STATISTICS FOR HISTORIANS

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Private Eye's front cover following the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Image from Wikipedia Commons.

Start Reading Private Eye Magazine

Private Eye magazine is never afraid of pointing out double standards and ghoulish behaviour. It also uncovers corruption, excess, lies and truths which certain people and organisations would rather be suppressed. In addition it is guaranteed to make most decent people laugh. To find out about yearly international subscriptions go to www.subsonline.co.uk 

• What's Going On?

For anyone interested in the real socio-political situation, as opposed to that caddied by the spin doctors and PR companies of people and organisations with vested interests, Private Eye magazine is a must. In addition to telling you how it is -- and printing stories that other “newspapers” (to use the term lightly) choose to ignore -- Private Eye magazine’s cartoons and capers will have you laughing aloud. Its jocular ethos (you have to laugh otherwise you’d cut your own wrists) is concomitant with its high journalistic standards. Historians and those interested in any aspect of world economics, society or politics would be wise to check Private Eye’s archives for fresh perspectives on any subject of interest.

• Number Crunching

Here are the number crunching statistics reproduced in Private Eye’s 1271st edition which was published 30 September 2010. (To make them more reader friendly for international readers we have added our own commentary to the statistics.

1. £2 billion undercharged to tax payers in the UK. This amount “cannot afford” to be written off by Her Majesty’s Tax Collectors. £6 billion of tax avoided by Vodafone and already written off by Her Majesty’s Tax Collectors.
2. $200 million from USA in aid to flood victims in Pakistan. $20,000 million demanded by USA in compensation for BP’s oil-spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
3. 200 protesters against Tony Blair at the warmonger’s book signing in Dublin. These protesters had Tony Blair decide not to hold a similar book signing in London. *1,000,000protesters against the war in Iraq on the streets of London in 2003. They had no impact on the warmonger who could not wait to get started. *Private Eye is using the official estimate figure here, but other sources claim 2,000,000 and as attenders of this and other marches held in London we would agree with the larger figure.
4. 6% to be cut off the welfare bill by George Osborne in October’s spending review. George Osborne plans to make 600,000 public sector workers unemployed over the next six years.
5. **771,000 average viewing figure for Larry King in 2010. 1,400,000 viewing figure for Channel 5’s Nature Shock – Killer Squid Invasion. ** This piece was entitled Moron Crunching as opposed to Number Crunching

Image from Wikipedia Commons - Peter Mandelson known to manipulate the British and International press but had no luck with the Private Eye magazine