According to an article in The Irish Times today we are a nation of ‘brooding pessimists’. The article states that new international research reveals that ‘Irish people have the darkest outlook on the economy and believe the current crisis will last longer here than anywhere else’. I’m not sure this is the best time to be testing the optimism of Irish people considering that the economy keeps dipping and every day brings some new banking scandal. It’s no wonder that Irish people currently have a jaundiced view of future economic recovery. I wasn’t surprised to read that the majority of Americans expect their personal circumstances to improve over the next six months but it was a bit depressing to read that the Russians are more optimistic than the Irish about economic issues! At least the rugby grand slam win has given us something to smile about. :-)