Lives, Damned Lives and Statistics

The number of people living in unhappy relationships has more than doubled in five years, to over 1 million, according to an article in today's Mail Online which references some research by the Office for National Statistics.

Until just now, I didn't realise that the ONS asked any of us about misery, but it's made me start to wonder whether any of those questioned were required to put down exactly what it is about their partner that makes them so unhappy or if not, how can the researchers be sure that a respondent isn't just a miserable person who happens to be in a relationship?

And also: have the ONS extrapolated each response on the assumption that if one half of a relationship is dissatisfied with life, then it must follow that their other half is also, or is there some sort of leeway for the person in despair to have a spouse who thinks that everything’s fine?

All of which means that the figures quoted can't be considered as accurate, as it could be higher or lower, but there seems little to disprove the assertion that the actual number of unhappy adults in the country is increasing, And this, in a leap of statistical correlation somewhat along the lines of Henderson's Somali pirates and global warming, has been taken by some as proof that it is a financial recovery, rather than a recession, that chips away at marital bliss.

I'm not disagreeing with their assertion (only the statistical basis), but it might be that we were just as unhappy five years ago, but are now a little more honest when anonymously surveyed about our feelings, or that we are simply becoming less accepting of our current situations in an ever-shrinking world.

Blowing things up out of all proportion

On the way back from London yesterday I picked up a copy of the free paper to read on the train home, and in it was an article about the new Mayor banning adverts like this one from the Underground System.

It includes several quotes from Mr Khan about his parenting, demeaning images, and:

“Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the Tube ..... and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this.”

Now I realise that he's not been in the job very long, but surely one of his staff could have briefed him that it's not a pneumatic tube running under the streets of our capital city....?

No Defence

The Aston Villa defender Joleon Lescott has infuriated already-upset Aston Villa fans by Tweeting a picture of a £121,000+ Mercedes-AGM S 63 Coupe just after a 6-0 home defeat by Liverpool less than 15 minutes after the final whistle.

We all know a car like that is well within a Barclays Premier League player's price range, but to advertise the fact directly after a heavy defeat?

More than a little insensitive, as the resulting on-line fans fury is testament to, but the ex-England international has surely made it worse by trying to claim that "the tweet sent out from my account involving a picture of a car was totally accidental. It happened whilst driving and my phone was in my pocket."

Now in addition to the suggestion of contempt for the ordinary fan, he either thinks that the world is full of gullible idiots or is arrogantly confessing to a serious traffic offence. So as someone who spends a lot of time driving in the West Midlands, I'm hoping that he's lying about the accidental Tweet as Lescott's phone would have had to perform the following all by itself...

• Phone unlocked
• Twitter app opened
• Icon to send tweet selected and pressed
• Add image icon selected and pressed
• Image from album selected and pressed
• Click to upload image into tweet selected
• Tweet sent

Not very likely is it?