Well done the great British pound, the John Sergeant of international currencies, which is defying the unsporting criticism of the shadow chancellor thanks to the unwavering support of the voting public, more specifically the profit-taking speculators who decided it was time to cash in their valuable dollars. Yes, it may have lost 30% of its value in a matter of months, but predictions of the pound's imminent collapse appear to be premature, perhaps by several weeks.

Seeing the plucky pound rise a full cent against the dollar - to $1.48! - reminds us that at times such as these it's important to celebrate mediocrity wherever we find it, be it the dance floor, the X Factor, the currency markets, the English cricket team or the opposition front bench. Let's face it, if we waited around for excellence we might not get to do any celebrating at all.

We'll get through the upcoming holiday season a lot easier if we start accepting second best without complaint. In fact, by embracing the less than fine things in life, we may just get closer to the true spirit of Christmas: bad panto, Tesco own-brand mince pies, indifferent white wine, cheap crackers, lowest common denominator television and stockings containing nothing more than a few walnuts and a two-for-£10 DVD of Snakes on a Plane.

And if you feel your cut-price Christmas starting to get the better of you, remember: be like the pound - rebound!

Recession-busting tip of the week: the bleak outlook means that the fussy boomtime fashion for matching socks is now behind us. Everyone is too worried about getting sacked to be looking at your feet, so any two socks constitutes a pair. That way, you should be able to eke a few more months out of your collection.

What's going cheap right now: Scart cables, yarn, alarm clocks, soup.