The Sun hits the nail firmly on the thumb

From yesterday's Editorial*

CUTS: Whichever way the Tories try to dodge the question, this means wielding the knife - starting with the bloated public service. It is ridiculous to argue cuts are not essential - or that they dare not risk the anger of the one-in-four voters who work for the State.

Oh dear. There are about 48 million people of voting age in this country and 30 million employees. 8 million of those are employed in 'Education, health and public admin' (Table 5(2) of this, 2 million more than in 1997!), so either they mean to say "one-in-four employees who work for the State"...

... or maybe they meant "one-in-two voters who derive the bulk of their income from the State", being 8 million employees, 5 million on welfare and 11 million pensioners?**

Ah well.

* Nigh impossible to track down on line (despite Christina Speight's best efforts, but the article has been reproduced verbatim here)

** Funnily enough, nobody talks about the missing 2 million (48 - 30 - 5 - 11) who are neither working nor claiming benefits. They are of course married or cohabiting Mums with a working husband/partner and students.