Who you ask and how you ask matter, as does why you are asking — the history of opinion polls shows they are as much about creating opinions as they are about recording them, writes socialist historian KEITH FLETT

IN JUNE 1984 the resurgent arms race and the fostering of a resumed cold war characterised the way the West marked the 40th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
In response several Soviet newspapers and journals carried articles rehearsing the true background to June 6 1944.
One of these was written by the author, James Aldridge, who, as a well-known Australian war correspondent, had been based in Moscow in 1944 and 1945. He had already reported from many of the fronts of the war, including Finland during the winter war, northern Iraq and Egypt.



