Pensions, and the Eurozone crisis.
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2011
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the week of a nationwide strike over pension changes, Tim Harford explains how the government can make public sector pensions sound generous, at the same time the unions can make them sound small. And he finds out why a Greek national statistician is under suspicion of committing crimes against numbers. Plus, is it really true that there are more Porsche Cayenne owners than tax payers declaring an income of more than 55,000 euros in Greece? Also, are affordable homes affordable? And can the whole world fit on the Isle of Wight? Tim tries to cram his studio full of Radio 4 presenters and producers to test the theory.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading the more or less podcast from the BBC. For more information |
| 0:04.6 | about the programme, go to the Radio 4 website, bbc.co.uk-radio4. |
| 0:19.4 | Hello, I'm back from fighting the good fight against zombie statistics, the rogue numbers |
| 0:24.3 | that never die for a new series of more or less. |
| 0:28.6 | This week, we'll hear about the bureaucrat facing a life sentence for his alleged statistical |
| 0:33.1 | crimes. |
| 0:34.1 | He describes statistics as a combat sport, armed with my fighting slide rule, I can hardly |
| 0:39.6 | disagree. |
| 0:41.4 | And we'll discover a statistic so dubious we made this German man laugh. |
| 0:46.8 | This story is so ridiculous. |
| 0:49.3 | But first. |
| 0:50.6 | This week's mass walkout by public sector staff over changes to pensions has been described |
| 1:01.2 | as the biggest strike since the winter of discontent in the 1970s. |
| 1:05.4 | Union leaders said workers were sending a strong and united message to the government, as |
| 1:10.1 | thousands of nurses, teachers, council staff and others manned hundreds of picket lines. |
| 1:15.8 | And yet, puzzlingly, in Prime Minister's question that afternoon, David Cameron seemed |
| 1:20.5 | to be announcing public sector pensions were rising. |
| 1:24.4 | A nurse retiring on a salary of just over £34,000, today, she would get £17,000 pension. |
| 1:33.3 | In future, she'll get over £22,000 pensions. |
| 1:37.4 | A teacher retiring on a salary of £37,000 would have got £19,000, will now get £25,000. |
| 1:48.0 | But if that's the case, why were so many people persuaded to strike? |
| 1:52.2 | Of course, the devil's in the detail. |
... |
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