Politics

With new technologies meaning that loyalty schemes can be embedded further and further into our lives, how far is too far? Fiona Moss comments in iMedia.

The Information Services Division, on behalf of the Scottish Government, commissioned Ipsos Scotland to conduct the 2008 and 2010 studies of smoking, drinking, and drug use among secondary school pupils in Scotland.

In Campaign magazine, Deborah McCrudden, COO of Ipsos ASI looks at the hits and misses of this year's Christmas ads.

Following our poll last week which, showed a third of Scots cutting back on Christmas spending, our latest economic data paints a broader picture of widespread pessimism in the economy and a crisis of confidence among Scottish consumers.

Fine fragrance ads have few fans, even among the target audience. In Campaign magazine, Tara Beard-Knowland of Ipsos ASI ponders why this might be.

Gideon Skinner and Sarah Pope take a look at what's behind the Conservatives recent boost in the polls

Trade Unions/strikes are low on the public's radar even after the recent strikes, and have not been key issues for a while; only 1% of the public mentioned them in the first week of December, a figure that has been no higher since the firefighters' strike in the winter of 2002/3

The December Economist/Ipsos Issues index shows that a third of the public (33%) place unemployment amongst the most important issues facing the country, a one percentage point increase since November. Concern has been steadily increasing recently and this is now the highest percentage to mention this issue since November 1998.

With just over a week of shopping time left, most Scots say they plan to spend less or about the same on Christmas this year compared to last year.