GATHERED to appoint a head teacher for an under-funded primary school in Essex on Friday, it seemed as good an opportunity as any to conduct a debate on the performance of New Labour, as its first anniversary approached.

The selection panel and the head teacher were as representative a group as any - a single parent, a retired businessman, an engineer, and a former teacher now making a living as an education consultant.

The engineer thought new Labour a ''ruthless regime'', with little evidence of extra money for education percolating through the system. The businessman thought it was doing well with the economy but was disappointed it was not signing up for the first wave of the single currency.

The mild-mannered education consultant, from Wales, launched into a tirade about devolution, startling his English colleagues who quite obviously had given the Welsh Assembly little thought. It was New Labour's ''big mistake'', he claimed, claiming it would eventually lead to the divisions the Government was trying to rid Northern Ireland of - he was from South Wales which, he said, had little in common with North Wales.

The single parent was the next big surprise. Not only did she think the Government right to reform welfare payments, she urged it to make a thorough job of it to ensure the people who needed it benefited while those who were ''fiddling the system'' were caught. She feared not that it was ruthless, but that it might not be ruthless enough.

New Labour's determination to tackle the welfare state had surprised the head teacher, who was impressed it was addressing the country's problems with such drive and enthusiasm. Specifically on education, however, she sounded a note of caution - one that perhaps has less relevance in Scotland, where education is not undergoing such root and branch change.

She said: ''What they are doing is exactly right. It is a shame it has to be done by 2002. It could have the same effect on education as the introduction of the national curriculum, which put children's learning back years.''

Only the businessman was particularly interested in the Northern Ireland situation and, although an instinctive Tory, applauded recent steps towards a peace settlement.

For what it is worth, the Essex sample group reflected exactly what other polls throughout the UK have shown, with little discernible difference between Scotland and England.

If the Northern Ireland peace agreement holds, and these are very early days, it could be New Labour's finest hour. There would have been no uprising if the problems of Northern Ireland had gone on the back burner while a domestic agenda was pursued.

That there is a government unanimously affronted by the misery in the province can only enhance the status of politicians, and it is a tribute to them all that they were prepared to take such a risk.

Almost as remarkable is the extraordinary achievement of Chancellor Gordon Brown who has persuaded a sceptical public that a Labour Government can run the economy while making the first serious attempt for 25 years to address the needs of the poor.

Quite remarkable polling figures after the March Budget revealed that 71% of the electorate thought that Mr Brown was doing a good job.

The Budget also changed perceptions of a draconian government following the debacle over lone parent benefit. That to date has been the biggest mistake.

On crime and Europe, which before the election were strong hands for the Tories, the balance has now swung overwhelmingly in favour of the Government.

New Labour has yet to live up to its rhetorical commitment to the National Health Service - one of the real litmus tests of its lasting popularity - waiting lists are still increasing and pay for nurses is still staged. So far, it has been given the benefit of the doubt.

Much of the criticism levelled at the New Labour regime is that it is no different from the Tories.

That is demonstrably not true. As much as Margaret Thatcher created division, New Labour is pursuing an inclusive agenda, trying to unite society rather than divide it.

It has embraced the market but not left market forces to prevail, an acknowledgement that without skills and training, individuals will never be empowered. Already, it has re-directed resources to education, with the promise of more to follow.

The Tories centralised, New Labour is devolving, hence a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly and the possibility of regional assemblies throughout England.

There have been diversions - the Bernie Ecclestone fiasco, the Lord Chancellor's wallpaper fiasco. The flirtation with Rupert Murdoch is not the same. It sticks in the craw of traditional Labour supporters.

Within the next two weeks, the Government will reveal its hand on Labour's links with the trade unions. It will be emblematic of this Government for, as much as Mr Blair embraced a new constituency, he needs to nurture the old.

But perhaps the greatest surprise of all is not how well New Labour has governed, it is that it has governed at all. Was it only 12 months ago the country was still holding its breath?