Thanks for downloading the More or Less podcast from BBC Radio 4.

Here's Tim Harford.

Hello and welcome to More or Less, the programme that examines the numbers in the news and

in life.

Later, we'll examine claims that mobile phones cause cancer.

They're not in the cigarette's league, I mean they just can't be or we'd know.

That much might seem obvious, but it's not stopped some pretty scary headlines recently,

and we'll tell you why those headlines are wrong.

We'll also ask whether this man is statistically the greatest sportsman around.

Tendulka, 35.8, so the stage really is set for him to score this elusive 100, which

would be his 100th international century.

But first, back in May, the Scottish National Party won a dramatic victory at the polls

in the Scottish elections and promised to hold a referendum on independence in the next

five years.

Listeners have already been in touch with us for help in getting their facts straight.

Are the English subsidising the Scots?

Just how big a deal would North Sea oil be in any break up of the Union?

And would an independent Scotland have gone bust, bailing out the Royal Bank of Scotland

and H-Boss?

Let's start with the question of whether Scotland is subsidised by the rest of the UK.

Neil McClure dropped us a line, hello Neil, to say he suspects the per-head statistic usually

trotted out to back up this claim is misleading, because London skews the figures for the

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