As Angelina Jolie announces that an 87% cancer risk has prompted her to have a double mastectomy, Tim Harford assesses the probabilities associated with the disease. Plus, has the UK been hit by a Romanian crime wave? Also in the programme: Education Secretary Michael Gove?s use of PR surveys; and why the UK?s poor growth has not had led to the high levels of unemployment that economists would expect.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - How old is your dog?
It's often said that one dog year equals seven human years. But is it true? Tim Harford and Ben Carter unveil the More or Less Dogulator. Plus, 15 distant relatives of England?s King Richard III are petitioning the High Court about where the king should be buried. Some reporting has implied that the famous 15 are almost the only descendants of Richard III who exist. But mathematician Rob Eastaway figures out how many other relatives of Richard III might actually be out there.
Start the Week - Music and the mind: Carrie Cracknell
On Start the Week Carrie Cracknell talks to Jonathan Freedland about her new production of Berg's opera, Wozzeck, and the descent of the central character into madness and despair. The pianist Jonathan Biss looks at whether Schumann's later music reflects the troubled state of his mind. The psychiatrist's diagnostic bible is to be updated later this month, and Tom Burns and Richard Bentall discuss the controversies that continue to dog the world of psychiatry. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - How much does the EU cost the UK? Plus, dog years
Tim Harford makes sense of the numbers being used in the political battle about the UK and its membership of the EU. And, he looks at whether it?s true that more war veterans kill themselves than die in combat ; why you could well be a descendant of Richard III; and what Margaret Thatcher?s funeral really cost. Plus, is it true that one dog year equals seven human years? Tim unveils the More or Less Dogulator.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - The Maths of Mozart and Birds
Birds + windows =? The BBC Quiz show The Unbelievable Truth reckons that more than 2 million birds die crashing into window panes every day in the US. Tim Harford finds this, well, unbelievable. Marcus du Sautoy explores the maths in Mozart's The Magic Flute; a student who uncovered a mistake in a famous economic paper, which has been used to make the case for austerity cuts, explains how he did it.
Start the Week - Michael Rosen at the Brighton Festival
Start the Week is at the Brighton Festival. Stephanie Flanders talks to Michael Rosen about why the 1929 children's novel, Emil and the Detectives, is at the heart of the festival, with its city tale of hope, invention and dissent. But the writer and traveller Jay Griffiths criticises a Western risk-averse society for denying children the opportunity to roam free. Stanmer Woods is the setting of Matt Adams's latest theatrical experience which traces the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland, and the artist Mariele Neudecker brings the outside world inside in her transformation of a Regency Town House.
Producer; Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Birds, Mozart, austerity, Thatcher
Birds + windows =? The BBC Quiz show The Unbelievable Truth reckons that more than 2 million birds die crashing into window panes every day in the US. Tim Harford finds this, well, unbelievable. Marcus du Sautoy explores the maths in Mozart's The Magic Flute; a student who uncovered a mistake in a famous economic paper, which has been used to make the case for austerity cuts, explains how he did it; and separating fact from fiction about Margaret Thatcher with a look at the numbers of her time in office.
Start the Week - Gavin Turk on the Value of Art
On Start the Week Lisa Jardine talks to the artist Gavin Turk about the construction of artistic myth and the question of authorship and authenticity. The rare book dealer Rick Gekoski searches for lost treasures amid tales of theft, forgery and destruction, while the curator Paul Roberts reveals the life and culture preserved in the volcanic devastation of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The everyday object - a table - is at the centre of Tanya Ronder's new play of belonging, identity and inheritance.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
Start the Week - Gavin Turk on the Value of Art
On Start the Week Lisa Jardine talks to the artist Gavin Turk about the construction of artistic myth and the question of authorship and authenticity. The rare book dealer Rick Gekoski searches for lost treasures amid tales of theft, forgery and destruction, while the curator Paul Roberts reveals the life and culture preserved in the volcanic devastation of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The everyday object - a table - is at the centre of Tanya Ronder's new play of belonging, identity and inheritance.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Are Man Utd a one-man team?
More or Less creates the Alternative Premier League, with lead scorer goals chalked off to work out whether it?s true that Van Persie?s really single-handedly won Manchester United?s the League? And would Tottenham be challenging for a Champions League spot without Gareth Bale?s goals? And how much bite has Luis Suarez?s contribution given Liverpool?s season? There are surprises, and one player really stands out as player of the season. Can you guess who it is? And, as an Italian Court overturns the acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, accused of killing student Meredith Kercher, mathematician and author of Math on Trial, Coralie Colmez, argues that one judge in the case failed to understand some of the probabilities attached to the forensic evidence ? and, in doing so, has missed an opportunity to get to the truth of the matter.