SIR - I believe it was Disraeli who said: "There are lies, damned lies and statistics."

The statistic most beloved of our politicians is the one involving an unrepresentative sample.

For instance, if the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror both ran a poll asking for the most successful politician their statistical answers would be vastly different.

Similarly, if say UKIP posed the question on their website: "Would you rather this country remain part of Europe, or be towed out into the middle of the Atlantic," you can be sure the majority would vote to join other mid-Atlantic islands.

In fact, We join Rockall' could become a party slogan.

In an effort to resolve this persistent problem, I undertook a poll of my own among my ever-increasing circle of friends.

The question I asked was: "Should Britain stay in the EU, or get out?"

The answers are as follows: Stay in seven per cent; get out 0.5 per cent; don't know 30 per cent; who cares 50.5 per cent, what's the EU? four per cent; spoilt papers eight per cent.

This shows to a 98 per cent level of probability that I really must find some new friends, and that's a fact!

Eddie Bennett, Duchy Drive, Heaton