David Smith wrting in the Sunday Times 19th April 1998
"The overwhelming impression is one of passivity. 'We don't have a say, we just get told,' said a Birmingham woman. Politicians and the media are seen to be stitching things up, 'in cahoots', said one participant, with voters barely getting a look in.
"This is the couch potato society, unwilling to get involved apart from 'voting once every four years'. People want things to be better, but they don't plan to do much to bring it about. Passivity rules. When it comes to changing society, the British people aren't that sentimental. But they are probably more than a little lazy."