Start the Week - Scotland – Ian Rankin and Alasdair Gray

On Start the Week Andrew Marr explores what it means to be Scottish. The streets and history of Edinburgh come alive in Ian Rankin's crime novels, while the Glaswegian writer and artist Alasdair Gray marries elements of realism, fantasy and science fiction in his work. With a long history of Scottish emigration, T M Devine looks at the impact on the nation left behind. And the theatre critic of The Scotsman, Joyce McMillan, believes that despite the coming Referendum on Independence, it's the arts and not politics that define Scottish-ness.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

Image © Alasdair Gray, A Life in Pictures, Canongate Books.

More or Less: Behind the Stats - Radio 4: Royal Twins & Autumn Statement

In light of the Royal pregnancy Tim Harford asks what severe morning sickness tells us about the chances of having twins. Yan Wong helps him look at the figures. We disentangle the Chancellor' Autumn Statement and ask: where is the economy really at? As Nigeria prepares to revise its GDP statistics with an expected jump of 40-60%, we ask how reliable are African GDP statistics? Another Daily Telegraph headline comes under scrutiny. And we return to our Lego tower and look at how Lego can be used to teach maths with Eugenia Cheng of Sheffiled University.