Showing results by author "Georgina Sturge" in All Categories

Not all statistics are created equal. Take a look behind the scenes and you'll discover that even most official data isn't the solid bedrock we think it is. It's patchy, inconsistent, full of guesswork and uncertainty—and it's playing an ever-bigger role in policy decisions. Bad Data takes the listener on that behind-the-scenes journey, guided by House of Commons Library statistician Georgina Sturge. Revealing the secrets of a world that is usually closed off, it will show how governments of the past and present have been led astray by bad data.

Georgina Sturge, House of Commons Library statistician and author of the critically acclaimed Bad Data, explores the rich history of the times the UK has counted itself—from the revolutionary first census of 1801 to modern worries over technological surveillance. Full of fascinating social detail, Sum of Us draws out the human stories captured in the vast tangle of data the UK has collected over two centuries. It provides a vital snapshot not of who we imagine ourselves to be—but who we really are.