Plato REALLY dislikes liars - particularly those who pretend to be holier than thou such as Gordon 'Moral Compass' Brown.
The Head of the Office for National Statistics has bitch-slapped Gordon within hours of his BritishJobs4BritishWorkers speech for misleading the public.
Good stuff.
Read more here:
"Michael Scholar: hero. The new head of the UK statistics authority is finally coming to join we lonely crusaders who have long been shouting, as hard as we can, that Gordon Brown makes things up and uses dodgy statistics. Normally, the ONS shut up. But Sir Michael has - wonderfully, inspirationally - written an open letter to the Prime Minister telling him not to lie. Well, not quite in so few words, but this is the plain implication.
What is significant is that Sir Michael is using his job to protect the integrity of statistics in Britain. One of my favourite ever facts is that "65 percent of the UK population do not believe statistics". This is not because the people compiling them are crooked, but because people like Gordon Brown try to willfully deceive the electorate by careful editing and abuse of figures. Usually, the Tories are too witless to complain but Chris Grayling has been on Brown's case with this. And Sir Michael has adjudicated.
This is a healthy step forward for democracy. Next time Brown tries to use dodgy figures - on immigration, knife crime, whatever - he will have to ask himself "will Sir Michael expose me?".
So far, the press has not bothered to expose Brown. Journalists tend to be allergic to figures, a arguments about statistics lose viewers and readers. So statistical lies would never be exposed in newsprint or on airtime. It was a huge weakness in Fleet St which Brown has exploited to the full with his Brownies.
The digital media has filled this gap: there is no opportunity cost. We have endless energy and space to devote to lies.
And now with Scholar on his case, Brown has every reason to be very afraid next time he tries to lie through statistics.
P.S. I don't often do this, but Grayling has just issued a press release showing Brown's lies and how they were nailed. I paraphrase it below. I hope you're reading this, Douglas Alexander, because you repeated plenty of these Brownies on the Today programme last Saturday. Brownies may well be the first casualty of this digital election.
Read the most damning facts here
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Chancellor's Debate - the summary
Plato takes her hat off to Iain Martin of the Wall Street Journal for this succinct and perfectly formed summary...
"9:12 pm The three get 60 seconds to sum up. Here I've provided a translation.
Darling: You're worried about the future, I'm worried about the future. The future is in front of us, and it's worrying. But it's going to be alright, honestly. It is, really, no, please, come back.
Cable: Let's face it, I am brilliant [wild applause]. Labour are just rubbish and, I am saying this with a straight face, the Tories are in hock to rich men (unlike the LIb Dems who took £2m from a convicted fraudster now in jail and didn't give the money back). And, did I mention that I'm brilliant?
Osborne: I've got through this, it went quite well! I didn't fall over, I'm only seconds away from a beer in the green room, or maybe a glass of wine. The job of the others tonight was to gang up and land a killer blow. And they didn't. The future? It's Gordon Brown or David Cameron. Make your choice."
"9:12 pm The three get 60 seconds to sum up. Here I've provided a translation.
Darling: You're worried about the future, I'm worried about the future. The future is in front of us, and it's worrying. But it's going to be alright, honestly. It is, really, no, please, come back.
Cable: Let's face it, I am brilliant [wild applause]. Labour are just rubbish and, I am saying this with a straight face, the Tories are in hock to rich men (unlike the LIb Dems who took £2m from a convicted fraudster now in jail and didn't give the money back). And, did I mention that I'm brilliant?
Osborne: I've got through this, it went quite well! I didn't fall over, I'm only seconds away from a beer in the green room, or maybe a glass of wine. The job of the others tonight was to gang up and land a killer blow. And they didn't. The future? It's Gordon Brown or David Cameron. Make your choice."
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Is Gordon a liar? Erm, yes...
Plato has just seen this data from YouGov...
"...On the 5th March 2010, Gordon Brown went before the Committee of Privy Peers to give details regarding military funding during his tenure as Chancellor. Amid allegations by former military generals and civil servants of gross underfunding, Brown distanced himself from the suggestion that he underfinanced the armed forces, stating that during his chancellorship he agreed to every request the armed forces filed to him during wartime. He appeared emphatic that the defence budget had risen ‘in real terms’ every year.
However, the PM has recently admitted to the Commons that he was wrong to tell the inquiry that he had increased defence spending ‘in real terms’. This about-turn comes as the House figures show that while Brown was Chancellor, the MOD’s defence budget fell no less than four times in real terms.
The result is that many have been left questioning Brown’s credibility. 61% of GB adults state that Brown ‘knew the truth all along but thought he could get away with twisting it’, while a further 17% stated that they ‘didn’t know’. While we cannot be certain that the entirety of this 17% are actively unsure about Brown’s integrity, these figures could potentially represent a sizeable 78% among the British public who doubt the PM’s honesty..."
Says it all really.
"...On the 5th March 2010, Gordon Brown went before the Committee of Privy Peers to give details regarding military funding during his tenure as Chancellor. Amid allegations by former military generals and civil servants of gross underfunding, Brown distanced himself from the suggestion that he underfinanced the armed forces, stating that during his chancellorship he agreed to every request the armed forces filed to him during wartime. He appeared emphatic that the defence budget had risen ‘in real terms’ every year.
However, the PM has recently admitted to the Commons that he was wrong to tell the inquiry that he had increased defence spending ‘in real terms’. This about-turn comes as the House figures show that while Brown was Chancellor, the MOD’s defence budget fell no less than four times in real terms.
The result is that many have been left questioning Brown’s credibility. 61% of GB adults state that Brown ‘knew the truth all along but thought he could get away with twisting it’, while a further 17% stated that they ‘didn’t know’. While we cannot be certain that the entirety of this 17% are actively unsure about Brown’s integrity, these figures could potentially represent a sizeable 78% among the British public who doubt the PM’s honesty..."
Says it all really.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Dear Mr Illegal Immigrant
Plato loved this...
"Virgin Media wrote to 24-year-old Aaron Needham, from Strelley, Nottingham, with details about the company's services.
The letter, sent last week, was addressed to ''Mr Illegal Immigrant''. It continued ''Dear Immigrant''.
She said: ''We have conducted a full investigation into this very unfortunate isolated incident which we can confirm affects just one customer.
''The marketing database that we used to acquire this customer data was purchased from a third party.
''We are now in contact with that third party to investigate this error which we take very seriously.
''We're very sorry for any unnecessary upset this may have caused Mr Needham, this certainly was not our intention.''
Mr Needham said he was offended by the letter: ''I was a bit shocked. I was taken aback. I have tried to ring up and complain and they have not really done anything about it. "
''They kept passing me from pillar to post. They tried to say it was not their fault, it was somebody else. It is not good.''
"Virgin Media wrote to 24-year-old Aaron Needham, from Strelley, Nottingham, with details about the company's services.
The letter, sent last week, was addressed to ''Mr Illegal Immigrant''. It continued ''Dear Immigrant''.
She said: ''We have conducted a full investigation into this very unfortunate isolated incident which we can confirm affects just one customer.
''The marketing database that we used to acquire this customer data was purchased from a third party.
''We are now in contact with that third party to investigate this error which we take very seriously.
''We're very sorry for any unnecessary upset this may have caused Mr Needham, this certainly was not our intention.''
Mr Needham said he was offended by the letter: ''I was a bit shocked. I was taken aback. I have tried to ring up and complain and they have not really done anything about it. "
''They kept passing me from pillar to post. They tried to say it was not their fault, it was somebody else. It is not good.''
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Car Crash Gordon
Dear Honorary Platonians,
Even occasional readers will know that Plato has a vanishing small opinion of Our Glorious Leader's good points and today he did the country a great service.
If ever there was a car crash that could possibly last a whole hour - here it is.
Gordon was bizarrely induced to appear on the Politics Show today to face the music from floating voters apparently keen to know why they should vote Labour.
Unfortunately for Gordon, they actually turned out to be a very articulate audience with a serious axe to grind over Labour's record. The Old Labour welder who said he couldn't vote for them again with him as leader was a corker.
He squirmed in his chair, used shut-up hand gestures, appeared defensive and sullen as a teenager caught skipping school. He even managed to tell the audience that he was 'right' despite what the generals said.
Team Cameron and Clegg must have been watching open-mouthed with delight.
I was!
The Politics Show - watch the horror here
Even occasional readers will know that Plato has a vanishing small opinion of Our Glorious Leader's good points and today he did the country a great service.
If ever there was a car crash that could possibly last a whole hour - here it is.
Gordon was bizarrely induced to appear on the Politics Show today to face the music from floating voters apparently keen to know why they should vote Labour.
Unfortunately for Gordon, they actually turned out to be a very articulate audience with a serious axe to grind over Labour's record. The Old Labour welder who said he couldn't vote for them again with him as leader was a corker.
He squirmed in his chair, used shut-up hand gestures, appeared defensive and sullen as a teenager caught skipping school. He even managed to tell the audience that he was 'right' despite what the generals said.
Team Cameron and Clegg must have been watching open-mouthed with delight.
I was!
The Politics Show - watch the horror here
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
More Gordon lies
Plato is getting exasperated with the MSM - thankfully Jeff Randall is in possesion of his marbles...here's an extract from his latest column.
"With bravado that can be invoked only by someone whose emotional intelligence is buried in a vault of self-delusion, the Prime Minister announced this week that the Budget will be on March 24.
His accompanying comments about "character" appeared to have been scripted by a comedian in need of some fresh material.
"For better or worse, with me what you see is what you get," said Mr Brown. It is a line so at odds with reality, so manifestly untrue, so utterly ridiculous that one barely knows where to start challenging it.
Was this the same Mr Brown whose shameless evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry was dismissed by Army chiefs as "disingenuous"? The same Mr Brown who unleashed the "forces of hell" on his own chancellor? The same Mr Brown who cannot walk past a national statistic without rebasing its measurement for narrow political advantage (crime, inflation, growth)?
When events defy the Prime Minister's preferred view of the world, he has a remarkable capacity for applying the Tipp-Ex. History doesn't haunt him because he either ignores or rewrites it. No British leader in my lifetime has embraced the technique of veracity evasion with greater enthusiasm.
Mr Brown's most egregious abuse of our credulity, "no more boom and bust", has been expunged from the script. In its place is a claim that his genius saved us from the ravages of an American-inspired crash. Rather than expiate his sins of profligacy, he seeks to exploit them. Financial disaster is repackaged as a tactical triumph: his triumph.
"I won't let you down," Mr Brown promises. Too late, old son, you already have..."
Read the rest here
"With bravado that can be invoked only by someone whose emotional intelligence is buried in a vault of self-delusion, the Prime Minister announced this week that the Budget will be on March 24.
His accompanying comments about "character" appeared to have been scripted by a comedian in need of some fresh material.
"For better or worse, with me what you see is what you get," said Mr Brown. It is a line so at odds with reality, so manifestly untrue, so utterly ridiculous that one barely knows where to start challenging it.
Was this the same Mr Brown whose shameless evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry was dismissed by Army chiefs as "disingenuous"? The same Mr Brown who unleashed the "forces of hell" on his own chancellor? The same Mr Brown who cannot walk past a national statistic without rebasing its measurement for narrow political advantage (crime, inflation, growth)?
When events defy the Prime Minister's preferred view of the world, he has a remarkable capacity for applying the Tipp-Ex. History doesn't haunt him because he either ignores or rewrites it. No British leader in my lifetime has embraced the technique of veracity evasion with greater enthusiasm.
Mr Brown's most egregious abuse of our credulity, "no more boom and bust", has been expunged from the script. In its place is a claim that his genius saved us from the ravages of an American-inspired crash. Rather than expiate his sins of profligacy, he seeks to exploit them. Financial disaster is repackaged as a tactical triumph: his triumph.
"I won't let you down," Mr Brown promises. Too late, old son, you already have..."
Read the rest here
Monday, March 8, 2010
Hattie's Perfect World - The Sex Form
Plato would like to thank Morris Dancer from PB.com for this fabulous link...if only it wasn't necessary to parody this...
The Fink Talks Sense
More commonsense insight and observation from Danny - can we get him cloned?
http://playpolitical.typepad.com/all_sorts/2010/03/there-is-a-chasm-between-what-politicians-say-and-what-voters-believe-argues-daniel-finkelstein.html
http://playpolitical.typepad.com/all_sorts/2010/03/there-is-a-chasm-between-what-politicians-say-and-what-voters-believe-argues-daniel-finkelstein.html
Plato's Twat
Dear Honorary Platonians
Plato has been rather distracted recently and has been neglecting her blog - for that, please accept her sincere apologies.
If you are entertained by Your Supreme Queen's wittering - then perhaps during these lean periods, try following her twittering as a stocking filler.
Plato doesn't post about the contents of her breakfast bucket or whether her shearer enquired about her holiday plans. She does instead share funny or alarming press stories and very occasionally replies to other twats that will make no sense to anyone else.
See Plato's twat here - you know you want to!
Cheerio
Platox
Plato has been rather distracted recently and has been neglecting her blog - for that, please accept her sincere apologies.
If you are entertained by Your Supreme Queen's wittering - then perhaps during these lean periods, try following her twittering as a stocking filler.
Plato doesn't post about the contents of her breakfast bucket or whether her shearer enquired about her holiday plans. She does instead share funny or alarming press stories and very occasionally replies to other twats that will make no sense to anyone else.
See Plato's twat here - you know you want to!
Cheerio
Platox
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Picture of the Year...so far
Plato thinks this is possibly the best reflection photograph she has ever seen.
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