Best FACTCHECK Podcasts (2025)

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

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13m 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

7d 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

12d 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

14d 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

19d 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

22d 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

22d 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) 35:28

1M ago35:28

35:28

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

1M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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

2M 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…

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Hate Mail From A Cult Leader: inside MOVE's language of control 42:30

3M ago42:30

42:30

WARNING: disturbing language and content. Behind the veneer of revolutionary rhetoric and claims of natural living lies a darker reality that few have ever glimpsed. For decades, MOVE has carefully cultivated an image of a loving, principled liberation movement, but newly uncovered internal communication reveals something far more sinister. These n…

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How do you make something 10-times more lethal? 28:28

3M ago28:28

28:28

What does the government mean when it commits to developing a “10-times more lethal” army? Why was the much-missed Sycamore Gap tree said to be worth a strikingly exact £622,191? Are there really twice as many people teaching Yoga as there are in the fishing industry? Is the number of workers per pensioner really falling from 4 to 3 to 2? And what …

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S9 E8: Rigor Redefined (Unpacking the Myths of Hard Work and Hierarchy) 44:00

3M ago44:00

44:00

In this episode, Jenn David-Lang took the reins and had a fascinating conversation with Michael McDowell, author of Rigor Redefined: 10 Teaching Habits for Surface, Deep, and Transfer Learning. Listen to the podcast to hear how Michael challenges our traditional understanding of rigor. Apparently, rigor isn't just about things being "hard" or doing…

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Love Letters From A Cult Leader: inside MOVE's language of control 34:38

3M ago34:38

34:38

“I love y’all so much. Ain’t nothing I wouldn’t do for y’all.” —John Africa (Vincent Leaphart), founder of MOVE Thanks to a confidential source, we gained access to dozens of private MOVE letters sent to incarcerated followers. At first glance, some of these letters appear warm, loyal, even loving - representative of what MOVE says they are - a cho…

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Is the world’s population being miscounted? 8:58

3M ago8:58

8:58

Exactly how many people live on our planet is one of those difficult-to-answer questions. The UN estimates is 8.2 billion, but that’s largely based on census data, which is certainly not a perfect measure. So when a recent study from Finland found that rural populations around the world had been underestimated by 50 to over 80%, the media got quite…

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MOVE lies about John Gilbride Part 2- Look Who's Talking 46:12

3M ago46:12

46:12

*warning: discussion of violence, threats, and the use of a racial slur that is explained but is censored. What happens when a cult's carefully crafted narrative faces public scrutiny? The answer lies in this shocking exploration of MOVE's 2005 radio appearance and their confrontation with America's Most Wanted five years later. Following Fox 29's …

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Does the average American have fewer than three friends? 28:48

3M ago28:48

28:48

Tim Harford is here to sprinkle a refreshing shower of statistical insight over the parched lawns of misinformation. This week, we try to unpick the confusion over a claim made by London Mayor Sadiq Khan about the contribution skilled immigrants make to the nation’s finances. Mark Zuckerberg says that the average American has fewer than 3 friends. …

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MOVE lies about John Gilbride Part 1: Play The Tape 1:05:19

3M ago1:05:19

1:05:19

When MOVE feels threatened, they turn to friendly media outlets to control their narrative. This episode takes you inside a revealing 2005 WURD Radio broadcast where MOVE members responded to a Fox News segment about the unsolved murder of John Gilbride. The previously unreleased audio exposes how cult propaganda works in real-time. Ramona Africa, …

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Factchecking the Trump administration’s Autism claims 9:14

3M ago9:14

9:14

Picking Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine sceptic, as the Secretary for Public Health might not be the most ‘out there’ thing the Trump administration has done but it certainly raised some eyebrows. Since his appointment Kennedy has been on a mission to ‘Make America Healthy again’ and has set his sights on finding ‘the cure’ for Autism. Autis…