UNITED KINGDOM: 25 VOLUNTEERS FROM THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AGREED TO PERFORM AN “EXCITEMENT TEST” WITH MRS.THATCHER’S IMAGE

It is official: Margaret Thatcher, who warmed ears around the world with her shrill voice and froze hearts with her political ideas, is still as exciting as she ever was: more so than a spider, a skull, a journalist or a lesbian sex scene. Ten years after the Iron Lady left Number 10 Downing Street in tears, ousted by her own party, who considered her conservatism and excessively liberal economic ideas more of a liability than an asset, the “excitement test” was realised by the West of England University and the scientific research group, At-Bristol. Twenty-five men, Members of Parliament from the House of Commons or House of Lords, from different political parties, agreed to be tested, with electronic sensors attached to their fingertips to measure perspiration while they were shown different images: A spider (the British are phobic about spiders), a skull, Tony Blair, two surgeons performing an operation, a lesbian sex scene with two women kissing each other, a BBC journalist, a semi-naked male model and a sexy female t.v. presenter. The result was clear: Margaret Thatcher’s image produced the greatest reaction from 80% of those tested. A curiosity: the same test was tried on normal members of the public but the result was the opposite: at the top of the list were the model, the sexy t.v. presenter and the lesbian kissing scene and Mrs. Thatcher was relegated to the bottom. This proves one of two things: either politicians in fact think differently from everyone else, or could it be that the perspiration is caused by something other than excitement? When this question was put to a scientist who works in the area, the answer was that the perspiration can be a result of excitement, tension … or stress!

John Bancroft London 2000-11-07