321 out of 571 is not an "overwhelming&q uot; majority

Sorry about the gobbledegook in the title. Not sure how that happened.

There is a very good Radio 4 prog called, I think, "More or Less" in which an economist gives the reality behind some of these alarmist/exaggerated/ mathematically incorrect so-called " statistics".

I LOVE 'More or less'. Knowing a bit about statistics, I often foam at the mouth when I hear/read the way that many journalists report statistics.

So much lazy and unprofessional reporting. There also seems to be an inability to work such things out nowadays, one wonders if it is because with all the technology around people have not learned the mathematical reasoning to enable them to work it out for themselves.
The 'agenda' is the other side of the reason for this kind of sloppy reporting in that if you repeat things often enough people start to believe it.
Then again "There are lies, damned lies and statistics".

The bottom line is that these people get paid for the tripe they peddle and ultimately it is we who foot the bill.
I think we all like to get value for money and clearly it isn't happening!

Majority is one of those words – journalists always seem to have to add overwhelming. Catholic is another – they always have to add devout.

My hate is 'average'. It is taken to mean, at best 'the majority', at worst 'everybody'. In fact all it means is 'the middle value, when you add all the figures and divide by the number of figures you have.

Yes More or Less is excellent.
Most politicians seem to be statistically illiterate as well.
e.g. ministers struggling with the concept that all schools cannot be above average.... and that below average is not necessarily "failing"...
Percentages p me off when people bandy about 200% increase for example. What does it mean? A percentage is another way of expressing a fraction and you don't say 8 quarters do you. No you say something has doubled or its twice...
In governors meetings I sometimes had to reign in the head from talking about a percentage of a percentage (exam passes, attendance etc). Which can lead to all kinds of confusion.
your pass rate is 50% next year its 75%
Now is that a 25% increase, or indeed a 50% increase? You see my point?

Then there is the lack of any scientific rigour.
I think More or Less recently covered the lack of any evidence that a few days off school damages GCSE results.