Daily Express talks bollocks by shoutingatco.ws

The thing we love about the Daily Express (a publication we too frequently ignore, despite it being almost as mental as the Mail, only without the SEO budget) is that when they talk shit in a headline, they tell you right in the article what they’ve done.

This headline screamed out: 70% OF BRITONS ON ‘INCAPACITY BENEFITS’ FOUND TO BE FIT TO WORK

And then right there in the third paragraph:

Early results showed that 29.6 per cent of claimants were found to be fit enough to get a job and support themselves rather than sponge off the taxpayer.

If you showed “70%” and “29.6%” to a child that hadn’t even formed the ability to count, they’d probably tell you that they were different, and that the Express journo who wrote the article is a drooling bumhead.

And a further 39 per cent were deemed to be able to work if they were given the right advice and support.

So there’s where their 70% comes from. So already, they’ve lumped together the actual skivers with people who, after months of careful support, could possibly return to work. Flying start.

So far, two pilot-testing schemes have been launched in Aberdeen and Burnley. Results from 1,347 tests in those areas found that 399 claimants were fit for work.

As for the survey itself, they’ve only looked into 1,347 people in two places. From that, they’ve decided that the results of the pilot scheme are representative of all 2.6m claimants in the entire UK. Doesn’t really work like that: It’s representative of people in Aberdeen and Burnley. And having been to both of those places, I wouldn’t want them representing me in anything but an inbreeding and racism competition.

It could be that Burnley has a high proportion of skivers, for whatever reason. It’s colder than Pingu’s bell-end in Aberdeen in winter, so nobody could be blamed for wanting to stay at home for a few months.

A piss poor attempt at riling up some middle-class rage at the expense of those who don’t work. Especially brilliant for those who don’t have anything obviously wrong with them: If you can’t put a plaster on it, then it’s one of those funny modern illnesses. Nothing like that in my day.

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