A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
The phrase “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” usually alludes to the persuasive power of statistics to bolster weak arguments . . . it is also sometimes colloquially used to doubt statistics that have been used to prove an opponent's point.
A writer using a nom de plume of “Disraeli” saidjust this in an online response to a earlier this week which criticised political commentary that the Hamilton West by-election portended a likely loss for Labour at the general election next year, because it was such a low turnout; and repeating a view that our own councillors and Mayor could not claim a mandate from a majority of the voting public either.
With the statistics involved widely available and straightforward, if you're not into election fraud conspiracies, it seems our “Disraeli” was questioning the argument they were being applied to.
The comment would not normally have also made the opinion page, because it was anonymous, but its online appearance elicited interesting responses so they are published on today's page, with this editorial response as well.
Yes, it would have been better if the writer had used their name — this one usually does — and yes it was a bit derogatory and could have been “trashed” rather than published. Seeing the lighter side, your editor decided to publish.
And yes, “Disraeli” could usefully have provided an explanation. That might have been something like:
Strong voter turnout bolsters democracy but it takes a very low turnout, especially if due to some kind of suppression or swathes of society forgoing their vote because of undemocratic actions, to raise issues of legitimacy. Winners of free and fair elections do have mandates from the people who choose to vote, especially when their winning margin is large and for the policies they campaigned on. And the National candidate winning 46 percent of votes cast in the Hamilton West by-election, to just 30 percent for the Labour candidate, in an election where there was no Green Party candidate, is another indicator —alongside a slump in recent polling — that Labour might struggle to win a third term in Government next year.
The origin of the phrase “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is unclear but American writer Mark Twain (ironically, a pen name for Samuel Clemens) popularised it and himself attributed it to British politician Benjamin Disraeli . . . it doesn't appear in any of Disraeli's works or published statements, though, and earliest known appearances were after his death.
