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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: 19/08/2011

Factual

19/08/2011

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, 19/08/2011

Salt, 'zero tolerance' policing, and how to predict the adult height of growing children.

More or Less has the latest on salt, 'zero tolerance' policing, and how to predict the adult height of growing children.

In More or Less this week:

Is salt bad for you?

A recent Cochrane Collaboration review set out "to assess whether advice to cut down on salt in foods altered our risk of death or cardiovascular disease". Its plain English summary read: "Cutting down on the amount of salt has no clear benefits in terms of likelihood of dying or experiencing cardiovascular disease". That might surprise you. Public health bodies have been telling us to eat less salt for years. So has the Cochrane Collaboration paper really challenged that advice? More or Less investigates.

'Zero-tolerance' policing

One of the stories of the week was the arrival of American supercop Bill Bratton as an advisor to the Prime Minister in the wake of the recent riots and looting. We were curious about the statistical evidence on Bill Bratton's record as the chief of police first in Boston, then New York and later in Los Angeles. What did he actually do, did it work and - if it did - did it work for the reasons Bill Bratton's supporters claim? 

Predicting the adult height of growing children

We were recently asked a question by a rather short man who is married to a rather tall woman. He was wondering whether, as an old piece of homespun wisdom claims, sons are always taller than their mothers - in which case his two boys will grow to be big strapping lads. But is there any truth in it? Or is it just a tall tale?

Producer: Richard Knight.

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