There was controversy this week after Ye Shiwen, a young Chinese swimmer, won the 400 metre individual medley in fine style. A US swimming coach called the performance "disturbing", implying that she may have cheated. More or Less investigates the numbers and finds there's no statistical smoking gun.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Gun laws and gold medals (WS)
Last week's mass-shooting at a cinema in Colorado has - not surprisingly - intensified America's bitter and long-running argument with itself about gun control. The argument is political and highly partisan. But it is also practical: would tighter gun laws actually lead to fewer gun deaths? You might think it's obvious that they would. But it seems the evidence isn't quite that clear. Also: how have Olympians changed in the last century?
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Gun laws and gold medals
Last week's mass-shooting at a cinema in Colorado has - not suprisingly - intensified America's bitter and long-running argument with itself about gun control. The argument is political and highly partisan. But it is also practical: would tighter gun laws actually lead to fewer gun deaths? You might think it's obvious that they would. But it seems the evidence isn't quite that clear. Also: how have Olympians changed in the last century?
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Has clamping down on drugs made the Tour de France slower? (WS)
The Tour de France, we are told, has finally cleaned up its act and clamped down on the use of performance-enhancing drugs. But if it has, should we expect today?s drug-free riders to be slower than their drug-fuelled forebears? Can statistics tell us whether the Tour de France really is cleaner than it was? Also in the programme: does when you retire influence when you die?
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Has clamping down on drugs made the Tour de France slower?
The Tour de France, we are told, has finally cleaned up its act and clamped down on the use of performance-enhancing drugs. But if it has, should we expect today?s drug-free riders to be slower than their drug-fuelled forebears? Can statistics tell us whether the Tour de France really is cleaner than it was? Also in the programme: does when you retire influence when you die?
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Who are the Libor losers?
How much damage did messing with Libor really do to the financial system? And we investigate the claim made by a leading charity that a million British children are "starving".
More or Less: Behind the Stats - More or Less: Who are the Libor losers? (WS)
How much damage did messing with Libor really do to the financial system? After all, most financial trades are two way bets ? and for every winner, there is a loser.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Drinks and drugs capital of the world? (WS)
Do residents of the tiny micronesian island of Palau really smoke more cannabis, and drink more beer, than anyone else?
Start the Week - National Identity with Maajid Nawaz and Sir Christopher Meyer.
On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to Maajid Nawaz about his journey from Islamist extremist to a champion of democracy. Growing up in Britain in the 1980s Nawaz found his sense of identity in political Islam. National identity and the state of the nation is at the heart of Robert Chesshyre's book in which he argues that the roots of many of today's problems, especially the increase in inequality, were planted under Margaret Thatcher's leadership. But one of the new intake of Conservative MPs, dubbed the 'New Radicals', Elizabeth Truss, looks to an alternative future where "decline is not inevitable." And the former ambassador, Sir Christopher Meyer, turns his attention to the rich and powerful across the world, to see how different power networks operate.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Hit movies and killer birthdays (WS)
What is the highest-earning film ever if you adjust for inflation? And are birthdays killing us?