Muriel Nissel has died at the age of 89.
She was the first editor of Social Trends, which is now a national institution though whether it will remain so now that it is published purely online remains to be seen. It could be said to be the forerunner of David Cameron’s Happiness Index, since it aimed to bring together information about society to be used alongside the well-established volume of Economic Trends to give a more rounded range of objective measures of how well society was doing. I have a horrible feeling that one such objective ground may well have been the number of children born to unmarried women – of any age, not just the teenagers who obsess today’s policy makers – because in the absence of freely available contraception for all such births were judged to be unwanted or at least unplanned.
The job needed someone of great charm but also steely determination, since it required the cajoling of statisticians across Whitehall departments (& some in devolved offices) to provide data to a strict deadline on a consistent basis for the UK, when many probably thought they had more pressing priorities. Muriel had plenty of both these qualities & was backed by the strong support of her mentor & then head of the Government Statistical Service, Sir Claus Moser.
Although our paths rarely crossed I was greatly in her debt because I first met her for an interview which led to her recommending me for a job, much needed at the time. I cannot remember any of the questions except we discussed Margaret Drabble’s Waterfall which I offered as the book I had most recently read. It was only after I was well launched that I thought it might not have been a good idea to say how profoundly disappointing I had found it, though in the result it obviously did me no harm.
Muriel was also well-known for smoking cigars – technically cigarillos I think. This led to me being challenged – probably at a work Christmas dinner – by my all-male colleagues to show that I too was made of such strong stuff. I took the challenge & smoked a full size one, which I found very enjoyable. For a few years I would occasionally indulge on special occasions, though I was never tempted to make it a regular habit. I wonder if Muriel ever gave them up, giving in to the strong social trend towards disapproval such habits now attract.
In her memoirs she wrote that: "I had never set out to be a fervent feminist, believing that slow, determined breaking down of barriers would in the long run be more fruitful. But experience [taught] me always to be on my guard and ready to fight."
