Podcast Episodes

Per capita GDP, MP claims and the entire EU budget

What does per capita GDP tell us about the UK economy? Did the government spend £94bn helping with rising energy prices? Was Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg right about the cost of the EU covid recovery scheme? …

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

The digital ‘robots’ unlocking medical data

Big medical datasets pose a serious problem. Thousands of patients’ health records are an enormous risk to personal privacy. But they also contain an enormous opportunity – they could show us how to …

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

Debt, students, shark and chips

What is the government’s fiscal rule on the national debt? Are international students stealing places from the UK’s young people? How much social housing is really being built? Do 90% of chip shops s…

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

The global gender split in young people’s politics

In a surprising new trend, young men and women around the world are dividing by gender on their politics and ideologies. Whilst young women are becoming more liberal, young men are becoming more cons…

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

Council tax weirdness: Hartlepool vs Westminster

Do you really pay more in council tax on a semi in Hartlepool than a mansion in Westminster? How do the Office for National Statistics work out how much the UK population is going to grow by? How muc…

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

A pocket-size history of the calculator

How was the calculator invented? How did it go from something the size of a table to something that could be carried in your pocket, the must-have gadget of the 1970’s and 80’s?

Tim Harford unpick…

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

Measles, Traitors and the cost of Brexit

Was there really a 5% measles vaccination rate in Birmingham? Has Brexit already cost 6% of the UKs economy? For how long has crime been falling? And are contestants on the reality gameshow any good …

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

Is Oxfam right about the world’s richest and poorest people?

We investigate Oxfam’s claim that “since 2020, the five richest men in the world have seen their fortunes more than double, while almost five billion people have seen their wealth fall”.

With the he…

Published on 1 year, 11 months ago

Shopping, shipping and wind chill-ing

Was Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wrong about the increase in the price of the weekly shop? What has the violence at sea done to the cost of shipping? Why did YouGov feel the need to correct…

Published on 1 year, 11 months ago

Are there more possible games of chess than atoms in the universe?

We investigate how the vast possibilities in a game of chess compare to the vastness of the observable universe.

Dr James Grime helps us understand the Shannon number – a famous figure on the chess si…

Published on 1 year, 11 months ago