Straight Statistics Articles RSS Feed

Civilian deaths in Afghanistan: a different perspective

nigel.hawkes — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:46:04 +0000

Sheila Bird and Clive Fairweather

The leaked reports about the war in Afghanistan that have emerged this week show that NATO forces have killed more civilians than previously acknowledged.

Prisoner escorts in Scotland: getting better value

nigel.hawkes — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:12:43 +0000

Sheila Bird

The Scottish Government is currently considering tenders for a seven-year contract to transport prisoners around Scotland.

Home births unjustly maligned

nigel.hawkes — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:32:53 +0000

Nigel Hawkes

Earlier this month, lots of media attention was paid to a new analysis concluding that giving birth at home tripled the chances of the baby dying.

Critiqueofthemeta-analysisbyWaxetal_7July2010.pdf

The case of the missing COINS

nigel.hawkes — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:13:49 +0000

Nigel Hawkes

In line with a promise made before the election, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchquer, made available on 4 June the Treasury’s COINS database.

WGA file - HM Treasury.pdf

Combat deaths in Afghanistan: the UK's disproportionate sacrifice

nigel.hawkes — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:54:16 +0000

Sheila Bird

The latest data on combat deaths in Afghanistan show that the gap in fatality rates between the UK and the US has widened still further.

Dame Deirdre’s still-unanswered questions on swine flu

nigel.hawkes — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:46:09 +0000

Sheila Bird

Dame Deirdre Hine’s report on the 2009 Influenza Pandemic makes a strong appeal for publication of the analyses on which the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) relied, a

Flu deaths: a triumph of statistics, not virology

nigel.hawkes — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:21:52 +0000

Nigel Hawkes

Dame Deirdre Hine’s report on swine flu, published last Friday, acquits all involved of blame for spending £1.2 billion on a pandemic that turned out to be mild.

Will benefit cuts cost lives?

nigel.hawkes — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:54:37 +0000

Nigel Hawkes

As the Treasury sharpens its knife and goes in search of benefit cuts, researchers at Oxford and London have published an interesting analysis of the effects of welfare on mortality.

Iffy maths from the TUC on pensions

nigel.hawkes — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:32:25 +0000

Nigel Hawkes

The TUC, apparently reluctant to believe George Osborne’s promise to pensioners in his Budget, issued a press release on Saturday claiming that the old would have been better off over the n

Recent military fatalities in Afghanistan: change to 10-weekly reporting

nigel.hawkes — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:25:00 +0000

Sheila Bird

Clive Fairweather and I have reported 20-weekly on a) militar