Category: 3-DailySometimeCommentary

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Do free school meals work?

All pupils at infant schools in England are to get free school lunches from next September, but does the evidence prove free dinners improve results? 'I accept every time I get in my car, there's a 20% chance I could die' - it's a line from the Formula 1 hit film, Rush, but was it really true for 1970s racing drivers? The government wants shops to start charging for plastic bags and the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says a plastic bag takes 1,000 years to degrade, but More or Less finds the environmental facts about plastic bags are much less certain than that statistic suggests. And do the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risk of injury? Professor David Spiegelhalter goes through the numbers.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Sexual violence statistics in Asia

Almost a quarter of men in some Asian countries admit rape, it has been reported. The headlines have been sparked by a UN report, which looks at violence against women in parts of Asia. Are the numbers of rapists really this high? Tim Harford and Ruth Alexander look into the detail of the study. And, ?Africa has a drinking problem? - so says Time Magazine. More or Less discovers a more mixed picture. This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Fertility: when is too late?

Psychologist Jean Twenge argues that women in their late thirties shouldn?t be as anxious about their prospects of having a baby as is commonly assumed. Tim Harford finds fertility experts agree. The economy?s turning a corner, the Chancellor says - Tim Harford takes a closer look at the numbers. Plus, sexual violence statistics in Asia; Britain?s ?small island? status rebutted; and does Africa really have a ?drinking problem?? This is the edition of the programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4.