Radio 4 "More or Less"

[siadwell]

Just spotted this over on YACF.

More or Less
Friday 27/08, 13:30 on BBC Radio 4 (FM only)

Tim Harford and the More or Less team are back with a new series of the award-winning investigative numbers programme. This week: the "Spirit Level" row decoded. Is it really safer to wear a helmet when cycling? And has the first future 1000-year-old already been born?


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May be worth a listen (or catching later on iPlayer), as apparently they cut through pre-conceptions to look at the real numbers behind things.

 

[numbnuts]

yawn........

 

[siadwell]

yawn........

More of a Kiss FM man, eh numbnuts?

 

[swee'pea99]

I never listen to the wireless but I'd be interested if anyone felt like doing the listening and posting some highlights  up here after the show. There's so much heat on this topic and so little light; I for one would really like to see someone serious taking a clear and straightforward look at the numbers.

 

[John the Monkey]

More or Less is very good - it's about reading into (and sometimes debunking) the statistics used and misused by politicians, the media &c.

If you don't catch it on the wireless, it's available as a podcast too.

The h*lm*t edition will feature Ian Walker, who did the "How Close do Motorists Pass If I wear a Helmet/Blonde Wig/Bald Cap" research.

 

[vernon]

[quote name='swee'pea99' timestamp='1282732204' post='1374300']
I never listen to the wireless but I'd be interested if anyone felt like doing the listening and posting some highlights up here after the show. There's so much heat on this topic and so little light; I for one would really like to see someone serious taking a clear and straightforward look at the numbers.
[/quote]

It's a program worth listening to. Getting a breakdown of the program second hand allows the data to be further interpreted.

 

[sheddy]

More or Less Helmet update this week - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/more_or_less
Mentions Incidents/km travelled against Incidents/hour travelled as well as the health benefits

FF to 11min in

 

[Crankarm]

More or Less Helmet update this week - http://www.bbc.co.uk...er/more_or_less
Mentions Incidents/km travelled against Incidents/hour travelled as well as the health benefits

FF to 11min in

Cycling x12 times more dangerous per kilometer (yep strangely the statistic was quoted as a unit of kilometers rather than miles) than travelling by car which is more than I expected as I thought it was about x9 times.


An interesting piece on how actuaries of pension funds calculate life expectancies.