major gulf between knowing that people would be happier if they had a job, a strong relationship and owned their own home, and making that happen. There is also a risk that these figures could distort policy. Take the fact that health has a surprisingly low affect on happiness. Healthy people didn't all report themselves as happy, and very sick people also showed surprising happiness. However, how many people would like to see the government use this as a reason to cut spending on healthcare? The jury is out on whether this research is worth the effort. However, one thing we can take away from this is a sense of pride in our resilience. We hear today that the recession is deepening, and that this brief spell of sunshine will be well and truly over by the weekend. Yet somehow the vast majority of people are smiling through it: 75% of people in the UK rate themselves as happy. Perhaps we have started to see the positives in life. Or maybe it's just that we're only ever happy when we have something to complain about. Useful tools The above payments are for illustration purposes only. You need to consider any insurance payments that also need to be made. Please note that any changes to your mortgage, for example, as a result of changes to the Bank of England base rate (variable rates only) or any overpayments you make, may affect your monthly payments. * For interest only mortgages you need