Abstract:
One of the problems I have encountered during this project has been not so much the unavailability but the inaccessibility, for one reason or another, of material on various parts of this subject-area. Many periodical references were simply not locatable in New Zealand and the time delay and the cost of procuring them internationally made them not worth pursuing. Cost, in fact, was the insurmountable barrier. The survey data used by William Miller for his book 'The End of British Politics?', for example, was an enticing prospect until the price tag became known. To escape this problem, I wrote to as many people and organisations as possible. Well over 200 letters were sent, with just 110 replies. included in those letters were 47 addressed to Scottish M.P.'s - 7 responded. A number of academics were particularly generous in their help - Tom Gallagher, J.G. Kellas, Michael Keating, Tony Dickson, David McCrone and Ian wood. Individuals such as Rennie McOwan, to whom I am greatly indebted, and G.V.R. Grant, both of whom had less reason to reply than most of those queried, made this study particularly worthwhile. The assistance of the Mitchell, National and City of Edinburgh Libraries, and the European Consortium of Political Research, was greatly appreciated, particularly their promptness to requests for photocopied material. I must not forget to mention a somewhat harassed, for a stage, Victoria University Library reference staff also. Lest I forget, finally, the positive criticism and shaping hand of Geoff Debnam.
