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Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.

Episodes

How much of the world isn’t owned by anyone?

Aug 22, 2026 · 8 min

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14 million deaths or zero deaths? The impact of the USAID cuts

Aug 15, 2026 · 8 min

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How much of all the money in the world does Elon Musk have?

Aug 8, 2026 · 8 min

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Would you take £50,000 or a 50/50 chance of £1m?

Aug 1, 2026 · 8 min

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The mistake in Trump’s tariff formula

Jul 30, 2026 · 29 min

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Is crime in London ‘through the roof’?

Jul 25, 2026 · 8 min

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How much luck do you need to win the World Cup?

Jul 18, 2026 · 8 min

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Does playing tennis make you live 9.7 years longer?

Jul 11, 2026 · 8 min

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Does the average teacher really earn £54,000?

Jul 8, 2026 · 28 min

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Does a full moon make crime rates go up?

Jul 4, 2026 · 8 min

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Examining the numbers behind Andy Burnham’s ‘Manchester Miracle’

Jul 1, 2026 · 28 min

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Benefits v minimum wage: Which pays more?

Jun 24, 2026 · 28 min

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Is the US worse than North Korea for malnutrition deaths?

Jun 20, 2026 · 8 min

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Does Europe suffer more heat deaths than the US?

Jun 17, 2026 · 28 min

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Andrew Ross Sorkin: What can the Great Crash of 1929 tell us about today?

Jun 13, 2026 · 8 min

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Education, Education, Education (and Immigration)

Jun 10, 2026 · 28 min

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Factchecking claims that 400 churches were burned to the ground in France

Jun 6, 2026 · 8 min

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Debunking the claim that migrants will get half of new homes

Jun 3, 2026 · 28 min

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The known unknowns of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

May 30, 2026 · 8 min

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Does a fall in the UK's healthy life expectancy mean what you think it means?

May 27, 2026 · 28 min

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Is the ‘loneliness epidemic’ real?

May 23, 2026 · 8 min

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Are refugees more likely to commit crime?

May 20, 2026 · 28 min

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Erdos Problem 1196: Can AI now solve maths that no human can?

May 16, 2026 · 8 min

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Why it’s wrong to say vaping is as bad for you as smoking

May 9, 2026 · 8 min

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Does it take 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilogram of beef?

May 2, 2026 · 9 min

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Have RFK and MAHA really changed American views on vaccines?

Apr 25, 2026 · 8 min

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Is Trump right that wind turbines are killing millions of birds?

Apr 18, 2026 · 9 min

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Dr Spock’s dangerous advice on baby sleep

Apr 11, 2026 · 8 min

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How likely is ‘likely’?

Apr 4, 2026 · 8 min

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How much water does AI consume?

Mar 28, 2026 · 8 min

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Paul Ehrlich: The man who bet England wouldn’t exist by the year 2000

Mar 21, 2026 · 8 min

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Transgender women in sport: Does ‘comparable’ mean ‘equal’?

Mar 14, 2026 · 8 min

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US-Israel war with Iran: Do the gulf states have enough interceptor missiles?

Mar 7, 2026 · 8 min

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Has a company really discovered a million new species?

Feb 28, 2026 · 8 min

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Did AI researchers let AI hallucinations into scientific papers?

Feb 21, 2026 · 8 min

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Is an ancient charioteer the best paid sportsperson of all time?

Feb 17, 2026 · 8 min

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Is this Premier League striker a secret maths genius?

Feb 7, 2026 · 8 min

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Could Europe use its financial muscle to strong-arm the US?

Jan 31, 2026 · 8 min

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Can you get £71,000 on benefits?

Jan 28, 2026 · 28 min

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Is Greenland as big as Africa?

Jan 24, 2026 · 8 min

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How close is Greenland to the United States?

Jan 21, 2026 · 29 min

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No, a study has not shown that the covid jab causes cancer

Jan 17, 2026 · 8 min

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Have more than 100 private schools been forced to close because of VAT?

Jan 14, 2026 · 28 min

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Does Venezuela really have the biggest oil reserves in the world?

Jan 10, 2026 · 8 min

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Immigration, Benefits and Inequality

Jan 9, 2026 · 28 min

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Older People, Education, Prisons and the Weather

Jan 8, 2026 · 28 min

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Sex, Drugs and Empty Homes

Jan 7, 2026 · 29 min

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Health

Jan 6, 2026 · 28 min

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The Economy

Jan 5, 2026 · 28 min

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Numbers of the year 2026

Jan 3, 2026 · 8 min

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