1. “If you use your phone whilst driving you are 4 x more likely to have an accident”

This was said in a UK Govt. commercial radio Ad on road safety. I boggled about this ‘statistic’ for some minutes when I first picked it up. Is it that of every 100 accidents, in 80 of them use of a mobile phone in a vehicle was an instrumental cause? Is it that one is 4 times more likely to have an accident than to win the lottery? Than to get shot dead????

2. “97% of Britain’s wildlife has been lost”

This is a TV Ad from a Charitable Society seeking donations. Is it that all but 3% of British wildlife cannot find its way home? I blame those people who built Stonehenge – taking stone across the country in a trail of havoc, and ruining habitats. Now there are only worms and moles left. How many wildlife were there in the first place? Who was counting at the time? The Rt. Hon. Lord Fossil Record?

Does this 97% loss include bacteria? Microbes? Our territorial limits out to sea from the coasts? Flying insects? Migratory wildlife? Introduced species?

3. “No Fake News Here – We Have Billboards Everywhere”

Seen on a Billboard near me offering for sale Ad space on Billboards. The creator of the strap-line is not an adept at writing and comprehending English language. A normal interpretation of the sense of the slogan seems to me to be saying that ‘if you want fake news, then go to our other billboards, which are everywhere”. At the very least, and to be generous, the second part is otherwise a non sequitur.

4. 20C Bus in Newport going to “Chruch Road” -

I witnessed at the weekend a bus travelling in Newport, my home city, and bearing this destination location in a pixelated electronic display. People often say ‘it would never have happened 50 years ago’ – and I do not recall ever having seen such a public thing as this in the 1960s?