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
-
![]()
Why Manchester United can afford to play badly
Sat 12 Jul 2025
How a successful football club doesn’t always require a winning team
-
![]()
Can drinking one less bottle of coke a day halve obesity?
Wed 9 Jul 2025
Plus, the UK’s expensive electricity, church counts and babies in the City of London
-
![]()
The economics of war: Vikings, Conquistadors and Vietnam
Sat 5 Jul 2025
Economist and author Duncan Weldon on his new book Blood and Treasure
-
![]()
The economics of war: Vikings, Conquistadors and Vietnam
Sat 5 Jul 2025
Economist and author Duncan Weldon on his new book Blood and Treasure
-
![]()
Is the UK seeing a Christian revival?
Wed 2 Jul 2025
Plus: PIP claims, immigrant returns and spotting golf balls on the moon.
-
![]()
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.
-
![]()
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.
-
![]()
Why is data on grooming gangs so bad?
Wed 25 Jun 2025
Plus, nuclear enrichment numbers, Curtice on Curtis and Viking economics
-
![]()
How to spot a suspicious statistic
Sat 21 Jun 2025
Professor Alex Edmans on his book, May Contain Lies
-
![]()
How to spot a suspicious statistic
Sat 21 Jun 2025
Professor Alex Edmans on his book, May Contain Lies
-
![]()
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
-
![]()
Could you be hit by a falling satellite?
Sat 14 Jun 2025
Investigating if 100,000 satellites could be orbiting earth in five years’ time
-
![]()
Could you be hit by a falling satellite?
Sat 14 Jun 2025
Investigating if 100,000 satellites could be orbiting earth in five years’ time
-
![]()
How do you make something 10-times more lethal?
Wed 11 Jun 2025
Plus, the Sycamore Gap tree, pensioner-worker ratios and yoga v fishers
-
![]()
Is the world’s population being miscounted?
Sat 7 Jun 2025
Investigating if the global population is really 2 billion higher than previously thought
-
![]()
Is the world’s population being miscounted?
Sat 7 Jun 2025
Investigating if the global population is really 2 billion higher than previously thought
-
![]()
Does the average American have fewer than three friends?
Wed 4 Jun 2025
Plus, skilled migrants, preventing Alzheimer’s and Robert Prevost on God and probability
-
![]()
Factchecking the Trump administration’s Autism claims
Sat 31 May 2025
Why has the rate of autism risen so dramatically in the last 30 years?
-
![]()
Factchecking the Trump administration’s Autism claims
Sat 31 May 2025
Why has the rate of autism risen so dramatically in the last 30 years?
-
![]()
Is the UN underestimating the global fall in fertility?
Sat 24 May 2025
How one graph shows the conservative side of the United Nations’ population estimates
-
![]()
Is the UN underestimating the global fall in fertility?
Sat 24 May 2025
How one graph shows the conservative side of the United Nations’ population estimates
-
![]()
How dead is the internet?
Sat 17 May 2025
We investigate the claim that bots make up 50% of internet traffic
-
![]()
How dead is the internet?
Sat 17 May 2025
We investigate the claim that bots make up 50% of internet traffic
-
![]()
Warren Buffett’s brilliant bets
Sat 10 May 2025
How retiring Berkshire Hathaway boss Warren Buffett made his money and made a point
-
![]()
Warren Buffett’s brilliant bets
Sat 10 May 2025
How retiring Berkshire Hathaway boss Warren Buffett made his money and made a point
-
![]()
Bonus episode: The Autism Curve
Mon 5 May 2025
The first episode of a new BBC series investigating the steep rise in autism diagnoses.
-
![]()
Donald Trump: 100 days fact-check
Sat 3 May 2025
Working out the reality behind President Trump’s claims on immigration, fentanyl and eggs
-
![]()
Donald Trump: 100 days fact-check
Sat 3 May 2025
Working out the reality behind President Trump’s claims on immigration, fentanyl and eggs
-
![]()
Are 80% of women really only attracted to 20% of men?
Sat 26 Apr 2025
Dispelling an incel myth that featured in the Netflix drama Adolescence
-
![]()
Are 80% of women really only attracted to 20% of men?
Sat 26 Apr 2025
Dispelling an incel myth that featured in the Netflix drama Adolescence
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.
