KEN Southwell ran the gamut of luck. As a joint winner in the first National Lottery draw, he picked up a cheque for £839,254, becoming the envy of many.

That was as lucky as you can get - well, not as fortunate as winning the full prize, but Ken's six-way share was still substantial, an amount to improve most people's lives. That is, if you believe money can make life better.

It is hard not to think that way at times, especially when you have just bunged an expensive washing machine on the already weary credit card, have a son heading for 18 and university and face the usual daily blizzard of bills - and that's not to mention the persistent old fantasy about moving to a house with a bigger garden and off-street parking so that passing yobs don't use your car for scratch graffiti practice.

A lottery win would sort out all of the above and surely come with added-value happiness or, at the very least, a reduction of the commonplace worries. So I'll keep on with the tickets, gullible to the last.

This quick appraisal of good fortune misses out the rotten luck dished out to Ken, who has died at the age of 46.

The man whose winning ways made the headlines in 1994 was back in large print on Monday, having succumbed to a brain tumour.

That is too young to die, but then anything the sunny side of 80 is too young to die - and, no doubt, when you arrive at 80, 90 has its own creaky-kneed allure.

Ken Southwell provided mortal proof of the clich about life being a lottery, having won big and then lost horribly.

I didn't know Ken and wouldn't presume to comment on whether his win brought happiness or problems - a bit of both, at a guess.

Interestingly, a friend of his was quoted in Tuesday's edition of The Press, saying that Ken's desire to carry on playing in local bands was frustrated because people wouldn't want to applaud a lottery winner. Playing music can be a great source of fulfilment and pleasure, so it is sad if Ken's win did indeed close that door.

By chance, David Cameron, the Tory leader, has been addressing the subject of happiness versus money. In a speech on Monday, Mr Dave said: "It's time we admitted that there's more to life than money, and it's time we focused not just on GDP but on GWB - General Wellbeing."

He may have a point, although it comes a bit, well, rich to be told this by a very wealthy man. It's fine for Cameron with his two houses and affluent lifestyle to go round pontificating about money not bringing happiness. He is probably right, but it is equally true that not having enough money can be a cause of stress and anxiety.

In political circles, where every speech comes with its own devious sub-text, Cameron's bid for the happiness vote is being seen as a coded dig at Gordon Brown, Chancellor and would-be Prime Minister, whom Mr Dave likes to portray as unbending and shorn of fun.

The trouble is, it is all right for Mr Dave to say that life is "about the beauty of our surroundings, the quality of our culture and above all the strength of our relationships" - but how does such wish-fulfilment translate into policy?

THANKS to Ben Drake for supplying the following observation, which he says is "doing the rounds".

He was prompted by last week's thoughts about what it takes to be British: "Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of anything foreign."