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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Same data, opposite results. Can we trust research?
Sat 6 Nov 2021
Why the same data can produce different conclusions.
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The art of counting
Sun 31 Oct 2021
Tim Harford talks to author Deborah Stone about her book which explores counting.
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The art of counting
Sat 30 Oct 2021
Tim Harford talks to author Deborah Stone about her book which explores counting
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The numbers behind Squid Game
Sun 24 Oct 2021
Could you survive a round in Squid Game, and how many have watched it?
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The numbers behind Squid Game
Sat 23 Oct 2021
Could you survive a round in Squid Game, and how many have watched it?
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The prize-winning economics of migration and the minimum wage
Sun 17 Oct 2021
A look at the work of this year’s winners of the most prestigious prize in economics.
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The prize-winning economics of migration and the minimum wage
Sat 16 Oct 2021
A look at the work of this year’s winners of the most prestigious prize in economics.
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Vaccinating the world
Sat 9 Oct 2021
How countries’ vaccination rates measure up – and the trickiness of comparing them.
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Bonus episode: the first ever More or Less
Thu 7 Oct 2021
A chat with More or Less's founding producer and presenter plus the first episode in full
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Twenty years of More or Less
Wed 6 Oct 2021
A look back at our origins, plus the usual mix of numerical nous and statistical savvy.
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Is it easy being green?
Wed 29 Sep 2021
Expensive electricity, inadequate insulation, and a tale of tumbling trees.
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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.
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.
