URBANLIFE2006www.myurbanlife.ie

What are ye like?So, what isit all about?Urban Life is Metro’s new and innovativestudy of ‘Urbanites’ – young, full-timeworking professionals in Greater Dublin.Every year we will research the opinions,attitudes and lifestyles of up to 2,000Metro readers, asking for their views oneverything from current affairs to coolbrands; environmental issues to must-see movies; mobile phones tomulticulturalism.

What do I get out of it?We’re genuinely interested in youropinions on the key issues of the day,and you can share these views withMetro’s editorial team. The results willhelp to fuel a large number of stories inMetro next year. As if that wasn’tenough, we’re also giving away e27,000in prizes – hundreds of e30 HMVvouchers and one e1,000 cash prizeafter each of our main surveys. And ifyou stay with us for a whole year andcomplete five or more of our six mainsurveys, you will be entered into our prizedraw for one e3,000 cash prize.

What’s involved?Taking part is easy. Urban Life iscomprised of six main surveys, the firstone in November and then one every sixweeks. All surveys are online, so you cantake them any time of day or night thatsuits you (within our survey periods).We’ll e-mail you when each survey isready to complete, with each one takingonly about 15 minutes.

Sign me up nowIf you are interested in taking part inUrban Life, please go to the websitewww.myurbanlife.ie/join and follow thesimple instructions. Alternatively, FREETEXT to 50100 to register your interest.Text TNS (space) first name (space) e-mail address (for example, text TNS thenyour name, then,yourname@emailaddress.ie). Places arelimited on the Urban Life project, soplease register early to avoiddisappointment.

Importanceof family ties

Attitudes tobringing up kids

Religious beliefs(or lack of them)

Attitudes towardsmarriage

The political partyyou support

The newspaper youread at weekends

Attitudes towardssexual relationships

None ofthe above

I just don’tknow

49%

46%

40%

35%

15%

15%

23%

18%

4%

YES, he took the money.Yes, he was Minister forFinance at the time. Yes, he

probably spent the majority of iton his make-up haversack.

But was Bertie Ahern wrong totake the money? No – at least notaccording to almost two-thirds ofDubliners.

As you know by now, Metro islaunching its Urban Life Study tofind out what Dubliners think ofwhat’s going on in the worldaround them today.

To get a flavour of theupcoming surveys, we askedmore than 1,000 people aged 18to 44 was Bertie wrong to acceptthe money off his friends?

Only 33 per cent thought so,while 59 per cent said they stilltrusted the Teflon Taoiseach.

In fact, if there was a generalelection held tomorrow 28 percent of people said Fianna Fáilwould get their first vote. That’sthe biggest support of any party.

Although general opinion pollsusually see the big three parties –Fianna Fail, Fine Gael andLabour – getting the lion’s share,Urbanites are starting to seethings differently.

Among Urbanites – young,affluent, professionals – SinnFéin and the Green Party are seenas the main Opposition to thecurrent Government, with 14 and13 per cent of the vote,respectively.

Believe it or not, more peoplesaid they would prefer not to vote(ten per cent) than vote for eitherLabour (eight per cent) or FineGael (seven per cent).

As usual, the ProgressiveDemocrats were bringing up the

rear with four per cent. So howdid Bertie go through all that s**tand come up smelling of roses?The truth of the matter is that wecan all identify with him: moneyis a tough thing to turn down –especially from friends.

When we asked Dubliners tochoose between peace on Earth orE1million, tax-free, 71 per centchose peace on Earth.

Despite God-knows-how-manypeople being killed and in placeslike Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon,Israel and Sudan, 27 per cent ofDubliners would shrug and takethe cash, with the rest undecided.

But we’re not all scroungers.Some 43 per cent of us think

that, on a first date, a man footingthe bill is very nice, but notnecessary, and 15 per cent thinkthat first dates should end Dutch-style, with the bill being split.

However, 34 per cent think menshould ‘most definitely’ pay theentire tab. Whether this is mainlythe opinion of chivalrous men orstarving women remains unclear.

Also, seven per cent think aman should ‘definitely not’ paythe whole bill, as doing so‘insults the woman’.

Again, whether this is theopinion of empowered females orjust scabby males, we simply donot know for sure.Come clean: Bertie Ahern

Friday, November 3, 200614 METRO