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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Halloween special: How many people did the real Dracula impale?
Friday
Looking at the math's behind the myth
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Is your housework split sexist?
Sat 25 Oct 2025
Corinne Low explains the economics of women, men and housework
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Nobel economics prize 2025: What's the big idea?
Sat 18 Oct 2025
Tim Harford explains the ideas behind the winners of the economics Nobel Prize.
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Are millions of people getting Motability cars for anxiety and ADHD?
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Farm tax, ADHD benefits, Movember claim and Tim鈥檚 marathon
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Are 72% of prison inmates in Switzerland foreign?
Sat 11 Oct 2025
Donald Trump says three quarters of Swiss prisoners are not Swiss. Is he right?
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Does half the UK get more in benefits than they pay in tax?
Wed 8 Oct 2025
UK benefits, Zack Polanski鈥檚 billionaire claim and Gen Z job interviews
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Is the world getting less miserable?
Sat 4 Oct 2025
Exploring global polling data that suggests people in more countries are "thriving"
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Has Donald Trump ended seven 'unendable' wars?
Wed 1 Oct 2025
Trump鈥檚 peace deals, Labour鈥檚 GDP claim and university league tables
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The Case of the Missing US Data
Sat 27 Sep 2025
Why does it matter that US government datasets are being deleted and discontinued?
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Was it easier to deport migrants to France before Brexit?
Wed 24 Sep 2025
Migrant returns, ageing mistakes, beef prices and AI MP speeches.
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Is JD Vance right about left-wing violence?
Sat 20 Sep 2025
Following the murder of Charlie Kirk, what is the data on political violence in the US?
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Is it true that out-of-work benefits have almost doubled?
Wed 17 Sep 2025
Out-of-work benefits, French pensioners, surprising salmon and the truth about senses.
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Will the world really be 50 million workers short by 2030?
Sat 13 Sep 2025
Is Nvidia boss Jensen Huang right about a looming labour shortfall?
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Are Afghan nationals more likely to be convicted of sexual offences?
Wed 10 Sep 2025
National debt, Afghan crime, menopause retirement and literal snail pace.
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Do 11,000 sharks die every hour?
Sat 6 Sep 2025
Investigating if 100 million sharks are killed by fishing nets every year.
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Are self-driving cars safer than cars with drivers?
Sat 30 Aug 2025
We look at claims that fully autonomous cars are 5 or ten times safer
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Do women feel the cold more than men?
Sat 23 Aug 2025
We investigate if air conditioning is set too cold for women.
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How weird was the Med Sea heatwave?
Sat 16 Aug 2025
Did the Mediterranean experience a 1-in-216,000,000,000-year sea temperature anomaly?
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Why it matters that Trump fired data chief
Sat 9 Aug 2025
The US president fired Erika McEntarfer over job numbers. What鈥檚 the potential fallout?
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Are abortion numbers rising in the US?
Wed 6 Aug 2025
Looking at the data behind abortion in a post Dobbs America.
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Does a single AI query use a bottle of water?
Wed 6 Aug 2025
We investigate how much water and power are used by artificial intelligence
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Are one in six children living through war?
Sat 19 Jul 2025
A Unicef event said one in six children are living though war. What does that really mean?
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Why Manchester United can afford to play badly
Sat 12 Jul 2025
How a successful football club doesn鈥檛 always require a winning team
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Can drinking one less bottle of coke a day halve obesity?
Wed 9 Jul 2025
Plus, the UK鈥檚 expensive electricity, church counts and babies in the City of London
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The economics of war: Vikings, Conquistadors and Vietnam
Sat 5 Jul 2025
Economist and author Duncan Weldon on his new book Blood and Treasure
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Is the UK seeing a Christian revival?
Wed 2 Jul 2025
Plus: PIP claims, immigrant returns and spotting golf balls on the moon.
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Has Russia suffered a million casualties in the Ukraine war?
Sat 28 Jun 2025
Making sense of the numbers around the Russian dead and wounded.
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Why is data on grooming gangs so bad?
Wed 25 Jun 2025
Plus, nuclear enrichment numbers, Curtice on Curtis and Viking economics
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How to spot a suspicious statistic
Sat 21 Jun 2025
Professor Alex Edmans on his book, May Contain Lies
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Are 4% of young women in the UK on OnlyFans?
Wed 18 Jun 2025
Plus, asylum seeker hotel bill, Scottish water use and 1950s childcare claim
