Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.What is going wrong at the Office for National Statistics? Some put it down to the office's move to Newport, one of the previous government's attempts to get big official agencies out of London. This move to the provinces, it is said, made it harder for the ONS to retain its best people. Others argue that the distance of the ONS statisticians from London, where most of the users of the data are situated, makes them less likely to get feedback.
Others suggest that it comes down to a lack of resources. Neither is much of an excuse. It should be possible to produce timely and reliable statistics from South Wales. And while it is true that the ONS has taken cuts, its poor performances predated the austerity drive. Whatever the causes of the dysfunction, it must be fixed. Stats might look dry to most people but good data is a necessary condition of good economic policy decisions.
We know now that ONS data that was produced in mid-2008 underestimated the extent to which the economy was tanking. If policymakers had been given a more accurate picture of the economic situation at the time, they might have reacted more forcefully and sooner.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments