How long are people really waiting when they call 999 for an ambulance? Tim Harford and the team examine in detail the sheer scale of delays in responding to emergency calls. We also ask why the NHS is facing a crisis when it’s got more funding and more staff than before the pandemic, with the help of Ben Zaranko from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Plus we fact check a claim from one of Britain’s leading teaching unions about pay. And are there more pubs in Ireland or Irish pubs in the rest of the world? Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Reporters: Josephine Casserly, Nathan Gower, Paul Connolly 
Sonic Landscape: James Beard
Production Co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross 
Editor: Richard Vadon Image: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Ambulance response times, teacher pay and Irish pubs

Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us. From BBC Radio 4

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India’s election has been running since 19 April. With results imminent on 4th June, More or Less talks with Chennai based data communicator Rukmini S. She founded Data for India, a new website designed to make socioeconomic data on India easier to find and understand. She talks us through the changing trends to help give a better picture of the type of country the winning party will govern. Producers: Bethan Ashmead and Nathan Gower
Sound Engineer:  Nigel Appleton
Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon

Data for India

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that the UK economy is growing faster than Germany, France and the US, while Labour says the typical household in the UK is worse off by £5,883 since 2019. Are these claims fair? We give some needed context.  Net migration has fallen - we talk to someone who predicted it would - Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.  Is Taylor Swift about to add £1 bn to the British economy as some media outlets have claimed? The answer is ‘No’.  Why are our prisons full? We ask Cassia Rowland from the Institute for Government.  Presenter: Tim Harford 
Producers: Charlotte McDonald, Nathan Gower, Bethan Ashmead Latham and Ellie House
Series producer: Tom Colls 
Sound mix: Neil Churchill 
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown 
Editor: Richard Vadon

UK growth, prisons and Swiftonomics

News stories earlier in the year appeared to suggest that time restricted eating – where you consume all your meals in an 8 hour time window – was associated with a 91% increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.  But is this true? Tim Harford looks into the claim with the help of Cardiologist Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University in the US. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Nigel Appleton 
Editor: Richard Vadon

Is intermittent fasting going to kill you?

Is it going to take 685 years to clear NHS waiting lists in England? Are 10 per cent of MPs under investigation for sexual misconduct? How does gold effect the UKs export figures? What does it mean to say that a woman has 120% chance of getting pregnant? Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Nathan Gower and Bethan Ashmead Latham
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon

MP misconduct, NHS waiting lists and gold (gold)

It’s long been known that marriage is associated with happiness in survey data. But are falling marriage rates in the US dragging down the mood of the whole nation?  We investigate the statistical relationships with Professor Sam Peltzman from the University of Chicago, and Professor John Helliwell, from the University of British Columbia. Presenter: Tom Colls
Reporter: Natasha Fernandes 
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Nigel Appleton
Editor: Richard Vadon

Ambulance response times, teacher pay and Irish pubs

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