One hundred years ago, Mark Twain mentioned the now-famous phrase "Lies, damn Lies, and statistics" in Chapters from My Autobiography. He attributes the phrase to former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disreali, but several folks can lay claim to starting what has become an extremely well-used aphorism (Wikipedia). While the field of statistics still gets its fair share of abuse, nowadays the best way to question the validity of something is to precede it with "Lies, damned lies"—particularly if you're writing for a UK newspaper.

Here are a few of our favorite targets from the last year:

Lies, damned lies and BBC documentaries about the Queen
Sunday Express, July 29, 2007

Lies, damned lies, and Pacific Continental research reports
Mail on Sunday, June 10, 2007

Lies, damned lies, and job applications
Birmingham Evening Mail, May 24, 2007

Lies, damned lies and off-the-record briefings
The Times, May 9, 2007

Lies, damned lies, and mounties
Maclean's, April 30, 2007

Lies, damned lies and historical fiction
The Globe and Mail, April 28, 2007

Lies, damned lies, and CPA ratings
The Guardian, February 28, 2007

Lies, damned lies and printer page yield figures
IT Week, February 19, 2007

Lies, damned lies, and web stats
Valleywag, December 11, 2006

Lies, damned lies and architects' drawings
The New Zealand Herald, December 4, 2006

Lies, damned lies and the FIFA ranking system
The Mirror, October 19, 2006

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