Podcast Episodes

Are one in six children living through war?

In the midst of the television coverage of Soccer Aid, a celebrity soccer match organised by Unicef, the audience was told that “one in six children around the world are currently living through war”…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Why Manchester United can afford to play badly

Manchester United are terrible, even according to their own manager. Last season saw their worst ever performance in Premier League history.

But at the same time, according to Forbes magazine, they’re…

Published on 1 month, 4 weeks ago

Can drinking one less bottle of coke a day halve obesity?

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news and in life. This week:

Is the secret to halving obesity rates really just a matter of cutting back on one fizzy drink a day?

How many new babie…

Published on 2 months ago

The economics of war: Vikings, Conquistadors and Vietnam

How does economics help us understand conflicts through history?

That’s the question that economist and journalist Duncan Weldon tries to answer in his new book, Blood and Treasure.

Tim talks to Dunc…

Published on 2 months ago

Is the UK seeing a Christian revival?

Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news and in life. This week:

Is church-going making a comeback in the UK?

Is it true that every day, 1000 people begin claiming personal independence pay…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

Has Russia suffered a million casualties in the Ukraine war?

It’s been over three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the human toll is growing on both sides.

Recently, politicians and journalists have declared a grim milestone, one million …

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

Why is data on grooming gangs so bad?

Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news and in life. In this episode:

Why is the data on the ethnicity of grooming gangs of such poor quality?

Iran has apparently enriched uranium to 60%, …

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

How to spot a suspicious statistic

Untruths sneak into our lives in all kinds of ways. Sometimes they’re outright lies. Blatant misinformation.

But in this episode, we’re going to talk about something else - those sneaky numbers and c…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Are 4% of young women in the UK on OnlyFans?

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news, and in life. This week:

We debunk a false claim that the hotel bill for immigrants is the size of the tax bill for Manchester.

An article in th…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Could you be hit by a falling satellite?

The number of satellites orbiting our planet has been rapidly increasing in recent years. But what are the risks when they start falling back down to earth?

The European Space agency estimate that by …

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago