Political

Those of a statistically nervous disposition should look away now

A double triumph in the Daily Mirror today: for Vince Cable and for British journalism.

For Vince Cable – congratulations on another poll putting you the most popular choice for Chancellor (32% versus 23% for Darling and 21% for Osborne).

For British journalism – take a bow at a story that uses phrases such as “plunges” and “it’s all the fault of George Osborne” when in fact the poll results are, er…, not statistically significantly different from the previous poll by that pollster. (The changes are all within the margin of error, something the media loves to forget when reporting polls.)

Perhaps next time we’ll have a footnote, “Hey, the above story may be true. But there’s also a pretty good chance it may not be. But then, when journalists are the least trusted profession in the UK after politicians you probably knew that anyway.”

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