What is it they say, there are lies, damned lies and statistics??!!
Nowhere near as well worded as the "Midlanders prefer to stay at home and watch Euro 2008 on their TV's" (or words to that effect to explain the drop in pax during the Euro footie tournament) but still very impressive to make an increase in pax numbers out of, as OP has pointed out, what is actually a decrease
It will be interesting to see what results other airports post, I think there will be many that see a much bigger drop than at BHX (did I read MAN was 10% or so down in Jan?)