BOFFINS are remarkable people. There is little in modern life that isn’t down to their hard work, unstinting research and intellectual effort.

Their roles may often be unsung but the worlds of medicine, technology, industry and countless others would still be in a primitive age without the scientists, academics, theorists and thinkers.

Quite simply they have helped shape the way we live, work and play and there is scarcely a field of endeavour where they haven’t left their indelible mark, usually for the good.

However the point of the latest piece of research to come across Spectator’s desk is somewhat baffling.

Apparently it is now official that Mondays make us blue, Fridays are the happiest day of the working week and “dull” midweek days are easily muddled up.

It’s all down to how the “artificial seven-day cycle” we live by shapes the way we think, according to psychologists from the universities of York, Lincoln and Hertfordshire.

Their research showed Mondays mainly prompted negative words like “boring,” “hectic” and “tired” while Fridays were associated with positive words like “party”, “freedom” and “release.”

Hmm. That’s patently obvious you may think - while perhaps also giving some fleeting consideration to just how much this astounding revelation has cost.

But no - according to one of the York researchers the ultimate implications of their results could be far-reaching.

“If links can be made in the future that aspects of behaviour such as risk or tolerance also vary systematically over the week, the implications could be profound, not only for individual behaviour, but also for psychological measurement.”

He probably has a point but did we need a research project involving three universities to make it or could we just have asked someone propping up the bar in the pub?

Boffins are remarkable people.