More or Less: Behind the Stats Episodes Available now
Should the government target persnuffle?
Plus, childhood obesity, birds hitting windows and Sir David Spiegelhalter’s origin story.
Are 672 billion pounds of corn eaten in the US every year?
A lot of corn is eaten in the United States, but is it really 2.5kg per person per day?
How do you breed seventeen octillion rats?
Plus, GPs working less, the UK working less, and Wetherspoons wanting to pay less tax.
The puzzles you’re meant to get wrong
Alex Bellos sets Tim Harford logical conundrums designed to deceive
Could the winter fuel cut cost more than it saves?
Plus, ONS transgender stats, early-onset cancer, and puzzles you’re meant to get wrong
Do 85% of the world’s population practice a religion?
Counting religions across the globe – is the world getting more religious or less?
How do you count millionaires?
Plus, asylum seeker costs, private school bets and Baumol's cost disease
Nate Silver: Do risk-takers run the world?
Poker player and polling analyst Nate Silver on his new book
How long does it take to turn around an oil tanker?
Plus, Migrants vs Pensioners and Ed Miliband’s energy auction claim
Who pays when trade wars heat up?
We look at Donald Trump’s claim that tariffs are a tax on other countries