Mobile phone masts, and other incredible statistics - no comments

Says Rhod, via The Independent:

Two giant mobile phone companies are to move a mast at a primary school, after parents claimed their children fell sick [...]

I've long thought the "mobile phone mast health scandal" issue, that spreads from area to area rather like a circus - or a plague - was one of those classic situations where anxious parents' specious and unscientific claims were whipped up by ignorant journalists and ambitious local opposition politicians, with impressive-sounding statistics only being properly scrutinised after the political tornado had passed. Perhaps I've missed a subtlety somewhere along the line.

Their results showed 56 per cent of the children and 86 per cent of the staff had problems sleeping, 54 per cent and 59 per cent respectively were getting headaches and migraines, and 46 per cent and 95 per cent respectively reported fatigue and numbness.

The effects of the St Edward's RC primary school's phone mast - which is in Warwickshire - must be strong indeed, as I can attest to having experienced all of the mentioned symptoms during the 11 years covered, none of which could possibly be explained by other factors: everything from headaches, migraines, to insomnia, dizziness, and nausea. I've even heard "strange hums and clicks", but then I do like Autechre. It appears that staff are far more susceptible (95%, compared to 46%, are honest enough to declare this fact) to "fatigue and numbness". As the son of two teachers, I couldn't possibly comment on this scientific conundrum...

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Meanwhile, the BBC reveal that England cricket captain legend, Michael Vaughan, has successfully called a coin-toss six times in succession. Broadsheet science editors were "stumped" by this seeming mathematical impossibility until a Tipton resident revealed to the world's press that he owned a "powerful magnet", squeezed his eyes closed, and walked in circles around his sitting-room, humming loudly, and with his fingers crossed, while each toss was made, in order to achieve the desired result for England.