just about to say this, do the 'average public' honestly think that almost 1 in 6 girls are 'thought to be pregnant', jesus christ.
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The majority of the government stats are bogus anyway, especially when it comes to inflation (the price of foods etc which Have practically doubled over the past few years despite what the ONS says about inflation - which food is not included under in order to make the figures look good) along with crime statistics (where many crimes are left off the register/people dont bother reporting anymore to our pathetic 'justice' system) and government spending (which is rising through the roof).
So while the public may have misconceptions about certain things as a whole, none of these misconceptions are as far out and downright lies as we are told by our government - just look at the crime one for instance. Does anybody seriously believe that crime is falling - especially - as the economy has got worse over the past few years? I certainly don't, and it's achieved by fixing the stats; ie, worthless 'cannabis warnings' aren't counted towards the total and so on and so on. We have something like double the amount of Police in the year 2013 than back in the 1950s, yet you see less Police patrolling (if ever) than ever before and people feel less safe - as shown by the savage beatings and muggings that never happened back in your grandads day. Rose tinted view? no, but it's often the case that things were better back then than they are now due to the poor management of this country over the last century and particularly since WWII.
Inflation (prices) are rising, crime I would argue is rising, immigration is still out of control and so is state spending.
But again, this is my point - you're using government sub-statistics... to back up another broader set of government statistics.
This is a good read on crime statistics from someone who has written a book on the subject - http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co....e-figures.html
Describes some of the techniques the government uses to fiddle the official crime statistics and i'd be interested in your opinion after reading it.