How do you measure a famine? Following the UN?s recent announcement that famine conditions have ended in Somalia, More or Less explores what the definition of a famine is ? and how definite a definition it is. Tim Harford hears from Grainne Moloney, head of the UN?s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit and Professor Stephen Devereux from the Institute of Development Studies. Also in the programme: Muhammed Ali?s boxing trainer, Angelo Dundee, was arguably one of sport?s greatest behind-the-scenes figures. But did he really deliberately tear Ali?s boxing glove to win the star crucial recovery time in his 1963 fight against Sir Henry Cooper? Tim Harford gets out his stopwatch for a simple exercise in counting. This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Start the Week - Conservatism: Peter Hitchens, Margot James, Douglas Murray and Thomas Frank
On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks at the state of conservatism. Thomas Frank chronicles the rebirth of right-wing populism in the United States, with the resurgent Tea Party. It's a movement driven by ideology with a vision of utopian capitalism. At home right-wing commentators bemoan the lack of ideology at the heart of the government. Peter Hitchens argues for a political philosophy that stresses a sense of place and history, and decries the Tory Party's shift to the 'centre ground'. The neoconservative Douglas Murray goes further in asserting that military might is vital to defend freedom and justice. But the new MP Margot James follows her party's model of caring capitalism, and its move away from its reputation as the unelectable "Nasty Party".
Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - More alive than dead?
Tim Harford investigates one of the most popular questions from More or Less listeners: ?Are there more people alive today than have ever lived?? It is a zombie statistic that every time it is laid to rest it rises again. He also looks at whether science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke was right when he suggested that behind every living person are 30 ghosts. He also investigates the strange story of Michelle Obama?s shopping trip to a lingerie store in New York. Can she really have spent $50,000 on underwear? This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Start the Week - Revolution: Wael Ghonim, Paul Mason and Mary King
On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks revolution. Wael Ghonim explains how social networks played a vital role in the Arab Spring. His Facebook page,'We Are All Khaled Said', which featured the death of a young Egyptian, inspired a new generation to fight oppression. Mary King, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies looks back to earlier struggles in eastern Europe, and the journalist Paul Mason explores how far the worldwide economic crisis and growing inequality lie behind the new revolutions.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
Start the Week - Revolution: Wael Ghonim, Paul Mason and Mary King
On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks revolution. Wael Ghonim explains how social networks played a vital role in the Arab Spring. His Facebook page,'We Are All Khaled Said', which featured the death of a young Egyptian, inspired a new generation to fight oppression. Mary King, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies looks back to earlier struggles in eastern Europe, and the journalist Paul Mason explores how far the worldwide economic crisis and growing inequality lie behind the new revolutions.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Sizing up cities
Which are the world?s biggest cities, and what are their populations? Two simple questions that we discover are surprisingly difficult to answer. Plus, has the world got heavier or lighter since the industrial revolution? It?s a question posed by a More or Less listener that got us wondering, too. Dr Chris Smith, part of a group of Cambridge University researchers, known as the Naked Scientists, reckons he?s worked out the answer. This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Start the Week - Justice: with Simon Stephens, John Podmore, Shami Chakrabarti and Mike Hough
Andrew Marr explores the idea of Justice on Start the Week. In a satire on the International Criminal Tribunal, the playwright Simon Stephens, asks how far such a court can deal with perpetrators of terrible crimes, when the accused neither recognises its authority, or shares its morality. Closer to home John Podmore looks back at 25 years as a prison governor and inspector, in a damning indictment on Britain's prison service. The criminologist Mike Hough asks why people obey the law, and questions whether the threat of punishment is ever a deterrent. And the director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti defends the right to civil liberties and freedom of speech, even of those many may consider to be unpalatable.
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Climate bet; Africa Cup of Nations
A four-year bet about global warming between two scientists is settled. In 2008, after there had been no new record for the global average temperature set since 1998, David Whitehouse and James Annan disagreed over whether there would be a new record by 2011. As the UK Meteorological Office publishes the figures for the past year, presenter Tim Harford brings the two scientists together. Who has won, and does the victory tell us anything about global warming? Plus, Peter Stott from the Met Office tells us how the world?s temperature is measured. Also in the programme: sports statistician Robert Mastrodomenico attempts to predict the results of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. Will his numerical analysis impress the BBC?s African football expert Farayi Mungazi? This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Start the Week - Financial Crisis: Philip Coggan, Angela Knight, Maurice Glasman and Detlev Schlichter
Andrew Marr looks for solutions to the current global crisis. Detlev Schlichter dismisses the practice of printing more money in times of recession, arguing that in the next decade our reliance on paper money will collapse, and he proposes a return to hard commodities, like gold. The historian Philip Coggan pits creditors against debtors, tax payers against public sector workers, and believes it's time for a new monetary system to emerge. The Labour peer, Lord Glasman thinks we need to change the relationship between parliament and the market. And Angela Knight sticks up for the bankers, insisting they hold the key to the crisis, so deserve both a bonus and a bit of respect. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Chavez’s cancer claims
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela thinks the US may have developed a secret technology to give him and other Latin American leaders cancer. He said the fact that several presidents have had cancer is "difficult to explain using the law of probabilities". Is he right? Tim Harford speaks to Dr Eduardo Cazap, president of the Union of International Cancer Control. Plus, it is often said that there are more Malawian doctors in the British city of Manchester than there are in Malawi. Can this be true? And if professionals emigrate is it always bad news for the country they leave? The programme hears from John Lwanda, a Malawian doctor based in the UK; and Robert Guest, author of "Borderless Economics". This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.