Q What would you say is the most important issue facing Britain today?
Q What do you see as other important issues facing Britain today?
(Unprompted - combined answers)
Across the country as I write, schoolchildren are receiving the examination results that assess their performance over the last couple of years in each of the subjects. (Well, except in Scotland, but that is a different story.) It seems an appropriate point at which to draw up a similar report card for the government. In which policy areas does the public feel it has passed, and in which has it failed? Or rather, since "value added" seems to be the preferred benchmark these days, in which policy areas has it improved its standing since it was elected, and in which has it lost out? And, for those issues where the Opposition has scored hits, has the result merely been to damage Labour credibility or also to convince the electorate that the Conservatives (or, indeed, Liberal Democrats) might do a better job?
For much of the time, far more attention is paid to attracting the support of young voters, especially first-time voters, than is paid to attracting the votes of those who have retired. There is a superficial attraction to this: after all, young voters are generally less strongly attached to their party allegiances - if, indeed, they have any at all - and ought to be easier to swing. If their loyalties can be captured at a young age, perhaps they will subsequently offer their party a lifetime of voting service.
Professor Robert Mackenzie was once quoted as saying that he enjoyed election nights in the same way other people enjoyed the Cup Final. New research for the June-July 2000 edition of British Public Opinion newsletter suggests that there is more to this remark than meets the eye.
Poll on satisfaction with Labour government: I am going to read out a list of public figures and will ask you if you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the way
they are doing their job. If you have not heard of them, please say so...Gordon Brown, Tony Blair etc.
Two leaked memos, one by Tony Blair and one by Labour's Political Consultant and pollster Philip Gould, have stirred up the news agenda this week, but beyond the embarrassment of the leaks themselves it is hard to see what much of the fuss is about. They tell us little we didn't know or guess already.
This week's U-turn by the Conservatives on tax has at last opened up a clear policy gap between the parties on one of the central issues in any election: the Tories are now committed to reducing the tax burden, even if this means cuts in public spending, while Labour will pursue its public spending plans, even if this means increasing taxes. This, of course, now frees the Tories for an all-out attack on tax increases under Labour without being scuppered by the reply that the figures in their own alternative do not add up.
