By Lloyd George-After 5 years of continuous recession you would be forgiven for thinking that things were brightening up after it was announced this week that jobless numbers were down to their lowest levels for 18 months.

The problem with this is that everyone you speak to says that unemployment is rising and that layoffs are the norm across the whole country.

Disaster after disaster fills our papers these days: HMV gone bust, Blockbuster closing down, and 5000 army redundancies all tell a different story.

We are told small businesses are taking on new staff but since they supply the larger organizations going bust or shedding jobs this can't be true.

Clearly the Office for National Statistics is living in an Alice in Wonderland world of its own creation.

There are no jobs anywhere and wages are appallingly low. GDP is steadily contracting or at best stagnant for a month or two.

Retail takings are on the most part down and Apple's iPhone sales have shrunk.

There is one other factor though.

This government has been reassessing people's eligibility to claim benefits and many claimants have lost the right to claim.

It may just be this that has massaged the figures to show a statistical lie that none of our dishonest and corrupt politicians are willing to point out.

When the figures say one thing but the evidence all around you says something else, question the figures.

Our government is always too ready to deceive the electorate so when it is clear that what you are being told is a lie, know the lie for what it is.