Monday 27 May 2019

Lies, damned lies, and BBC graphs


The tale this BBC tweet tells is exactly the same bit of spin that hardline Remainers have been putting out overnight:


I think it's fair to say that comments could definitely be going better. Here's a selection:

  • Errr, you can't compare apples and pears. The other parties were not standing on a single issue. This is either clumsy journalism or something a bit more sinister. 
  • I was under the impression both Conservative and Labour official position was to leave the EU.
  • Don’t let facts get in the way of a biased agenda and nice graph.
  • Anything to manipulate the agenda, eh BBC!
  • Problem with trying to offset The Brexit Party's gains by totting up votes for Lib Dems, Greens and Change UK and sticking them in the Remain column is that vote for The Brexit Part was unequivocally vote to Leave; vote for those other parties was about multitude of things.
  • Both Conservative and Labour support Brexit. Add them to the Brexit party vote and it’s a major win.
  • The BBC is embarrassing, so biased. You can't accept it, can you?.
  • Why are you saying this? The Conservatives are a pro-Brexit party. Their official position is Leave. May’s government tried three times to pass a withdrawal agreement. The Conservatives are a pro-Brexit party.
  • The graphic is misleading because it equates “pro-Brexit” with “pro No Deal”.  While a deal remains on the table that isn’t just misleading but dishonest.
  • I am definitely a Remainer, but I think its intellectually dishonest not to include the Conservatives in the pro-Brexit camp.
  • You use statistics like a drunken man uses a lamppost. For support rather than illumination.

This is dodgy. And probably not a worthwhile exercise. I’d guess you could pretty much allocate all the Tories 9.1% to pro-Brexit. That was their position in the campaign. As for Labour’s 14%? ~Search me!

P.S. And here's a more accurate chart:

 

7 comments:

  1. Are the Lib Dems, Change UK and SNP actually anti-Brexit in all circumstances? The SNP seem to keep open the possibility of negotiating a Brexit if it keeps Scotland in the single market (impossible I know but some of their pro-Leave voters may accept that). Likewise I've heard both Lib Dem and Change UK call for a second referendum - which can only mean there is a the possibility of us deciding still to leave. It's not for me to reconcile these parties' contradictions but I am pointing out that some of their voters will be pro Leave.

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  2. The BBC are pushing the second vote /referendum hard on news bulletins today. However the BBC and remainers want to spin it, this is maybe the key point of the election . It’s from Lewis Goodall - Sky News.

    “However you slice the numbers Farage kept Brexit (and a hard Brexit at that) alive last night. If he hadn’t created the Brexit Party UKIP would have done better but prob not topped the poll. Mandate would have been remainers’ alone. Easier for Tories to backslide. Now they can’t.”

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    Replies
    1. Yes Arne, the debate is now fully polarised between Leave (with no deal if necessary) or Remain. There's no doubt which side of this great divide the BBC have positioned themselves.

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    2. Yes! - what makes them think they can change our minds now, when a three year-long campaign failed to do the job?

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  3. "Ex" British spy Christopher is refusing to co-operate with John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion allegations.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i8SE6xOPb8

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    Replies
    1. ...Christopher Steele...(but he did co-operate with the Mueller inquiry).

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  4. The Conservative Party seems about ready to destroy itself. They don't seem to see the damage they are doing to themselves (a) by all the no-hopers greedily putting themselves in contention...it shows a preference for self-advancement over national interest (b) by some of the candidates attempting to rule out so called "no deal" and (c) by the patent attempt to "Get Boris".

    If for any reason Boris should fail, that's it. Party Over for the Conservatives. They will be destroyed at the next election.

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