It’s not at all clear who actually coined the aphorism that there are ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’ but whoever it was was wrong. Statistics are nothing more than meaningless figures until someone sits down to analyse and interpret them and it’s there that the problems arise. In, […]

Having done my fair share of politics in the last day or two I want to come back to a story which appeared on the BBC news website last week only for it to slip quietly under the radar without gaining much in the way of attention: Fears […]

I’ll keep this short and sweet, or perhaps not so sweet if you’re a Tory canvasser working the Eastleigh by-election. Political Scrapbook has revealed this morning that, despite presenting herself as an experienced business woman, Eastleigh Tory candidate Maria Hutchings has never been a director of a limited […]

In its most recent update on the DWP’s heavily criticised Universal Jobmatch service, the Public and Commercial Services Union revealed that, under current regulations, Jobcentre Plus cannot force job seekers to sign up to this service by issuing a Jobseeker Direction: Jobseeker Directions and Mandatory Use of UJ […]

On Twitter, Blue Wode has picked up on a rather bizarre story that’s currently unfolding in South Africa… Johannesburg – A woman, whose requested to address the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on the “mental state” of murder accused athlete Oscar Pistorius, has approached the Constitutional Court, the Saturday Star […]

I know that American professional wrestling, or sports entertainment as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) prefer to call these days, is not everyone’s cup of tea but bear with me on this post,  the video that you’ll see at the end is well worth watching. There is a bit […]

The jury that sat in trial on Chris Huhne’s ex-wife, Vicky Pryce, has been widely derided in the press (and on Twitter, naturally) for putting this question to the trial judge: QUESTION 5 Can a juror come to a verdict based on a reason that was not presented […]

An anonymous Twitter account called @toryeducation is regularly used to attack critical stories about both Gove and his department. It is often abreast of imminent Tory policies, suggesting it is coming from close to the centre of government. However, it is also used to rubbish journalists and Labour […]

Nadine Dorries has responded to Friday’s news that IPSA is to investigate her expenses with a fairly lengthy – and rambling – post at her own not-really-a-blog and true to her usual form her comments merely serve to demonstrate that she and the real world are, at best, […]

By now you should have seen the news that Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, is under investigation by IPSA, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, over expenses claims “that should not have been allowed“. Exactly what these expenses claims are has yet to be made clear. IPSA has […]