A good way to break the hold of feeling irritable and cranky about our current collective dilemma is to laugh.

The old adage applies - if we don’t laugh we will cry. Well some of these films and books have made me laugh so hard I have cried tears of laughter!

A few favourite comedies suitable for watching with the kids are Mrs Doubtfire, School of Rock and Big.

With older children Meet the Parents and Hot Fuzz are great.

For adults, Bridesmaids and Something About Mary are such cringeworthy, funny films. Also the new movie by Will Ferrell, Eurovision (on Netflix), is definitely funny, cringeworthy, lightweight entertainment.

And then there are some books with humour to help us through. Literally making you laugh out loud while you read them.

• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

• Bossypants by Tina Fey

• Lets Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

• Why not me? by Mindy Kaling.

Finally, let’s finish on a bit of a “Dad” joke:

“What did the right eye say to the left eye?’ Between us, something smells.