Obesity crisis?
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 January 2014
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tim Harford discovers that health statistics contradict a report which says obesity is worsening. Plus, he fact-checks: armed police shooting statistics; reports that the UK's had the worst winter storms in 20 years; media reports about controversial Channel 4 programme, Benefits Street; a study that says an apple-a-day really keeps the doctor away.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 0:35.4 | Sounds. |
| 0:36.4 | Thank you for downloading more or less from the BBC. |
| 0:39.7 | This is the version of the programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Here's Tim Harford. |
| 0:45.0 | Hello and welcome to More or Less, the programme which mugs the weekly news with a sock full of statistics. |
| 0:51.0 | This week we'll be fact-checking claims about police firearms. sock But first, obesity. It's a ticking time bomb, also some experts would have us believe. |
| 1:06.8 | In 2007, the government commissioned foresight report claimed that by 2050, half the UK population could be obese, which is a worrying thought. |
| 1:16.0 | And earlier this week, the news got even worse. |
| 1:20.0 | A new report suggests predictions that half the British population will be obese by 2050 |
| 1:25.8 | underestimate the scale of the obesity crisis. |
| 1:28.9 | The obesity crisis is even worse than feared, a new call for urgent action. |
| 1:33.0 | Calls for shock tactics to curb the UK's worsening obesity crisis. |
| 1:37.0 | A special breakfast report asks what's being done to help the seriously overweight. |
| 1:42.0 | Oh dear, this reassessment of the threat |
| 1:45.3 | obesity could pose to the future of mankind led to worried more or less |
| 1:49.0 | listeners emailing us to ask... |
| 1:51.0 | Please can you interview someone from the Obesity Forum and ask them how they came up with a |
... |
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