More or Less: Behind the Stats - Bernie Sanders and the cost of having a baby

Bernie Sanders, a Senator in the United States and one of the front-runners in the campaign to be the Democratic presidential candidate, said on Twitter that it costs $12,000 to have a baby in his country. He compared that figure to Finland, where he said it costs $60. In this edition of More or Less, Tim Harford looks at whether Sanders has got his figures right. With Carol Sakala of US organisation Childbirth Connection and Mika Gissler of the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.

Producer: Darin Graham Presenters: Tim Harford and Charlotte McDonald

Image: A newborn baby's hand. Credit:Getty Images/TongRo Images Inc

The Intelligence from The Economist - Crossing the “t”s: China-America trade talks

American negotiators will be in Beijing this week, for what appears to be the final stages of striking a trade deal. What’s left to be agreed, and what are the sticking points? Also, America’s shale boom has given it leverage in international oil markets—the trick will be using that newfound power effectively. And, we have a sniff of a pungent Egyptian holiday treat that has the potential to kill.

The Best One Yet - Beyond Meat boots its meat-focused investor, Comcast (shockingly) hits record high, and one startup’s worst 1st week

Plant-based meat innovator Beyond Meat had an awkward investor: The world’s 2nd biggest meat producer, Tyson Foods -- So Beyond Meat kicked it out before its upcoming IPO. Old school cable throwback Comcast is winning even though you cut the cord. And Luminary was supposed to be the future of podcasting, but its 1st week went really badly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Start the Week - Freedom: From Kierkegaard to Black Lives Matter

'Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced', wrote the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. His new biographer, Clare Carlisle, explores the life experiences that moulded Kierkegaard's ideas as he struggled to understand how to be a human being in this world. She tells Amol Rajan that Kierkegaard was very much a philosopher of the heart.

DeRay Mckesson’s reality became one of struggle and action after he quit his job as a school teacher and became a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. He spent 400 days on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, often walking day and night after a new law was introduced making it illegal to stand still. In his memoir, On the Other Side of Freedom, he explores the intellectual and political framework of the liberation movement that has dominated American life in the 21st century.

The award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams’s latest work also explores freedom and power, but in a world where fate and vengeful gods hold sway. His epic poem The Half-God of Rainfall begins with a game of basketball in Nigeria with the Yoruba gods looking on, and ends with a demonstration of female revenge – both human and mythological.

While Kierkegaard was focused on the subjective experience of being a human, and how we create ourselves through our action, the writer Elizabeth Day is interested in what happens when those actions go awry. ‘How To Fail’ is a painfully honest exploration of things going wrong, and what we can learn from our mistakes.

Producer: Katy Hickman

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Inside the Crisis at the NRA

The NRA is in a financial mess of its own doing. A number of executives, vendors, and contractors have used their positions to enrich themselves, extracting hundreds of millions of dollars from the organization in the process. How did secrecy, poor judgement, and sweetheart deals toss the NRA into an existential crisis?

Guest: Mike Spies, reporter at The Trace.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The NewsWorthy - Synagogue Shooting, Boeing’s Big Day & Record-Breaking Box Office – Monday, April 29th, 2019

The news to know for Monday, April 29th, 2019!

Today, we're talking about another place of worship that was attacked, an unexpected tragedy in Seattle and a big day for Boeing.

Plus: Airbnb's new plans, and did Avengers: Endgame hit the projected $1 billion at the box office?

Those stories and many more in less than 10 minutes!

Award-winning broadcast journalist and former TV news reporter Erica Mandy breaks it all down for you. 

Head to www.theNewsWorthy.com to read more about any of the stories mentioned under the section titled 'Episodes' or see sources below...

Today's episode is brought to you by Ancestry. Start your trial to lose weight and be healthy at www.Ancestry.com/newsworthy.

Become a NewsWorthy Insider! Click here: 

https://www.theNewsWorthy.com/insider

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Synagogue Shooting: NBC News, The Washington Post, CNN, Reuters

NRA Turmoil: The Washington Post, FOX News, CBS News

Crane Collapse: The Seattle Times, NBC News

Boeing’s Big Day: Reuters, WSJ, Boeing, Bloomberg, CNN

Avengers: Endgame: Variety, THR, BuzzFeed News, CNBC

NFL Draft: USA Today, CBS Sports

Virginia Basketball: ABC News, FOX News, Washington Post

Indiegogo Ban: TechCrunch, Engadget

Airbnb + Hotels: CNBC, WSJ, Reuters

Taylor Swift Record: Forbes, CNET

Agnus: The Late Antique, Medieval, and Byzantine Podcast - Dr. Elizabeth Urban on Early Islamic Models of Slave Motherhood

Dr. Elizabeth Urban on slavery, identity, and the ideology of rulership.

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Join the conversation on the Claytemple Forum.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Mail order catalogue

Some say the Montgomery Ward shopping catalogue is one of the most influential books in US history. It transformed the middle-class way of life in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Ward struggled to get people to understand mail order shopping. His prices were so low, people thought there was a catch. Soon, though, this type of retail would improve roads and the postal service. Tim Harford describes how similar dynamics are changing today’s middle-classes in China, with the internet replacing the postal service and e-commerce the new mail order.

30 Animals That Made Us Smarter - Tardigrade and vaccine transport

A bizarre looking creature that may help us make vaccines last longer to move them across the globe. It is less than a millimetre long but the tardigrade is tough - really tough! Its extraordinary survival abilities may hold the key to helping us extend the shelf life of both blood and vaccines. This could extend the distances they can be transported, saving more lives. With Patrick Aryee. www.bbcworldservice.com/30animals #30animals