More Mail Maths - Knock Poland Volume 234

I've ranted about the DM's dodgy use of stats before. It doesn't matter to the brain dead followers of the evil rag as they just read the headlines (the ORTHs) and their prejudices are gently massaged.

I followed this story for 24 hours and was surprised to see that even the DM moderators allowed some criticism as some people saw through the dishonest reporting. It is written by James Slack. If you care to look at his previous articles you will see he has form for such stories. He is obsessed with benefit cheats and immigration.

Five Chinese Crackers again details the twisted figures here, so I will concentrate at pulling to pieces the oddbods that post on the site. Encouragingly, on this occasion (why not on other occasions?) there was some dissenting feeling.

The basis of the headline is that half of Poles want to stay here. The question of whether this is a good thing or not is not the important point here; it is the manipulation of stats to suit the hidden agenda. How do they sleep?

'Immigrants here for good': Half of Poles plan to stay in UK is the actual heading.

By the opening paragraph this is reduced to

• 'Almost half of the million Polish immigrants now in Britain could stay permanently (my emphasis).

By paragraph two the situation becomes more/less clear:

• Researchers found that 15 per cent of those who had arrived here since the expansion of the EU in 2004 had decided to remain for good.

Now I know educational standards are falling (as the Mail tells us) but under what mathematical system is 15% equating to 50%? The next illuminating sentence fills us in:

• A further 30 per cent are thinking about staying

So......add 15 to 30....er....=45 which is almost 50%. Don't go into James Slack's shop and expect the right change. If his service skills are as piss poor as his journalism, you'd be best avoiding his little shop of horrors.

Over to the masses....a mixed bag...no anti-Pole Jacqui Weems, but her cousin makes an appearance!

• Not biased reporting by any means... what about the 1/2 million Brits flooding OUT of the country? And how many have left the UK for Poland? It all swings and roundabouts...- James, Expat, Warsaw, Poland

Well said.

• Because we are the softest of countries, I find it hard to believe that only HALF of them wish to stay permanently. I always wondered why it's so hard for me to find a nice little job.- Julie, UK

Julie is not taken in by these figures. No, she thinks the 50% figure is too low! How do you walk Julie with all that hatred resting on your shoulders?

• Blah blah blah...this Pole-bashing is getting boring. Perhaps instead of picking on hard working people who are simply trying to have a better life than their own pitiful government can provide, you should be looking at why so many unemployed British people aren't taking these jobs. Probably because they're badly paid and therefore entitle the employee to top-up benefits. Go after the employers and the system, not after people who are just claiming what they are entitled to.- Karina, Szczecin, Poland

• How does the 15% replying that they want to stay, get turned into the 50% in your headline??At least these people are here to work and pay taxes and so on. Poles seem to be taking the jobs that British people don't want. We need to sort out our lazy teenagers who refuse to work, migrant workers aren't the problem.- Louise Orton, London, UK

Well said Louise. How did this get published?

• Is this a bad thing? We are responsible for fewer crimes than British born people in London.- Franciszek Weems Nvo, Lodz, Poland

Jacqui 'they're all taking over' Weems leaves the talking to her distant cousin from Poland. are you sure you should be joining Hurwood's NVO? They cheat, rewrite history and crush dissent.

• Unfortunately I wouldn't trust a Polish person, through experiencing the numerous lies and excuses I have encountered trying to do business with them over the years. As for information packs I suggest they should stipulate adequate use and knowledge of the English language, also any qualifications not recognised in the UK be dismissed, as most and including driving licenses etc are obtained underhandedly. If the handouts here were harder to obtain I wonder how many would chose to stay.- Bronx, Bristol ,England

Nothing like sweeping generalisations and foaming bigotry to win an argument.......

• How long will English remain the national language?- Kenneth, London

Don't worry Kenneth, we'll wait until you've gone before we change the language. What an asshole.