More or Less Podcast
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life
Episodes to download
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Life expectancy, inheritance tax and the NHS vs winter
Wed 17 Jan 2024
How long will we live? Who pays inheritance tax? How did the NHS perform this winter?
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Do we see 10,000 adverts per day?
Sat 13 Jan 2024
We investigate the claim that each of us sees thousands of adverts every single day
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Deaths, taxes and missing cats
Wed 10 Jan 2024
We investigate claims about gun crime, the UK tax burden, and the number of missing cats
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How much money do the 鈥楴drangheta mafia make?
Sat 6 Jan 2024
We investigate whether one criminal group could have a turnover of billions of dollars
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Numbers of the year 2023
Sat 30 Dec 2023
Hand-picked stats that tell you something interesting about the world
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Can chocolate be better than salad?
Sat 23 Dec 2023
We investigate a nutritional conundrum 鈥� can chocolate ever be better for you than salad?
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China鈥檚 missing numbers
Sat 16 Dec 2023
How the Chinese state make inconvenient statistics disappear
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Does endurance sport harm your heart?
Sat 9 Dec 2023
We investigate the connection between high levels of exercise and arrhythmia
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Will there be a billion climate refugees?
Sat 2 Dec 2023
We investigate if floods, droughts and storms will cause mass international migration
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A boy meets girl meets stats story
Sat 25 Nov 2023
A data scientist takes on rom com films to see how women in STEM are represented.
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Are women in the UK the biggest binge drinkers in the world?
Sat 18 Nov 2023
Checking out stats on boozing Brits and fishing fleets in the South China Sea
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Can maths prove the existence of aliens?
Sat 11 Nov 2023
We look a famous equation which tries to explain whether life exists in outer space
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Do Indian women own 11% of the world鈥檚 gold?
Sat 4 Nov 2023
The cultural importance of gold is well known 鈥� but how much do Indians actually own?
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The Overlooked Mathematicians of History
Sat 28 Oct 2023
Exploring the global history of mathematics
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What do windscreen splats tell us about insect decline?
Sat 21 Oct 2023
We ask whether the 鈥榳indscreen phenomenon鈥� suggests falling numbers of insects
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Greedy jobs and the gender pay gap
Sat 14 Oct 2023
Tim Harford discusses the work of Nobel Economics prize winner Claudia Goldin
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Are half the words in English from French?
Sat 7 Oct 2023
We ask whether almost half the words in the English language are of French origin.
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Vaccine claims, Alzheimer's treatment and Tim's Parkrun times
Wed 4 Oct 2023
We debunk claims about excess deaths and the covid vaccine made by YouTuber John Campbell
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Is the UK really ahead in cutting carbon emissions?
Sat 30 Sep 2023
As the UK changes course in its path to net zero, how does it compare with other nations?
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NHS consultant pay, Net Zero claims and Scotland's ferry woes
Wed 27 Sep 2023
Are consultants in England really paid an average of 拢120,000 a year?
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Which city has the longest canals?
Sat 23 Sep 2023
We dive into the world of waterways after a listener asked who has the longest canals.
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Social housing, NHS workforce and Liz Truss debt claims
Wed 20 Sep 2023
Have the Tories really built a record number of social rent homes since 2010?
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How to approach the world through numbers
Sat 16 Sep 2023
Professor David Sumpter talks to Tim Harford about his new book
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Skin cancer, London rents and your great great great granddaughter
Wed 13 Sep 2023
Is it true that 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women in the UK will get skin cancer?
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Did 35,000 Americans die building the Panama Canal?
Mon 11 Sep 2023
We fact check a claim made by Donald Trump about the world famous canal
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Covid deaths, North Sea gas and Chloe Kelly's World Cup penalty
Wed 6 Sep 2023
Covid related deaths are rising in England and Wales - we investigate the figures
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What percentage of our brain do we actually use?
Sat 2 Sep 2023
Do we have access to some or all of our brain-power?
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HS2 and electric cars, UK vs China emissions & massive maths errors
Wed 30 Aug 2023
Can you really buy an electric car for everybody in the UK for the cost of HS2?
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How safe is the release of Fukushima nuclear plant water?
Sat 26 Aug 2023
We ask whether there are any risks posed by the release into the Pacific Ocean.
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How many butterflies are there in the world?
Sat 19 Aug 2023
The world鈥檚 butterfly population doesn鈥檛 seem to be online 鈥� so what is it?
