There are many quotes on the subject of statistics, but my favourite (heard recently) is: 'If you torture statistics long enough, they will say anything'.
The other famous one which we all know involves 'lies and damn lies'. That in itself has never been so true as during the last couple of years.
Statistics are more likely to be believed if they are given to the last decimal place, or end in an odd number. For instance, 73 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot. I know that is a lie because I just made it up. Well, it may not be a downright lie, but nobody yet knows if it is true either.
Our beloved leader is prone to quoting dubious statistics which later have to be corrected by proper statisticians, by which time it is too late. The difference between a proper statistician and Boris is that the real thing spends hours, days and weeks sifting through all available data before coming up with the closest thing to an accurate figure that the data can provide. Boris's spin-doctors, on the other hand, ignore anything which doesn't support the story they are trying to peddle to win over colleagues and voters. There is always a grain of truth in the most outrageous conspiracy theories.
500,000 new job opportunities eh? Does that include all the jobs that have been made vacant by workers returning to their home countries perhaps? Are they going to replace the 20,000 nurses who were made redundant not that long ago? I should have said 20,243. It sounds more believable but I may have to name names in order to be believed, and that's a lot of names.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has ceased to be Father of the House (how many children has he got?) and a new post has been created for him entitled 'Minister for Brexit Opportunities'. I don't know if this job is going to be a doddle or really hard work. Now let me see... err... How about all the opportunities to cash-in on PPE procurement and business loans? No, that particular crisis is more or less over and had little to do with Europe in any case. The boat has sailed and the money is gone.
Five years ago I was physically threatened by a deranged giant who wanted to bully me out of blind jealousy. I said at the time it was like being thrown back to my school days of 50 years ago. Now the country is being run by an overgrown schoolboy who does not even know how to lie effectively. His days of making the class laugh are long over.
Can you think of any genuine and viable Brexit opportunities? Come on, Jacob needs your help.
Rees-Mogg....Minister for BO....
ReplyDeleteBo Diddley or diddly squat?
DeleteI know that some people must be bored with me and others going on about Boris Johnson all the time, but that’s just what he wants. His full time job these days is to change the narrative by diversion. That’s why they are scrapping covid restrictions a month early. Nothing to do with science. All to do with saving his job.
ReplyDeleteDear Tom, as you well know I seldom say anything to foreign politics. (I see enough that leaves me speechless in Germany).
ReplyDeleteToday I read in the Süddeutsche Zeitung a newspaper article by A.L.Kennedy - "Grenades full of /filled with stupidity" (they translated the text into German, I could not see the original version). Subtitle: Why is Boris Johnson still at the wheel? To answer that here a small list of possible female successors and successors."
Boris Johnson is pulled to pieces - by a British author - and I do not repeat what she says about Nadine Dorries, or Jacobs Rees-Mogg, or Dominic Raab -- you might have read it in English.
Under the photo of B.J. the line: "Only a dumb sadist would want the job of Borris Johnson. However, of that sort there are many. "
Jeremy Corbyn made Labour unelectable and now people are worried that B.J. will do the same for the Conservatives. We really need two serious opposing political parties now more than ever, but pretty soon there won’t be even one. Johnson is squandering what little respect we were left with after leaving the EU.
DeleteTom when you write about the state of the country at present I must say that almost alwaysI agree with what you say. - you say what I feel but you say it better. x
ReplyDeleteIt is a real shame that people feel the need to say these things at all. It has become more than party-political ideological disagreements now. It is dire.
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