Skin cancer, London rents and your great great great granddaughter

More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A BBC report quoted a study that said 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women in the UK will get skin cancer in their lifetime. Tim Harford and the team look into the detail. Also London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan said London’s average rent will hit £2,700 a month next year, with the average take home salary £2,131. How accurate are the figures and what do they tell us about the affordability of the capital’s rental properties? We fact check Donald Trump’s recent claim that 35,000 Americans died building the Panama Canal. And as noughties band Busted re-release Year 3000 with the Jonas Brothers, just how many greats should be in front of “granddaughter” in that famous lyric?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to More or Less, the show that takes you from life in a mosquito-infested
0:11.1	jungle in the 19th century to life underwater in the year 3000, without ever misplacing
0:16.7	a decimal point.
0:18.6	This week, the rent in London is gosh darned high, but has Sadeek Khan exaggerated just
0:24.6	how unaffordable it is.
0:26.6	What's the most common form of cancer?
0:29.1	We're not sure that Dr. Google gives the right answer to this question.
0:33.1	And we are the only programme which will fact-check both busted and Donald Trump within the span
0:39.5	of half an hour.
0:40.7	Now, first, it was sunny last week, I'm sure you noticed, and I'm sure you remembered
0:46.1	to cover your vulnerable skin with clothes or sun cream, didn't you?
0:50.3	Because sun damage is a major contributor to skin cancer, and apparently skin cancer
0:56.2	is very common indeed.
0:58.6	That's what loyal listener Jonathan Red, anyway, he contacted us about an article published
1:03.4	by BBC Wales which claimed one in four men and one in five women in the UK will be diagnosed
1:10.3	with skin cancer during their lifetime.
1:13.3	Jonathan was skeptical and wrote to us that more or less at bbc.co.uk.
1:19.0	That seemed implausible to me given that I don't know anyone who's had skin cancer.
1:25.0	When accounting for the fact that many people might not choose to share this information,
1:30.5	it seems to me that if this statistic were correct, I'd know at least a few people who
1:35.8	have or who've had skin cancer.
1:39.5	So is that statistic true?
	...

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