

More or Less
BBC Radio 4
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 17, 2020 • 16min
Weighing the Cost of Brexit
Is it possible to calculate the cost of Brexit? Gemma Tetlow from the Institute for Government helps us weigh the arguments. How much does luck play into Liverpool FC's amazing season? And, crucially, how fast is an alligator?

Jan 11, 2020 • 9min
WS More or Less: Bushfire mystery
Have a billion animals died in Australia’s fires? And which ones are likely to survive?

Jan 10, 2020 • 35min
Australian Animal Deaths, Carbon Emissions, Election Mystery
Tim Harford on animal deaths in Australia's fires, how many Labour voters went Conservative and are UK carbon emissions really down 40%. Plus: have we really entered a new decade?

Jan 4, 2020 • 9min
C-sections and sharks
How many women in China give birth in hospitals, and whether it was true that 50% of births there are delivered by caesarean section. Oh, and we also mention guts and bacteria…Sharks kill 12 humans a year but humans kill 11,417 sharks an hour. That’s the statistic used in a Facebook meme that’s doing the rounds. Is it true?

Dec 28, 2019 • 9min
Presidential candidates and dementia
We talk about the age of some of the frontrunners in the Democrat nomination race and President Donald Trump and the health risks they face.Also, More or Less listeners were surprised by a claim they read on the BBC website recently: “Pets are estimated to be consuming up to 20 percent of all meat globally.” So we – of course – investigated and will explain all.

Dec 20, 2019 • 9min
The Simpsons and maths
We explore the maths secrets of The Simpsons on their 30th anniversary.

Dec 13, 2019 • 9min
Koalas
As bushfires rage in Australia, the plight of the koala made front-page news around the world. There were warnings that fires wiped out 80% of the marsupial's habitat and that koalas are facing extinction. We check the claims with the help of National Geographic's Natasha Daly and Dr Christine Hosking of the University of Queensland. (A Koala receives treatment at the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie after its rescue from a bushfire. Credit: Safeed Khan/Getty Images)

Dec 10, 2019 • 28min
Election Special (2/2)
Labour's spending plans, Conservatives claims on homelessness, the SNP's education record

Dec 6, 2019 • 9min
Tree Planting Pledges
The UK General Election is fast approaching, top of the agenda are the political parties green ambitions and one particular initiative is garnering a lot of attention, tree planting. The Labour Party has the most ambitious target – a whopping 2 billion trees planted by 2040. How much land would this take, how does it stack up against other party pledges and what difference will it make? Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Lizzy McNeill

Dec 3, 2019 • 28min
Election Special 1/2
50,000 nurses? 40 new hospitals? Big corporate tax rises? Childcare promises? Election pledges might sound good, but do they stand up to scrutiny? In the run up to the General Election on 12th December, Tim Harford takes his scalpel of truth to the inflamed appendix of misinformation. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Neal Razzell


