High Speed rail - Tim Harford speaks to railway consultant Chris Stokes and Alison Munro from HS2 Ltd. He investigates the different measures of the rise in executive pay with Steve Tatton from Income Data Services and Sarah Wilson from research group Manifest. And resolves a four year-old bet on climate change between climate scientist James Annan and astrophysicist David Whitehouse and Wesley Stephenson looks behind the figures for youth unemployment in Spain.
Start the Week - Austerity: Antony Gormley, David Kynaston and Anna Coote
On Start the Week, Andrew Marr begins the new year with a look at austerity. Anna Coote argues that it's time to embrace a new set of values that are not dependent on high rolling consumerism and, as unemployment rises, to share out the working hours more evenly. The great chronicler of Austerity Britain of the fifties, David Kynaston, explores whether there are any lessons to be learnt from earlier decades of thrift and dissent. The artist Antony Gormley discusses a new collaboration in which he explores the idea of survival in a world in which we are bombarded with information but have very little direct control. And Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times columnist, looks at at how Ireland is dealing with its 5th austerity budget and asks if there are lessons we can learn from the fate of the Celtic Tiger. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Using statistics in court
Tim Harford tackles the use of statistics in court, the average rise in rail fares, infinity and resolves another marital dispute about probability.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - 2011 in numbers
A guide to interesting, informative or just plain idiosyncratic numbers of the year. Plus, does probability really exist? Contributors: David Spiegelhalter, Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University; Owen Spottiswoode, Fullfact.org; Tracey Brown from Sense about Science; Jil Matheson, UK Statistics Authority; George Monbiot; Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust; Money Box presenter Paul Lewis; Sports Statistician, Robert Mastrodomenico; Dr Linda Yeuh Economics Correspondent at Bloomberg; Stand up Mathematician Matt Parker
Start the Week - David Hockney Special
On Start the Week Andrew Marr visits the painter David Hockney to find out why he has swapped LA for East Yorkshire. Hockney takes him on a tour of the farm tracks and woods he has been painting near his home in Bridlington, and talks of his fascination at the changes of the season. In his vast studio hang pictures of increasing size and vibrant colour, many painted using his iPad. He might be in his seventies, but Hockney tells Andrew Marr that he's on a roll, busier than ever; excited by the new technology and full of ideas for his next works of art. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Who are the 1% and the 99%?
Tim Harford on income inequality in the UK, and elsewhere. He speaks to Professor Sir Tony Atkinson of Oxford University; Stewart Lansley, author of 'The Cost of Inequality'; and Professor Donald Boudreaux of George Mason University. Also, David Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University explains why he took on what could be his riskiest venture to date - appearing on BBC One's Winter Wipeout. Plus, the magic of maths with magician and Stanford maths professor Persi Diaconis.
Start the Week - The Spirit of Christmas: Claire Tomalin, Susan Hill and Canon Giles Fraser
Andrew Marr discusses the idea of Christmas with Canon Giles Fraser who argues that the Christian Christmas was invented by the Emperor Constantine for political, not religious, reasons, 300 years after the birth of Christ. Canon Fraser will be discussing the idea that the legacy of Constantine's December feast distorts the message of Christ and casts a long shadow on modern believers. Clare Tomalin will be talking about Dickens and how the Victorian imagination shaped our understanding of what Christmas is and should be, and Susan Hill will be exploring the Christmas ghost story - one of the tenacious Victorian traditions still being reinvented in the 21st century.
Producer: Eleanor Garland.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Higgs boson statistics
In the week scientists at the Large Hadron Collider announced that the most coveted prize in particle physics - the Higgs boson - may have been found, Tim Harford hears that the statistical significance is being mis-reported. Plus, the difficulties of cornering a market (especially when the commodity is a 1980s plastic doll). And, Tim Harford talks to author Keith Devlin about how Fibonacci revolutionised trade by introducing medieval businessmen to simple arithmetic.
Start the Week - 12/12/2011
On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks if sport still embodies a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit, or whether it has become mired in corruption, money and celebrity. Mihir Bose argues that sport is no longer just a game, but has become one of the most powerful political tools in the world. The social historian Janie Hampton looks back to a time when amateur wasn't a dirty word, while Brian Moore the 'pitbull' of the scrum, looks back at a disastrous year for the professionalism of English rugby. The philosopher Julian Savulescu believes the nostalgia for the age of the amateur is blinding people to the reality of today, and that far from penalising those who take performance enhancing drugs, we should merely set a safe limit and allow free rein. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Supermarket price wars
Tim Harford on National Literacy Trust figures and the maths of supermarket price wars. Plus, he continues to scrutinise the popular statistics of the Eurozone crisis - do Italian tax payers really shell out 2 billion euros a year for their politicians to be chauffeured around? And, what are the odds of cracking six double-yolk eggs in a row?