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
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: 'Spurious Correlations'
Fri 6 Jun 2014
Is the divorce rate in the US state of Maine linked to margarine consumption? It's one...
-
![]()
The Piketty Affair
Fri 30 May 2014
Did 'rock-star' French economist Thomas Piketty get his numbers wrong? His theories of...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: The Piketty Affair
Fri 30 May 2014
Did 'rock-star' French economist Thomas Piketty get his numbers wrong? His theories of...
-
![]()
Romanian Crime
Fri 23 May 2014
Are the statistics put forward by UKIP accurate, and are Romanians responsible for on...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: Risk Savvy
Fri 23 May 2014
A famous probability puzzle is discussed involving goats and game shows with German...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: Did global poverty halve overnight?
Fri 16 May 2014
Did the number of people around the world living in extreme poverty fall by half a few...
-
![]()
Tax Dodgers and Benefits Cheats
Fri 16 May 2014
Does the government have lots of people chasing the relatively small amounts lost to a...
-
![]()
Food Bank Britain
Fri 9 May 2014
Food banks are being used by a million people in Britain according to recent newspaper...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: Brazil’s Maths Superstar
Fri 9 May 2014
The Man Who Counted, a book of 'Arabic' mathematical tales written by Middle Eastern...
-
![]()
British Law - Made in Brussels?
Fri 2 May 2014
How much British law is made in Brussels - 75% as UKIP say, or 7% as Nick Clegg says?...
-
![]()
Sir Roger Bannister's ‘impossible’ feat
Fri 2 May 2014
Sir Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes 60 ago.
-
![]()
Killed for being female?
Fri 25 Apr 2014
Are 100 million women missing from the world? A listener asks More or Less to explore...
-
![]()
Magic Numbers
Fri 18 Apr 2014
Do you have a favourite number - one you love, one you think stands out from all the...
-
![]()
Nigeria - rich or poor?
Fri 11 Apr 2014
Nigeria's bureau of statistics has overhauled the way it calculates the country's GDP...
-
![]()
Freedom in Numbers
Fri 4 Apr 2014
How many people in the world live in freedom? The BBC's Freedom 2014 season got Tim or...
-
![]()
Is London France’s sixth largest city?
Sat 29 Mar 2014
Are there really be 300,000 French people in London and would they really want to for...
-
![]()
Missing planes
Sat 22 Mar 2014
Could Bayesian statistics find Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing? This niche...
-
![]()
Mailbox edition
Sat 15 Mar 2014
Your questions answered - Do the Maasai in Africa number one million? Is it true that...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: Modern Slavery
Sat 8 Mar 2014
Are there 21 million slaves in the world today? Director of 12 Years a Slave, Steve at...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: Neknomination Outbreak
Sat 22 Feb 2014
The rise and fall of an online epidemic: How studying the spread of infectious the out...
-
![]()
Love by numbers
Sat 15 Feb 2014
Can economics help you find love? Tim Harford and the team look at the maths behind...
-
![]()
Rising drug overdose deaths
Sat 8 Feb 2014
In the US, more people are dying from drug overdoses than from road traffic accidents...
-
![]()
The 10,000 hours rule
Sat 1 Feb 2014
Becoming a pro on practice alone – is that possible? Or do you need innate talent? a...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: Immigration
Sat 1 Feb 2014
How much do migrants cost or benefit a nation? Plus, planning a wedding - when you and...
-
![]()
The 50p tax rate
Fri 31 Jan 2014
Chancellor George Osborne says a 50p tax rate does not bring in much revenue; Shadow...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: Alcohol risk
Sat 25 Jan 2014
Do two large glasses of wine triple your risk of mouth cancer, as claimed on a health...
-
![]()
Immigration
Fri 24 Jan 2014
What does a detailed look at immigration statistics tell us about the benefits, or of...
-
![]()
WS MoreOrLess: An apple-a-day
Sat 18 Jan 2014
An apple-a-day will actually keep the doctors away, according to a study in the of the...
-
![]()
Obesity crisis?
Fri 17 Jan 2014
Tim Harford discovers that health statistics contradict a report which says obesity is...
-
![]()
How big are the Conservatives' planned cuts?
Thu 16 Jan 2014
The Conservatives' plans to achieve a budget surplus by 2019-20 have led to near that...
