Thank you for downloading the More or Less podcast from the BBC.

You can find out more about our programme on our website,

bbc.co.uk slash radio 4.

But before you do that, here's Tim Halford.

Hello and welcome to the last in the present series of More or Less.

As always we'll be taking a look at the numbers flying around the news bulletins,

the politicians speeches and the world around us.

This week we settle a four-year-old bet

about where the global warming has stopped at least by one particular metric

and will be demystifying executive pay.

And after last week's programme we return to Lottogate.

One, two, three, four, five, six in that order.

The first, this week the government approved the high speed two rail link,

a line between London and Birmingham by 2026

and later a Y-shaped extension to Manchester and Leeds by 2033.

High speed one by the way was the line linking London and the channel tunnel.

Most onlookers must be scratching their heads as both politicians and commentators have been

switching all week between quoting figures for the first phase of the project and the second.

But to give you a flavour, the cost of building and operating the line between Birmingham

and London until the 2070s is predicted to be 27.4 billion pounds.

But the government expects to take in 13.9 billion pounds from ticket sales.

So-called economic benefits are less tangible things,

...