The Stats of the Nation: The Economy
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What kind of state does the UK find itself in as we start 2026? That’s the question Tim Harford and the More or Less team is trying to answer in a series of five special programmes.
In the first episode, we’re starting the week by asking some interesting questions about the economy:
Is the cost-of-living crisis over?
The economy is expected to have grown by 1.5% in 2025. Is that a big number?
When taxes are at record highs, why does it feel as if everything is such hard work for public services?
Do the majority of people in Scotland pay less tax than they would in the rest of the UK?
Does the UK have a more progressive tax system than Scandinavian countries?
Get in touch if you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at: moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Contributors:
Ruth Curtice, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation Helen Miller, Director of Institute for Fiscal Studies Mairi Spowage, Professor and Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde John Burn-Murdoch, chief data reporter for the Financial Times
Credits:
Presenter: Tim Harford Quiz contestant: Lizzy McNeill Producers: Nathan Gower, Katie Solleveld and Charlotte McDonald Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound mix: Sarah Hockley and James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommashranganathan. |
| 0:25.9 | However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. |
| 0:30.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.8 | Hello and welcome to the first of a special series of programmes from more or less with me, Tim Harford. |
| 0:43.6 | If you're listening on the radio, then don't worry you haven't gone through some strange kind of time vortex. |
| 0:49.4 | It really is Monday, and this really isn't, start the week. |
| 0:53.4 | The lovely folks at Radio 4th, |
| 0:55.5 | what it might be a good idea to start the year as we mean to go on, well-informed about the |
| 1:01.7 | state of our nation. So they asked the team on more or less to make five programmes, one for |
| 1:08.1 | every day of the week, to answer a few of the big questions facing the UK. |
| 1:13.4 | We've taken inspiration from the things that, according to reputable surveys, are the things |
| 1:18.2 | that the people of the UK think are most important. Benefits, the health service, housing, |
| 1:24.2 | immigration, and a lot more besides. Radio 4 also told us that we had to stick in references to the programs we're replacing, |
| 1:32.1 | so keep an ear out for that. |
| 1:34.7 | Okay, they didn't do that at all, and they'll probably try to stop us if they catch us, |
| 1:38.4 | but we thought it would be funny, so we're going to do it anyway. |
| 1:41.7 | In any case, we've trawled through our inbox for pertinent questions, |
| 1:45.4 | invented some impertinent questions of our own, and assembled our reporters and some super-smart |
... |
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