Examining the numbers behind Andy Burnham’s ‘Manchester Miracle’

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:

(00:23) Andy Burnham may not be Prime Minister yet, but he’s setting out his economic agenda, and its based on his old stomping ground, Greater Manchester. We ask whether the official figures that seem to show an economic miracle can be fully believed, and how much credit he deserves.

(10:09) As our towns and cities get hotter, would turning to air conditioning really drive outside temperatures up by 10 to 12 degrees celcius? We learn about the fascinating world of ‘urban heat islands’.

(15:40) We turn to homophones in an attempt to continue a running joke. This week, we follow six items about Wales with an item about whales - are our cetacean friends the carbon sinks of our dreams? Will we ever write a stranger paragraph?

(22:10) Cult director and maths fanboy Werner Herzog has been waxing lyrical about the intruiging mysteries of prime numbers. Tim cracks out a surprisingly decent impression and we learn about one of the most inscrutable problems in mathematics - what’s not to like?

More or Less is the programme that looks at numbers and statistics in news and in life. We’re always looking for questions from listeners - you can contact us on moreorless@bbc.co.uk.

Guests:

Paul Swinney - Chief Economist at The Data City

Liam Sides - Associate Director at Oxford Economics

Dimple Rana - Heat Resilience Leader at Arup

Sue Grimmond - Professor of Meteorology, University of Reading

Dr Olaf Meynecke - Marine Ecologist, Griffith University

James Grime - Mathematician and star of YouTube channel Numberphile

Special Guest Appearance:

The Voice of Werner Herzog

Presenter: Tim Harford

Series Producer: Tom Colls

Reporter: Nathan Gower

Producers: Josh McMinn, Lizzy McNeill

Editor: Richard Vadon

Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown

Sound Engineer: James Beard