Damned by Statistics
Chris Grayling has done public debate a disservice by claiming too much
A big part of the argument that Britain is broken, the pitch of the man who seeks to be Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, is the claim that crime is going up. It is, then, a rebuke to his central case when he is upbraided, as he was yesterday, by Sir Michael Scholar, the head of the UK Statistics Authority, for misleading the public.
The Conservative Party in Milton Keynes has published a leaflet containing the claim that violent crime had increased by 236 per cent since 1999. In a letter to Mr Grayling, Sir Michael tartly pointed out that comparisons between the late 1990s and today are unreliable. A change to the definition of violent crime produced an immediate 35 per cent increase, which it is completely remiss not to mention.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
No comments:
Post a Comment