PEOPLE AND THINGS
By HAROLD NICOLSON
MHE News Chronicle published recently a diagram show- ]. ing the fluctuations in Mr. Chamberlain's popularity since the signature of the Munich Agreement. The diagram was based upon the researches of the British Institute of Public Opinion, which on nine different dates between October and July instructed its investigators to accost the passer-by and to put to him or her the question "Are you in favour of Mr. Chamberlain as Premier?" The answers to this enquiry furnish an interesting temperature-chart of popular feeling. The graph of the Prime Minister's popularity describes an ascending curve. A fortnight after Munich Mr. Chamber- lain's reputation only stood at 51 per cent., and in the month that followed it declined to low-water mark at 49 per cent. Between November and February it rose steadily to nearly 56 per cent., when it slumped to 52 per cent. after Herr Hitler's occupation of Prague. Under the impulse of friend- ship with Russia it rose again to over 55 per cent. Since that date, in spite of the delay in the Moscow negotiations and the indignation aroused by the Tientsin outrages, it has remained fairly stable at 53 per cent., namely at two points higher than at the time of our Munich delight.
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