How not to defend your statistics

So, the most recent episode of the More or Less podcast tackles The Spirit Level, a book that I reviewed fairly favorably not too long ago. The book purports to show that societies with greater income equality do better on a whole bunch of measures. More or Less presenter Tim Harford begins by noting that there's a suspicious correlation between someone's politics and how critical they are of the statistical methods used in the book. And I have my suspicions about where Tim Harford's politics are. (He writes for the Financial Times.)

However, in her interview with Harford, Kate Pickett, one of the books coauthors, comes across as a bit of a twit less intellectually rigorous than one would like. I mean, misremembering details of particular data points is understandable, but responding to "Why didn't you do a multivariable analysis?" with "Because we didn't think the other variables were important" makes you sound like you're assuming the hypothesis you're trying to prove. Sigh.

Remember people: If you're going to make sweeping statistical claims that nicely confirm my political prejudices, please be rigorous!

Doctor Who Series 6 Transmission Dates

Interesting news from the BBC today: transmission of the next series of Doctor Who to be split with half the episodes airing in the spring, and half being held until the fall.

Supposedly this is to accommodate a big mid-season cliffhanger, although part of me wonders if there aren't also logistical considerations. Like giving Steven Moffat more time to work on the scripts, or more time to work on other projects (like more Sherlock?), or creating a more flexible filming schedule for the cast, or more time for digital effects work.

I think it will be nice to have my Doctor Who fix spread out over the course of the year, but I am a bit worried about this idea of "more event episodes." While I confess that I love the event episodes, part of me is worried that eventually there won't be any more room for the "Doctor and companion have a nice little adventure" stories. If every episode is an event, can any episode really be an event?