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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Has the number of periods a woman has in her lifetime quadrupled?
Sat 25 Sep 2021
A claim about how many periods a woman has and a suspicious stat on single-use face masks
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Covid trends, face mask use, and the universal credit cut
Wed 22 Sep 2021
A coronavirus check-in, our daily mask use measured, and the universal credit cut.
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How many holes are there in a drinking straw?
Sat 18 Sep 2021
Tim Harford talks to Jordan Ellenberg about the pandemic, geometry and drinking straws
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How many holes are there in a drinking straw?
Sat 18 Sep 2021
Tim Harford talks to Jordan Ellenberg about the pandemic, geometry and drinking straws.
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Death, Tax and Dishwashers
Wed 15 Sep 2021
Why is estimating the number of unvaccinated people so tricky? And how deadly is 2021?
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Is immunity from vaccines waning?
Sat 11 Sep 2021
How worried should we be about declining antibodies? Plus life-threatening hotdogs.
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Vaccine waning, hot dogs and Afghanistan
Wed 8 Sep 2021
How worried should we be about antibodies? Plus food that shortens life.
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Covid, HGV driver shortages and protest costs
Wed 1 Sep 2021
Has Brexit caused a fall in lorry drivers? Plus policing Extinction Rebellion
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Reason, numbers and Mr Spock
Sat 28 Aug 2021
What role do numbers play in helping us think more rationally?
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Reason, numbers and Mr Spock
Sat 28 Aug 2021
What role do numbers play in helping us think more rationally?
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The extraordinary life of Robert Moses
Sat 21 Aug 2021
The life of mathematics educator and civil rights organiser, Dr Robert Moses
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The extraordinary life of Robert Moses
Sat 21 Aug 2021
The life of mathematics educator and civil rights organiser, Dr Robert Moses
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How good were the performances at the Tokyo Olympics?
Mon 16 Aug 2021
What can the data tell us about the quality of the Covid hit games?
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How good were the performances at the Tokyo Olympics?
Sat 14 Aug 2021
What can the data tell us about the quality of the Covid hit games?
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Jab fears explained: a base rate fallacy
Sat 7 Aug 2021
Why increasing Covid infections amongst the vaccinated isn’t necessarily bad news.
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Jab fears explained: a base rate fallacy
Sat 7 Aug 2021
Why increasing Covid infections amongst the vaccinated isn’t necessarily bad news
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Breaking climate records
Sat 31 Jul 2021
The odds and probability behind record-breaking temperatures
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Breaking Climate Records
Sat 31 Jul 2021
The odds and probability behind record-breaking temperatures
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The Rise of Delta
Sat 24 Jul 2021
Where’s this new Variant spreading and what can be done to stop it?
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The Rise of Delta
Sat 24 Jul 2021
Where’s this new Variant spreading and what can be done to stop it?
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The Freedom Day Gamble
Mon 19 Jul 2021
Tim Harford and the team try to work out how long Covid cases will continue to rise.
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Long Covid and Vaccinating Children
Sat 17 Jul 2021
The world watches as the UK lifts its remaining Covid restrictions
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Are there 40 million Nigerians on Twitter?
Sat 10 Jul 2021
Recent reports have claimed that Nigeria has 40 million Twitter users – but is this true?
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Are there 40 million Nigerians on Twitter?
Sat 10 Jul 2021
Recent reports have claimed that Nigeria has 40 million Twitter users – but is this true?
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Is Ivermectin a Covid ‘wonder drug’?
Sat 3 Jul 2021
What do we know about the efficacy of Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19?
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Is Ivermectin a Covid ‘wonder drug’?
Sat 3 Jul 2021
What do we know about the efficacy of Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19?
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Scotland cases, flood risk and taxing the poor
Wed 30 Jun 2021
Covid 19 cases are on the rise in Scotland, plus will your town be under water by 2030?
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Maths and the Mayflower
Sat 26 Jun 2021
Are there really 35 million descendants of the Mayflower alive today?
Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU
Explore how numbers shape, and sometimes mislead us, with The Open University.
When can you trust statistics?
BBC Ideas discovers three easy ways to help make sense of statistics.
