Of statistics and imagery

A few days ago, Chris Grayling, Conservative shadow home affairs person, compared parts of Britain to Baltimore, as depicted in The Wire.

This turned out to be a bit of an own goal as Grayling's ignorance of cutting edge TV was quickly shown up, and his grasp of realities was also challenged with reactions such as that of Julia Goldsworthy, the LibDems home affairs spokesperson "We look forward to Chris Grayling's reassessment of the devastating impact of Thatcherism on this country once he's watched series 2".

And now the coup de grace is administered by the Mayor of Baltimore, who points out that the murder rate in Baltimore is significantly less than that in the popular British TV series Midsomer Murders. (hat tip: Liberal Conspiracy).

Delightfully, she even refers to a website that tracks the Midsomer body count.

Those who base dodgy comparisons on TV shows they're not very familiar with will get shot down in flames.

Update: 'twas a hoax. But I'm leaving it here because it deserves to be true.