[Daphne – Albert, there are ways of assessing which way public opinion is swinging, and you don’t always need a survey to do it. Sometimes, these other ways can pick out pockets of change that a blanket survey will miss. I can’t really go into them here (no time, space or inclination) but one way is to listen to the conversations that take place in different socio-economic groups. Also, when assessing the comments on The Times on line, it’s crucial to differentiate between different types. There are key indicators which you should look for that give you an idea of the level of education of the person making the comment. When you have comments coming in from people who can spell, construct a sentence and lay out an argument, and when these are against Gift of Life’s proposal, you should rate them. When you have comments coming in from people who are barely literate and who are reasoning from prejudice rather than…..reason, you should rate them differently. You have to consider that this is a country which is comfortable with displays of xenophobia and racism, so it is that much easier to make racist comments. On the other hand, it has so far been awkward to comment in favour of abortion or against people like Gift of Life, so the fact that educated people are now making these comments is in itself significant and highly indicative of a swing in the zeitgeist.]

[Daphne – Not at all. Zeitgeist, in English usage, means the spirit of the times, not the unchanging world view of an underclass trapped by ignorance. The zeitgeist implies change.]