Why is the glass always half empty?

I sometimes think that us British are a nation of miserabilists who are happiest talking ourselves down, whether its cricket or the economy or whatever.

Today's example comes courtesy of the latest pay survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). The headline is: "A quarter of employers looking to freeze pay" and the first line of the piece states that "one in four employers are planning to offer no wage rises this year," however just two lines down and a new paragraph begins with the good news that, "Some 65 per cent aim to increase base pay in 2011, while 9 per cent are delaying their annual pay review. However, the overwhelming majority (99 per cent) have no plans for a reduction in wages."

How often do we experience the minority getting the headlines whilst the majority are either ignored, remain silent or become just another statistic. The report does go on to address an important point for many employees who are approaching that time of life when they should be considering either retirement or what to do with their pension, whether private or work related - the question of reduced contributions and longer working lives. The good news here is that the majority of employers surveyed welcome the scrapping of the default retirement age as it will help their employees build their retirement funds, no mention of the value of experienced members of staff though!

By the way, as an answer to the question posed by the title a colleague of mine says she believes that the reason her glass is always half-empty is because somebody has drunk some whilst she's not looking.