It is easy to feel that official statistics faces unprecedented challenges in being a trusted voice for evidence. Official statistics are released into a foggy and polluted atmosphere full of dodgy data within a political climate where people all too readily cloak their vested interests in a fake veneer of statistical claims. This paper explores some enduring aspects of the way we as human beings interact with numbers and gives an historical perspective on how this has played out in official

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... tistics. It explores some particular features of the challenges faced today given this context, especially in relation to capacity building. It highlights the essential role of the National Statistical Institute as a trustworthy servant of democracy at the heart of the evolving data ecosystem and explains why this matters. It voices a call to action for all those who care about the use of evidence in the public sphere, both those who deliver the statistical services and those who use them.