This is the title of a programme on BBC Radio 4 and World Service which purports to take a look behind statistics and to endeavour to find out whether some of the extraordinary claims ostensibly based on statistics do in fact stand up to intensive scrutiny.
For example:
- Are there really 21 million slaves in the world today?
- Is it true that more deaths occur in the week of 10th January than in any other week?
- Are hundreds of young children visiting A&E because of alcohol? (This one particularly intrigued me as I initially misread it to say "Are hundreds of young children visiting the UAE because of alcohol?")
- Do two large glasses of wine triple your risk of mouth cancer?
And so on. I shall have to see whether the programme delivers on its promise to clarify different issues or whether, like so many well-intentioned efforts nowadays, it succeeds merely in muddying the waters yet further, so that in the end you end up even more confused and lost than at the outset. Take Crimea, for instance, which I understand is what Vladimir Putin is doing at the moment. Have you got any clear ideas on the subject?
I have no way of telling if the following item of information, proffered in Radio 4's In the Country, is true but it certainly has the ring of truth: having no friends is more dangerous to the health than smoking. My God. Still, I suppose it could be worse. You could be a smoker AND have no friends.
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