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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Did Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres stop disinformation bots?
Yesterday
We investigate claims that strikes on Yandex disrupted Russian disinformation campaigns.
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Fact-check: Will Scottish pensioners really be funding English social care?
Wednesday
Tim Harford investigates Scottish pensions, maternity injuries, UK deficit and baked beans
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Fact-check: Is China missing a billion people?
Last Saturday
We investigate viral claims that the population of China is really only 500 million.
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Is the UK state pension really the lowest in Europe?
Wed 7 Oct 2026
Tim Harford investigates UK pensions, Russia’s GDP and heatwave deaths.
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The Uzbekistan-shaped hole in an influential climate cost paper
Sat 3 Oct 2026
How a global study on the cost of climate change fell apart when one country was removed
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Does the UK really have nine out of the ten poorest regions in Northern Europe?
Wed 30 Sep 2026
Tim Harford investigates regional inequality, migrant costs, donkey donations and honey.
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Trump fact-check: Do the US and Venezuela have 60% of the world’s oil?
Sat 26 Sep 2026
Is Donald Trump right to say the US and Venezuela have 60% of the world’s oil?
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Has the UK’s productivity puzzle been solved?
Wed 23 Sep 2026
Tim Harford investigates bad productivity data, AI carbon, nuns and quiet album ends.
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Are carrots becoming less nutritious?
Sat 19 Sep 2026
Have crops lost nutrients since the 1950s? We dig into the evidence.
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Are bad teeth the number one reason kids go to A&E?
Wed 16 Sep 2026
Tim Harford investigates kids’ teeth, Israeli drugs, NEETs and the chances AI kills us all
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Could this be the strongest El Niño in 1,000 Years?
Sat 12 Sep 2026
Climate scientist Zeke Hausfather on a potentially record-breaking El Niño.
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Why are so many ex-prisoners being sent back to prison?
Wed 9 Sep 2026
Tim Harford on prison recalls, UK millionaires, European wildfires and thieving seagulls.
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Is every card shuffle unique?
Sat 5 Sep 2026
Why every card shuffle is an unprecedented event in the history of the universe
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Bonus podcast: Norman Numbers
Fri 4 Sep 2026
Six snack-sized synopses of Bayeux Tapestry-related stats
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Do Germans really take 19.5 days of sick leave per year?
Sat 29 Aug 2026
Investigating how much sick leave is taken on average around the world
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How much of the world isn’t owned by anyone?
Sat 22 Aug 2026
Explaining the story behind the un-owned parts of the land and sea
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14 million deaths or zero deaths? The impact of the USAID cuts
Sat 15 Aug 2026
The complexities of calculating lives saved and lives lost.
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How much of all the money in the world does Elon Musk have?
Sat 8 Aug 2026
Calculating Elon Musk’s personal share of total global wealth
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Would you take £50,000 or a 50/50 chance of £1m?
Sat 1 Aug 2026
How to understand risk-averse financial decision making.
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Is crime in London ‘through the roof’?
Sat 25 Jul 2026
How does violent crime in London compare to other global cities?
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How much luck do you need to win the World Cup?
Sat 18 Jul 2026
Investigating the role of random chance in football
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Does playing tennis make you live 9.7 years longer?
Sat 11 Jul 2026
Should we all take up tennis? We delve into the evidence on its life-extending powers.
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Does the average teacher really earn £54,000?
Wed 8 Jul 2026
Tim Harford investigates teacher pay, Russian soldier deaths and card-shuffling maths.
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Does a full moon make crime rates go up?
Sat 4 Jul 2026
Holding the moon to account for its role in crime rates
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Examining the numbers behind Andy Burnham’s ‘Manchester Miracle’
Wed 1 Jul 2026
Tim Harford examines ‘Manchesterism’, hot cities, whales and CO2, and prime numbers.
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The messy history behind the modern calendar
Sat 27 Jun 2026
Why is May, May? We explain the genesis of the modern calendar
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Benefits v minimum wage: Which pays more?
Wed 24 Jun 2026
Tim Harford examines benefits v work, dangerous temperatures and the World Cup draw.
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Is the US worse than North Korea for malnutrition deaths?
Sat 20 Jun 2026
Why have malnutrition deaths shot up in the US since 2012?
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Does Europe suffer more heat deaths than the US?
Wed 17 Jun 2026
Tim Harford investigates heat deaths, the carbon footprint of eggs, and ironing out Wales.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin: What can the Great Crash of 1929 tell us about today?
Sat 13 Jun 2026
The financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin on the numbers behind the 1929 crash
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.
