Yes, Prime Minister....

Truth to tell I am actually finding it hard to write about Manila...for a few reasons..

firstly I live and work in the same building and as I am finishing work late at night...I don't get out much, don't want to blog about work...which leaves me fairly little to write about.

the news seems to move from the odd to the ridiculous fairly quickly..and I find it hard to believe much of what I read in the papers...

today the Philippine Star has a banner that tells me that according to a survey that will be published early next week that Filipinos prefered the Marcos regime over the GMA government....is that really true...the only way that I can imagine it to be true is that with the Marcos regime they at least knew what to expect...corruption, corruption and more corruption...whereas wtih GMA they were expecting/hoping for a cleaner form of government and apparently they haven't received it.

The other thing that has amazed me this week is the number of opinion polls that are taken and show Filipinos coming out in support of GMA or against her...

reminds me of that episode of "Yes, Prime Minister", when Sir Humphrey shows Bernard how it is possible to skew the results of an opinion poll by the line of questioning taken...the subject under discussion is the reintroduction of national service.

From "The Ministerial Broadcast"....

Sir Humphrey: "You know what happens: nice young lady comes up to you. Obviously you want to create a good impression, you don't want to look a fool, do you? So she starts asking you some questions: Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the number of young people without jobs?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Are you worried about the rise in crime among teenagers?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think there is a lack of discipline in our Comprehensive schools?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think young people welcome some authority and leadership in their lives?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think they respond to a challenge?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Would you be in favour of reintroducing National Service?"
Bernard Woolley: "Oh...well, I suppose I might be."
Sir Humphrey: "Yes or no?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Of course you would, Bernard. After all you told you can't say no to that. So they don't mention the first five questions and they publish the last one."
Bernard Woolley: "Is that really what they do?"
Sir Humphrey: "Well, not the reputable ones no, but there aren't many of those. So alternatively the young lady can get the opposite result."
Bernard Woolley: "How?"
Sir Humphrey: "Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the danger of war?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Are you worried about the growth of armaments?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think there is a danger in giving young people guns and teaching them how to kill?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think it is wrong to force people to take up arms against their will?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Would you oppose the reintroduction of National Service?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "There you are, you see Bernard. The perfect balanced sample."

copied from here with some other quotes and a sound file if you want to listen to it...