Tommy Cooper never told a good joke in his life - the manner of his telling them left audiences frantic with laughter. This seems to be advice for the presentation of statistics these days:

Gender pay gap is getting worse in nearly half of firms, analysis suggests, as critics say forcing firms to report is not enough

Umm, wait, you mean it’s not getting worse in more than half of firms?

The gender pay gap is getting worse in nearly half of companies, new analysis suggests, as critics say forcing firms to report their disparity is not enough.

Four in ten private companies that have published their latest gender pay figures have reported wider gaps than last year, according to the BBC.

6 in 10 have not. We take that to be generally getting better rather than generally getting worse ourselves. But that might just be because we can count to 13 without taking our socks off.

But note what happens next:

“We believe that it should be mandatory for employers to publish, alongside their pay gap data, action plans with specific targets and deadlines.”

Sam Smethers, Chief Executive of the Fawcett society echoed those views, and told the Telegraph: “Initial findings look worrying with 40% of those who have already reported showing pay gaps widening not narrowing.

“Women will be wondering what is going on. “We need to require employers to publish action plans that we can hold them accountable to.”

All must be urged on to ever great tractor production all the same. It really is how you tell ‘em that matters.