Not Bad Xmas Presents...

...for those who oppose the war in Iraq, support break-up of The Union, hate Tony Blair and George Bush and don't care what women think about politics.

Not such a hot set of results for everyone else, though.

The polls continue to show the SNP with a substantial lead over Labour and an increasing majority of voters on both sides of the border willing to entertain the idea of Scottish independence.

According to Harris Interactive, The Great Leader and The Great Dubya are doing well in the polls. Tony continues to prove extremely popular in his winter holiday resort (64% +ve rating in the US) and in his summer holiday resort (50% +ve rating in Italy), although he does have a little ground to make up in his work resort (25% +ve rating in the UK).

George has a handsome opinion poll showing at home in the US with a 38% positive rating. Unfortunately, almost everyone else in the world persists in the misguided view that he is stark raving bonkers. Hence his popularity rankings: (21% +ve in Italy, 10% +ve in the UK, 8% +ve in Germany, 8% +ve in Spain and 6% +ve in France).

The same poll reports that large majorities in many countries favour the withdrawal of troops from Iraq within the next few months: France - 90%, UK - 83%, Germany 82%, Italy 73%, US - 66%, Spain - 64%.

The final YouGov poll of 2006 puts the Conservatives on 37% (-2% change in 2006), Labour on 32% (-8% change in 2006) and the Liberal Democrats on 15% (-3% change in 2006).

The most dramatic feature of the YouGov poll is the opinion poll lead established by the Tories among women voters, with 39% saying they support Macaroon’s party against 31% for Labour, compared with the male voting intentions of 35% for the Tories and 34% for Labour.

While the voting gap for men remained the same between December 2005 and December 2006, the gap for women doubled from 4% to 8% during the course of the year.

That said, I think it's a bit dashed OTT for Peter Kellner to refer to "the gender gap having re-appeared" and to suggest this "might be a concern for Gordon's supporters who have been working to soften his public image".

Tony's still getting masses of favourable publicity, including some great photographs of The Great Leader being mobbed by adoring electors that show the man for what he really is.

Things could be worse. At least the Labour Party is still considered by many to be a force to be reckoned with. It has some way to go before it reaches the level of the England cricket team.