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More or Less

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life

Radio 4,344 episodes

Episodes

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The mistake in Trump’s tariff formula
Also, counting bobbies, freezing tax and electrocuting redheads
09 Apr 2025,28 mins
Is one in four people in the UK disabled?
Plus, what has Canada done to Donald Trump? Is Rachel Reeves chasing the model?
02 Apr 2025,28 mins
Could a 2% wealth tax raise £24bn?
Plus, did trillions disappear from UK pensions? Why does the UK have a lot of old housing?
26 Mar 2025,28 mins
Why are more people claiming disability benefits?
Plus, UK v Russia on free speech and the collapse of the Labour Force Survey.
19 Mar 2025,28 mins
How did lockdown impact children?
Five years on, Tim Harford looks at the data on the effect of lockdown.
17 Mar 2025,42 mins
DOGE, apples and irregular migrants
Fact-checking government efficiency claims in the US.
12 Mar 2025,28 mins
Defence Spending, Rare Earths and Trunk Truths
The numbers behind Ukraine’s rare earth worth and the UK’s defence spending ambitions.
05 Mar 2025,28 mins
Are older drivers more dangerous?
Plus, winter fuel deaths, prison sentence maths and leaves on railway tracks.
30 Oct 2024,28 mins
Do US crime statistics miss out the most violent cities?
Plus: MP capital gains claims and grizzly bear berry habits.
23 Oct 2024,28 mins
When are numbers like a horse at a gymkhana?
Plus: the taxes of 60 very rich people, water bill spreadsheets, and is 0 a small number?
16 Oct 2024,28 mins
Should the government target persnuffle?
Plus, childhood obesity, birds hitting windows and Sir David Spiegelhalter’s origin story.
09 Oct 2024,28 mins
How do you breed seventeen octillion rats?
Plus, GPs working less, the UK working less, and Wetherspoons wanting to pay less tax.
02 Oct 2024,28 mins
Could the winter fuel cut cost more than it saves?
Plus, ONS transgender stats, early-onset cancer, and puzzles you’re meant to get wrong.
25 Sep 2024,28 mins
How do you count millionaires?
Plus, asylum seeker costs, private school bets and Baumol's cost disease
18 Sep 2024,28 mins
How long does it take to turn around an oil tanker?
Plus migrants v pensioners and Ed Miliband’s energy auction claim.
11 Sep 2024,28 mins
Exclusions, black holes and dividing by zero
Plus special educational needs in Wales and Ghanian nurses in the UK.
04 Sep 2024,28 mins
Election endings, tennis and meeting men in finance
The UK's money troubles, NHS managers and a 54% chance of winning a point in tennis.
03 Jul 2024,28 mins
Election claims and erection claims
What did Liz Truss do to mortgage rates? Do erections use a litre of blood?
26 Jun 2024,28 mins
Worse mortgages, better readers, and potholes on the moon
We check some of the numbers that are flying about in the election campaign.
19 Jun 2024,28 mins
Leaflets, taxes, oil workers and classrooms
We look at bad graphs, oil rig extrapolations and pupil populations.
12 Jun 2024,28 mins
Debate, Reform, tax evasion and ants
Fact-checking the leaders' debate, tax evasion savings and the weight of ants.
05 Jun 2024,28 mins
UK growth, prisons and Swiftonomics
Is the UK economy growing faster than Germany, France and the US?
29 May 2024,28 mins
MP misconduct, NHS waiting lists and gold (gold)
Will it take 685 years to clear the NHS waiting list? Are 10% of MPs under investigation?
22 May 2024,28 mins
School spending, excess deaths and billions of animals at Heathrow
Is school funding at record levels? Did 6.5bn creatures come to the UK by plane last year?
28 Feb 2024,28 mins
Per capita GDP, MP claims and the entire EU budget
What does per capita GDP tell us? How much did the EU spend on Covid recovery?
21 Feb 2024,28 mins
Debt, students, shark and chips
What is the government’s rule on debt? Do 90% of chip shops sell shark and chips?
14 Feb 2024,28 mins
Council tax weirdness: Hartlepool vs Westminster
Council tax comparisons, migration calculations and the carbon footprint of home-grown veg
07 Feb 2024,28 mins
Measles, Traitors and the cost of Brexit
Is measles spreading? How much is Brexit costing? How good are they at traitor guessing?
31 Jan 2024,28 mins
Shopping, shipping and wind chill-ing
We investigate the cost of a weekly shop and explore the workings of wind chill.
24 Jan 2024,28 mins
Life expectancy, inheritance tax and the NHS vs winter
How long will we live? Who pays inheritance tax? How did the NHS perform this winter?
17 Jan 2024,28 mins