Obesity Projections, Global Footprint, Street Value of Drugs
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2015
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's the last in the series so we're packing in the statistical goodies so that you can go into numerical hibernation until August. We're looking at the street value of drugs: when police claim that they've confiscated hundreds of millions of pounds worth of narcotics, where do those numbers come from? And how has the dark internet changed drug prices? We'll also be looking at claims that those of us who aren't binging on drugs are binging on biscuits instead. Apparently much of the UK and almost the entire population of Ireland is going to be obese before long. But how have such alarming forecasts fared in the past? We're often told that we consume so much that we need one and a half planets - and not just to provide room for all those obese people. What does that number even mean, and is it helpful? And Richard Thaler, the co-author of "Nudge", joins us to talk about the psychology of risk.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this program from BBC Radio 4. I'm Tim Halford. |
| 0:05.0 | Hello and welcome to more or less your weekly guide to the numbers all around us, |
| 0:10.2 | or as one loyal listener put it, an island of truth in a sea of idiocy. |
| 0:16.4 | This week we ask whether we're half a planet short of what we need to satisfy our material desires. |
| 0:23.4 | Also, good news for users of recreational drugs. |
| 0:26.9 | They would be offering by one get one freeze, money back if you're not satisfied, loyalty systems, |
| 0:33.4 | and you would place your order, pay with your cryptocurrency bitcoin, |
| 0:37.2 | and your product would arrive in the post. So this is a radically different way of going about |
| 0:42.5 | accessing drugs for those who want them. But first, nearly three quarters of men and two thirds |
| 0:48.9 | of women are going to be overweight in the UK by 2030, according to predictions made by the |
| 0:56.0 | World Health Organization a few weeks ago. The picture looks bleak, but it could be worse. |
| 1:02.1 | It could be Ireland. If the WHO is correct, the Irish really need to put the spoon down |
| 1:08.5 | and step away from the chocolate fudge cheesecake. Because, the forecast is that almost every |
| 1:16.1 | single man and woman in Ireland is going to be overweight by 2030. |
| 1:22.7 | Always keen to engage in a bit of fat-shaming, the newspapers and TV reports responded to the WHO |
| 1:28.6 | prediction with a lavish serving of pictures of fat thighs and wobbly bottoms. But can we put much |
| 1:34.8 | trust in these forecasts? Wesley Stevenson is here. Hello, Wes. Hello. Now, before I start, I need to |
| 1:40.2 | point out that Tim has been trying his hardest to make this prediction come true amongst the |
| 1:44.2 | moralist team by feeding us chocolate and cookies on a regular basis. So here at least I'd say |
| 1:48.9 | this prediction will come true within weeks rather than years. Wes, do you want to |
| 1:53.6 | sweet, by the way, I've got six orange ones here. Tim, stuff here. I've n minus six yellow ones. |
| 1:59.4 | Yes, yes, yes, yes. Look, let's return to these predictions. Okay, sorry, how likely are they to |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.