Who you ask and how you ask matter, as does why you are asking — the history of opinion polls shows they are as much about creating opinions as they are about recording them, writes socialist historian KEITH FLETT
STANDING as a Labour candidate in the local council elections has been an enlightening experience.
There has been the regular knocking on doors, canvassing people’s opinions. The reception varies from those that shut the door in your face to others who ask you in for a chat and a cup of tea.
There are many problems, like the couple stuck on the top floor of a block of flats, one with cancer, the other blood clots. They want to move to a ground floor flat where getting up and down is less difficult.

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