MAIB Roasted

As they say, 94.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Another use of my favourite title "How to Lie With Statistics". I presented one to my over honest Boss. He was bemused.

Except of course if the MAIB is manned with surplus MOD types. Well, it's all hush hush. Official Secrets Act and all theat rot. Some section D stuff undoubtedly. Can't talk. And led by Sir Humphrey Appleby of course.
 
Or an old chestnut that I only heard recently;

A statistician is lying on his bed, one hand in a freezer and the other in the oven. When asked how he was feeling he replied,

"On average, I feel fairly comfortable" /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Sounds about on a par with the rest of this governments management of information.

Think up a policy and then produce a judicious mixture of lies and statistics to support the policy and use official secrecy to avoid exposure.

Sons of bachelors
 
Re: another one

[ QUOTE ]
a lady was pregnant for her fourth child

she was very worried as one statistician told her that in the world one newborn out of four is Chinese

/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
There's four of us in my family, so one must be Chinese. It's not me, or my brother David. It might be my sister Lee Wu Ling, but I think it's my other brother, Colin.

I think it was Peter Kay who came up with that.
 
Re: another one

[ QUOTE ]
Tommy Cooper /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
I sit corrected. And, yes, that makes more sense - I can almost hear him saying it.
 
How do they reconcile the MAIB's statement "we compiled a register" with the Information Comisioner's statment "The Commissioner is satisfied that... the MAIB... does not hold the requested information on a database"

I believe that a register IS a kind of database, whether it's held on computer or in paper format. So the Information Commissioner seems to be saying that the MAIB was lying.

Why doesn't he say so more clearly. Surely it's not a good thing if public bodies are found to be lying?
 
I would be very reluctant to compare an organisation's ability to compile statistical data with the work done by individuals within the organisation... The MAIB Inspectorate consists of genuinely experienced seafarers from a variety of backgrounds, who have received training in accident and incident investigation, and enjoy fairly considerable powers to investigate. I imagine that statistical data will not be managed by Inspectors, but by administrative staff (albeit under the direction of the Chief and his Deputy). I suspect that some inaccurate data manipulation and/or assumptions are at the root of this little hiccup, and I am reasonably assured that it does not cast doubt on the quality of the work undertaken by individual inspectors in the compilation of their reports.

I can't see how the OSA would apply, and as to whether there's an agenda behind this, we can only hope that the RYA will once again valiantly fight our corner to a successful conclusion, just as they did over two-stroke outboards, red diesel, and the like.

Oh, hang on a bit, I'm not sure about that last sentence...
 
[ QUOTE ]
Oen wrote - '....whether there's an agenda behind this....'

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
MAIB website - 'The head of the MAIB, the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents, reports directly to the Secretary of State for Transport.'

[/ QUOTE ]

Most worthy orgs have plenty of worthy staff doing worthy work. The published work of the MAIB is increasingly influential in opinion-forming, and those who manage this Branch of the DoT will be well aware of this. In all walks of life, that's a temptation to those who 'know better than' us to use the system in order to advance an agenda. There are plenty of examples ( burying bad news, the 'Dodgy Dossier', Dr Kelly/Hutton Inquiry, illegal immigrants' deportation), many of them attributable to the current political dispensation, and this will not be lost on civil servants climbing up the greasy pole, such as "....administrative staff (albeit under the direction of the Chief and his Deputy...."

If the Chief Officer of the MAIB - Mr Stephen Meyer, a career civil servant - signed off something as significant as that reported, and if it's right, we need to know. If it's wrong, we need to know even more. Otherwise, the output of MAIB will be labelled by me and many others as a propaganda tool - regardless of the worthy work of some individuals. It would not be the first time in living memory that the honest, valid work of technical specialists has been 'doctored' by their masters, to fit an agenda.

I'm with Tim Bartlett on this. He has formally asked for Information, in order to assess the validity of conclusions and/or inferences. That is his right - and yours and mine - under Statute. He has been refused by an administration which may now have something ( someones' reputation? ) to hide or protect. Every time, in my lifetime, an administration has tried to hide something, it has turned out to be something contrary to the public interest. That's you and me, folks.

I want to know - and I want Tim Bartlett to know - what it is that he has asked to know. And I don't want public servants paid by us to be giving him or me 'the finger'.

I have written to Mr Meyer, requesting information justifying his claim. Others on here may care enough about the issues - both in respect of our marine safety and for our good and honest governance - to send the MAIB an email of request under the FOI Act 2000.

Should Mr Meyer again fail to respond, then I shall certainly take it up with my MP; perhaps he can elicit a formal Written Reply.....


/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
MAIB has been caught with its pants down and we need to get to the bottom of this /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif.

Seriously, though, full marks to Tim, who rightly surmised that MAIB was using figures which included repetitions and irrelevancies and were misleading. This is not the first time this has happened with marine statistics and government agencies. There is an agenda and a number of very influential people seem to be party to it.
 
Dunno the exact phrasing of Tim Bartlett's request - but the Information Commissioner's response is inadequate. No need for a database, MAIB should be able to provide source info for each 'incident' it recorded (whether press, CoastGuard, RNLI etc.), I think the question should be asked again but more inclusively written.
 
[ QUOTE ]
There is an agenda and a number of very influential people seem to be party to it.

[/ QUOTE ]

James, Can you elucidate, save the rest of us making less well informed guesses?

Steve
 
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