As the dean of western students of Soviet economic thought, Alfred Zauberman, would have predicted half a century ago, the British government’s addiction to targets would inevitably lead to dodgy government statistics. But the reason for this is not only the government’s fiddling with figures, as you suggest (“Lies, Damned Lies,” March 3, 2007). When everything goes by targets, everyone involved has an interest in fiddling with them, including those whose very performance is measured against them, such as doctors, teachers, and policemen. In fact, the fiddling begins even before the targets are set, as those affected most do their best to influence them well in advance. In the end, no-one knows what is going on any longer, just as was the case in the Soviet planning system of old. British economists, like Zauberman, knew this perfectly well, albeit with an entirely different socio-economic system in mind. Now that the Soviet Union is no more, old lessons have evaporated already, but they apply equally well to all bureaucratic systems.