PERHAPS another adage can be added to Ken Scaife's letter, when he wrote that there were three types of lies (November 16).

Viz: "Figures can lie and liars can figure".

I feel that many of us are heartily sick of statistics regarding crime, education, asylum seekers, cost of living, the NHS and so on ad infinitum. The figures have become meaningless.

I was reminded of this when reading Hugh Bayley's letter in which he stated that car crime was down. Having just had my car broken into I was told by the police that burglaries were down but car crime had increased substantially.

I believe that the only time MPs get the figures correct is when asking for another salary increase or submitting their claims for expenses.

G A Ware,

Knapton Lane,

York.

Updated: 10:20 Tuesday, November 23, 2004