PLEASE allow me to begin my column this week by thanking you for taking the time to read it. In fact, I also want to thank you for looking through the rest of the paper which we labour to produce for your enjoyment. It s a rat race world we live in, with

PLEASE allow me to begin my column this week by thanking you for taking the time to read it.

In fact, I also want to thank you for looking through the rest of the paper which we labour to produce for your enjoyment.

It's a rat race world we live in, with conflict happening all around but it is good to reflect on the nice things of life and our appreciation of them.

So thank you for doing that.

And while we are at it, thank you Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling for coming to our economic crisis rescue by saving money for some but effectively putting up taxes for millions of people.

You may be wondering why I am being so polite. Well, if you have not heard, we are in the middle of National Thank You Week.

It was started four years ago as a way to promote good feeling in the workplace but I think it can be useful in all manner of things.

Almost nine out of 10 people questioned in a survey said that being thanked had a positive or very positive effect on morale.

On the reverse side to that, just over two in five said that not feeling valued contributed greatly or a fair amount to their decision to leave their jobs.

So there's a warning to UK bosses. And it was reinforced when the survey showed that, compared to 10 years ago, 22 per cent of those asked thought their bosses had improved in the thank you stakes but 37 per cent felt they had got worse. Apparently, the 'no thanks' brigade is winning the day. The apologists must do more to get their message across that to show you care means something.

Do I still have your attention? I hope you are not dawdling over my words as time could be running out for me.

Also compared to a decade ago when the average attention span was reckoned to be more than 12 minutes, a new behavioural study has revealed that this has now dropped to just five minutes and seven seconds, which should be just about enough time for my readers if they get a move on, but I feel sorry for those hacks who produce those lengthy slabs of prose in the Sunday supplements. Could it be their literary efforts are never perused to the last full stop? Shame, but thanks for trying.

It is reckoned this shortened memory span is the reason for an increase in unforced accidents in the home.

The worst time for these, experts reckon, is 7.55am - thank goodness I don't get up until 8 o'clock.

I would also like to thank the helpful public relations person who rang the other day to say that the power had gone out in his office so he could not email a promised report.

Instead, he offered to read it over the phone but then realised it was too dark for him to see the words.