Does the UK really have nine out of the ten poorest regions in Northern Europe?
More or Less

Does the UK really have nine out of the ten poorest regions in Northern Europe?

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 30, 202630 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:40) Does the UK account for nine out of ten of the poorest regions in Northern Europe? It’s a classic story of devil meets detail where the true meaning is the geographical inequality we met along the way. (07:54) An article in The Economist has claimed that a single donkey charity in Devon received more in annual donations than all the major political parties combined. Is this true? And if so, should we be Led By Donkeys? (11:29) Last week 781 migrants crossed the ch...

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Who is better funded?

?

Onward.

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 34%A2 33%B1 22%B2 11%C1 1%
  • 88% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 162 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 147 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Hello and welcome to More or Less, where your affable guide to the numbers in the news, in life and in your local apiary and or donkey sanctuary. I realise that this doesn't make much sense, but bear with me. I'm Tim Harford.

0:14

This week, is it true that out of Northern Europe's ten poorest regions, nine of them are in the UK? How much do people arriving on small boats cost the public purse? Is it really true that beekeepers live longer than the rest of us?

0:31

And if so, why? Who is better funded? Politicians or donkeys? Onward.

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