More or Less
Episodes
WS MoreOrLess: Modern Slavery
08 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Are there 21 million slaves in the world today? Director of 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen, made this claim at both the Oscars and the BAFTAs while a...
The 10,000 hours rule
01 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Becoming a pro on practice alone – is that possible? Or do you need innate talent? After reading books promoting the idea, a photographer with no na...
WS MoreOrLess: Neknomination Outbreak
22 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The rise and fall of an online epidemic: How studying the spread of infectious diseases suggests the global drinking craze Neknomination will fizzle o...
Love by numbers
15 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Can economics help you find love? Tim Harford and the team look at the maths behind modern match-making. Economist Michele Belot from the University o...
Rising drug overdose deaths
10 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In the US, more people are dying from drug overdoses than from road traffic accidents and firearms. As headlines are filled with the news that actor P...
WS MoreOrLess: Immigration
03 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
How much do migrants cost or benefit a nation? Plus, planning a wedding - when you have friends and family all around the world and a finite number of...
The 50p tax rate
31 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Chancellor George Osborne says a 50p tax rate does not bring in much revenue; Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls says it does. Tim Harford takes a look at why...
WS MoreOrLess: Alcohol risk
27 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Do two large glasses of wine triple your risk of mouth cancer, as claimed on a health leaflet spotted by a sceptical listener? Tim Harford examines th...
Immigration
24 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
What does a detailed look at immigration statistics tell us about the benefits, or otherwise, of welcoming overseas citizens? Plus, is it true that by...
WS MoreOrLess: An apple-a-day
20 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
An apple-a-day will actually keep the doctors away, according to a study in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal. It generated headlin...
Obesity crisis?
17 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford discovers that health statistics contradict a report which says obesity is worsening. Plus, he fact-checks: armed police shooting statisti...
WS MoreOrLess: Counting the Dead in Iraq
13 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In Iraq, estimates of the death count since the war started 2003 range from 100,000 to about one million. Tim Harford explores why such a range exists...
The week that kills
10 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Most deaths occur in this week of the year - Tim Harford asks why. He also asks: are there really two million millionaire pensioners in the UK, and ho...
WS MoreOrLess: The numbers of 2013 - part 2
04 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
A guide to 2013 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic statistics of the year discussed by More or Less interviewees. Contri...
Pension Charges
03 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
When the government announced that fees charged by pension providers could be capped, some listeners were sceptical that the benefits could be as grea...
WS MoreOrLess: The numbers of 2013 - part 1
28 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
A guide to 2013 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic statistics of the year discussed by More or Less interviewees. Contri...
Numbers of the year
27 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
A guide to 2013 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic statistics of the year discussed by More or Less interviewees. Contri...
WS MoreOrLess: Wine shortage?
21 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
It has been reported that global wine supplies are running low. But shops still seem to be well-stocked. So, what is going on? Tim Harford fact-checks...
Britain's 80,000 homeless children
20 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
About 80,000 children will wake up homeless on Christmas Day, according to the charity Shelter. What exactly does that mean? Tim Harford explores the ...
WS MoreOrLess: Genocide in South Africa?
14 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
It is claimed white South Africans are being systematically killed because of the colour of their skin, but do the crime statistics back this up? No, ...
WS MoreOrLess: Testing the PISA test
07 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The publication of the latest international education league table has created waves around the world. From Shanghai at the top of the table to Peru a...
Football Ranking Mysteries Explained
30 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of the 2014 World Cup draw next Friday, we look at world football rankings. How are Switzerland seeded when the Netherlands, Italy and England a...
WS MoreOrLess: Could statistics cure cancer?
23 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Ruth Alexander speaks to a statistician at the forefront of cancer research, Professor Terry Speed. He has just been awarded the Prime Minister’s Pr...
WS MoreOrLess: Sachin Tendulkar - best batsman of all time?
16 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has amassed 15,847 test runs, which is 2,500 more runs than any other batsman. But other ways have been devised to calculate c...
WS MoreOrLess: Does politics make us get our sums wrong?
09 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
To what degree do our personal opinions cloud our judgement? Yale University researchers have attempted to detect and measure how our political belief...
100,000 Christian martyrs?
02 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
It is claimed an average of 100,000 Christians have died because of their faith every year for the past decade: and that this is an 'unreported catast...
WS MoreOrLess: Fertility - when is too late?
26 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Women in their late thirties shouldn’t be as anxious about their prospects of having a baby as is commonly assumed, psychologist Jean Twenge argues....
WS MoreOrLess: Nobel Prize puzzle
19 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford tells the story of how two economists who disagree with each other have been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize. Eugene Fama has shown that s...
The Hawthorne Effect
12 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford tells the story of the Hawthorne Experiments, one of the most famous social studies of the Twentieth Century. The finding – that workers...
WS MoreOrLess: Mosquitoes and elephants
07 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Has the mosquito killed half the people who have ever lived? Tim Harford assesses the claim. Are 96 elephants a day being killed in Africa? Plus, a re...
Underage drinking
04 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Are hundreds of young children visiting A&E because of alcohol? Plus, an update on the Trumptonshire economy. And has the mosquito killed half the...
WS MoreOrLess: Population explosion?
30 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
"We just shut our eyes to the fact that the world's population is increasing out of control." Is broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough rig...
NHS hospital deaths
27 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford examines the claim that NHS hospital patients are 45% more likely to die than US ones. Is Sir David Attenborough right that the world's po...
Formula 1 racing risk
23 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
'I accept every time I get in my car, there's a 20% chance I could die'. It's a line from the Formula 1 hit film, Rush. Spoken by racing driver Niki L...
Do free school meals work?
20 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
All pupils at infant schools in England are to get free school lunches from next September, but does the evidence prove free dinners improve results? ...
Sexual violence statistics in Asia
16 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Almost a quarter of men in some Asian countries admit rape, it has been reported. The headlines have been sparked by a UN report, which looks at viole...
Fertility: when is too late?
13 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Psychologist Jean Twenge argues that women in their late thirties shouldn’t be as anxious about their prospects of having a baby as is commonly assu...
The death toll in Syria
09 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
As global leaders remain divided on whether to carry out a military strike against Syria in response to the apparent use of chemical weapons against i...
The Death Toll in Syria
06 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford looks at the different claims made about how many people have been killed in the apparent chemical attack in Syria. The cost of care has ...
Counting climate migrants
31 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Is it true that environmental problems will create 200 million migrants? Some politicians and environmentalists warn that this is the case. But migrat...
What price the life of a badger?
30 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Has the government taken into account the worth of a badger's life in any cost-benefit analysis of the badger cull? It aims to kill 70% of badgers in ...
Is coffee bad for you?
24 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
People who drink more than 4 cups of coffee increase their chances of dying by 50%, it was reported recently. Given everyone’s chance of dying is al...
The magic of maths
17 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford speaks to Persi Diaconis, top professor of maths and statistics and legendary magician. The Stanford University professor and co-author o...
Where could we fit the entire world’s population?
10 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
If all the world’s population crowded together, where could we all fit? London? Texas? More or Less figures it out, and separates fact from fiction....
What is the most visited country in the world?
03 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week we find out what the most visited country in the world is and ask why aren’t they capitalising financially as well as their rivals. Plus w...
Chris Froome's Tour de France victory
27 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The winner of this year's Tour de France, British rider Chris Froome, faced numerous questions about doping during the course of his victory. More or ...
Egypt: Biggest protest in history?
13 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
It’s claimed that Egyptians have taken part in the biggest uprising the world has ever seen. The nationwide demonstrations, which were followed by t...
Sex and the world wide web
06 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The world of porn is often exaggerated but does it really make up 37% of the web? And after some high profile cases we ask whether the American footba...
How long will you live?
29 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Life expectancy at birth around the world has increased by six years in the past two decades. But can this striking trend continue? Ruth Alexander loo...
Will 40% of the world's workforce really be in Africa by 2050?
22 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Ruth Alexander examines US Secretary of State, John Kerry’s claim that 40% of the world’s workforce will be in Africa by 2050 and talks to the chi...
Is a child dying of hunger every 15 seconds?
15 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Ruth Alexander examines the claim that every 15 seconds a child dies of hunger. It’s a popular statistic used by celebrities and charity campaigners...
Sex on the Brain?
10 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Parents take note – what can numbers reveal about bringing up children? Plus, Tim Harford explore if men really do think about sex every seven secon...
A&E, and the chances of having twins
07 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
A&E waiting times have been making the headlines - Tim Harford takes a look at some of the numbers and puts them into context. Today presenter Eva...
The maths of spies and terrorists
03 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing and the killing of a British soldier on the streets of Woolwich in London, it emerged that the suspects wer...
The maths of spies and terrorists
31 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
After the killing of a British soldier on the streets of Woolwich in London, it emerged that the suspects were known to the security services. But how...
Ryanair punctuality; mistakes in academic papers
27 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford examines Ryanair’s claim that more than 90% of its flights land on time; and discovers that millions of scientific papers may be incorre...
The economics of Scottish independence
24 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford inspects the claims the UK Treasury and the Scottish government make about the economics of an independent Scotland; tests Ryanair’s cla...
Angelina Jolie’s 87% cancer risk
20 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
As Angelina Jolie announces that an 87% cancer risk has prompted her to have a double mastectomy, Tim Harford assesses the probabilities associated wi...
Angelina Jolie’s 87% cancer risk
17 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
As Angelina Jolie announces that an 87% cancer risk has prompted her to have a double mastectomy, Tim Harford assesses the probabilities associated wi...
How old is your dog?
13 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
It's often said that one dog year equals seven human years. But is it true? Tim Harford and Ben Carter unveil the More or Less Dogulator. Plus, 15 dis...
How much does the EU cost the UK? Plus, dog years
10 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford makes sense of the numbers being used in the political battle about the UK and its membership of the EU. And, he looks at whether it’s t...
The Maths of Mozart and Birds
06 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Birds + windows =? The BBC Quiz show The Unbelievable Truth reckons that more than 2 million birds die crashing into window panes every day in the US....
Birds, Mozart, austerity, Thatcher
03 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Birds + windows =? The BBC Quiz show The Unbelievable Truth reckons that more than 2 million birds die crashing into window panes every day in the US....
Are Man Utd a one-man team?
27 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More or Less creates the Alternative Premier League, with lead scorer goals chalked off to work out whether it’s true that Van Persie’s really sin...
Austerity: a spreadsheet error?
22 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford tells the story of the student who uncovered a mistake in a famous economic paper that has been used to make the case for austerity cuts. ...
Thatcher in numbers
15 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who has died aged 87, was Britain’s first female prime minister and one of the most influential political figures of the...
Communicating Risk
08 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the fourth anniversary of the earthquake which devastated the city of L’Aquila in Italy and which led to the conviction of six scientists and...
That's not much gold
30 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
What if a super-villain took control of the world's gold a melted it in to a cube? How big would it be? Wesley Stephenson finds out.
Can big data save lives?
25 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
With an avalanche of 2.5 quintillion bytes of data generated daily, could this be used to change our lives and does it have a darker side?
Are there more black men in college or prison in the US?
18 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Only last week Ivory Toldson heard the speaker say there are more black men in prison in America than in college. ‘Here we go again’ he thought. O...
HIV in numbers
11 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
With the news that a baby has been ‘cured’ of HIV what do the numbers tell us about the epidemic. Ruth Alexander looks at the changes in the way t...
Is the Kenyan election already decided?
04 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Kenya votes for its next President on 4th March. The opinion polls show that it is neck-and-neck between the two main candidates but an influential Ke...
Counting Catholics
25 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week Tim Harford asks how the figure of 1.2 billion Catholics world-wide is calculated. He also tests the claims of the controversial video, 'Mus...
How many people support Manchester United?
18 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week Ruth Alexander looks at Manchester United versus Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League. Real Manager Jose Mourinho says this wa...
The end of the Penny
11 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Canada has stopped distributing its smallest coin –the one cent or the penny. This week Ruth Alexander looks at why some countries get rid of their ...
A case of statistical significance in Greece
04 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week Ruth Alexander looks at the extraordinary case of Andreas Georgiou the head of the Greek statistics agency, Elstat. He is facing criminal ch...
Fat or Fiction
28 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
A ‘new’ BMI calculation has been proposed by Oxford Mathematician Professor Nick Trefethen but does it really address the problem with a calculati...
WS MoreOrLess: Indian Farmer Suicides
21 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week Ruth Alexander is looking at farmer suicides in India. But is it any more prevalent than in any other area of Indian society? Also what is t...
Pop up economics
16 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 1 of Tim Harford's new series, Pop Up Economics, in which he tells a live audience short stories about fascinating people and ideas in economi...
Food waste and Scrabble
14 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Reports this week suggest that we are wasting 50 per cent of our food globally. It comes from a study by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in the ...
The Parable of the Ox
07 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
What does a 'guess the weight of the ox' competition tells us about a bloated and dysfunctional financial system? We find out in the Parable of the Ox...
The Parable of the Ox
04 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
What does a 'guess the weight of the ox' competition tells us about a bloated and dysfunctional financial system? We find out in the Parable of the Ox...
Numbers of 2012
31 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
A special review of the year through the interesting, informative and idiosyncratic numbers of 2012.
Numbers of 2012
28 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
A guide to 2012 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic statistics of the year discussed by More or Less interviewees.
Gun Statistics
24 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the debate on firearms deaths, and discovers the mathematics of juggling. This programme was first broadcast o...
Fact-checking US gun crime statistics
21 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Harford investigates gun crime statistics in the US. Plus, why death is not always the one hard fact that’s hard to fudge; the average age of fi...
WS MoreOrLess: What is "rare"?
17 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
This week: What is ‘rare’? When we say something is rare what do we mean? Lightning strikes which typically kill three people a year in the UK are...
The Census and what does 'rare' mean?
14 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Why was the estimate, in 2003, for Eastern Europeans coming to the UK so wrong? Which is better when communicating information words or numbers? Nassi...
World Service: Africa GDP & Royal twins
10 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Where does Nigeria’s plan to revise its GDP leave our understanding of growth in Sub-saharan Africa? And what is the chance of the Duchess of Cambr...
Radio 4: Royal Twins & Autumn Statement
07 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
In light of the Royal pregnancy Tim Harford asks what severe morning sickness tells us about the chances of having twins. Yan Wong helps him look at t...
More or Less: How reliable is Kevin Pietersen?
03 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Pietersen has been widely praised as one of the best England batsmen of the current era and possibly of all time. But in the first test match he...
More or Less: Opinion polling, Kevin Pietersen, and stacking Lego
30 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
On More or Less this week Tim Harford looks at three polls carried out to gauge the public’s opinion on press regulation gave vastly different answe...
Fergie Time
26 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first in the new series of the programme. There’s a well-established idea that Manchester United get more added time than every other P...
Ash Die Back and Fergie Time
23 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first in the new series of the programme. Tim Harford has been busy felling some ash tree statistics. He asks whether the UK could lose 30...
Brain Food and Bacteria
19 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
There's not an obvious link between chocolate and Nobel prizes, but this did not stop news outlets around the world reporting the amount of chocolate ...
Voodoo polling? Predicting the US election
12 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
This week Ruth Alexander looks at the other winner the US elections. Blogger and pioneer of aggregated polling, Nate Silver, predicted the outcome of ...
Is America’s conviction rate really 99.5%?
05 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Conrad Black has claimed that 99.5% of prosecution cases in America end up in convictions. Is it really this high? We try to estimate how this compare...
Predicting L'Aquila Earthquake: is it right to blame the scientists?
29 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
This week six scientists and one ex-government official were sentenced to prison for multiple manslaughter following the L’Aquila earthquake in Ital...
Life-saving economics
22 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Al Roth tells Tim Harford about the work for which he has just been awarded the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Predicting the global population
15 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Predicting the global population: does anyone really know what’s going to happen?