Irish Passports

More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2016

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Britons entitled to Irish passports After the Brexit vote in June, so many Britons applied for Irish passports that Ireland’s foreign minister had to ask them to stop – pointing out that the UK remains, for now, in the EU. If some of the figures that have been quoted are correct, the Irish passport service may find itself completely inundated in future. But does one in four Britons really have Irish heritage? We reveal the dubious history of that number and attempt to estimate the number of Britons who are actually entitled to dual nationality with Ireland.

Do women’s periods sync? It is a commonly held belief that if women spend time together, their bodies start to sync and they will have their periods at the same time. But where does this idea come from? And is it really true? We look at the evidence and wonder – could it be down to chance?

Numbers in music Marcus du Sautoy takes us on a journey through some of his favourite musical pieces, pointing out the interesting mathematical patterns hidden in the compositions.

Dangerous algorithms Cathy O’Neil, a data scientist and activist, has written a new book, “Weapons of Math Destruction.” She is concerned about the proliferation of certain kinds of algorithms – that help make important decisions, but that could be based on unfair statistics with hidden biases. She explains how to look out for them, and what we can do to protect ourselves.

Desk of Good News – organ donations We look at the trends for organ donations and transplants.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello this is Tim Harford.
0:01.3	Thank you very much for downloading the longer Radio 4 edition of More or Less.
0:06.4	First broadcast on Friday the 2nd of September.
0:10.4	Hello and welcome to the last in this series of more or less your tireless guide to the statistical stories all around us.
0:18.0	This week we will advise you how to diffuse weapons of math's destruction.
0:22.0	We'll discuss the mathematics of menstruation and
0:25.2	there'll be a final hit from the more or less desk of good news. But first, you might remember
0:31.2	waking up one Friday morning in the early days of summer to hear
0:35.0	We are absolutely clear now that there is no way that the remain side can win.
0:40.0	It looks as though the gap is going to be something like 52 to 48, so a four-point lead for leaving
0:47.3	the EU.
0:48.6	And following that momentous vote, various other momentous things happened. There were huge political shifts and big swings in the
0:55.5	financial markets too, but amidst the turmoil there were also some surprising details.
1:01.5	For example, here is Charles Flanagan, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Ireland.
1:07.0	There has been an increase in inquiries to our passport offices.
1:12.2	There has been something of a spike.
1:14.0	It later emerged that in July, passport applications to Ireland's London embassy were up 73%
1:20.5	on the year before.
1:22.1	A number of British newspapers reported that some people were
1:24.9	applying for Irish passports so they could continue to benefit from membership of the
1:29.6	EU to travel, work and live freely across Europe.
1:34.0	Well, it's a good story, but how many Brits might qualify for Irish passports?
	...

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