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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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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: UN rape claims, Stalin, Mr Darcy

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UN rape claims, Stalin and Mr Darcy

16/02/2018

UN rape claims, Stalin, Mr Darcy

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, UN rape claims, Stalin, Mr Darcy

Back of the envelope calculations on rape, and how many died under Stalin?

Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the news, including the back-of-the-envelope calculations on rape and a discussion about the number of people killed by Stalin.

How many people have UN staff raped?

It was reported in a number of the newspapers this week that UN staff are responsible for 60,000 rapes in a decade. We unpick the back of an envelope calculation that has resulted in this extraordinary figure. 

Gender in literature

How are women depicted in books? Author Ben Blatt has carried out an analysis of the types of words used to describe them, and also their absence in some of the classics. 

How many people did Stalin kill?

How do you extract facts from a regime that was so profoundly secretive? We speak to Professor James Harris and Professor Barbara Anderson about why there are so many different figures and how historians and demographers calculate death tolls by regimes.

The wealth of Mr Darcy

The male love interest of 'Pride and Prejudice' is supposed to be fabulously wealthy. It says in the early 19th century English novel that Mr Darcy has an income £10,000 a year - that seems to impress the fictional characters. Two hundred years later, it's not clear how remarkable it really is. We speak to Professor Stephen Broadberry of the University of Oxford.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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UN rape claims, Stalin, Mr Darcy

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