Chapter 11 - Final Comments

Summary

This final chapter brings together the major themes of the book, connecting them to wider social and political trends. The establishment of agencies like the UKSA in Britain and ASP in France have been heralded as ways to make it more difficult for politicians to manipulate statistics and statisticians. However, it is recognised that a similar agency is unlikely to be established in the USA. There is little established culture of national agencies and individual states wish to preserve their freedom from state control. We discuss whether the growing distrust of politicians represents a post-truth era. We stress that statistical agencies do not want to establish fixed statistical truths but they are like practical Popperians: seeking to eliminate error, judging better from worse statistical estimates and warning against absolute judgements. In the course of the book, especially in the biographical chapters, heroes and villains inevitably arise. The villains are often populist politicians with mega-personalities and a low sense of truthfulness. The heroes are ‘grey’ backroom statisticians, standing in the way of powerful politicians. It is time to recognise the value of heroic non-celebrities.