"Improving figures?"

By Value hunter on Nov 14, 2009 | In News, In real life

Two sets of figures came out this week from our mighty leaders:

Unemployment figures increased by just over 30,000.
The number of homes repossessed in the UK rose by 3% in the third quarter of the year to 11,700 (CML). However, the figure was lower than the 12,700 repossessed in the first quarter of the year.

What I have read everywhere on blogs, in the media, on the news, etc. is that these figures/reports are given a gloss.
"Encouraging jobless figures" and "falling repossessions..."

I don't like the gloss at all - if you read number 2, it is deliberately misleading people, first implying that the 11,700 is the total for the year, when the second part clearly reveals that the 11,700 is for the last three months only. What is the total amount of repossessions for the year so far?

Every single repossession is a disaster for that person and their family, no gloss should be put on the figures or how they are presented. They certainly should not be dropped into news reports as "encouraging" just because the rate of unemployed/repossessions is slowing down compared to a time when the country was dropping into recession!
It may have escaped the powers that be, that no matter how they dress it up, the figures are still increasing!