David Spiegelhalter says UK Government are not “treating the audience with respect”
David Spiegelhalter: “Frankly I found it completely embarrassing. We get told lots of big numbers in precise numbers of tests being done... 96,878. Well, thats not how many were done yesterday. That includes tests that have been posted out. We’re told 31,587 people have died. No they haven’t, it is far more than that. So, I think this is... actually... not trustworthy communication of statistics and it’s such a missed opportunity. There is a public out there who is broadly very supportive of the measures they are hungry for details, for facts, for genuine information. And yet they get fed this... what I call ‘number theatre’ which seems to be co-ordinated, you know, by a No. 10 communications team—rather than genuinely trying to inform people about what’s going on. I just wish that the data was being brought together and presented by people who really know it’s strengths and limitations and could treat the audience with some respect.”