Overexposed ?
Since we are constantly reminded of the power wielded by the mass-communication media and their attendant satellites of public relations, it is good occasionally to be reminded of their limitations. I suppose that few politicians have ever been the subject of so intensive a sales cam- paign as Mr. Harold Wilson since he became leader of the Labour Party. We have seen him with old cub-masters or with his wife and family, lounging in the famous mac or puffing enig- matically on his pipe. We have been told of the poor boy who made good, of the brilliant econo- mist and northern moralist who will make us good. Yet what is the result of this barrage? The Daily Mail's National Opinion Poll Survey finds that, compared with 71 per cent of the elec- torate who thought Mr. Wilson would make a good Prime Minister in February, only 51.6 per cent now think so. Most impartially and quite irrespective of Mr. Wilson's merits, I find this cheering.
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