Most small business owners / self employed people I know are struggling in the current financial crisis, people in regular jobs are worried over debts (including maxed out credit cards and overdrafts), inflation, falling spare income (if any), wage cuts and job security.
Most people I know don't want to live in a Brussels ruled socialist state and are very resentful of the free loaders and the mass migration which has changed the character of the country. Most things that Governments do are reversible, sometimes with a lot of pain, the mass migration allowed by the last Government isn't in any acceptable way
I think the poor summer weather we have had, has just added to the gloom.
It reminds me of films made showing the people of the USSR in the 1970's and 80's, not a smile on a face, all grimly going about there daily work and chores.
My wife is Ukrainian and she has often talked about how her mother worked at at their local collective farm. She wasn't paid (ie 100% taxation), just got a tick in the book each day, as it was illegal not to have a job (you got jailed). This is why there is still a culture of petty theft in all Eastern-block ex-communist countries as it was a way of life to survive. Where she has a small holding, she got taxed on this by having to provide, so many, eggs, chickens, fruit and other crops as tax, and she also had 5 children bring up on her own where her husband died in a road accident while she was 3 months pregnant with my wife and her sister. Needless to say, I've got a lot of time and respect for my mother-in-law, but it has been a very hard life for her.
In 1992 taxation in the UK was about 32% of GDP in 2010 it was 52%, on this current trajectory we will have 100% taxation by about 2050. It won't happen here is I'm sure your reaction, well it did under the Russian Politburo, so why not under the Brussel Politburo as the similarities are much more than their differences! Think tanks are already talking about further tax rises being needed due to an aging population. The current Government cuts are illusion, the amount the Government spends is due to go up every year between now and 2015, but the target is for this to be less than the growth of GDP, with growth targets being revised down...

Sorry to be so gloomy, but you asked the question...
I still have a good laugh and joke with my friends, but don't generally have a lot to smile about as I walk down the street, I haven't got that happy, its good to be alive feeling at the moment.
On the bright side there is the OOFers great sense of humor with many posts bring a smile to my face and long may this continue.
