Forty-four per cent of respondents on our recent internet newspoll question said they had been affected by the holiday-winter blues? Well good news, today (Thurs) is the shortest day of the year. It’s the winter solstic which is the exact moment when a hemisphere is tilted as far away from the sun as possible. The winter solstice will take place this year tonight, at 9:27 p.m. It happens at the same instant across the Earth. From this day forward the days get longer.