...and statistics
'On a gloomier note, 55 is the time when most men commit suicide....' (Virginia Ironside, Woman, 23 April)
What Miss Ironside presumably meant was not that the majority of men start killing themselves once they get to their mid-50s, but that more 55-year-olds commit suicide than any other compara- ble age group. But the Office of Popula- tion Censuses and Surveys was unable to say how her statement was arrived at anyway. It has figures for only five-year bands among age groups. The 35-39 age group in 1985 (the latest year for which figures are available) contained the most suicides.
(120 goes to Mr F. G. Freeman, Liver- pool) 'Industrial action by teachers may be one reason why slightly fewer State school pupils gained places at Oxford this year, the university said yesterday. Of the record intake of 3,100 under- graduates set to begin studies in Octo- ber, 45 per cent are from State schools and 47 per cent from independents. Last year, the percentage of State en- trants was 45.6.'
(Daily Telegraph, 21 April)
Oxford University pointed out that 1988's entrants (3,100) were 21 per cent up on last year's and that there were actually more State school entrants this year. The University added that the above report, which was not based directly on its own press release, 'bore no useful relation to the facts we re- leased'.
(10 goes to Alastair James, London El)
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