Poll manipulation

sir – The exercise by Ipsos, the market and social research organisation, to demonstrate the potential for opinion polls to be manipulated rightly shines a spotlight on the risks of poor practices in polling (“Yes, Prime Minister got it right ... polls can manipulate the public”, report, February 23). However, your readers should know that there is protection for the public against this type of manipulation.

Leading questions are not allowed in the Market Research Society (MRS) code of conduct, and we undertake thorough investigations into any reported instances of these rules being broken. The public and journalists should always check that data is coming from an accredited source, such as from MRS members or MRS company partners, before allowing it to sway their views or reporting.

Opinion polling is fundamental to our democracy – giving normal people a voice on society’s most important issues. We should all take responsibility for ensuring that it supports, rather than damages, our political processes.

Jane Frost CEO, Market Research Society London EC1 superior version of paste. He also gave us tins of Shippam’s chicken pieces in a white sauce. Sometimes we would wash the sauce off the chicken. At the time we thought it was delicious.

Ruth Dowding

Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

SIR – Reading Susan Edleston’s letter (February 23) about Shippam’s’ Chichester factory reminded me of my visit in the early 1950s.

As a small child, I was amazed to enter what seemed a huge room full of white-coated ladies peeling brown shrimps by hand.

We were prolific shrimpers in our bay in Sussex, and by the time I was six years old I was an efficient peeler. I felt very reassured that, if all other careers failed, I had the potential to earn a good living. Mary Boyton Edinburgh