Quote: chipolata @ March 8 2011, 10:10 AM GMTNot sure they do. I know somebody who's parents are both dead and he uses their names to buy property,. The authorities don't seem to have a clue what he's up to.
You 'know somebody' eh, chip? 
Census Page 3
Quote: chipolata @ March 8 2011, 10:10 AM GMTNot sure they do. I know somebody who's parents are both dead and he uses their names to buy property,. The authorities don't seem to have a clue what he's up to.
Whats the benifit in doing that then? Can't work it out.
Quote: bigfella @ March 8 2011, 11:56 AM GMTWhats the benifit in doing that then? Can't work it out.
You're not thinking laterally, bigster.
Quote: chipolata @ March 8 2011, 11:15 AM GMTDoes your fiancee write for the Census, Tony?
Haha, yes, you've got me bang to rights.
Quote: chipolata @ March 8 2011, 12:00 PM GMTYou're not thinking laterally, bigster.
Spell it out for me. Its easier.
Personally I like filling in forms, and I think that the census is worth while (though I do not think outsourcing the forms to a US arms manufacturer was the right thing to do when trying to support a struggling domestic economy).
I'll be filling mine in at some point in the near future.
Has anyone noticed this yet?
I love the fact that on the Inland Revenue online tax form it contains the question;
Are you registered blind?
Presumably a trick question to catch out benefit cheats.
Legally blind isn't the same as completely blind. I've spoken to a lady who was legally blind because she couldn't see shapes past 5 foot, but she couls just about read a book, or a computer screen.
Anyone getting a job as a census collector?
Looked like a fun pocket money job and easy to fit around writing, standup etc.
Anyone getting a job as a census collector?
Looked like a fun pocket money job and easy to fit around writing, standup etc.
Quote: Nat Wicks @ March 8 2011, 12:37 PM GMTLegally blind isn't the same as completely blind. I've spoken to a lady who was legally blind because she couldn't see shapes past 5 foot, but she couls just about read a book, or a computer screen.
Absolutely but not an excuse for excluding legally blind people from higher rate benefits Mr Cameron
Quote: sootyj @ March 8 2011, 12:56 PM GMTAbsolutely but not an excuse for excluding legally blind people from higher rate benefits Mr Cameron
Oh, of course! Legally blind means that your eye sight is poor enough to have a DRAMATIC affect on your every day life. Even the 'lower' end of legal blindness would be terribly difficult to adapt to and try to live a 'normal' life. I have a lot of respect for people who live with sensory impairment, I know I wouldn't have the strength to cope nearly as well as a lot do.
Statistics are a necessary evil and I don't buy all this Big Brother stuff you hear trotted out from knee jerk populists.
Anyone who has read 1984 will know that ignorance, prejudice and propaganda are the friends of totalitarianism not dispassionate facts open to the general public.
One of the greatest heroes of statisticians is Florence Nightingale who didn't spend her career nursing the sick but collecting cold hard statistics and disseminating them in a readable way to prove to MPs and the great and good about the full extent of terrible health problems.
I mean this is dropping people from even the reduced provisions he's making available.
Does he have any idea how much this will all cost in a few years, when the mental health units, hospitals, prisons and shelters start filling up with all thos ehe gamely strikes from the books?
They have been doing UK censuses every 10 years (except when impossible in wartime) since 1841, so methinks that they do know whether they are worthwhile or not.
Oh and the first significant one, done long ago, was of course "The Domesday Book" done by William the Conqueror, very shortly after the 1066 Norman invasion. That was done in a remarkably short amount of time; though of course there were a lot less people around then 
and we know that because of that census.
Quote: youngian @ March 8 2011, 1:14 PM GMTStatistics are a necessary evil and I don't buy all this Big Brother stuff you hear trotted out from knee jerk populists.
Anyone who has read 1984 will know that ignorance, prejudice and propaganda are the friends of totalitarianism not dispassionate facts open to the general public.
One of the greatest heroes of statisticians is Florence Nightingale who didn't spend her career nursing the sick but collecting cold hard statistics and disseminating them in a readable way to prove to MPs and the great and good about the full extent of terrible health problems.
Florence even invented the Pie Chart to make statistics understandable to the government.
The U.S. has conducted a census every 10 years since 1790. That old data is remarkably useful from a genealogical standpoint. It's only released after 72 years, so genealogists are eagerly awaiting the 1940 data which will be available next year. I've learned an awful lot about my ancestors from census data.
More importantly, the data is used to determine how government funds are distributed. More people equals more money, so it's important that everyone is counted. Census data is also used to determine representation in government: Texas is gaining 4 new seats in Congress after growing by 4.3 million people since 2000. Ten other states will lose seats due to declining population.
My father was an urban planner for decades and census data was an invaluable tool in predicting population trends and determining future growth and service requirements.
>It's only released after 72 years
Our Govt must reckon we British live longer than you Americans, because for privacy reasons the detailed census data is not released for 100 years. Though they did make a few years exception for the 1911 census data.