More or Less
by BBC Radio 4
Latest episode
Are French school protesters right to say education is underfunded?
Are French school protesters right to say education is underfunded?
About this podcast
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 1,153 episodes
- Are French school protesters right to say education is underfunded? · 9 minFrench high school students have been on the streets for weeks, blockading schools to demand the government spends more money on education. Their protests have proven the…
- Europe's witch trials: The numbers behind the myth · 9 minWitches and witchcraft have captivated people for centuries. From the curse tablets of Ancient Greece to the witch of Wookey Hole, belief in magic has long been woven into human…
- Terence Tao: Maths ‘the canary in the coal mine’ on AI · 11 minTerence Tao is widely celebrated as the world’s greatest living mathematician. He was doing university-level maths at the age of 9, won Gold at the International Mathematical…
- Did Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres stop disinformation bots? · 9 minLast week, Ukraine launched drone attacks against three data centres owned by Russian tech giant Yandex. After these attacks Yandex announced that they were struggling to…
- Fact-check: Will Scottish pensioners really be funding English social care? · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:40) First Minister John Swinney has claimed that Scottish pensioners are set to lose £2000, with the…
- Fact-check: Is China missing a billion people? · 9 minA viral video circulating online claims the population of China is actually a billion people lower than the UN and China say. A billion is big number, you'd think the Chinese…
- Is the UK state pension really the lowest in Europe? · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:42) Is the UK uniquely miserly when it comes to the state pension? That’s the story a viral social media…
- The Uzbekistan-shaped hole in an influential climate cost paper · 9 minHow much could climate change cost the global economy? That would be a very useful thing to know, and scientists have developed statistical models that they think can help give a…
- Does the UK really have nine out of the ten poorest regions in Northern Europe? · 30 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:40) Does the UK account for nine out of ten of the poorest regions in Northern Europe? It’s a classic…
- Trump fact-check: Do the US and Venezuela have 60% of the world’s oil? · 9 minUS president Donald Trump has claimed in a speech to the UN that the US and Venezuela combined now have 60% of the world’s oil. 100% of the team on More or Less were confused…
- Has the UK’s productivity puzzle been solved? · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:42) Frustrated economists have been left rending their garments and howling in the streets after the UK’s…
- Are carrots becoming less nutritious? · 9 minAre fruit and vegetables less nutritious than they used to be? And is declining soil quality to blame? Loyal listener Sarah got in touch to ask us to investigate an interesting…
- Are bad teeth the number one reason kids go to A&E? · 28 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:33) Are crumbling teeth the number one reason children attend A&E? We drill down into the dental health…
- Could this be the strongest El Niño in 1,000 Years? · 9 minEvery year, climate scientists keep a close eye on data coming out of a particular area of the Pacific Ocean. They’re trying to measure the scale of a climate phenomenon - the El…
- Why are so many ex-prisoners being sent back to prison? · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:38) The number of people being recalled to prison after early release in England and Wales is rising…
- Is every card shuffle unique? · 9 minCan it really be true that every shuffle of a deck of cards is unique? Mathematician and stand-up comedian Matt Parker claims that every time you do a shuffle, the cards have…
- Bonus podcast: Norman Numbers · 7 minWhat's this, an extra podcast? Has Christmas come early? No, the Bayeux Tapestry has instead returned to England for the first time in almost 1000 years. To mark the occasion…
- Do Germans really take 19.5 days of sick leave per year? · 9 minHow do different countries compare, in terms of the amount of time that workers take as sick leave? Loyal listener Dave got in touch to ask us to look at a surprising statistic…
- How much of the world isn’t owned by anyone? · 9 minSometimes world events of massive practical significance lead our minds towards some lovely impractical thoughts. So it was for loyal listener, Nigel. Pondering the conflict in…
- 14 million deaths or zero deaths? The impact of the USAID cuts · 9 minAs part of their mandate to stop 'waste, fraud and abuse' in federal government spending, DOGE, the department of Government Efficiency, made large cuts to the amount of money…
- How much of all the money in the world does Elon Musk have? · 9 minEarlier this year, South African-born tech tycoon Elon Musk briefly became the world’s first dollar trillionaire. This prompted loyal listener Stephen to email the More or Less…
- Would you take £50,000 or a 50/50 chance of £1m? · 9 minIf you had a choice between instantly receiving £50,000 or a 50% chance to win £1m, which would you pick? When YouGov asked exactly that question to people in the UK, 73% said…
- The mistake in Trump’s tariff formula · 30 minWhat is the error in the calculation Donald Trump used to work out his new tariffs? What happened when the government ordered a recount of bobbies on the beat? When is a tax…
- Is crime in London ‘through the roof’? · 9 minThe crime rate in London has been cropping up regularly on social media and in political discussions - US president Donald Trump has claimed that crime in the city is ‘through…
- How much luck do you need to win the World Cup? · 9 minAs the 2026 World Cup approaches its end, what is the biggest factor in who wins? Is it extraordinary moments of attacking magic? Gritty defensive organisation? Or is it all just…
- Does playing tennis make you live 9.7 years longer? · 9 minRecently a post did the rounds on Twitter, claiming that people who play tennis live on average 9.7 years longer than people who play other sports. The figure comes from a recent…
- Does the average teacher really earn £54,000? · 28 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:32) A government minister has informed the nation that average teacher pay in England is around £54,000…
- Does a full moon make crime rates go up? · 9 minThe Moon is one of the most captivating features of our night's sky, and apparently, one of the most suspicious.... For thousands of years, people have blamed the full moon for…
- Examining the numbers behind Andy Burnham’s ‘Manchester Miracle’ · 28 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:23) Andy Burnham may not be Prime Minister yet, but he’s setting out his economic agenda, and its based…
- Benefits v minimum wage: Which pays more? · 28 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:42) Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Jeremy Hunt argues that you can earn far more on out of work…
- Is the US worse than North Korea for malnutrition deaths? · 9 minThis surprising claim was spotted circulating on social media: 'The United States has surpassed China and North Korea in deaths from malnutrition’. The claim used analysis from…
- Does Europe suffer more heat deaths than the US? · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:31) Claims have circulated on the internet that Europe sees a particularly high number of deaths from…
- Andrew Ross Sorkin: What can the Great Crash of 1929 tell us about today? · 9 minThe financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin on the numbers behind the 1929 crash.The Great Crash of 1929 has faded into history, but financial journalist and author Andrew Ross…
- Education, Education, Education (and Immigration) · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:32) The internet is abuzz with the claim that twenty-seven young migrants are hired for every British…
- Factchecking claims that 400 churches were burned to the ground in France · 9 minIn certain corners of the internet some suspicious numbers are cropping up again and again. People claiming that 400 churches have been burnt to the ground or attacked in an…
- Debunking the claim that migrants will get half of new homes · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:42) The Daily Express claims that ‘Migrants will get half of all new homes’, based on a calculation from…
- The known unknowns of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo · 9 minOn the 17th of May the World Health Organisation declared a new outbreak of Ebolavirus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an International Emergency. Ebola virus is an…
- Does a fall in the UK's healthy life expectancy mean what you think it means? · 29 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: Headlines have claimed that “healthy life expectancy” in the UK has fallen by two years. What does this…
- Is the ‘loneliness epidemic’ real? · 9 minWhat does it mean if you say that something is an epidemic? In the case of a virus, it usually means that it is spreading rapidly and that more and more people are getting…
- Are refugees more likely to commit crime? · 28 minTim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. On the programme: Last week, Annunziata Rees-Mogg took to X to post a claim about the proportion of sex offences in…
- Erdos Problem 1196: Can AI now solve maths that no human can? · 9 minIt is said that AI could soon be coming for the jobs of artists, lawyers, and software engineers. But it might now also be threatening a role at the height of academia – are pure…
- Why it’s wrong to say vaping is as bad for you as smoking · 9 minAccording to the World Health organisation, smoking kills some 7 million people every year. It is one of the world’s leading causes of preventable death. Because smoking causes…
- Does it take 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilogram of beef? · 9 minIf you spend much time on social media, and we don’t necessarily recommend it, then you’ve probably come across a strange fascination with water consumption. Mainly, this is…
- Have RFK and MAHA really changed American views on vaccines? · 9 minVaccine policy in the US is something of an ideological battleground. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is a vaccine sceptic, and since taking office he has attempted to…
- Is Trump right that wind turbines are killing millions of birds? · 9 minUS president Donald Trump is no fan of wind turbines, or windmills as he calls them. Not only does he think they ruin the view from a golf course he owns in Scotland, but they…
- Dr Spock’s dangerous advice on baby sleep · 9 minSometimes it is obvious to everyone when an idea is harmful, or a piece of advice is damaging. But not always. Occasionally bad ideas and terrible advice end up being accepted in…
- How likely is ‘likely’? · 9 minWhen you’re listening to the news, you will often hear words that are meant to communicate the probability of something happening. A terrorist attack is “a realistic…
- How much water does AI consume? · 9 minAs Artificial Intelligence continues to expand rapidly, some people have raised concerns about its potential environmental impact - in particular its use of water, which is used…
- Paul Ehrlich: The man who bet England wouldn’t exist by the year 2000 · 9 minPaul Ehrlich’s bestselling book The Population Bomb opens with an apocalyptic paragraph. “The battle to feed all of humanity is over,” it states. “In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds…
- Transgender women in sport: Does ‘comparable’ mean ‘equal’? · 9 minIn most sports, men compete against men and women compete against women. That is generally considered fair, because men are faster, more powerful and have greater endurance. But…
