Sandwiched in between the utter naivety of the first seven or eight years of your life and the predictable yawn of teenage anxiety, there's a golden age in childhood. It's that age when climbing trees, skimming stones and dressing as a one-eyed buccaneer is not only immensely enjoyable, but also immensely important.

Sandwiched in between the utter naivety of the first seven or eight years of your life and the predictable yawn of teenage anxiety, there's a golden age in childhood. It's that age when climbing trees, skimming stones and dressing as a one-eyed buccaneer is not only immensely enjoyable, but also immensely important.

This is a phrase describing the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments.

It is also sometimes colloquially used to cast doubt upon statistics used to prove an opponent's point.

The term was popularised in the United States by Mark Twain who attributed it to the 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881):

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.