Lies, damned lies, and statistics

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” This quote was attributed to Benjamin Disraeli by Mark Twain, and Disraeli is as good an originator as any, even though no evidence exist that Disraeli ever said it.

The quote does however ring in my ears when I read the reporting on the British Office for National Statistic’s recent survey of about 250000 Britons concerning their households.

The survey has come to the astonishing conclusion that there are a combined number of gay and bisexuals of 1.5%. An earlier 2004 survey conducted by the Treasury spoke of between 5-7 percent.

Conservative minister comes out; another Tory minister will sue for outing; David Yost driven off Power Rangers set by homophobia

Following the previous coming out of the American conservative Ken Mehlman, the Tory MP for Reigate constituency here in the UK, Crispin Blunt, has come out of the closet. Earlier he announced that he was going to separate from his wife of 20 years and “come to terms” with his homosexuality. Mr Blunt is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Prisons. Like his American counterpart, Mr Blunt has a chequered history in gay equality issues, with votes against the equalisation of age of consent and votes against gay adoptions. Mr Blunt is also the uncle of actress Emily Blunt.

Following Mr Blunts coming-out to a not so welcoming LGBT-community, another cabinet minister is considering legal action about gay-rumours about him. His position is, concerning threats to out him by bloggers, that he’s not buggering anyone and never has. Basically.

Buggering is dangerous, which the star of Power Rangers David Yost found out. The actor was basically driven off the show by the producers, actors and writers. In a video interview on the site linked, Yost explains how he was nearly driven to suicide by the others, before he walked off the set one day.