A survey from a mental health charity suggested that more than a third of British teenagers had been prescribed antidepressants. We debunk the figure. Also we investigate a tweet from the UK Treasury about how much homebuyers will save in stamp duty. Plus how Mexico has been hit by earthquakes three times on the same day of the year - what are the chances? And how incorrect figures from the government have given a false picture of the number of cars on Britain?s minor roads.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Nathan Gower, Charlotte McDonald
Production Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Sound Engineer: James Beard
During the pandemic our laws were radically remade by a government which exercised almost unlimited power, according to the human rights barrister, Adam Wagner. In Emergency State: How We Lost Our Freedoms in the Pandemic and Why it Matters he decries the lack of parliamentary debate and oversight as restrictions became tighter, and warns against the possiblity of future emergencies following the same political path.
But how effective is our parliamentary democracy in scrutinising the government? The Assistant Editor of the Spectator, Isabel Hardman is a seasoned politician-watcher and joins the programme from the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. She fears MPs are failing in their role as effective legislators both because of demands on their time from their constituencies, and because of concern about ruining their chances of joining the executive.
The historian Tim Bale studies the fortunes of the Conservative Party, and is looking with interest at the direction the new government is heading. Not since 1979 has the country faced such challenging economic circumstances. But Bale asks how far the new Prime Minister Liz Truss is reaching back in history for answers to today’s problems.
The Italian film director and journalist, Annalisa Piras is also following Italy’s new government with interest, following the snap election last week. As the far-right leader Giorgia Meloni is set to become the country’s first female prime minister, Piras looks at her policies for dealing with the cost of living crisis, and how Italy’s politicians are placed to oversee government decisions.
This week NASA slammed a spacecraft into an asteroid in the hope of diverting its course. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART mission will help scientists understand how easy it would be protect Earth if one was headed in our direction. More Or Less first discussed this in 2016 with a little help from the movie Armageddon ? with listeners getting in touch once again we ask how many asteroids are really out there and how dangerous they might be to Earth.
Presenters: Charlotte McDonald and Simon Maybin
Producer: Charlotte McDonald
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Sound Engineer: James Beard
(Image: 3D rendering of a swarm of Meteorites or asteroids entering the Earth atmosphere: ratpack223/ Getty)
The value of the pound against other currencies has been incredibly volatile ever since the Chancellor?s ?mini-budget?. We ask how much we should worry and look at how much taxes will really fall. Also did 4.1 billion people really watch the Queen?s funeral? Gas prices are falling ? so why aren?t energy bills? There are early signs that new covid variants could cause another spike in cases over the winter. And with the government lifting a moratorium on fracking, we ask how seismic a number the current limit of 0.5 on the Richter scale actually is.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Series Producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Charlotte McDonald, Nathan Gower
Production Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Sound Engineer: James Beard
In a special edition of the show, in front of an audience at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, Adam Rutherford and guests focus on scientific curiosity – its thrills and its dangers.
Professor Matthew Cobb looks back over the last fifty years at the extraordinary development in gene editing. In his book The Genetic Age: Our Perilous Quest to Edit Life he traces the excitement of innovation and progress. But as the full potential of manipulating life is understood, he sounds a warning too.
The science historian Professor Alison Bashford tells the history of modern science and culture through the story of one family – the extraordinary Huxley dynasty. Through four generations the family profoundly shaped how we see ourselves, and pushed the boundaries of knowledge in science, literature and film.
Born in Bradford is an internationally-recognised research programme which aims to find out what keeps families healthy and happy. Professor Deborah Lawlor was born in the city and was one of the many scientists involved in setting up the programme. She explains how this vast ‘city of research’ – with data from more than 700,000 citizens – is being used to improve population health.
Ukraine has reportedly recaptured nearly 10,000 square kilometres of territory that had been occupied by Russia. We ask where the numbers come from and what they mean. Plus with Norway supplanting Russia to become Europe?s biggest supplier of natural gas, we ask how much money the country is making from the increased demand and higher prices.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Jon Bithrey
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill
Ukraine has reportedly recaptured nearly 10,000 square kilometres of territory that had been occupied by Russia. We ask where the numbers come from, what they mean and why everyone is comparing them to the size of Greater London. We ask how much money Norway is making out of the current energy crisis. Also why is the pound so weak against the dollar, some odd claims about women and exercise and does it really take 20,000 uses for an organic cotton bag to become more environmentally friendly than a plastic bag?
Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Charlotte McDonald, Nathan Gower
Production Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Editor: Richard Vadon
Is fashion really the second most polluting industry after oil and does it account for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions? Sustainable fashion journalist Alden Wicker does some fashion fact checking with Adam Fleming, presenter of BBC podcast and Radio 4 programme Antisocial. And reporter Charlotte McDonald revisits a claim made in an edition of More or Less last month about the effectiveness of using condoms as a form of contraception.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Jon Bithrey
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
(Image: Models display outfits / BBC images/Susana Vera/Reuters)
One of Liz Truss's first acts as Prime Minister was to announce a giant plan to protect domestic energy users from huge rises in wholesale gas and electricity costs, meaning a typical household will pay about ?1000 less than otherwise would have been the case. We ask how much the Energy Price Guarantee will cost the government and also explain what a ?typical? household really is. A consultation has opened into whether we?d like more of our goods and services priced in imperial measures ? but some listeners are suggesting a survey on the issue is biased against metric. And we examine a claim made on the BBC?s Springwatch programme that all of the gardens in Newcastle are bigger than the combined size of our national parks.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Nathan Gower, Charlotte McDonald
Production Coordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Editor: Richard Vadon
Forget the north south divide, what about the ‘squeezed middle’? Tom Sutcliffe and guests discuss the cultural and political status of the country’s ‘second city’ Birmingham.
The writer Kit de Waal looks back at growing up in the city, caught between three worlds – Irish, Caribbean and British – in her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes. The historian Richard Vinen argues, in his new book Second City, that Birmingham is the overlooked heart of modern Britain, and the remnants of the West Midland’s Victorian industrial heyday can be glimpsed in the poetry of Liz Berry – in The Dereliction and Black Country.
