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What is happening to nurses pay?
Amid reports of nurses using food banks, Jeremy Hunt said he doesn?t recognise claims their wages are worth less now than in 2010. He says nurses are actually paid ?31,000 - more than the average person. If he?s right, why do so many nurses say they?re earning much less than that?
The Great Scottish Election Conspiracy
The reporting of the Scottish council elections has caused a bit of a stir. Did the SNP lose seven seats or gain six. The media including the BBC reported that they had lost seats, the many SNP supporters are sure that this isn?t a fair representation of their performance. This all hinges on how you look at the results last time around and how you account for the major boundary review that took place between elections. Tim tries to get to the bottom of what has happened with Professor David Denver from Lancaster University.
Penalty shootout maths
What do coffee, stew and nerve-biting football finales have in common? Maths whizz and football aficionado Rob Eastaway explains all. UEFA, European football?s governing body, is currently trialling a new system for penalty shootouts. But what is the maths behind the new system ? and could a century-old Scandinavian mathematical sequence offer a better approach?
Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Charlotte McDonald
A century ago, bilingual children were seen as disadvantaged—a kid speaking English and Spanish was liable to become confused and might not learn properly. Now? Bilinguals are seen as better than the rest of us. They get dementia later. They have bigger brains and are better at focusing on tasks. So what’s the truth? Our resident social science sleuth Maria Konnikova investigates. She’s a New Yorker contributor and author of The Confidence Game. Her new podcast is The Grift.
In the Spiel, the news buried this week by the firing of James Comey.
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All over the world mothers are given numbers as their baby grows. The numbers are from ?growth charts? showing how a baby is developing in comparison to others. Seven month old Baby Arlo has particularly big numbers, so much so that his parents are worried he?s one of the biggest babies in America. But where do these numbers come from? Is it an average? Why do they measure a baby?s head? Reporter Jordan Dunbar sets out to find out how we get these baby numbers and just how big Baby Arlo is.
Presenter: Tim Harford and Jordan Dunbar Producer: Charlotte McDonald and Jordan Dunbar
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We’re zooming out on Russia’s influencing machine with the help of Clint Watts, the national security expert who had a star turn in March with his soundbite-ready testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Watts explains why the partisan skew on fake news is “kind of garbage.” Plus, he has tips for testifying—just in case you get a call from Congress. Watts is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
In the Spiel, hanging on every phrase President Trump invented this week.
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Music, Footnotes & Ephemera
The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows.
Music
Trump fires FBI Director Jim Comey in the middle of an investigation involving the Trump campaign’s potential collusion with Russia, and gets plenty of support from Republicans in Congress. Then, former White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler joins Jon and Dan to talk about the legal implications of the Comey firing.
Some people are using bots to get campsites at state and national parks. Is it legal? Is it fair?
Credits: Jessica Placzek, Olivia Allen-Price, Paul Lancour, Vinnee Tong, Julia McEvoy