European leaders have struck a deal to give Ukraine a €90bn loan but failed to agree on using frozen Russian assets to come up with the funds. In a complex workaround, the funding will instead come via joint borrowing backed by the EU budget, and Russian state assets will remain immobilised unless Moscow pays reparations to Kyiv; these reparations would then be used to pay back the interest-free loan. The Foreign Office was breached in a suspected Chinese cyberattack which was discovered in October and then hushed up. Ministers say the hack – attributed to a cyber espionage group known as Storm-1849, with close links to Beijing – did not “harm or compromise” any individuals. Rory McIlroy was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year last night after completing a career grand slam at the Masters and leading Europe to a thrilling Ryder Cup victory. “2025,” he said, “was a year when I made my dreams come true.”

Something strange is happening in Britain, says Alec Marsh in The Spectator: “things aren’t really too bad”. Look at the economy – it’s growing (if only a little) while inflation is falling. Real incomes are on the rise too, with earnings going up 4.4% in the year to October. Unemployment, at 5.1%, “isn’t terrible”, and while the Treasury is raking in the sorts of taxes that would “make the Sheriff of Nottingham weep with joy”, our taxes as a percentage of GDP are only a hair above the OECD average. Our national debt is lower, relatively, than that of the US, Japan, France or Canada; the FTSE 100 is “soaring” and our banks – one industry where we still have “global heft” – are in buoyant health.

In other words, we are plainly a well-off, high-functioning country with plenty of dosh to spend on railways and hospitals and frigates. And though you’d never guess it from their ceaselessly gloomy pronouncements and general hangdog demeanour, the Labour government are at least trying. Whether it’s those trade deals, the European “reset”, the “apprenticeships and youth stuff” or the big decisions on infrastructure – from Heathrow to mini nuclear reactors to bulldozing local council opposition to a vast new film studio in Hertfordshire – good work is being done. They’re even building ships for the Royal Navy. No, we’re not America or China, but nor are we Ecuador or Iceland. So why is so much of the country in such a psychological funk? Mere boosterism won’t help, as Boris Johnson amply showed, but we do need to cheer up. It’s just a shame you can’t send a whole country for a brisk dog walk.