More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

4.6 (2.9K)
MATHEMATICS
UPDATED WEEKLY

Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us. From BBC Radio 4

5 DAYS AGO

Why Manchester United can afford to play badly

Manchester United are terrible, even according to their own manager. Last season saw their worst ever performance in Premier League history. But at the same time, according to Forbes magazine, they’re still the second most valuable football club in the world. How is that possible? Tim talks to Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert and the author of The Price of Football, to find out the secret of Manchester United’s financial success. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Nicholas Barrett Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
9 JUL

Can drinking one less bottle of coke a day halve obesity?

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news and in life. This week: Is the secret to halving obesity rates really just a matter of cutting back on one fizzy drink a day? How many new babies in the City of London have a foreign-born parent? And since fewer than one baby a week is actually born in the City of London, how much should we care? Electricity in the UK is more expensive than almost anywhere else. Why? And is it anything to do with wind turbines? And we help out rival Radio 4 programme Start the Week with a claim about churches. If you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at, email the team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk More or Less is produced in partnership with the Open University. Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Producer: Nicholas Barrett and Nathan Gower Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon Show less

27 min
5 JUL

The economics of war: Vikings, Conquistadors and Vietnam

How does economics help us understand conflicts through history? That’s the question that economist and journalist Duncan Weldon tries to answer in his new book, Blood and Treasure. Tim talks to Duncan about the economic perspective on Viking raiders, Spanish conquest and the Vietnam war. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
2 JUL

Is the UK seeing a Christian revival?

Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news and in life. This week: Is church-going making a comeback in the UK? Is it true that every day, 1000 people begin claiming personal independence payments, or PIP? When the government talks about how it “returns” illegal immigrants, what does it mean? Can a new telescope really see golf balls on the moon? If you’ve seen a number you think looks suspicious, email the More or Less team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk More or Less is produced in partnership with the Open University. Presenter: Tim Harford Producers: Lizzy McNeill, Nicholas Barrett, David Verry Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

28 min
28 JUN

Has Russia suffered a million casualties in the Ukraine war?

It’s been over three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the human toll is growing on both sides. Recently, politicians and journalists have declared a grim milestone, one million Russian casualties. But is this number accurate? Tim talks to Seth Jones, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Olga Ivshina, from the BBC Russian service, to investigate this statistic. If you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at, email the More or Less team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Nicholas Barrett Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
25 JUN

Why is data on grooming gangs so bad?

Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news and in life. In this episode: Why is the data on the ethnicity of grooming gangs of such poor quality? Iran has apparently enriched uranium to 60%, but what does that number mean? Adam Curtis’s latest series, Shifty, includes claims about Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power. We ask Sir John Curtice, polling king of election night, if they’re accurate. And we ask an economist to explain why being pillaged by a Viking might be more lucrative than you’d imagine. If you’ve seen a number in the news you think needs a stern look, email the team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk More or Less is produced in partnership with the Open University. Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Josephine Casserly Producers: Nicholas Barrett, Lizzy McNeill and David Verry Series producer: Tom Colls Production coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

29 min
21 JUN

How to spot a suspicious statistic

Untruths sneak into our lives in all kinds of ways. Sometimes they’re outright lies. Blatant misinformation. But in this episode, we’re going to talk about something else - those sneaky numbers and claims that bounce around our society and that aren’t exactly false, but are leading you down the wrong path. That’s the subject of a book called May Contain Lies by Alex Edmans, a professor of finance at London Business School. Tim talks to Alex about the statistical claims that might not be wrong, but aren’t right either – and how to make sure you aren’t fooled by them yourself. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Andrew Garratt Editor: Richard Vadon

9 min
18 JUN

Are 4% of young women in the UK on OnlyFans?

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news, and in life. This week: We debunk a false claim that the hotel bill for immigrants is the size of the tax bill for Manchester. An article in the Spectator claimed that 4% of women aged between 18 and 34 in the UK are OnlyFans creators. We track down the source and discover that it is not very good. Do people in Scotland use much more water than people in Yorkshire? If so, why? And we examine a popular claim that today’s working mothers spend more time with their children than your stereotypical 1950s housewife did. Make sure you get in touch if you’ve seen a number you think Tim and the team should take a look at. The email is moreorless@bbc.co.uk More or Less is produced in partnership with the Open University. Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Josephine Casserly Producers: Nicholas Barrett, Lizzy McNeill and David Verry Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

29 min

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Tim Harford

Host
Lizzy McNeill

Guest
Mike Wendling

Guest

4.6

out of 5

2,863 Ratings

More challenging please

28 Jun

veganman1961

Why does Tim not challenge Seth more?Who funds the think tank that Seth works for?
Limited by their narrative

7 Jul

psiloiordinary

So disappointing to hear the biased assessments from the IFS week after week presented as if no alternatives exist. When it comes to economics, welfare and tax come here for your neoliberal right wing ideology dressed up in selected facts only. Sometimes they debunk some stuff and they can do it well. They should apply the same standards to the topics above and give people all the facts. Taxing the wealth of the rich doesn’t actually exist according to this programme. So sad to hear the programme deteriorate over the past few decades in this way.
Just what’s needed

27 Apr

Holly Budd

Thank you for demonstrating why the “80% of women are ‘after’ 20% of men” stat is highly unreliable.
Well researched and presented

7 Apr

Cloud inversion

Excellent fact checking show.