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Could the winter fuel cut cost more than it saves?

Plus, ONS transgender stats, early-onset cancer, and puzzles you’re meant to get wrong.

The government is encouraging pensioners to claim pension credit in order to remain eligible for winter fuel payments. Will people sign up - and might that end up costing the exchequer more than it saves?

The Office for National Statistics has downgraded the status of a new statistic aiming to measure how many people are transgender. What went wrong?

Cancer appears to be on the rise in people under 50. But are more people dying?

And try your hand at a puzzle you’re likely to get wrong.

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Natasha Fernandes and Bethan Ashmead-Latham
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Sound mix: Sarah Hockley
Editor: Richard Vadon

Available now

28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Wed 25 Sep 202409:00
  • Fri 27 Sep 202416:30

Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU

Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU

Explore how numbers shape, and sometimes mislead us, with The Open University.

When can you trust statistics?

When can you trust statistics?

BBC Ideas discovers three easy ways to help make sense of statistics.

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Download this programme

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