Issue 135

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Contents of this Issue

Moon with issue numberThere are three papers in issue 135. John Bibby’s appreciation of a long-standing Radical Statistics member and activist; Janet Shapiro. This is followed by a powerful empirical paper by Frank Houghton et al, on data suppression around maternal mortality in Idaho, USA.  Finally, Simeon Scott and Mark Dunkerley present a critical examination of the interplay between money, markets and inequality, a paper they first presented at the Sheffield Radical Statistics conference in March 2023.

RadStats Journal / Newsletter

The Radical Statistics editorial team has expanded but is still in search of people to help in terms of reviewing submitted articles or interesting books. The future of the RadStats journal is dependent on submissions from members and other interested parties. Since the Sheffield conference, we have seen a reasonable upturn in the number of papers submitted, and hope that this trend continues. If you have written something that you think would interest Radical Statistics, please consider submitting.

Getting Involved

The RadStats group is as strong as its membership and we welcome offers of help.  If you are interested in becoming involved with the journal, a future conference or event (RadStats turns 50 in 2024) or have other ideas to advance the Radical Statistics aim of building a more free, democratic, and egalitarian society, please contact editors@radstats.org.uk.

RadStats are particularly concerned about

  • Mystifying use of technical language to disguise social problems
  • Lack of control by the community over what & how statistical investigations are conducted and interpreted.
  • Power structures within which statistical and research workers are employed.
  • Fragmentation of social problems into specialist fields, obscuring connectedness.

“We believe that statistics can be used to support radical campaigns for progressive social change. Statistics should inform, not drive policies. Social problems should not be disguised by technical language.”

Administrative Issues

Please make sure you have updated your subscription, or make a donation! – by going to www.radstats.org.uk/membership/ where you can pay by cheque, standing order or PayPal.

Editorial Team (editors@radstats.org.uk)

Sean DEMACK, Bob JEFFERY

Please email if interested in joining this team.

Review Editor

Irina MOTOC