The news

Fact checks about topical content and debate in UK news

25 February 2011

How fast is NHS executive pay growing?

The Daily Mail has claimed that NHS chief executives have seen their pay increase by 50 per cent over the past five years. Is this really what the figures show?

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24 February 2011

Sicknote culture: A longer term view

Britain's 'sicknote culture' has hit the headlines in recent weeks. Last week it was reported that the amount of days leave taken by Whitehall workers amounted to a sick leave …

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16 February 2011

Are councils employing hopscotch teachers for Asian women?

Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn yesterday attacked wasteful local councils for hiring staff to fill "non-jobs". But did Haringey Council really employ a hopscotch teacher for Asian women?

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14 February 2011

Is life expectancy lower in Merthyr Tydfil than Haiti?

Several papers reports the shocking statistic that men on one Merthyr Tydfil estate could on average expect less years of life than people in Haiti. Upon scrutiny this is not …

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11 February 2011

Incapacity Benefit: What the papers mean by 'fit to work'

Several newspapers report the most recent statistics from DWP assessing the capability of Incapacity Benefit claimants for work. However their definition of 'fit to work' might not be shared by …

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10 February 2011

Labour's record on welfare: Liam Byrne fact-check

In his first speech as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne offered some numbers in defence of the last Government's effort helping people off welfare. But did all his …

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8 February 2011

FT agrees to correct foreign student claim

Criticising plans to limit the number of overseas students on sub-degree courses, the paper erroneously claimed that half of these people go on to university. After Full Fact took a …

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1 February 2011

Cost of the EU: Can we count on Express estimates

In the third article looking at the Express' EU supplement called 'Get Britain out of the EU' we investigate the different approaches that Express contributors have used to cost EU …

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31 January 2011

Did Labour run a structural deficit before the recession?

With "deficit denial" still a term on many lips in Westminster, new Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls boldly declared to Andrew Marr yesterday that his Government was not responsible for a …

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31 January 2011

House price volatility in the Express

When it comes to how the Express reports the housing market, it has often seemed like the only way is up. Earlier this month we showed how the paper had …

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