If Boris would be compelled to post his detailed objections to the ONS and others over EU contribution data, would that too, be a distraction?
No, because Boris is the foreign secretary and his comments directly relate to a subject of significant national importance upon which he's commenting.
He's not posting on an internet forum in a thread about a semi-related matter to that which was originally being discussed.
For me, unreason is holding a belief with little to no interest in exploring the evidence to support or deny it.
I suppose both sides are equally to blame in that regard, there's very little critical thinking in the world and most people are guilty of confirmation bias. If there is evidence to support your position, you're less likely to try and find evidence to discredit it.
Boris likely believes the ONS data unfairly represents a situation, he may even think people using that data are stage managed and well-intentioned (who knows), if he is unwilling to discuss with the people he accuses of this, the actual evidence and reasoning behind using specific data sets and ignores reasonable explanation of their data, that would be unreasonable, no?
There's an awful lot of conjecture and assumption in that question but, if true, I'd agree, that would be unreasonable.
To be honest, I don't think that Boris actually believe's the £350m figure — I think he's using it for media attention and political gain.
This thread is really weird.
I think it's quite fun.