Misperceptions

[electric454]

make of this what you will, when i tried it i got 3 right.

[andy at handiwork]

3 for me as well, but of the rest I was 'only just' wrong, if you see what I mean.

[electric454]

yes, I like to think i was in the right areas too

[Essex Lad]

I got 5 but the bastards deducted one point for getting the last one wrong.

i don't believe the answer to this question for one second:

Crime: During the period from 2006/07 to 2012, did crime increase or decrease in the UK? What about violent crime?
Your answer: Overall crime and violent crime both decreased

Correct. Incidents of crime were 19% lower in 2012 than in 2006/07 and 53% lower than in 1995. Violent crime has fallen from almost 2.5 million incidents in 2006/07 to under 2 million in 2012.

[Gentleman]

Considering it took away 2 points I ended up with 3 points.

[Sam Slater]

7/10.

I put foreign aid at 0.4%, percentage of migrants at 3.1% and pensioners at 26%.

[David Johnson]

Thanks for the link

Got two wrong. Overestimated the percentage of the population over 65. Underestimated the turnout at the last election.

[cockneygeezer2009]

Got 5 out of 10

The way the crime figures are collated means that crime figures have gone down but actual crime has gone up. Due to a bigger population, constant new laws to break and other social factors.

Governments (started with Thatcher's) changed the way crime figures were collated to prove they are getting crime down (which they weren't). The next Labour government after Thatcher also amended the way crime figures were collated.

If crime statistics were compiled the way before Thatcher changed them, crime figures would most probably show a steady annual increase in crime rates, as they have done since 1950.

[Essex Lad]

Spot on.

I also read somewhere that if people were imprisoned now for the same crimes that would have got them banged up in the early 60s then the prison population would be about ten times greater than it is. Tony Blair introduced more than 3,000 new laws of which 1,000 or so carried a prison sentence.

[Sam Slater]

Ha......you were wrong so it must be the statistics.

Except, crime is down right across the western world. As much as I'd like to, you can't blame Thatcher for the crime statistics in France, Canada or Denmark. And please remember, similar studies taken by universities and other independent organisations have all reported similar statistics.

And even if it had risen, we have to take into account population growth, many more crimes being detected due to better police work and technological advances, and willingness to report crimes much more when it comes to domestic and sexual abuse (children and adults), racial crimes and general violence. Despite all these things, crime levels have, overall, decreased.

Of course, the perception of crime has gone up, and I'd like to wager there's a strong correlation with the rise of 24 hour news channels.

But then Dave the butcher at my local says it's all bollocks, so he must be right.