing a bit of national gumption and some imagination. in adversity. Here are nine positive ideas to help you turn your fortunes around in 2009

A GRIM SENSE of foreboding has hung over the holidays like a Dickensian pea-souper. By general consensus, "the worst of times" lie ahead. "Things are going to get very bad from January," according to every red-nosed, George Lee-wannabe, bar-bore pundit.

But could 2009 also prove to be "the best of times"? An opportunity for Irish people to show grit and determination?

Whenever the British hit a sticky patch they summon up the bulldog Spirit of the Blitz:

dig for victory, stiff upper lip, crying is for housemaids, must carry on, fight them on the beaches. But we've got our very own Churchillian spirit to draw on: it's time to put steel into the national backbone and recall the often misquoted words of Eamon de Valera, that granddaddy of Spartan minimalism as we embark on the greatest belt-tightening since Peig Sayers made colcannon with nettles. Here's what he actually said: "That Ireland which we dreamed of would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis of right living, of a people who were satisfied with frugal comfort and devoted their leisure to things of the spirit . . ."

Are we ready? Can we cope? Yes, Dev, we can. Here are nine positive thoughts for this New Year.

Nine for 2009

1 Be a Patriot

Ask not what your country can do for you. Brian Lenihan said Budget 2009 was nothing less than "a call to patriotic action". Well, maybe. But real patriotism means putting the common good ahead of selfish personal interests. So now, ask what you can do for your country. For most of us - the better-off - that will inevitably mean pay cuts and higher taxes and job losses - for a start. If you happened to get the RTÉ DVD, Reeling in the 80s, in your Christmas stocking you may already be quaking with fear (if you're feeling nostalgic, blame the sherry.) But it wasn't all unrelenting gloom. Hard times often brought out the best in people and unleashed some admirable national qualities: generosity (remember Live Aid? Ireland gave more per capita than any other country in the world); solidarity (wasn't confined to Gdansk - remember the Tallaght Strategy?); and enterprise (remember Ryanair's launch?).

2 Be a man, my son

Kipling is always splendid in a crisis. (Oh, and for the sake of PC and quiet, yes, he also presumably meant "Be a woman, my daughter".) Stand up for yourself and drive a stake through the twitching heart of the Rip-Off Republic. Think: "We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more." Challenge outrageous prices. Yes, shop around; and no, you don't have to go to Newry to find value. Don't be afraid to complain about poor service or shoddy surroundings. Refuse to be bullied by jobsworths; intimidated by overbearing, snooty maitres d'; or bamboozled by call-centre drones. Question petty bureaucracy and always query gobbledygook. Move your savings account today to one paying higher interest.

Check all your bills. Computers do make mistakes.

3 Rediscover God

Most people in Ireland have had a religious upbringing. But, with feckless prosperity, out went Indulgences, holy-water fonts, Benediction, the Legion of Mary and Limbo. (Protestants, being sensible, don't throw things out - which is why they so frequently appear on Antiques Roadshow). Perhaps it's time to rescue some of the discarded baggage. Admittedly, we're not likely to see willowy-blonde, spoilt-brat members of the jeunesse dorée, in Ugg boots and Emporio Armani jeans, kneel on the polished marble tiles of a Foxrock, Clive Christian, Gaggenau-applianced kitchen to join in the family Rosary any time soon (though more's the pity - it would do them the power of good). But people could do worse in these troubled times than wander into a church, light a penny candle and take a bit of time out to think. And, memo to Cardinal Brady: please reinstate Purgatory and Hell - both are more necessary than ever.

4 Vote Often

The year 2009 presents Irish electors with at least three opportunities to exercise real political power. We may pay lip-service to the old saw that the right to vote was "what our forefathers fought and died for", but turnout is often scandalously low. Local and European parliamentary elections are scheduled for June, followed by a new referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in October. Never believe that your vote doesn't count. In last year's Lisbon Referendum, some of the margins were incredibly tight. For example, in the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency, the Yes side won by a mere four votes. And, on the No side, the narrowest victory - by 194 votes - was in Wicklow where 206 ballots were spoilt. Overall turnout was only 53 per cent. More than four in 10 people did not vote in the last local and European elections. There's no point whingeing to Joe Duffy all summer about councillors' expenses or MEPs' junkets if you can't be "bovvered" to spend a few minutes in a polling station. We get the politicians - and the policies - we deserve.

5 Be Nice to Americans

Whatever your political views, 2009 is going to be a truly momentous year in the US. The forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama has generated a mood of expectation and excitement which exceeds even the palaver which surrounded the election of that country's first Catholic (and Irish) president in 1960. Our relationship with the US has taken a hammering over the past eight years - sometimes misguidedly - and many ordinary Americans have experienced rudeness, or worse, while travelling or living in Europe. But they're still the most generous, imaginative, hospitable and - when the chips are down - reliable and trustworthy people on earth. And we're going to need all the friends we can get.

6 Enjoy simple pleasures

Read more. And if you can't afford to buy books, then our network of public libraries is one of the country's great unsung treasures. Walk. We still have - despite our disgraceful best efforts to destroy it - the loveliest and most unspoilt countryside in western Europe. Stop paying for dismal cable and satellite television services and tune in to RTÉ - the best broadcasting service in the world. Prove your (cultural) European credentials by learning a new language - many courses are free or heavily subsidised.

Teach yourself how to cook at least three simple, nutritious meals instead of shelling out a weekly fortune for "Your MS".

Oh, and stop following the ghastly, preening ladyboys of the English soccer premiership. Support real men and true sports stars - to be found at any GAA club.

7 Buy shares

Despite the big, bearded beasts of the Left proclaiming "The End" of capitalism, there's still plenty of life in the old Reagan-Thatcherite dogma. Stock markets will recover. "There is," as the Iron Lady once said, quite simply, "no alternative".

And, no matter how unbearable your losses may have been in 2008, most experts agree that shares are still the best long-term investment.

Follow the advice of Warren Buffett who became (and still is) one of the world's richest men: "Your goal as an investor should simply be to purchase, at a rational price, a part interest in an easily-understandable business whose earnings are virtually certain to be materially higher, five, 10 and 20 years from now."

He's a smart guy, once saying, "The average [company] director can be replaced without loss by a potted plant" - so he's worth listening to.

8 Travel

Take a year or two out. If you're young and can't find a job (or have just lost one) then see the world. Don't settle down too soon. There'll be plenty of time for the Pampers, pipe and slippers later.

If you're middle-aged and have the wherewithal, it's never too late to embark on that "gap year" you've always regretted not taking.

One upside of the global recession is that air fares, hotel prices and other costs are falling worldwide. If you're getting on in years, take that dream holiday of a lifetime before it's too late.

Book the cruise, villa in Tuscany or weekend of luxury in Paris; fly away to tango dance in Buenos Aires, live like a Maharajah in an Indian palace hotel or walk, at dawn, through the Temple of Karnak by the Nile. You'll be in the nursing home long enough.

9 Thank our immigrants

If you know, or meet, a migrant worker who's going home because of the economic downturn, say thanks. The biggest wave of immigration in centuries has transformed this country - mostly for the better.

They truly have done the State some immense service. None more so than the wonderful Poles - who turned out to be more like us than any other nationality in the world. Our band of brothers.

Happily, many will stay and someday we'll have hurling stars in Croke Park called Krzysztof and Wladyslaw and TDs in the Dáil named Agnieszka and Malgorzata. And won't that be grand? But, to those taking the rocky road home to Wroclaw and beyond: Dziekuje. Thanks. And "Szczesliwego nowego roku".

Happy New Year.