Labour's 'Wobbly Thursday' was the whole month of September 2000, when first the kerfuffle over the dome and then the petrol strike led to the Tories overtaking Labour in the opinion polls for a brief period, then reverting to its comfortable 20 point lead.
The September 11 attacks in the USA were followed by a dramatic slump in economic confidence in Britain. MORI's Economic Optimism Index (EOI) at the end of September hit -56, its lowest point since the early 1980s, exacerbating an already precarious situation. (The August figure, -31, was already the lowest since November 1998).
The Prime Minister is riding high, leading European reaction and standing tall 'shoulder to shoulder' with President Bush, over the 'War against Terrorism'. So far so good, but what happens when it's over, even if bin Laden and the Taliban are defeated and Tommy comes marching home? What then? The National Health Service has already (end November, in MORI's survey for the Times [Political Attitudes in Great Britain for November 2001]) regained poll position as the issue of most concern to most people in Britain, pushing the war into second place.
The low turnout at the last election was not down to apathy but because non-voters made a positive decision to abstain suggests a new report from the Hansard Society based on MORI focus group research.
This week, perhaps for the first time since September 11, the focus of the media's attention has switched from foreign affairs and terrorism to domestic affairs, and particularly to the National Health Service. The Wanless report on funding the NHS was published, and on the same day the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, made his pre-budget statement, promising an extra £1bn for the NHS with a commitment to higher long-term investment.
Today sees the publication in most of the press of this year's school "league tables", ranking exam performance in schools across the country and singling out the best, and worst, performers. But how important are these league tables to parents? And how important should they be?
