In a presentation I titled “political statistics and statistical politics” I could not envisage the world of official statistics encountering the lows of more recent times. Perhaps I naively underestimated the toxicity of politics’ proximity to statistics despite the safeguards and experience in imposing such defences. Perhaps it was the civil disposition I enjoyed during my tenure, while not compromising on the facts and what they meant nationally and globally as it will soon be obvious. But it was not to be.  ..