Is the UK state pension really the lowest in Europe?
More or Less

Is the UK state pension really the lowest in Europe?

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 7, 202628 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: (00:42) Is the UK uniquely miserly when it comes to the state pension? That’s the story a viral social media post is telling - but have they adjusted to account for complicated structural differences between national systems? Reader, they have not. (07:23) In a podcast feud nobody saw coming, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tucker Carlson recently locked horns over whether Russia or UK has a larger economy. Who's right? Only one person can possibly adjudicate this one: Duncan Weldon. (15:06) What effect did this year’s he...

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abandon its triple lock. The number of stupid jokes in each episode will always rise in

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 30%A2 34%B1 24%B2 11%C1 1%
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  • 125 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Hello and welcome to More or Less. We're the only programme that promises never to abandon its triple lock. The number of stupid jokes in each episode will always rise in line with inflation, 2.5% or references to the Princess Bride, whichever is highest. I'm Tim Harford by the way.

0:18

This week, a long-awaited clash of the heavyweights. No, not Fury and Joshua, Tucker Carlson and Jacob Rees-Mogg. We ask whether a summer of heatwaves has taken a toll in lives, and while we're at it, revisit that super flu we were warned about last Christmas. And the question you've all been asking, can you fit everyone in the world into Loch Ness?

0:42

But before all that, last week the Prime Minister Andy Burnham took a political gamble by announcing plans to reform the Triple Lock on the UK's state pension. He was hailed for his boldness by some but criticised by others. One critic was Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite, who said,

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