Month: February 2012

Posted on

More or Less: Behind the Stats - Cybermetrics and Groundhog Day

Can you measure your popularity ? or that of anyone or anything ? by the number of results that an internet search generates? Tim Harford points the finger at lazy journalists. Plus, a professor of economics assesses the accuracy of a groundhog?s weather forecasts, made famous by the Hollywood film Groundhog Day. This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.

Posted on

Start the Week - Elizabethans: Max Hastings, Mary Beard, John Guy and Lola Young

On Start the Week Andrew Marr considers the 'great man' view of history, and how far an age can be represented by its leaders and innovators. Mary Beard looks back to ancient times when history and biography were considered two distinct genres. While John Guy returns to the reign of Elizabeth I, Max Hastings and Lola Young give an overview of the modern Elizabethan age. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Posted on

More or Less: Behind the Stats - Measuring famine

How do you measure a famine? Following the UN?s recent announcement that famine conditions have ended in Somalia, More or Less explores what the definition of a famine is ? and how definite a definition it is. Tim Harford hears from Grainne Moloney, head of the UN?s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit and Professor Stephen Devereux from the Institute of Development Studies. Also in the programme: Muhammed Ali?s boxing trainer, Angelo Dundee, was arguably one of sport?s greatest behind-the-scenes figures. But did he really deliberately tear Ali?s boxing glove to win the star crucial recovery time in his 1963 fight against Sir Henry Cooper? Tim Harford gets out his stopwatch for a simple exercise in counting. This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.