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Lies, damn lies and political statistics

Some political leaflets dropped through the letterbox today and I was initially angry and then dismayed by what I read. The local Labour group in Rossendale is complaining that they get less funding than wealthier parts of Southern England. They used this graphic to demonstrate the shortfall.

The headline grabbing statistic is that Surrey received 100x more funding that Rossendale. Even the more dim-witted parts of the electorate should be able to see that Rossendale (the tiny red-coloured speck in the North) is significantly smaller than the Surrey (the large blue blob in the South).

A fairer comparison would have been to compare the per capita spending.
According to Wikipedia Surrey has a population of 1,058,000 and Rossendale has a population of 65,652. Based on this, Surrey still receives significantly more funding than Rossendale (but only 16x more).

An even fairer comparison would be to compare Lancashire County Council with Surrey County Council. County Councils, such as Lancashire or Surrey are responsible for funding the local Fire and Police Services as well as libraries, schools, social care, road building and so on. Lancashire County Council takes much of this burden away from Rossendale, so the figures in the graphic are effectively meaningless.

I don’t mind receiving information through the post, I like to keep well-informed. Sadly the above image isn’t designed to inform the electorate. I’m insulted that the local Labour group thinks that I’m stupid enough to take it at face value.

I’d be very interested to see a central government funding comparison (per capita) comparing Surrey and Lancashire.

Christmas Greetings from “The Bishops”

Dear everyone,

It’s that time of year again and despite appearances, we haven’t “forgotten” to write cards, we’ve decided to donate our card/postal money to charity again. This year my Mum had a stroke during the summer so we’ve decided to donate our money to the Stroke Association, which is dedicated to improving the lives of people who have been affected by a stroke.

Apart from Mum’s bad news, Dad has also been in and out of hospital having lower back surgery for arthrosclerosis. Thankfully he’s recovering well. I’ve been in hospital too, for a second ankle fusion operation. I’m very hopeful that this second fusion will mean an end to ankle pain and a return to better mobility in 2016. Sarah’s Dad’s been in hospital too and thankfully he’s improving. All we can say is “thank goodness for the NHS” 🙂

Now for the better news…. James and Katie are both doing well at school. James is now in 2nd year seniors and Katie takes her 11+ in January. They both seem to be enjoying school as well as Scouting, swimming and playing in the school band. James has taken up Rugby, so the World Cup was a good way to kindle his enthusiasm (until England crashed out that is). Both James and Katie took up sailing when we had a week away in Scotland and they’re hoping to carry on with that next year.

Here are a few pictures of the year:

Here is our now (almost) traditional annual “Elf Yourself” video.

Lots of love and Christmas cheer from

Richard, Sarah, James and Katie.

Twilight, fl.ux and Light Dims

It’s widely accepted that bright lights, especially blue-tinged lights from tablets, smartphones and PCs are contributing to sleep deprivation. Articles such as “Bright Screens Could Delay Bedtime” in Scientific American and “Screen reading before bed can ruin your sleep” on wired.co.uk all describe how screen reading late at night can disrupt sleep patterns and lead to poor health.

Twilight and fl.ux

I’m a bit of a screen junkie and I decided that I’d try to improve my own sleep patterns. I installed Twilight onto my Android phone and fl.ux onto my PC and laptop. These applications keep track of the local sunset times and add a red hue to the screen after sunset. I’m not 100% sure whether this has improved my sleep patterns yet, but it does serve as a useful prompt to switch my screen off when my eyelids start to droop! 😉

Light Dims

The other thing that annoys me at home is my alarm clock radio. It casts a bright green light across the bedroom and I can even see the brightness through closed eyelids. I’ve tried sticking Post-it notes over the display, but this isn’t ideal. To reduce the problem of night-time glare I ordered some “Light Dims” online. Despite coming from America, delivery was only $0.99 (£0.65) and the stickers arrived within a few days. I fitted a sticker over my alarm clock display and one on the TV LED in the bedroom. I’m pleased to say that they do exactly what the website says.

Night-time glare is much reduced, I’m looking forward to better sleep patterns 🙂