SNAPSHOT OF A CHANGING SOCIETY

From toll-booths to tolerance and cannabis to credit, research is out
today revealing our values.

The annual British Social Attitudes survey throws up surprising results,
including the support of more than eight in 10 people for tax increases to
improve the NHS.

But the overwhelming verdict of our changing society is its rising
tolerance towards minority groups and a liberal attitude to soft drugs.

Researchers predict that society is set to stay increasingly liberal, as
older generations are replaced by younger ones who, it is anticipated, are
unlikely to change their attitudes over time.

It is a change that has been happening for the last two decades.

In 1985, 70pc of those questioned thought homosexuality was wrong. Eighteen
years later that figure is less than 50pc.

A quarter of people in Britain describe themselves as racially prejudiced,
down from a third in 1985.

The survey also found that those who had been through higher education are
less likely to be prejudiced and, as the number of those going to
university increases, so discrimination will fall.

Younger people are also more tolerant to soft drug use, with more than half
the population saying cannabis should be legal. But the survey concludes
that even older people have become more liberal to marijuana use.

And although 87pc of those questioned thought that drugs like heroin should
remain illegal, a third said two legal drugs were the most dangerous of all
- - tobacco and alcohol.

A spokesman for the National Centre for Social Research, which carried out
this year's study, said it was far cry from the days of illegal
homosexuality, tobacco being regarded as a health tonic and marijuana being
seen as a curse.