Exclusions, black holes and dividing by zero
More or Less: Behind the Stats
BBC
4.6 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2024
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do half of children in Wales have special educational needs? Are permanent exclusions at the highest ever level in England? Labour are talking about a £22bn black hole. Is that a new black hole in the finances? Are there more Ghanaian nurses in the UK than in Ghana? Can you divide one by zero?
Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news.
Presenter: Tim Harford Reporters: Kate Lamble and Nathan Gower Producer: Beth Ashmead Latham Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Sound mix: Andy Fell Editor: Richard Vadon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | How did the richest people on the planet make their fortunes? |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Simon Jack and I'm Zing Singh. |
| 0:08.0 | Join us for good bad billionaire. |
| 0:09.0 | Each episode we pick a billionaire and we find out how they made their money like the comedian Jerry |
| 0:14.5 | Seinfeld the financier George Soros the golf star Tiger Woods then Simon and I |
| 0:19.6 | have a decision to make do we think they are good, bad or just another billionaire? |
| 0:24.3 | Good bad billionaire. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:27.8 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:35.0 | Hello and welcome to more or less. |
| 0:37.8 | We're the double maths lesson in the great Radio 4 school timetable |
| 0:41.9 | and I'm Tim Harford. You're slightly over-eager teacher |
| 0:45.6 | scrolling allegedly on the board. It's a brand new series and the new government |
| 0:50.8 | claims to have found a brand new black hole in the public finances. |
| 0:55.4 | We'll stick our heads in that hole and let you know what we find. |
| 0:58.8 | We'll also ask whether there are more Ghanaian nurses in the NHS than there are in Ghana and |
| 1:04.8 | and we'll try to divide by zero. |
| 1:08.2 | But first, let's start with our back-to-school special. |
| 1:21.0 | Being forced to stand on the front step for a photo in her new uniform is Kate Lamble. Hello. |
| 1:22.0 | Come. is Kate Lamble. Hello. Come on Tim, you're going to love the first lesson. |
| 1:26.8 | It's maths. |
| 1:27.8 | Okay, let's go for it. |
| 1:28.8 | So if a train leaves a station... |
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