Best FACTCHECK Podcasts (2025)

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Was it easier to deport migrants to France before Brexit? 28:48

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6m ago28:48

28:48

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey says it was easier to deport illegal migrants to Europe when we were in the EU. Is that true? Did the governor of the Bank of England get his numbers wrong on the UK’s ageing population? Why is the price of beef up by 25% in a year? Is it possible to pr…

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Is JD Vance right about left-wing violence? 8:58

4d ago8:58

8:58

On September the 10th 2025, right-wing political activist and media personality Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at an event in Utah. In the aftermath, his friend JD Vance, the US Vice President, hosted a special memorial edition of ‘The Charlie Kirk Show’, live from the White House, during which he called for unity, but said that could…

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S10 E2: Understanding Pop Culture's Role in Modern Education 46:07

5d ago46:07

46:07

How important is it to stay in touch with pop culture as a school leader? In this episode, I chat with Brooke Hammerling, the host of “Pop Culture Mondays… on Thursdays” podcast and the author of the widely read Pop Culture Mondays Newsletter. We dive into Brooke's unique journey from PR and communications to becoming a vital source of pop culture …

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Is it true that out-of-work benefits have almost doubled? 29:09

7d ago29:09

29:09

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: Nigel Farage says 6.5 million people are on out-of-work benefits – with some benefits up 80% since 2018. Are those numbers right? Do French pensioners really earn more than their working-age compatriots? How is it possible for one kilogram of fish food to produce one kilogram of s…

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Will the world really be 50 million workers short by 2030? 8:58

11d ago8:58

8:58

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the world faces a severe labour shortage – 50 million workers by the end of the decade.The boss of the world’s most valuable company thinks humanoid robots will be needed to fill the gap. But is this prediction based on solid evidence? Tim Harford looks at the calculations behind the claim with Rajiv Gupta, a technology…

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Are Afghan nationals more likely to be convicted of sexual offences? 29:01

13d ago29:01

29:01

Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news. This week: Is it true that interest payments on the UK’s national debt are equivalent to £240 per month for everyone in the country? Reform UK claim that Afghan migrants are 22 times more likely to be convicted of sex offences. Is that number correct? We try to make sense of a claim that one in …

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S10 E1: Guiding Through Change (Insights from Marie Wiles) 38:41

13d ago38:41

38:41

How does one navigate the journey from English teacher to Superintendent? In this episode, I sit down with the recently retired Marie Wiles in a unique in-person interview. We dive deep into her 36-year-long career, from early teaching days and curriculum development to her tenure in various leadership roles, including her time as a BOCES district …

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Do 11,000 sharks die every hour? 8:57

18d ago8:57

8:57

Hollywood has given sharks a terrible reputation. But in reality, the finned fish should be far more scared of us, than we of them. Millions of sharks are killed in fishing nets and lines every year. One statistical claim seems to sum up the scale of this slaughter – that 100 million sharks are killed every year, or roughly 11,000 per hour. But how…

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Are self-driving cars safer than cars with drivers? 8:58

25d ago8:58

8:58

Fully autonomous cars are here. In a handful of cities across the US and China, robotaxis are transporting human passengers around town, but with no human behind the wheel. Loyal Listener Amberish wrote in to More or Less to ask about a couple of safety statistics he’d seen regarding these self-driving cars on social media. These claimed that Waymo…

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Do women feel the cold more than men? 8:57

1M ago8:57

8:57

Are office temperatures set too low in the summer for women to be comfortable? This idea has featured in news headlines and comedy videos which describe the summer as a “women’s winter”. But is there evidence behind the claims of a gender bias in air conditioning? To find out, we speak to Gail Brager, Director of the Center for Environmental Design…

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How weird was the Med Sea heatwave? 8:58

1M ago8:58

8:58

In early July, the Mediterranean Sea experienced a marine heatwave. The surface of the water reached temperatures of 30 degrees in some places. A social media post at the time claimed that some of these sea temperatures were so different to the normal sea temperature at this time of year, that the sea was experiencing a “1-in-216,000,000,000-year s…

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S9 E12: Are You a Pig Pen? Self-Awareness & Practical Leadership Skills for Dysregulated Times 43:17

1M ago43:17

43:17

Feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of leadership today? Tune in to learn how building your self-regulation can help you navigate dysregulated times and have more effective conversations. In this episode, my co-host Jenn David-Lang and I had the pleasure of speaking with the amazing Jennifer Abrams, whom I see as a guru of interpersonal relatio…

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Why it matters that Trump fired data chief 8:58

2M ago8:58

8:58

On Friday 1st August the US Bureau of Labor Statistics put out their job report data for August. It included revisions to their estimates for the jobs created in May and June which stated there were 258,000 fewer jobs than they had previously estimated.This news was not received well by the White House. President Trump fired the head of the bureau,…

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Are abortion numbers rising in the US? 8:58

2M ago8:58

8:58

In June 2022 the United States Supreme Court passed what became known as ‘the Dobbs decision’. In doing so they overturned the long standing constitutional right for women to access abortion in the US. Since then a number of states have banned abortion completely with many others having highly prohibitive rules. You’d expect the numbers of abortion…

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Does a single AI query use a bottle of water? 8:59

2M ago8:59

8:59

We’re living through boom-times for Artificial Intelligence, with more and more of us using AI assistants like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Grok and Copilot to do basic research and writing tasks. But what is the environmental impact of these technologies? Many listeners have got in touch with More or Less to ask us to investigate various claims about the en…

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S9 E11: Becoming Your Own Factchecker (News Literacy for Students and Citizens) 35:27

2M ago35:27

35:27

In this episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Howie Schneider, the executive director of the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University's School of Communication and Journalism. Howie shared his fascinating journey from a 35-year career in journalism, including being the editor of Newsday, to leading the charge in preparing citizens…

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Are one in six children living through war? 8:58

2M ago8:58

8:58

In the midst of the television coverage of Soccer Aid, a celebrity soccer match organised by Unicef, the audience was told that “one in six children around the world are currently living through war”. Listener Isla got in touch with More or Less to ask whether the claim was correct, so we tracked down the source to an organisation called the Peace …

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Why Manchester United can afford to play badly 8:58

3M ago8:58

8:58

Manchester United are terrible, even according to their own manager. Last season saw their worst ever performance in Premier League history. But at the same time, according to Forbes magazine, they’re still the second most valuable football club in the world. How is that possible? Tim talks to Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert and the autho…

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S9 E10: Bridging the Implementation Gap in Education 39:42

3M ago39:42

39:42

In this episode, Jenn David-Lang interviews Jenice Pizzuto and Steven Carney about their book Implement with IMPACT: A Strategic Framework for Leading School and District Initiatives. The discussion focuses on their strategic framework for effectively implementing school and district initiatives using research-based practices. They emphasize the im…

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Can drinking one less bottle of coke a day halve obesity? 26:40

3M ago26:40

26:40

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news and in life. This week: Is the secret to halving obesity rates really just a matter of cutting back on one fizzy drink a day? How many new babies in the City of London have a foreign-born parent? And since fewer than one baby a week is actually born in the City of London, how much should we c…

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The economics of war: Vikings, Conquistadors and Vietnam 8:58

3M ago8:58

8:58

How does economics help us understand conflicts through history? That’s the question that economist and journalist Duncan Weldon tries to answer in his new book, Blood and Treasure. Tim talks to Duncan about the economic perspective on Viking raiders, Spanish conquest and the Vietnam war. Presenter: Tim HarfordProducer: Tom CollsProduction co-ordin…

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Is the UK seeing a Christian revival? 28:17

3M ago28:17

28:17

Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news and in life. This week: Is church-going making a comeback in the UK? Is it true that every day, 1000 people begin claiming personal independence payments, or PIP? When the government talks about how it “returns” illegal immigrants, what does it mean? Can a new telescope really see golf balls on t…

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Happy Independence Day: How July 2nd Changed the MOVE Narrative Forever 11:00

3M ago11:00

11:00

July 2nd resonates with profound significance – marking both the launch of this podcast four years ago and the day Pixie Africa broke free from MOVE with her five children. That courageous exodus, described as "driving a tank through a concrete wall," shattered decades of silence and control, allowing truth to finally emerge from within the organiz…

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Has Russia suffered a million casualties in the Ukraine war? 8:59

3M ago8:59

8:59

It’s been over three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the human toll is growing on both sides. Recently, politicians and journalists have declared a grim milestone, one million Russian casualties. But is this number accurate? Tim talks to Seth Jones, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Olga Ivshina, f…

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S9 E9: How Principals Can Elevate Instructional Impact with Principal Kafele 44:43

3M ago44:43

44:43

In this episode, Jenn David-Lang sits down with renowned educator and turnaround Principal Kafele to discuss his latest—and most personally significant—book: “What Is My Value Instructionally to the Teachers I Supervise?” This conversation zeroes in on the principal’s role as an instructional leader. Principal Kafele makes it clear that the core fo…

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Why is data on grooming gangs so bad? 28:48

3M ago28:48

28:48

Tim Harford looks at some of the numbers in the news and in life. In this episode: Why is the data on the ethnicity of grooming gangs of such poor quality? Iran has apparently enriched uranium to 60%, but what does that number mean? Adam Curtis’s latest series, Shifty, includes claims about Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power. We ask Sir John Curtice…

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How to spot a suspicious statistic 8:58

3M ago8:58

8:58

Untruths sneak into our lives in all kinds of ways. Sometimes they’re outright lies. Blatant misinformation. But in this episode, we’re going to talk about something else - those sneaky numbers and claims that bounce around our society and that aren’t exactly false, but are leading you down the wrong path. That’s the subject of a book called May Co…

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Are 4% of young women in the UK on OnlyFans? 28:49

3M ago28:49

28:49

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news, and in life. This week: We debunk a false claim that the hotel bill for immigrants is the size of the tax bill for Manchester. An article in the Spectator claimed that 4% of women aged between 18 and 34 in the UK are OnlyFans creators. We track down the source and discover that it is not ver…

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Could you be hit by a falling satellite? 9:55

3M ago9:55

9:55

The number of satellites orbiting our planet has been rapidly increasing in recent years. But what are the risks when they start falling back down to earth? The European Space agency estimate that by 2030 there will be 100,000 satellites in orbit. We look at whether that estimate is realistic and what it means for those of us living on the ground b…