Only fools beileve in statistics

No intelligent person takes statistics seriously. Unfortunately, though, the Government does. Every year, the Office of National Statistics publishes its Family Spending Survey, which is supposed to show what the “average” household spends on everything from petrol to prostitutes. But it is quite meaningless since it makes no allowance for wildly differing tastes and habits. This year’s survey, for instance, reveals that the average family spends L30 a week on furniture. Yet I cannot remember the last time I bought a piece of furniture – and I pride myself on being a pretty average fellow. Such figures might be harmlessly silly, if they weren’t used by the Treasury to help make decisions about taxes and benefits. When I spend 50p on a packet of cigarettes, or 10p on a pint, I imagine the effects it will have on the mythical “average” family, which spends L11.40 a week on alcohol and tobacco. In reality, though, he is whacking a huge tax on some people, and none on others. Policies built on statistics are not scientific – and worse, they are not fair.