Does Taylor Swift have a big (and bad) reputation? Twitter scraping using R
"Big reputation, big reputation, ooh you and me we’ve got big reputations." Taylor Swift released her…
Jennifer SnapeOctober 16, 2018
Forecast error: Are polls getting worse at predicting elections?
Voting intention polls appear to have an accuracy problem. The UK House of Lords recently…
Greece’s former national statistician is heading back to court
Andreas Georgiou, Greece’s former national statistician, once again faces trial on charges of inflating the…
Brian TarranMay 16, 2018
Letter in response to “Key decisions”, page 42, December 2017
I usually enjoy Allan Reese’s columns on aspects of data graphics, but I was significantly less…
Brian TarranApril 6, 2018
Visualising ages and life trajectories of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
Rick Wicklin, over at The DO Loop blog, published an interesting graph showing the ages of…
Mario Cortina Borja & Julian StanderJanuary 24, 2018
A time to kill: Great British serial killers
"Serial killer" is a term customarily used to refer to a person who has murdered…
Charlotte Moragh Jones-ToddDecember 19, 2017
A climate on the edge: Predicting environmental tipping points
In the coming century, we expect to witness dramatic changes to environments around the world:…
Ronan McAdamOctober 10, 2017
The ambitions – and challenges – of the 2020 Census: An interview with John Thompson
Tuesday 9 May was a busy news day. In the space of a few hours,…
Brian TarranJuly 19, 2017
And the winner of our 2017 writing competition is…
Judging took place last month for our writing competition for early-career statisticians. It was the…
Brian TarranJuly 4, 2017
In our April issue: the tragedy of Flint, and the hunt for exoplanets
More than a year ago now, Twitter carried the story of Flint, Michigan across 3700…
Brian TarranApril 5, 2017
Groundhog Day: the truth about these furry forecasters
The groundhog has evolved into a winning combination of cute and ungainly. This burrowing squirrel…
Mike JeffriesFebruary 3, 2017
Is Christmas really coming earlier? Maybe, but not as early as August
A couple of years ago, I wrote an article in which I examined the evidence…
Nathan CunninghamNovember 28, 2016
The frequency of “America” in America
Official White House Photo by Chuck KennedyOn what was a presumably cold January day in…
Adam B. KashlakOctober 25, 2016
Belgium to win Euro 2016? A Q&A on probabilistic predictions
England fans might have been disappointed to see their football team crash out of the…
Brian TarranJune 30, 2016
Lost in the crowd? A statistician explains how to find your friends at a music festival
While mobile phones have all but eradicated the fine art of getting lost, there are…
Nathan CunninghamJune 23, 2016
Revisiting the vaccine visualisations
Last year, the vaccination debate was all the rage again. “Pro-vaxxers” were loudly proclaiming that…
Randy OlsonMarch 9, 2016
Statistically speaking… How long can Pope Francis expect to live?
When elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church on 13 March 2013, the Argentinian priest…
Julian Stander, Luciana Dalla Valle and Mario Cortina BorjaFebruary 18, 2016
Introducing the new-look Significance
You’ve probably noticed that things look a little different here. To coincide with the start…
Brian TarranFebruary 16, 2016
A game about correlations that’s more than just fun
If you haven’t played Guess The Correlation yet, you definitely should – but please read…
Brian TarranFebruary 9, 2016
Paper cuts: Do ambient light levels influence criminal activities?
People often feel less safe when walking in the dark, for understandable reasons. It’s harder…
Brian TarranNovember 17, 2015
