I was amused to read a link to one of my postings yesterday from a Green Party activists entitled "Lib Dem Barcharts Always Lie".
Interestingly he decided to take only one of my barcharts I produced as a bit of fun in order to justify that all Lib Dems are liars.
Why did he take only one of those graphs if, as he claims, all Lib Dem bar charts lie ? Well it does not take a genius to work it out. It's because the other bar chart is almost completely accurate, as was the one I produced last week. Had his blog an easy system for leaving comments I might have responded politely to him, but in the typical Green control freak way, his blog has one of the most god awful systems possible designed to stop people leaving comments.
So in essence, his headline should have the subtext "Only certain Lib Dem barcahrts lie and others that I choose to ignore tell the truth".
But in order to clarify matter a little bit more for the Green, after all the Green Party are not noted for their financial and mathematical knowledge (just check out their manifesto pledges which fail to add up). I should point out that not all bar charts have to start at 0%. It is interesting that this type of bar chart appears in Year 6 SATs tests regularly. Obviously the UK government have a point about not scrapping SATs in England if the Scots do not understand it !
It certainly sums up the sanctimonious pomposity of virtually every Green I have ever met. Their overt " we know best" attitude is both patronising, sanctimonious and misplaced. When looking through my Euro ballot paper I would have voted for almost any other party on the list except the Greens and the BNP.
The is another point though. The posting I made was also slightly tongue in cheek, with the point being that it is ironic that a Lib Dem produces a bar chart which does not show the Lib Dems in first or second place.
Sense of humour and the Greens ? Don't be silly !
6 comments:
come on, Lib Dem bar charts are infamous, almost comical
Well, I did note that you were mocking yourself, but given how famous your party is for misleading bar charts, surely it was likely that someone would check your maths, even just as a bit of fun?
Seeing as you're taking it seriously, though, can you explain how a different baseline would make your barchart accurate in any way?
And is it really your view that a vote for the Tories or UKIP is better than the Greens?
One thing I will admit, though: I haven't found a way to improve the way Movable Type manages comments. Thanks for your feedback on that.
Start the chart at approximately 17% that would make it correct.
Nich I wouldn't worry about it too much. I only looked at James' latest contribution properly late on in the day. I far more important stuff to do (pushing bar charts through letter boxes of people who didn't answer doors passing them to people who did) before then.
But seeing as he always tends to attack me I think there is something of the schoolyard flritation going on. He knows he fancies us just is ashamed to show it in front of his mates. :)
In several years of campaigning, I've seen the odd dodgy Lib Dem bar chart and I've seen many, many wholly accurate ones.
We did a bar chart in 1997 in North Norfolk which was accurate to within 1/2 of a percentage point. it still didn't stop Labour doing "Lies, damn (sic) lies and Lib Dem statistics" leaflet.
Post a Comment