More or Less

Tim Harford on climate change, Victorian diseases, maths mistakes and alcohol consumption

Who can better forecast the weather – meteorologists or a rodent? What percentage of the English public are related to King Edward the III, and is malnutrition really on the rise in the UK? Sit back, relax and enjoy some of the good stuff from the More or Less archives.

Tim Harford finds untrue a recent report that there is a 'suicidal generation' of teens.

A listener doubts her popularity on the dating app Tinder. We investigate the numbers.

Tim Harford on Holocaust deniers; food prices in Venezuela, and dating app statistics

Tim Harford asks which times of the year are riskiest for suicide.

Tim Harford on domestic violence, employment numbers, and the chance of a white Easter.

Which planet is closest to Earth?

Tim Harford asks whether 1.7% of people are intersex, and examines false claims about MPs

We look at the numbers behind body temperature – what is normal?

Tim Harford on sugar, train fares, children's outdoors play and Earth's closest neighbour

Helena Merriman with numbers about water shortage, plastic recycling and American jobs.

The numbers that made 2018.

What to look out for on Christmas Eve.

Are mega-dams really sustainable?

Are women more likely to die from a heart attack than men?

Xavier Zapata examines what the data tells us about the deadly impact of war on civilians

Updating the kilogram.

How likely are assassination attempts on heads of state to succeed?

What proportion of a population needs to be vaccinated to stop a disease spreading?

In foreign aid terms what’s the best way of measuring how generous a country is?

The economists tackling climate change and growth.

New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are much higher among women than among men. The pattern is the same in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Everywhere where there are statistics on same-sex divorce it is the same sex doing the bulk of the divorcing. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at Canada’s Vancouver School of Economics and author of Dirty Money, a book which applies economic ideas to the study of sex and love. Producer: Ruth Alexander (Photo: Same-sex wedding cake toppers. Credit: Lucas Schifres/Getty Images)

New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are much higher among women than among men. The pattern is the same in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Everywhere where there are statistics on same-sex divorce it is the same sex doing the bulk of the divorcing. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at Canada’s Vancouver School of Economics and author of “Dirty Money”, a book which applies economic ideas to the study of sex and love. Producer: Ruth Alexander Image: Same-sex wedding cake toppers Credit: Lucas Schifres/Getty Images

This week BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind programme announced the results of The Loneliness Experiment. It was a large survey conducted by the programme in collaboration with the Wellcome Collection. The largest survey into the issue of loneliness to date, said All in the Mind, while the accompanying BBC press release reported that “The survey results indicate that 16-24 year olds experience loneliness more often and more intensely than any other age group. 40% of respondents aged 16-24 reported feeling lonely often or very often, while only 29% of people aged 65-74 and 27% of people aged over 75 said the same.” In the editors' notes, the press release cautions that “This was a self-selecting sample, so people experiencing loneliness might have been more attracted to take part, inflating reported levels of loneliness.” But much of the reporting by other BBC outlets and the wider media was not so restrained. Tim Harford speaks to Deirdre Toher from the University of the West of England about why the survey's results need careful interpretation.Listeners have been asking us to explain the schools funding row. When headteachers marched in protest at school spending last week, the Minister for School Standards, Nick Gibb, went on BBC Radio 4's Today programme to say "We are spending record amounts on our school funding. We are the third highest spender on education in the OECD”. BBC Education correspondent Sean Coughlan explains how he discovered that the OECD figure includes university tuition fees paid by students.Is it true that "Polish Pilots Shot down 60% of German Aircraft on Battle of Britain Day"? Lizzie McNeill fact-checks this claim found on the side of a van.New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are higher among women than among men. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at the Vancouver School of Economics and author of “Dirty Money”, a book about the economics of sex and love.Plus, what makes a listener loyal? A nine-year debate rages on.Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Ruth AlexanderImage: A single fan sits in the stands before a college football game Credit: Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Were Spitfire pilots killed after an average of four weeks in the World War Two battle?

Tim Harford on Spitfire pilots, and whether football triggers violence in the home.

How can we calculate excess mortality after a natural disaster?

Tim Harford on child carers, shareholder income, football vs museums and dangerous sports

What is the difference between 96% similarity or sharing 20% of our DNA?

Tim Harford with statistics on suicide, good schools and sexism in tennis. Plus goats

A listener asks whether his Volvo is the safest car on the road?

Tim Harford questions the usefulness of a popular heart age calculator.

Tim Harford talks to Bobby Duffy about why we are often wrong about a lot of basic facts

Tim Harford fact checks EU trade deals with Africa, and whether one drink is one too many

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this edition, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of interest rates. Why did they lead to coffins full of car getting sent to the US Federal Reserve? What factors affect what you have to pay on your loans? And what do your film choices say about why you decide to borrow?Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters: Ayeisha Thomas-Smith & Steve Bugeja

Computer programmes are being developed to combat fake news.

What would have been the most efficient way to get to Mordor?

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this show, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of inflation. They’ll explain how hyperinflation is affecting how Venezuelans have sex, why you can’t afford a ticket to see your favourite band in concert anymore and why a sale on sofas isn’t always a good thing.Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters: Ayeisha Thomas-Smith & Steve Bugeja

Are Wildfires in the United States and Southern Europe burning more land than before?

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this show, Ayeisha and Steve explore government debt. Why did an anonymous mother send her bracelet to the government to be turned into a bullet? How are you lending the government money without even realising? And when should you be worried about how much debt the government is in?Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters: Ayeisha Thomas-Smith & Steve Bugeja

How do you get a hashtag to trend around the world?

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less, you’ll get four bonus editions of Economics with Subtitles. It’s a brand new podcast that will bring you an everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this edition, Ayeisha and Steve look at how we quantify economic success. Should dodgy drug deals be included? What is Steve’s contribution to GDP? And should we ban people who pinch too many of your crisps?Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters: Ayeisha Thomas-Smith & Steve Bugeja

Does a baked potato contain the equivalent of 19 cubes of sugar?

How big are your testicles and what does that mean?

Having one fewer child could be the biggest thing you do to reduce your carbon footprint

How much better are the pros than the rest of us and how effective is slipstreaming?