Data and statistics will always be open to interpretation, writes Rory Sutherland.
Many years ago, back when fax machines were a thing, a friend of mine had been called in to evaluate the effectiveness of a luxury car-maker's much- acclaimed recent advertising campaign.
He waited in a London meeting room for the latest sales figures to be sent from the UK head office. The fax machine rang a couple of times, whistled a bit then started to churn out the latest sales graph.
"I think it's broken," his companion said. "It seems to have got stuck." But there was nothing...