Two plus two makes five

The government’s way with numbers is continually astounding. Even with the maths man himself at the top, Labour just keeps getting their sums mixed up. However, is this simple mathematical mistakes or the age old technique of embellishing statistics?

The government recently released figures for the number of rough sleepers in the country as less than 500. Now, I don’t know about you but even on face value this sounds like a tiny amount. I probably see half that many on the way home from work! The Conservatives, true to form, are contesting these figures saying they could be three times higher.

Just last week we saw another numbers fiasco with immigration data also being wide of the mark. The Conservatives had a good bash at these too. The trouble is that Labour doesn’t seem to realise these mistakes are simply adding to David Cameron’s armoury whilst making themselves look incredibly incompetent to the general public.

What’s interesting is that these figures were added up correctly but with a liberal dose of rounding-down. In wards with an estimated homeless population of 0-10, ministers counted 0! A highly representative medium I’m sure you’ll agree.

Akin to a schoolboy altering data in his survey to make it fit with his hypothesis, this is a classic example of embellishing the figures. However, unlike the schoolboy, ministers should have known better.

As I always say information will out sooner or later and it is stupid to think manipulating a few figures will make the incumbent government look more impressive. Actually making things happen is what makes governments look more appealing. At the moment Brown’s government of ‘all the talents’ looks at best like a bunch of GCSE maths failures and at worst a little dishonest.