tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-275164742012-01-31T17:57:34.041ZTrying to factcheck Polly Toynbee. Because her editor clearly doesn't.FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.comBlogger881100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-32752431676653923582006-12-31T10:17:00.001Z2007-02-22T13:19:02.474Z

Between May and December 2006, this blog detailed the factual errors in Polly Toynbee's columns.  I have now stopped doing this, but here are my favourite Toynbee errors for that period: 10. Polly implies that 142% of people are dissatisfied with Tony Blair [insert own joke]. 9. Polly asks of "Cameron's set" the following question: "Do they know the median (middle England) salary is just £21,000

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-73713583161635641002006-12-31T10:11:00.001Z2007-02-22T13:19:23.881Z

After eight enjoyable months, I'm going to mothball this blog.  This is not because Polly Toynbee has suddenly started using real facts that she undertsands -- on the contrary, her sloppiness and inaccuracy continue unabated. No, rather it is because I want to do other things more than I want to do this. This blog -- my first serious effort at concerted blogging -- was an experiment that was

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-19823545722738799182006-12-29T07:35:00.001Z2007-02-22T13:19:36.689Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes of: Restore the laws limiting media ownership by any one magnate, abolished by Margaret Thatcher to let Rupert Murdoch acquire his empire, so that he now owns over 40% of the press plus ever more dominant Sky. Thanks to my goof over circulation and readership, we've seen the results for both; News International has 32% of circulation and 36% of readership.

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-62874664302507569242006-12-22T07:55:00.001Z2007-02-22T13:19:47.352Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Thus Gordon Brown personally is well ahead of the three party leaders as "doing a good job". Blair's rating is -34, Cameron is -5 and Campbell -9. The MORI research actually has Brown on zero -- it says: Over two in five (42%) people say they are satisfied with Gordon Brown's performance with as many saying they are dissatisfied — giving a net

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-29157629899852528642006-12-19T09:00:00.001Z2007-02-22T13:20:17.229Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: But yesterday Hutton shook a threatening stick at those he regards as social-contract defaulters. He made a good case: one in 10 of those who draw jobseeker's allowance has spent six of the past seven years on benefits... In fact, he talked about 12 per cent according to the, er, Guardian, which is a lot closer to one in eight, and is certainly not one in

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-40196466390844800682006-12-15T08:07:00.001Z2007-02-22T13:20:30.802Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Political pessimists fear that nothing short of the catastrophic flooding of New York, with millions dead, will make the rich world understand that climate change really is the greatest global terror of all. Now the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development issues a warning on the future of the Alpine skiing industry. Could a lack of snow in

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-60180431619815964802006-12-12T00:52:00.001Z2006-12-12T00:53:34.980Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: ...if they [the Tories] regain power, they will at least be embarrassed if child poverty soars as it did last time (from one child in nine in 1979 to one in three by the time they left office). The last two times we had figures from Toynbee about child poverty in 1979, it was 14%, which is one in seven, and not one in nine. -o0o- She also writes: Tax

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-52102308949696618252006-12-08T01:52:00.001Z2006-12-08T07:18:09.660Z

In today's column (can't seem to find it online yet.  UPDATE it is now here) Polly Toynbee writes: Meanwhile the annual Rich List this week will show runaway wealth at the very top jumping up another 18.4%. (Maybe that's modest for self-made stars and private entrepreneurs, when the real scandal is CEOs of top public companies paying themselves 30% more this year.) The 18.4% increase in "runaway

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-6297822586457020082006-12-06T16:20:00.001Z2006-12-06T16:20:10.973Z

In a Comment is Free post today, Polly Toynbee writes: Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger drives his own Humvee in San Francisco - but it runs on hyrodrogen - so size may not always matter. It is nice to see a source, particularly as it makes the debunking that much easier.  According to the Forbes article that Polly refers to: Hummer's parent, General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ), owns the

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-72254999655753718072006-12-05T02:32:00.001Z2006-12-05T02:32:41.551Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Think of Easter Island and the history of its destruction, recounted by Jared Diamond in his book Collapse. The Easter Islanders became so obsessed with their own status symbols, the moai - the mighty stone statues for which their island is famous - that in erecting them they destroyed every tree that made life on the island sustainable, competing clan

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-55699042068905629532006-12-01T13:47:00.001Z2006-12-04T21:17:13.943Z

I am embarassed to admit that yes, I did indeed quote circulation figures to refute Polly's claim about readers.  Mea culpa. I was wrong. Readership figures for most major newspapers can be found here.  I do not have time right now to re-do the calculations, bu suggestions in the comments of previous posts suggest that the 40% figure is still wrong, but not as wrong as I claimed.  (I would note

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-71593605360898102962006-12-01T07:45:00.001Z2006-12-04T21:17:02.485Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes of: the old media ownership laws that Margaret Thatcher discarded to allow Murdoch to acquire his hegemonic 40% of all newspaper readership She's done the Murdoch/40% statistic before, of course, and so have we.  (UPDATE:  See also here.) -o0o- She also writes: At the very least, this is the time to make the pathetic Press Complaints Commission a

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-11441389359585881332006-11-30T01:25:00.000Z2006-11-30T01:32:39.333Z

I hate to once again bring up Polly Toynbee's column on Tuesday, and in particular this quote: FTSE CEOs helped themselves to 30% more this year, while their directors took 28% (against an average pay rise of 2.8%). They now earn at least 76 times the average pay of their staff, when in 1980 it was just 10 times. I have already addressed the figures in the first sentence, but take the

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-90802456224084711382006-11-28T08:23:00.000Z2006-11-28T10:59:24.060Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Yesterday, promoting their latest survey of 87 top executives, the CBI said two-thirds complain about tax. Only two-thirds? Who are the one-third who are happy with their taxes? The CBI claims the UK's "burdensome and expensive" tax system is a major factor for the 20% of firms that shifted some operations abroad and the 30% considering it. Again, what's

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-47392465935285703452006-11-27T16:23:00.000Z2006-11-27T16:24:53.513Z

Tom Papworth wants to know ten things I would never do, but doesn't think I'll answer.  Let me try and boost that self-esteem. Trust anything Polly Toynbee says at face value (obviously) Ignore facts when trying to make up my mind on difficult issues Assume that logic is the only way of persuading people of something Respect people who make accusations and then change the subject

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-30127194717838612762006-11-27T15:32:00.000Z2006-12-04T21:11:59.959Z

A couple of fellow bloggers -- Mr. Eugenides and Not Saussure -- were kind enough to think of me when they read a BBC profile of Polly Toynbee, which included this quote: Her editor at the Indie was Andrew Marr, a firm Toynbee admirer. "What makes her stand out as a journalist is not only her strong views," he says, "but also her ferocious appetite for research. In a media world in which too

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-32252806815438567832006-11-24T21:57:00.000Z2006-11-24T22:00:01.831Z

Polly Toynbee was on BBC1's Question Time last night, and she said: We saw child poverty in this country -- and this is all there in this document -- go from 14% in 1979 to 33%[you can watch it online here -- quote comes at about minute 38] She's used these figures before, of course, without noting the inconsistency between the two series from which the numbers are taken.  However, it's not

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-27662161327837314742006-11-24T05:56:00.000Z2006-11-24T05:59:26.252Z

On 19 February 2001, the Guardian carried an extract from Polly Toynbee and David Walker's book "Did Things Get Better?" which said: A quarter of the 4m poor children have been lifted out of poverty. On 29 October 2004, Polly wrote that: Through tax credits, most experts agree, a million children have been lifted out of poverty which is admirably consistent, though displays a

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-27520501466417449742006-11-22T20:32:00.000Z2006-11-22T20:33:38.990Z

Polly Toynbee writes on CommentisFree that: In 1979 14% of children lived below the poverty line: that rose to 33% by 1996. Sadly, these two figures come from two inconsistent sources -- the Family Expenditure Survey and the Family Resources Survey -- and cover different geographies -- the UK and Great Britain (source).

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-80614828562300284392006-11-22T13:16:00.000Z2006-11-22T13:21:48.228Z

Polly Toynbee was on the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning, being asked about Greg Clark's suggestion, reported in the Guardian, that she should replace Churchill as the inspiration for the Tory party's view of the welfare state.  She said that people were sick of: the city paying themselves a 28% pay increase this year and year after year after year (You can hear the interview via

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-17275440372310270152006-11-21T07:44:00.001Z2006-11-21T07:44:40.880Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes of Bolingbroke hospital that: [i]t has a day hospital for some 15 elderly patients, with out-patients and imaging diagnostics. This at best partial, it also provides a GP out of hours surgery, podiatry and community dental services (source). -o0o- She also writes that: ...empty wards cost a fortune, not counting the heat billowing out, which

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-59530745265002894392006-11-20T07:37:00.001Z2006-11-20T18:55:17.797Z

Today sees Polly's third appearance this month in the Corrections and Clarifications column, which picks up on my suggestion last Tuesday that Nick Gilodi-Johnson's father couldn't be the owner of Farepak, as he died over five years ago. It says: We gave the impression in a comment article that the owner of Farepack is the father of Nick Gilodi-Johnson (The Farepack scandal lays bare a

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-57861158699184161032006-11-17T08:14:00.000Z2006-11-17T18:13:17.024Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: The Nuffield's eminent group of professors of law, medicine and ethics drew up the guidelines... The group was actually wider than this. It also included campaigners, a doctor of social anthropology, a health economist, and a solicitor (source). She also says that: They recommend that babies born before 23 weeks should not be resuscitated, as only 1%

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-46350748182457472792006-11-14T07:27:00.000Z2006-11-14T07:30:06.850Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Occasionally the stage curtain is twitched back to expose the way things are. So true. After claiming a couple of times that City bonuses were £21bn (e.g. on 22 August and again on 15 September) -- a claim which I pointed out at the time was erroneous -- in today's column we get: When the trade minister Ian McCartney told MPs to fork out a day's pay

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-33546531720963388552006-11-13T22:21:00.000Z2006-11-13T22:22:52.512Z

In her column on Friday, Polly wrote: British women are odd: traditionally, in France, Germany and Italy women lean to the left and men lean rightwards; but in Britain the right only ever won on the women's vote. In 1979, 1983 and 1987, occasions on which the right can be have said to have won, men voted clearly for the Tories. In 1979, 45% voted Tory to 38% Labour, in 1983 it was 46% to 30%

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-68244377913440986332006-11-10T11:48:00.000Z2006-11-10T11:51:29.334Z

From today's column: Abolish the "provocation" defence for jealous men who kill their wives. versus John Reid's announcement yesterday of yet more criminal-justice legislation hardly feels like refreshment: Labour's 59 obsessive criminal-justice bills have often been repealed before they have been enacted.

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-61462468765429879672006-11-10T07:30:00.000Z2006-11-10T07:33:47.902Z

I suggested some months ago that I needed to take more breaks, and the evidence base is growing. While I was on a break last month, Polly wrote a piece entitled "Only a fully secular state can protect women's rights", which today prompted this correction: We said in a comment piece, Only a fully secular state can protect women's rights, October 17, page 33, that white parents had taken over

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-322188223204646232006-11-10T06:34:00.000Z2006-11-10T06:35:45.653Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: at the 2005 election women and men voted identically. Of course, the only way of getting to this is through polls, which are numerous and often contradictory.  But that should call therefore for greater precision when discussing results, not less.  There is indeed a source which claims that men and women intended to vote in almost identical ways --

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-11031817758812925062006-11-07T08:05:00.000Z2006-11-07T08:17:04.185Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Social mobility has come to a halt, crushed by this new era of mega-greed. Social mobility has come to a halt?  Even the much reported upon paper by Blanden, Gregg and Machin, called "Intergenerational Mobility in Europe and North America" (headlines included: 'UK low in social mobility league, says charity' in the Guardian) showed that for men born

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-53593487197233734612006-11-03T08:14:00.000Z2006-11-03T08:15:58.118Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes about a report "buried" by the DWP (here on their website), in which Lisa Harker: concludes with this overwhelming truth: "The major drivers of poverty - such as high levels of wage and wealth inequality - remain considerable impediments towards reaching the 2020 child-poverty target, suggesting that far greater changes to the distribution of wealth,

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-62734494761466437962006-11-02T08:45:00.000Z2006-11-02T09:17:16.140Z

In today's "Corrections and clarifications" column in the Guardian, there is this: A headline in last week's Catholic Herald read "Three days to save our Catholic schools", not "Three days to save our faith schools" (Government cowardice could be the death of us all, page 33, October 31). Which refers, of course, to Polly's most recent column, which I wrote about here. Clearly, I need to use

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-15108520628154719162006-10-31T06:25:00.000Z2006-10-31T08:28:42.394Z

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: parents still overwhelmingly oppose religious schools - by 64% in a Guardian/ICM poll. Actually, it's not parents, they don't oppose religious schools (but they do oppose state funding) and the, er, Guardian thinks that the timing of the poll may have affected the results: The survey reveals that following last month's terror attacks, the majority of

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-61863223800608396222006-10-27T08:32:00.000+01:002006-10-27T08:35:47.268+01:00

There's more from Polly's column today (see previous post for the bulk of it, though).  Polly writes: On behalf of shareholders, simple questions should be put: why do directors pay themselves obscene sums, a 28% rise in the boardrooms this year, all of it stolen from citizens' pension funds and Peps?[emphasis added] Compare that with this, from the Guardian on 2 October 2006:

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-61264974029020282562006-10-27T08:26:00.000+01:002006-10-27T08:27:46.911+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes about the proposed companies bill, and specifically a clause to require companies to disclose information about their suppliers.  She writes: The Financial Times all this week has run a loud and intimidating campaign against one clause, with a front-page splash and yesterday's thundering leader attacking industry minister Margaret Hodge. The subclause

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-3735268835178815402006-10-24T10:12:00.000+01:002006-10-24T10:34:32.582+01:00

In today's column about Velcade, Polly Toynbee writes: Disgracefully, Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, claimed at the weekend that he would prescribe the drug, adding an absurd promise that he would also "renegotiate" its price with the manufacturers. As if. Paying no attention to Nice's rebuttal, ITV's The Sunday Edition paraded three patients with bone-marrow cancer

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-23426911462466134012006-10-05T18:07:00.000+01:002006-10-05T18:08:30.275+01:00

I'll be taking a break until the end of October.

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-65754077179889585992006-10-03T06:36:00.000+01:002006-10-03T06:40:28.864+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee refers to the Coleshill Manor story. She thinks it employs a secret staff of 50 So secret, in fact, that they advertise for jobs (see here for Google's cache of a now expired job advertisment, which was running on 21 June). So secret that Michael Howard publicised his visit to it on election day 2005 (source). So secret that the Telegraph had a story about it

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-55852099237472954772006-09-29T07:20:00.001+01:002006-09-29T07:20:50.178+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee quotes extensively from: Deborah Mattinson, the chief executive of Opinion Leader Research A shame she doesn't bother to get the job title right. -o0o- She writes about Frank Luntz's polling exercise for Newsnight thus: He must have been excited by a spectacular item on Newsnight. The US pollster Frank Luntz explored the popularity of Labour's possible

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-90290179321390825882006-09-27T08:03:00.000+01:002006-09-27T08:05:20.959+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes of Blair's farewell speech: The deftness of his opening Cherie joke - "She won't run off with the bloke next door" - was all the reminder they needed. I'm enough of an old-fashioned pedant to think that when you put something between quote marks, it should be what someone actually said. Polly clearly disagrees. What Blair actually said was: "At least I

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-31885790482540313112006-09-26T08:17:00.000+01:002006-09-26T08:20:01.922+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Labour rules on the mandate of just a quarter of the electorate. Would that it were a quarter of the electorate, in fact it is comfortably below (source). And rules? Rules? I thought they governed. -o0o- His good idea this week has been devolving within Whitehall - at last creating a sensible divide between the board (ministers) setting the direction

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-67346306064039236292006-09-26T00:12:00.000+01:002006-09-26T00:14:04.496+01:00

On GU's Labour conference podcast yesterday (MP3 here), hosted by her colleague Mike White, Polly Toynbee said this (about 14m50s in): TOYNBEE: ... Tony Blair took such a very different view about Iraq to all of the rest of the people of Europe, who were 90% against going into Iraq, so it was we who stuck out like a sore thumb on that... WHITE: Ooh, I'm going to check that percent. You'd be wise

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-38196139982956498862006-09-22T10:29:00.000+01:002006-09-22T10:30:10.787+01:00

In today's column (see previous post for link), Polly also writes: There is a sharp difference between recent patients and those who draw their view only from media anecdotage or from bad-mouthing friends among the 1.2 million grumbling NHS staff. Polling shows that patients are overwhelmingly pleased with their GPs and hospitals - but voters who haven't used hospitals are unreasonably

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-87574227166167486562006-09-22T07:44:00.000+01:002006-09-22T07:45:26.184+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: If the Iraq analogy seems over the top, consider this: Ipsos Mori finds that attitudes towards the NHS are coloured by what voters already think of the government - not the other way round, as previously assumed. Disenchantment with the government translates into scepticism about the NHS. So all the reasons why Labour is slipping in support - Iraq and its

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-6740840494404156662006-09-19T15:46:00.001+01:002006-09-19T15:46:54.443+01:00

In a follow-up post, Polly Toynbee writes today that Sweden: [let] private schools enter the state system with state finding, now educating some 7% of pupils and that What he [Adonis] doesn't say is that the middle classes mostly use the private schools, with a drastic effect on making schools far more socially segregated than they were before. So, if private schools educate 7% of kids,

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-41422144827263081292006-09-19T01:32:00.000+01:002006-09-19T01:34:55.840+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Aware of the threat from a new young face after 12 years in office, Goran Persson tried to deflect criticism for staying too long by promoting fresh-faced young ministers, as Tony Blair has. Persson has not been prime minister for 12 years -- he has held the office since 22 March 1996 (source).

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1158302590656579312006-09-15T07:43:00.000+01:002006-09-15T07:43:57.133+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: With City bonuses this year at over £21bn, earnings themselves could and should be fairer We've done the lie about City bonuses and the £21bn before, of course, so forgive me for not repeating myself. -o0o- She also writes that: Is the tax system too complicated? The CBI and other rightwing critics protest at a "rococo" bureaucracy where

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1157799804251886582006-09-09T12:03:00.000+01:002006-09-09T12:26:32.350+01:00

On Comment is Free yesterday, Polly writes of Charles Clarke: Could he see a slender "plague on both your houses" window of opportunity open up? He wouldn't rule it out yesterday. Does Malvolio come to mind? Not unless you are confusing Malvolio and Mercutio, no.

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1157607071922001782006-09-07T06:31:00.000+01:002006-09-07T06:31:11.933+01:00

In a piece today on Comment is Free, Polly Toynbee writes: As for these polls, just remember that the same voters who say they don't want Blair to go yet are the ones who give him satisfaction ratings twice as bad as when Mrs Thatcher was toppled It's not the same voters 16 years on, of course, but more interesting is the "twice as bad" bit.  Thatcher left on 22 November 1990, and MORI

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1157473883987491452006-09-05T17:31:00.000+01:002006-09-05T17:32:27.226+01:00

On the 25th August, I took Polly Toynbee to task for writing that: it [Sweden] tops the international happiness league when in fact it doesn't.  In a piece for Dagens Nyheter (rough translation is the Daily News) yesterday, however, the language changes: På en global, hedonistisk skala har det här gjort er till ett av världens lyckligaste folk (trots det orättvisa ryktet om

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1157448902173563382006-09-05T10:35:00.000+01:002006-09-05T10:35:02.243+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: ...the NHS budget for tackling teen pregnancy has just been slashed from £18m to £5m. Hmm.  The Teenage Pregnancy Unit is, of course, part of the DfES and not the NHS (source). It is also misleading to imply that there is a monolithic central budget which represents the entirety of spending within the health service on teenage pregnancy.  As the

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1157072527269155412006-09-01T02:02:00.000+01:002006-09-01T02:02:07.506+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: But the US Senate has proved internet gambling can be banned, by refusing to license US companies and by banning banks and credit card companies from paying gaming sites anywhere in the world. When she last wrote about this, back on 21 July, she was merely predicting that the "US senate is about to outlaw online gambling by preventing credit

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1156836414492759982006-08-29T08:26:00.000+01:002006-08-29T08:33:24.826+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes that: Tipping the boat on one side, Stephen Byers' latest assault in the Times from the Blairite extreme is outrageously provocative, demanding to cement the future long after the leader has gone. [...]  Every word Byers wrote implied that Brown is some kind of old Labour warhorse waiting to hoist the red flag in Downing Street - even though Brown

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1156489072695854732006-08-25T07:57:00.000+01:002006-08-25T09:16:14.626+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee tells us that: it [Sweden] tops the international happiness league Which international happiness league?  Not this one, which asks about "life satisfaction", where it is Switzerland that tops the league table.  Not this one, which is the proportion of people saying they are happy less the proportion who say they are unhappy, where it is Iceland which

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1156230768877568602006-08-22T08:12:00.000+01:002006-08-22T08:12:49.143+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: This week City dealers' bonuses soared higher than ever, to £21bn, dwarfing the £3.3bn tax take from all their inheritances. No.  It's not just city dealers: "The ONS said the overall bonus figures cover the vast majority of Britain's companies, include [sic] bonuses to boardroom executives" says the, er, Guardian -- which also pegs the figure at

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1155976950783335882006-08-19T09:42:00.000+01:002006-08-19T09:42:31.026+01:00

Polly Toynbee has been given awards and honorary degrees over the course of her career.  I read a couple of the pieces celebrating these, including this when the Political Studies Association made her Political Journalist of the Year for 2003, this when Loughborough University made her Honorary Graduand in 2004 and this when Essex University made her a Doctor of the University. There at least

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1155810447337277362006-08-17T11:27:00.000+01:002006-08-17T15:07:17.246+01:00

WARNING: this post is lengthy and detailed, and does not relate to a recent column. Polly Toynbee appeared on Radio 4's Any Questions on the 14th July, 2006 (transcript). I would have blogged about it at the time, but I couldn't find the transcript immediately and I didn't want to rely on my memory to criticise. I did, however, stumble across the transcript on the web the other day, and

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1155629278372321382006-08-15T09:07:00.000+01:002006-08-15T09:07:58.756+01:00

Today's Polly Toynbee column has lots of broad assertions of opinion rather than poorly-researched facts.  However, this sentence is particularly troubling: A new Commission on Integration and Cohesion, launching this month, will be worthless unless its first recommendation is to end religious and ethnic segregation in schools. The commission is anything but new.  Charles Clarke

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1155274913202210142006-08-11T06:41:00.000+01:002006-08-11T06:41:53.276+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: The Institute for Public Policy Studies says migrants are profitable: for every £100 in taxes paid by the average British-born person, the average new immigrant pays £112. Migrants make up only 8.7% of the UK's population but pay 10.2% of its income tax. I think she means the Institute for Public Policy Research -- their press release with these

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1155021195505804232006-08-08T08:13:00.000+01:002006-08-08T08:13:15.810+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: He [Blair] has upped Britain's pledge in a tougher carbon trading regime for the second EU round. But since 1997 UK emissions are up 3%. If you look at National Statistics' Environmental Accounts Spring 2006 (pdf link here), and in particular table 2.3, you'll see that in 1997, the UK's total emissions of greenhouse gasses were 754,793 thousand

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1154183351119936592006-07-29T15:29:00.000+01:002006-07-29T15:38:14.956+01:00

With no columns in the Guardian this week, there has been little Polly Toynbee output to factcheck.  So I turn once again to Better or Worse? Has Labour Delivered?, the book Polly co-wrote with David Walker.  The challenge is to open it to a random page, and try to find a factual inaccuracy. On page 54 (my edition is a Bloomsbury paperback), Polly writes: In 2003 the child of a father in

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1153465636385481002006-07-21T08:07:00.000+01:002006-07-21T08:18:42.860+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Cowardice often hides behind "globalisation" as an excuse for inertia. Often it is the Americans who puncture the convenient myth of the helpless nation-state. Here's the latest example: the US senate is about to outlaw online gambling by preventing credit cards and banks paying out to gaming sites...  The US shows you can just ban the banks from

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1153197539448681202006-07-18T05:38:00.000+01:002006-07-18T05:49:57.636+01:00

Today's Polly Toynbee column says: The eyes of would-be nuclear builders, meanwhile, are on Areva, the French government- subsidised company building in Finland the first new nuclear station anywhere in decades. It might be instructive to compare that with this, from a column in the Guardian from August 2004: Nuclear has, however, found an important niche market in Asia. Of 27

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1152859705673460492006-07-14T07:48:00.000+01:002006-07-14T07:59:34.710+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee says: Party fundraising did for Chancellor Kohl, the man who united East and West Germany at great political and financial risk Actually, the scandal broke in 1999 (source), over a year after he was 'done for'.  He lost a general election in 1998, when the issue wasn't at all current (source). -o0o- Polly also says of the Tories' proposed cap on

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1152780306784628382006-07-13T09:45:00.000+01:002006-07-13T09:45:07.423+01:00

A little bit more on Tuesday's Polly Toynbee column.  As ever, actually taking the time to go back and read the source material has cast her gift for inaccurate précis into sharp relief.  Take this quote from her column: Crime Concern delivers many of those designed to draw in the children regarded as at highest risk of offending. On a Rochdale estate, it achieves a 70% fall in calls to

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1152600557780710982006-07-11T07:49:00.000+01:002006-07-11T07:49:18.186+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: The Audit Commission estimates that £42,000 on effective early interventions in children's lives from birth to adolescence spares £153,000 in incarceration. There are a number of problems with this sentence, and here is a guide to them: The Audit Commission estimates(1) that £42,000 on effective early interventions in children's(2) lives

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1152257136424382762006-07-07T08:25:00.000+01:002006-07-07T08:46:09.406+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbe writes: The Work Foundation points to these hard figures: in 1980 top directors in FTSE companies were paid 10 times the average worker in their companies. By 1990 the gap had multiplied to 31.5 times. And by 2002 the top dogs were paid an enormous 75.7 times more than their average employee. It is a statistical and social impossibility to pretend that we

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1151995850963340392006-07-04T07:50:00.000+01:002006-07-04T16:02:24.820+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee asks for an: open discussion about the danger of infinite inequality escalation. And she probably is looking for something more sophisticated than "it's OK, it is by definition finite."  So let's get into the facts.  Polly writes: In personal property and liquid assets, the top 10% owns half of everything. The bottom 50% of the population owns

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1151761594331248362006-07-01T14:46:00.000+01:002006-07-01T14:46:44.886+01:00

A delayed post about yesterday's column -- the result of a late flight and a heavy schedule.  Others have already pointed out that: Remember, before Labour there was no childcare, no nursery education and no Sure Start to help young families is of course twaddle, and that the evidence on Head Start is ambiguous (with a source, unlike, of course, Polly). It is interesting that when

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1151400767238750042006-06-27T10:32:00.000+01:002006-06-27T10:32:47.683+01:00

In today's column, Polly writes that: The government only just failed to pass the "incitement to religious hatred" bill because Blair himself accidentally failed to turn up to vote. Actually, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 did receive royal assent on the 16 February 2006 (source).  The government lost a vote on a proposed compromise between the government's version of the bill

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1151044344133119222006-06-23T07:32:00.000+01:002006-06-23T07:32:24.140+01:00

I clearly need to take more holidays. As an anonymous commenter pointed out here, there was much fuss during the week about Polly's inaccurate attempt to criticise a critic -- see http://www.stephenpollard.net/002642.html.  Today brings a correction from the Guardian here: In a column headed Britain is smiling, but it looks daggers at Labour, page 31, June 20, we accurately reported a

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1150422099113144322006-06-16T02:41:00.000+01:002006-06-16T02:41:39.253+01:00

FactcheckingPollyanna is on holiday until next Friday.

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1150174639528109592006-06-13T05:57:00.000+01:002006-06-13T05:58:40.796+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: The whole sector spends £25bn a year (the state spends £400bn). Actually, at £457bn, it's closer to £500bn (see Public sector finances, April 2006.  pdf link here).  Being right to the closest £100bn is quite a low bar for accuracy... She also says: Is it the same nostalgic delusion that led John Major to dismantle the railways,

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1149850932030590672006-06-09T12:02:00.000+01:002006-06-11T17:06:28.376+01:00

Today's column offers a wide selection of misquoted and misinterpreted statistics. Let's start with: Crime is in long-term decline, down 43% since 1995, according to the British Crime Survey (BCS) According to the Home Office, (pdf link here to Crime in England and Wales 2004/2005 -- oh, yes, by the way, it is worth noting, though Polly doesn't, that this only covers England and Wales):

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1149573942302219722006-06-06T07:05:00.000+01:002006-06-06T07:50:09.636+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: The latest Ipsos Mori poll yesterday put the Conservatives 10 points ahead, at 41%; only six months ago they were 10 points behind. And yet, when we look at, oh, I don't know, say the, er, Observer on the 18 December 2005, in a piece headlined: Tories seize nine-point poll lead This is from a MORI poll, conducted between 9 and 12 December 2005,

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1149436181818260862006-06-04T16:49:00.000+01:002006-06-04T17:25:56.616+01:00

Today, my copy of Better or Worse? fell open to page 209.  On it, Polly Toynbee and David Walker write: In February 2003, Tony Blair stepped in to make another of his eye-catching promises.  He pledged to halve the number of asylum seekers within six months. Actually, no.  This is how a Guardian report from 8 February 2003 characterised what he said: "I would like to see us

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1149234368322848052006-06-02T08:46:00.000+01:002006-06-02T08:48:16.536+01:00

Today's Polly Toynbee column says of the tax credit system: That means 20% will be overpaid and 10% will be underpaid. How bad is that? Not all that bad. The standard error rate of the social security system for means-tested benefits under all governments has always been around 10%. Actually, if you are overpaying 20% and underpaying 10%, that means an error rate of 30%, considerably

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148972833831033812006-05-30T07:29:00.000+01:002006-05-30T12:02:48.500+01:00

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes: Chris Smith is one of the few politicians to retire knowing he has done something brilliant - restoring free entry to museums and galleries, swelling attendances by 50%.I hadn't appreciated that a seat in the House of Lords counted as retirement, but anyway. Swelling museum attendance by 50% looks like quite a good thing, until you consult the official

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148623534649205732006-05-26T06:45:00.000+01:002006-05-30T11:54:41.503+01:00

In today's column, Polly wirtes about the by-elections to the Wyre borough Council in Lancashire. She writes: Last Thursday, two weeks after the main local elections, there was a byelection in Park Ward, the poorest in Lancashire and the second-safest Labour seat in the county; activists piled in to support a good local candidate. But they were shocked to lose, with a staggering 27% swing to

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148562437152493642006-05-25T14:07:00.000+01:002006-05-25T14:07:18.346+01:00

More opening of the book to a random page.  On page 190 of Better or Worse?, Toynbee and Walker write: "...by 2005 it [i.e. DFID] was pushing £9 out of every £10 in UK aid to low-income countries.  Half of DFID's bilateral aid went to Africa..." No.  According to the DFID's Statistics on International Development 2005 (aka SID), in 2004/5 DFID's total bilateral programme was £2.14bn, of

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148541745898498552006-05-25T08:22:00.000+01:002006-05-25T08:22:30.453+01:00

In a quiet fifteen minutes, I have discovered a new game -- opening my copy of Better or Worse?, the 2005 book written by Polly Toynbee and David Walker, to a random page and seeing how many dubious facts I could find.  This morning, it was page 78 (my copy is a Bloomsbury paperback). I found this quote: In the media they [apparently newspaper editors and BBC directors] controlled, they

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148372654639925932006-05-23T08:47:00.000+01:002006-05-23T09:27:00.610+01:00

Apologies again for the late discovery of today's column by Polly; I could not find it through www.guardian.co.uk's search feautre, and actually still can't as at the time of writing. It does, however, appear on CommentisFree here. She starts by saying: Here global warming is measured by how often the steel gates are closed; in 1987, it was only once every two years: now it's four times a year,

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148366434715519122006-05-23T07:28:00.000+01:002006-05-23T09:25:50.626+01:00

No column in the Guardian today, but I notice that Polly has contributed to the May/June issue of Progress magazine in the form of a column called Any Questions. From that column come this question and answer: If you were able to spend an hour with one dead, historical figure, who would it be and what would you ask them?Abraham – Could you be dissuaded from founding three world religions which

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148079446925283242006-05-19T23:14:00.000+01:002007-11-02T20:36:06.066Z

In a post today on CommentisFree, Polly writes of people who criticise her anonymously: Tell me something else, how many of you bother to buy the Guardian? Here we are, the only non-profit paper with no megalomaniac owner, like all newspapers in need of paying readers at a time when the press is in decline.Given that the paper loses money and the website makes money, I would be positively

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1148024013795045412006-05-19T07:46:00.000+01:002006-05-19T08:33:33.893+01:00

On days like today, I feel disappointed I elected to critique factual accuracy rather than, say, writing style. In today's column, potatoes are launched, and herrings hijack. She manages to speak to the energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, and she writes: So I asked Malcolm Wicks the vital question.The vital question, it turns out, is this: Will nuclear power get any special inducement not offered

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1147765265552561652006-05-16T08:28:00.000+01:002006-05-18T13:38:58.276+01:00

Today's column is relatively free from fiction masquerading as facts (they are, of course, all relatively free of facts). However, Polly makes up for it by mangling a quote. Consider this quote from Pollyanna's column: Professor Roger Silverstone, of the LSE, calls the research hopeful, "revealing the emergence of a dynamic, socially engaged and environmentally conscious" voter - not a few, but

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1147417683139804422006-05-12T07:49:00.000+01:002006-05-15T23:39:33.190+01:00

Today's column, on the right to die, contains this quote: In the polls, over 80% support the right to die and have done for the last 25 years.The best poll I know of in the UK for measuring changes in social attitudes is the British Social Attitudes Survey. Care to guess what they have to say about the issue? Well, they report that: Opinion polls show that not only do euthanasia and assisted

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1147194294621393002006-05-09T17:53:00.000+01:002006-05-09T18:04:54.630+01:00

Polly claims today, in a piece about the recent local elections, that we should: Take Hammersmith and Fulham: it boasted the biggest fall in crimeIt is a claim she has made before, and it wasn't sourced or qualified then either. At the time of writing, as was the case before the local elections, this claim is not supported by the Metropolitan Police's Crime Figures website which, as of 9 May 2006

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27516474.post-1146863732247304932006-05-05T21:51:00.000+01:002006-05-17T10:16:23.386+01:00

Polly Toynbee's column today is relatively fact-free (well, they always are, but at least this time there aren't a lot of non-facts masquerading as facts). however, she does say: Indeed, recent research on child care found that children left with grandparents all day did worse than children in good nurseries.As ever with Pollyanna, there is no source, but at a guess she is referring to an

FactcheckingPollyannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07539350837343626125noreply@blogger.com3