Swimming with the tide....

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D

Deleted member 28

Guest
Modern Britain?

How many people were in the poll and how many of those were from London, bearing in mind only 43% of 'Londoners' are White British.
 

winjim

Welcome yourself into the new modern crisis
Modern Britain?

How many people were in the poll and how many of those were from London, bearing in mind only 43% of 'Londoners' are White British.

Yes, if only the article contained a graphic telling us what people in the Midlands think.

Anyway I hate it when the Guardian reports on stuff like this without linking to the actual survey so here it is.

https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/

There's a downloadable technical details section which will give you the information you're asking about.
 

AuroraSaab

Legendary Member
I was going to post the link but you just beat me to it.

It's a survey of 3,000 randomly selected people. You'd need to break down the makeup of the 3,000 by race, sex etc to decide whether it was a valid cohort.

The Guardian headline is being a bit disingenuous though. Unless I missed it there doesn't seem to be a question on attitudes to sexual identity and some of the questions are so open ended that you wouldn't know if respondents are talking about the same thing or not. It's also a bit odd that you can fund a question.

Interesting to see quite a big rise in the number who now support proportional representation.
 

spen666

Active Member
~Whenever I see any one claiming the support of the public as a result of a survey, I am reminded of the Yes Minister episode when Humphrey explains to his Minister how to get the results you want by the use and order of questions asked. In the episode, Humphrey gets the Minister to agree with a proposition, then gets him to oppose it immediately after by asking appropriate survey questions
 

winjim

Welcome yourself into the new modern crisis
~Whenever I see any one claiming the support of the public as a result of a survey, I am reminded of the Yes Minister episode when Humphrey explains to his Minister how to get the results you want by the use and order of questions asked. In the episode, Humphrey gets the Minister to agree with a proposition, then gets him to oppose it immediately after by asking appropriate survey questions

That's why the article should really link to the original survey and the methodology should be transparent. Problem is, who's really qualified to scrutinise it? That should be the job of the journalist although they bring their own biases with them. The Guardian seem terrible at it although I imagine most newspapers are little better.
 
D

Deleted member 28

Guest
3,000 people, out of how many?

Very representative of the country.

Which 'reality of modern Britain ' do these people belong to?

Where is the this 'tide ' they are swimming with?
 
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D

Deleted member 28

Guest
A totally knackered economy, a tanking currency, a massive increase in the cost of everyday living and a group of fools in charge of the government, perhaps? Seems pretty dark to me.

Struggling to get by I guess?
 

AuroraSaab

Legendary Member
3,000 isn't a huge number, especially for a survey that the Guardian is trumpeting as significant, but I think it's statistically enough to be considered a valid snap shot. But the question are a bit odd.

'45% say opportunities for black and Asian people have not got (they mean 'gone') far enough'. What do they mean by opportunities? Opportunities to do what? Unless they explained what they actually meant to each respondent, 3,000 people could be answering 3,000 different questions. Opportunities in education? In the jobs market?

Surveys are useful tools but if the methodology is poor, they are not just useless they are harmful.

Likewise the rise in support for PR. A follow up question could have been why they support it. Brexit? One government in charge for too long? Just a general wish for wider representation of smaller parties?
 

AndyRM

Elder Goth
Struggling to get by I guess?

I'm on the lowest level of Universal Credit. Which is £330 a month, give or take. I'm not expecting hand outs but by the end of the month, I'm pretty much skint. People are struggling, you aren't as you frequently point out. Lucky you. Other people have to make the choice between eating and heating their homes. If you don't consider that dark, I don't know what you would.
 
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