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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life

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More or Less: 05/08/2011

Factual

05/08/2011

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, 05/08/2011

Tim Harford and the More or Less team unpick more numbers in the news.

Tim Harford and the More or Less team unpick more numbers in the news. This week: US debt, NHS funding and the '27 club'.

In this week's More or Less:

A very big number

The United States has decided that its total debt - $14.3 trillion - is to be allowed to get even bigger. But how much is $14.3 trillion? It's a number so huge, it's almost impossible to imagine. But we try, with the help of Nigel Holmes.

NHS spending

Before the last election the Conservatives promised they would increase spending on the NHS in England in real terms, and in the Coalition Agreement they and the Liberal Democrats reiterated the commitment. But there have been accusations that they've already broken that pledge. Have they?

Decades of austerity?

In July the Office for Budget Responsibility published a "fiscal sustainability report" in which it considered the likely health of Britain's finances far into the future. According to newspaper reports, the OBR struck a sobering tone, explaining that we face decades of austerity because of rising health and education costs, and an ageing population. But is that the right way to look at it? Michael Blastland thinks not.

The "27 Club"

When Amy Winehouse was found dead last month, newspapers around the world pointed out that death at 27 put the singer in a club which few would wish to join: the so-called "27 club" of rock and pop musicians who died at that age. But is it really true - as some have claimed - that superstar musicians are more likely to die at 27 than at any other age? We asked Matt Parker of Queen Mary University of London to work out the answer.

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