Podcasts about national statistics

The Office for National Statistics has said that by 2029 it expects more deaths than births in Britain. Simultaneously migration could go into reverse soon, with more people leaving our shores than arriving. But how will a shrinking - and ageing - population affect our politics, our economy and our lives?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Tom Calver, Data Editor, The Times and The Sunday TimesHost: Manveen Rana.Producer: Olivia Case.We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.comRead more: Could Britain's population actually start shrinking soon?Further listening: Britain is in a cancer crisis. Will a new strategy fix it?Clips: Sky, ITN, BBC.Photo: Getty Images.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unemployment among young Londoners has hit a nine-year high, and the latest figures show the jobless rate in the capital disproportionately affects 16 to 24-year-olds. So, is the future for young Londoners truly bleak?In this episode, host Tamara Kormornick is joined by the Standard's business editor Jonathan Prynn to unpack the most recent figures from the Office of National Statistics. Together they explore why so many young people in the capital are facing a growing shortage of opportunities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Late last summer, Darren Tierney stepped into the newly created role of Permanent Secretary at a pivotal moment for the organisation. In a new episode of Statistically Speaking our host Miles Fletcher sits down with Darren to talk about what happens next.    TRANSCRIPT   MILES FLETCHER Hello and welcome to another episode of Statistically Speaking, the official podcast of the Office for National Statistics. I'm Miles Fletcher.   Now, if you've followed the UK news much over the past year, you'll know the ONS has been under more scrutiny than at any point in its history, questions about trust, priorities, its core economic data and whether the organisation has simply been trying to do too much at once, have all been very publicly aired.   Today's episode is about what happens next. Late last summer, Darren Tierney stepped into the newly created role of Permanent Secretary at a moment when some of the UK's most relied upon statistics, especially those based on the Labor Force Survey, were under real pressure. In this conversation, we'll talk about Darren's background in government, running large, complex public services and helping to craft and enact key policies. We'll explore how data has shaped his career so far, and what he found when he arrived at the ONS. We'll also dig into some of the hardest questions facing the organisation, and what absolutely has to be fixed first, what may need to stop, how user expectations are being balanced with that and how full confidence in official statistics can be restored. This isn't just an internal reset. What the ONS does and how well it does it matters to policymakers, businesses and the public alike. So join us as we talk about focus, priorities, and the road ahead.   So then Darren, to begin at the beginning, you're not an economist or statistician by profession yourself. What motivated you to take leadership of what is the central organisation in UK statistics?   DARREN TIERNEY Sure, well look as a non-statistician you can imagine I was a little bit daunted when this prospect first came along for precisely that reason.  I was kind of worried that maybe not being a statistician or an economist might be a real drawback but as I thought more about the job, and more about what was needed for the organisation at the time, and with the split of the roles, I thought actually, I can really help. But what really drew me to the role was that although I'm not a statistician, Iv'e been an avid consumer of ONS products for the 25 years that I've been a policy wonk in Whitehall. And going from a good policy professional to a great one, requires both access to good data and also a real understanding of it and knowing how to use it. And it's that background that kind of helped me and really got me into it, and so I saw it as a real opportunity to come and help an organisation that really couldn't be any more consequential for the UK.   MILES FLETCHER The Devereux review said that what was needed was someone with really serious operational experience, having run serious civil service operations, and you bring plenty of that. Could you just detail some of that? You've had a very strong rise, you know, through the ranks of the civil service. Just trace that for us, if you would.   DT Yeah. So I started life in what was the old Prescott empire of DETR, which was environment and transport in the regions as a policy wonk working on aviation. I then went and joined the Ministry of Justice, where I spent three years in the private offices of Harriet Harman, Jack Straw and Ken Clarke, and that kind of real frontline policy making, as it were, is the thing that I did a lot of in the first half of my career.   The second half of my career, which is much more relevant to the ONS, was centred around transformation and change. And again, I spent about 12 years or so in the MOJ, and my senior career there was about transforming systems and running big programs. And I went from there to international trade, just after the Referendum, where like a lot of officials at the time, I was quite keen to run to where the energy or the fire was after Brexit. But I didn't fancy working DExEU, and this new department called Trade seemed quite interesting. So I went there, and again, this was a kind of brand new department, and it grew from a few hundred people to about four and a half thousand. And so that kind of building and running the department as a strategy director for investments and exports,  I guess those two experiences in justice and trade are the two that I rely on most in this role.   MF So you spent time in the corridors of power then, the ministerial heights of the civil service, but also having to try and make the machine run efficiently as well, and to deliver public services and achieve policies in the real world. What role has data played in that? And what sort of statistics were you using? What sort of insights were you getting? Can you share some experiences of how that's shaped your career, and your understanding, particularly of the job in hand here at the ONS.   DT Sure, I guess the job where it was most relevant was when I was in justice, where I worked in civil and family policy, Legal Aid and supporting on prison reform, and particularly on youth justice reform, and maybe that's a good example to pull out. Justice is one of those areas where people have very strong views about what the right policy prescription is, but there's often quite a lack of evidence that goes behind some of these strong policy positions, if I can put it like that, and one of the things that bedevilled us was trying to turn very strong ministerial desire for action across the human justice system into something that was evidence based, and where we could point to proof that these things would work, and we did that several times in the youth justice system.   Perhaps the one that I look back on most fondly in the youth estate...We were constantly telling ourselves, and indeed the world, that kids in the youth estate were getting thirty hours a week of education, and that was true in the sense that that's what we were buying. We were procuring thirty hours a week from providers, but the kids in the estate were not getting thirty hours a week and we didn't really know until we sent in a team of researchers from the MOJ analytical team to do some surveys, and then we also analysed some of the ROI coming out of that estate. And of course, what we discovered was that although we were buying thirty hours of education, it was always being disrupted by all the other services that these kids needed to access. So every dentist, every doctor, every lawyer that was coming in to interact with those kids, that was happening during what would otherwise be the school day, but we didn't really know that. And for years, we were kind of running this system and telling ourselves and indeed telling the world, that this was what was going on, but having analyzed that system and got ourselves some real data we were able to change that system so that it was education first, and all of those other ancillary services would take place outside of the school day. So sometimes it can be quite basic bits of analysis that can result in the biggest changes.   MF I guess the lesson there is, we always need to never totally trust the data we've got and find better insights and better ways of looking at things. And I guess that leads us into the challenge here at the ONS. What were your first impressions when you took the plunge in, suffice to say, quite interesting circumstances in the earlier part of 2025. What did you make of your earliest days here at the ONS and formulating what needed to be done?    DT  Your characterization of it is right. Before I even arrived, I was talking to a lot of the stakeholders, including Robert Devereux and others, and in doing that and in reading around the issues, I ended up getting quite a negative view of what was going on, perhaps understandably, because that was what was being reported. So I was expecting an organization that was perhaps much more kind of browbeaten than the one I found. And that's not to sound complacent at all, but the thing that I was surprised at when I arrived was just the desire for progress, for action, for us to kind of turn the page, and for us to get back to being a respected NSI. And that that sort of energy that I found amongst the senior team was great because I was expecting to have to do quite a lot of jigging up of the system to get us into that mode, but actually, when I arrived, people were already there. So that was my first impression. My second impression really was just the quality of the people here, the skills, the experience and the expertise here at the ONS is genuinely inspiring. And I said this to Civil Service World a few weeks ago. We abuse the phrase "world class" in Whitehall, we often claim things are world class when they're not, but we do have some genuine world class expertise in the ONS and I was genuinely inspired when getting to meet some of those people during the first few days and weeks.   MF It sounds as though people had a good idea of what needed to be done, what was coming out in the media, and of the various inquiries that took place last year, was that the general feeling was that ONS had become spread too thin, and needed to prioritize on those things that ONS is best known for. It does have a worldwide reputation for, crucially, what people most rely upon it to get it right, prioritizing those. Was that what emerged?   DT It really was. And that sense that getting back to the core business of an NSI (National Statistical Institute) was what people were people were really hungry for us to do. I think there is a danger when saying something like that, of sounding like no one valued that hugely innovative work that happened during the pandemic. And that's definitely not the case. I think the reputation of the ONS developed during the pandemic for innovation, for fleet footedness, and of doing some brilliant work in support of the country at a time when it was most needed, is genuinely well recognized across the system. But I think alongside that, there was a sense that perhaps the organisation took its eye off the ball on the core functions of an NSI. And certainly, in my first few weeks when I went to see the Governor of the Bank and the Chancellor, they were really clear that what they need from us right now, is a real focus back on those core economic statistics and population statistics. So yeah, that was a very strong sense in those first few weeks   MF But of course, that means stopping doing some things. What is being stopped so far? What do you think is going to have to stop? How is that process proceeding?   DT So alongside my arrival, and just before, the organization had done some useful internal things to prioritise. So we moved some money around from the IDP programme.   MF That's the Integrated Data Programe, bringing in data from other parts of government.     DT And as that programme was coming to an end, we moved some resource from that. We also moved some people from one of our specialist hubs, to get them behind the recovery plans. There was some kind of internal prioritisation as it were, that happened as I was arriving, which was essential really, just to get us on the front foot, to then begin the recruitment of 150 extra people to come and work behind the recovery plans, and we've got around one hundred of those in place, and in Q! This year we will hire the rest. But that wasn't sufficient, so alongside that we made plans for prioritizing our outputs and that resulted in the kind of engagement that we have been doing for the last few weeks. So that process is still underway, and we are hoping in the next few weeks to bring some of those elements to a conclusion. I mean, I think inevitably, as we've done that, there are lots of things that people would like us to keep doing, but I hope they understand, and in deciding what to de-prioritise, again, there's a risk that people think that no one values that work. And of course, that's not true. There are tonnes of people out there who really, really value the output that we might stop, but my message to them is that we really need to focus now, it's quite existential for us to focus on the recovery plans on economic and population statistics, to get those right. There won't be any new money coming our way, so we'll have to prioritize internally. None of that necessarily means that it will be forever, but it is important that we do it, so we're on top of what we need to be on top of for the next period.   MF It's clear that the pressure is ONS, particularly to get those core economic statistics right, and we'll talk a little bit more about the detail on that. But firstly, on this broad subject of user expectations. Parliament essentially asks the ONS to do two things; that's to provide the statistics to help policy makers, but also to inform the public as well on social and economic issues. Is there a danger in these circumstances, when demands from the bank and the Treasury are to get the first part of that right, is there a risk with the public interest, data which people access to form their own judgment. Is there a risk of that taking second place?   DT I think there is a risk of that, but we're very alive to it. And one of the good things that we did towards the end of last year is we were finalizing our mission statement. And in kind of doing that consultation on that mission statement internally, one of the phrases that we added at the end of our mission statement was to inform the public, and that was  a deliberate decision to remind ourselves about that statutory underpinning that we have, but also to remind ourselves that we can't just focus on one thing. So as much as we need to prioritize, I'm very clear that we have more than one function. We're not just an Economics Institute, we do far more than that, and we will continue to do more than that.  And that business to inform the public is absolutely core to what we're about. So your right to raise it as a risk, but I think it's one that we've clocked, and one that we're very clear about.   MF   Okay, let's focus on one aspect of the turnaround plans in progress at the moment, which has attracted more attention than any single issue facing the ONS currently, and that's the very important Labour Force Survey (LFS). That's how the employment figures for the UK essentially have been complied for some decades now. It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest, regular household survey in the country, depended on by policy makers, economic commentators and, of course, politicians as well. It got itself into a bit of a state, didn't it? The response rates, it's not too dramatic to say, collapsed during the wake of the pandemic. How important is getting that right among your priorities, and what is progress to date, and what still needs to be done?   DT You're right to raise that. I mean, I've been saying to people that there isn't one single thing that we will fix in the ONS where we will declare victory. This will be an ongoing effort and continuous improvement. But if there was one thing that is quite totemic in the recovery it will be the labour force survey and the transformed labour force survey. So there's a considerable amount of effort across the organization in getting behind both of those bits of work. So it is quite totemic. You're right. It's the single biggest thing that the bank and the Treasury would like us to get on top of, and it also does go to credibility, because of the credibility of the response rates. So it is hugely important. I've been really impressed by the quality of the work that's been going on to try and get on top of it. And the team that's there is absolutely laser focused, doing both of those things at the same time. So the first things is fixing the current labour force survey as far as we can, and they've made some real progress with that, so getting response rates back up to pre covid levels. We've now got a field force workforce at similar levels, and we're starting to see some real benefit from that. So the OBR at the budget included a reference to the LFS in their budget report where they said they now have more confidence in the survey and I think that's real testament to the amount of work that has gone into it. But alongside that, I think what we do recognize is that the current LFS isn't sustainable in its current setup, so that's why we are working, again, with laser like focus on the transformed survey, to make it more online, a bit shorter, a bit more focused. And I'm really hopeful that that, over the next year will prove itself to be a sustainable answer to this issue.   MF The long-term plan is to go out to people with a survey, which does take a lot less time to fill in. And that was one of the criticisms of the traditional one, that it represented a big time commitment for people and perhaps it wasn't surprising that there was a challenge around getting people to take part. But at the same time, we seem to have a particular problem in the UK, where we are on what evidence is available certainly, an outlier in terms of survey response rates. Have you got a sense of what the issue is there? Was it the ONS getting things wrong? Or is it something more profound about the culture now in the UK, that makes people suspicious about taking part in official surveys?   DT I think that you're right. We are a bit of an outlier now, because this kind of phenomenon happened everywhere across the globe in the pandemic but we seem to have been worse off than most. I think there is a kind of trust issue across our society in engaging with government agencies on data which is, I think, is more profound than some other societies. So I think we are fighting against that. I think it probably also suffered a bit from being quite a long-standing survey, having grown over time. I think one of the interesting things when you look across the globe though, where countries do this better than we do, at least in terms of response rates, is that most of those countries mandate their social surveys, and certainly their labour force survey equivalents. Now we don't do that here for our social surveys, but I think that's something that is a policy issue for ministers, something that we need to kind of resolve, to decide whether or not that is the long-term answer for a small number of social surveys.   MF So that's a conversation in progress at the moment, whether people might be required to take part in these surveys in future.   DT Yeah, it is. It was a recommendation in the Leivesley  review that we at least look at it,  so we're doing that to try and establish well what are the pros and cons of that sort of approach, so we can inform future policy decisions by ministers on this issue. I don't for a moment underestimate how tricky a policy issue that is, but I think we do need to confront it so that we can put it to bed, or we can progress it, because we are notable across the globe by not doing that.   MF So, there's a clear sense of urgency in the plan with action, as you've said already, to tackle really pressing issues like the Labour Force Survey. So we're getting more people into the field doing interviews and so forth. And in the meantime, a conversation about prioritizing core statistics. But what comes next in 2026, what should people who might be following the ONS look out for from the organization next?   DT I think 2026, I've been saying internally, is our year of delivery and action and recovery. So last year, we obviously had the crisis point in the summer. And since the summer, we've been doing a lot of work internally into our overall plans, our mission, how we want to lead the organization, what we want the culture to be, what are our plans for getting on top of the economic and population statistics, preparing for the Census...So there's been lots of planning, lots of strategizing, lots of structural changes, that sort of thing, that I think was absolutely necessary. But the focus for 2026 I think needs to be on execution and delivery. To spend this year delivering against the plans that we've made and that's going to be the focus of the top team for the next twelve months.   MF The ONS has enjoyed a reputation for innovation, and that really came out during the pandemic. Is there a risk that innovation will cease or are there new things happening on that front to really improve the overall offering?     DT So again, I think that is a risk, and it's something I've talked about within the organization. That because I've come in with such a sharp focus on the recovery plans, it could just be head head down and focus on those things for the next two years. And then wake up in two years time to realise we are vastly behind the times, on AI or some whizzy new ways of using admin data or whatever it might be, and that's why we've done some things internally to make sure we still have some space and some capacity to do that innovation. I'm really keen that we do that, it can't be at the expense of the recovery plans so that's still our number one priority, but we have carved out some expertise and some capacity to still challenge us on how we should be doing statistics in the future. A big part of that will be how do we learn from others on AI and on tech more generally. So watch this space, it's definitely still something that we're focussed on.   MF Yeah, the resistance that's out there on some people to take part in those surveys. What about all this data that government has been already it's been a persistent criticism that government collectively hasn't done enough to pool that data and to and to really get get value out of it and to make public services more efficient, policies more effective.   DT I think that is a legitimate criticism if I'm honest, you know, it's been a conversation live in Whitehall since I can remember - data sharing and the lack of it. Obviously, there's been huge advances in that recently, some really good innovation around data sharing, including in the ONS, but even more generally, but I still sense there's real risk averse culture around data sharing across government departments that I think we need to try and tackle. For me it's as much about culture and ways of working as it is about legislation and risk. And I'm quite keen that we play our part in pushing the rest of the system on that. I think it's going to be one of the benefits of the split of the role, so that we will have a National Statistician full time being the National Statistician who isn't worried about the running of the ONS. And I'm really keen that whoever that person is, in future, if they can help the system really galvanised around data sharing and data linkage, that will be a real benefit of the new approach.   MF What about the culture of the ONS itself? And as you just said, there are two people at the top of the system now, as it were, an incoming national statistician, a you as Perm Sec. Culture has got to be your department, hasn't it? And the Devereaux review talked about some really quite deep-seated cultural issues. What was the culture that greeted you on arrival? And what mechanisms do you think are going to help to create the right culture and deliver the dramatic changes that you're working towards?   DT Yes, I think what Robert set out in his report was accurate, and that's certainly what I discovered when I arrived.  I think it manifests itself in a range of ways, but perhaps the two biggest for me are probably a lack of trust across the organization. And that's trust as it was between the board and the executive team, trust between the senior civil service  and the rest of the organization, lack of trust between our trade union colleagues and management, lack of trust between some of the different teams themselves. And I think that that, having been left unchecked, is quite corrosive. I think it's led to some of the issues that Robert set out in his report. I think it also leads to a lack of collaboration, a lack of join up when that is the predominant culture. So we've spent quite a lot of time, of my personal time, has been focused on breaking through some of that. It's quite a hard thing to do within organizations - to change the culture. I've deliberately not had something called a cultural transformation program, I'm not sure they ever really work. I think what we can do instead is just start doing stuff differently, and that's what we've been doing. Some of that has been a bit managerial. We put in place a leadership statement, for example, something the organization could use to hold senior leaders to account. I 've started sharing performance panels for senior civil servants. We've put in place some slightly sharper performance management. We will start doing regular pulse surveys, just to try and instil some of that managerial approach to fixing some issues. But for me it's also about who do we reward and why. One of the things I've been banging on about since I arrived is the "three C's" - that's clarity, consistency and consequences, and these really speak to the culture. And just briefly for listeners, clarity is what are we for, does everyone know what that is, and does everyone agree with it. And that's why we've created a new mission statement. Consistency is, how do you apply that set of values to the things you do on a daily basis, and you don't let it go when times get tough. And then consequences...there has to be both positive and negative consequences for people in the organization for doing the right thing or not. And I think that that kind of framework has taken hold in the organization, and I'm quite keen that we keep using it keep using it as our bellwether for are we doing the right thing. Do we reward the right behaviours, are we all being held to account for how we want the ONS to be. I think that's how we are going to get the change here.   MF What would you say to someone who might be thinking of applying to a job at the ONS, they might think well what we do is really important and really interesting, but I've read this stuff in the news which suggests, well, they've got their challenges.     DT So this is a live issue. So we've been recruiting for some very senior posts in the last few months, and I've been really haertened by the response that we've had. So for example, we are interviewing later on this month for Director General for Technology in the organization, we had over 200 applications for that, and I spoke to quite a few people who were interested in advance. And, of course, the thing is that once you're away from the heat of the crisis that the organisation was in last summer, for people who want to come and work in this organization, if you're a technology leader, for example, coming to work at the ONS, which basically just does data, you know, we collect, analyse and publish data. That's hugely attractive if you're a senior leader in technology or data. And I think I've been able to persuade them that we've turned the corner on what it's like to work here. So I've been really kind of enthused by both the quality and the number of people who have wanted to come work for us for us in some of those senior roles that we've advertised, but similarly, at all levels of organization. So one of our campaigns to hire some junior analysts across the organisation attracted hundreds and hundreds of applications. So I still think that the core business of the ONSremains very, very attractive to lots of people out there. My job is to turn the page on the culture of the organisation and that remains the case.   MF And as we start 2026, what gives you the most confidence that ONS is now on the right path? And what are the main objectives ahead?   DT I think there were some emerging plans which were kind of credible, I think we've really strengthened those in the last four or five months. I think the quality of the people will take us a huge way in our transformation and I'm really enthused by that. I always think of Colonel Boyds aphorism of "people, ideas and machines. And in that order." And I think we have excellent people who are generating brilliant ideas, and I think we're getting on top of the machines, as it were, so that we can really transform ourselves. What I really want is for the ONS to be in the news for its outputs and not for the organisation itself, and this year is going to be all about making sure that's true.   MF Because of course some people might say, well, we've got AI that's going to revolutionize everything. We're not going to need the ONS anymore. Just how wrong, or indeed right, is that?   DT My sense is that AI will have a huge part to play, but it's not going to take over. So again, that aphorism of people, ideas and machines, in that order. And it's the "in that order", that I think is the most important thing. AI will be tremendously helpful to us, but it's never going to replace expertise. So I'm quite keen to harness it, and use it for our internal efficiencies and productivity of course. We should harness some of the great ideas that are emerging out there in the private sector on stats production and surveys, we should absolutely do that, but I don't think we should be naive in assuming that there's suddenly going to be this great fix, I just don't think that's true. So I'm quite keen to continue to kind of experiment with AI, and we've already been doing that in the organization with some success. We want to keep scaling that up, but I want to temper the enthusiasm with some reality, that at least for the foreseeable future, we're still going to be using surveys, we're still going to be using admin data from across the system, and then on top of that we will use some of our AI expertise to help us   MF And we're going to have a census in 2031, it survives for another time around...   DT It definitely does. The government's taken a very firm decision on that, and we're now ramping that up at quite some level, as we've got the senior team now firmly in place for the Census. This year will mark the ramp up phase in preparation for the test in 2027,  and it's obviously a hugely important thing for us, and I'm quite keen that we get the maximum benefit from ramping up the census at the same time as focussing on our recovery plans. So yeah, so I'm excited about the census     MF Darren, thank you so much for that fascinating tour of what you've been doing and what lies ahead. Just finally then, what's your message to everyone who relies on ONS data, or who might be interested in ONS statistics, for 2026?   DT My overall message is, work with us. This is a really important time for statistics in the UK. We need everyone's help. If you're a citizen, fill in the surveys that you're asked to fill in as that's hugely beneficial for your systems. If you work in the system, bear with us and lean in and help us, because we will need your help as we get through the recovery phase here. But I'm optimistic that we can turn the corner, and that the statistical system in the UK will be in good health by the time we get to the end of 2026.   MF And on that note, we come to the end of this podcast. I think it's fair to say we've heard a clear sense of direction, a renewed focus on the statistics people most rely on, a commitment to improving quality and resilience and the recognition that trust in official data has to be earned and re-earned over time.   My thanks to Darren Tierney for joining us, and to you for listening. You can follow developments on everything we've been discussing today by subscribing to future episodes of Statistically Speaking on Spotify, Apple podcasts and all the other major podcast platforms. You can also follow us on X, previously known as Twitter, via the at ONS focus feed and do check out the national statistical blog for updates on all things ONS. You can find that at blog.ons.gov.uk, all lower case.   I'm Miles Fletcher, and from myself and our producers, Julia Short and Alisha Arthur, goodbye.          

In this week's solo episode, I recapped the most popular story and edition from last year, plus shared new good vibes about returning tribal land, safer design for women, inclusive recognition for same-sex couples, and more!Here are this week's good vibes:California returns 17,000 tribal acresWorld's first disabled dog park thrivesSouth Korean census finally recognizes same-sex couplesDOT backs advanced female crash test dummyBABES Act wins real travel protectionsGood Vibes to Go: Bernadette's GVTG: Read Emily St. James' novel Woodworking about a sweet teacher-student friendship. It's a great, easy read with good vibes and interesting characters.  Read the Stories.Subscribe to the 5 Things newsletter.Watch 5 Things Live on YouTube. Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

Figures have revealed where people moving to Kent from London are choosing to set up home.According to data from the Office for National Statistics, nearly six in 10 people who've moved to Dartford since 2011 came from the capital, while more than a third of those who've relocated to Folkestone and Hythe in the same time were so-called DFLs.Hear from Local Democracy Reporter Dan Esson who compiled the data.Also in today's podcast, a Kent teacher has told us government plans to tackle misogyny and toxic behaviour in schools should focus on positive masculinity.Teachers are going to given specialist training and a helpline will also be set up for pupils. Hear from John Still who teaches in Medway.The Tunbridge Wells MP has again called for the boss of South East Water to resign following major supply issues in the town at the start of the month.It's after David Hinton said in an interview that he wants to remain in his job - and 'absolutely empathises' with customers. We've got reaction from Mike Martin.A Medway MP is calling for those responsible for creating an illegal waste dump in her constituency to be prosecuted.Up to 40 lorries a day used to be seen taking tonnes of rubbish to Bramletree Wharf in Borstal near Rochester.It's expected to be one of the busiest days on Kent's roads for the Christmas getaway.The RAC reckons 3.6 million journeys will be made today ahead of what's being dubbed Snarl-up Saturday tomorrow.Operation Brock remains in place on the M20 and lorries will be queued between Maidstone and Ashford if there are delays at the Port of Dover.And in sport, it's a trip to Fleetwood Town for Gillingham in league two this weekend.The Gills are on a run of six games unbeaten, but five of those have ended in a draw. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are the construction and property industries really making progress on inclusivity, or just making promises? Are we still seeing discrimination and unconscious bias within the built environment sector? Or are we happily witnessing progress?What does inclusivity really look like in practice - and are we genuinely moving the dial, or just reshaping the same conversation?On paper, the sector looks more diverse than it once did but there is still a long way to go. If we look at gender alone, women make up around 15 per cent of the UK construction workforce and roughly 31 per cent of partners or directors in architecture practices.Despite the number of public pledges, the gender pay gap in construction still sits at around 17 per cent, barely shifting in the past five years.Representation of ethnic minorities in construction hovers near 7 per cent, compared to about 14 per cent across the overall UK workforce, showing that racial diversity also lags behind national averages. (Statistics from the Office for National Statistics and the Construction Industry Training Board.)Guests:Marsha Ramroop, author of Building Inclusion and founder of Unheard Voice; Sarah Hayford, CEO and founder of The Land Collective and driving force behind Black Girls in Property; Rebecca Lovelace, Deputy Chair of CIC's EDI Committee and founder of Building People; and Dr Valerie Vaughan-Dick, CEO of RIBA.Links to discussion topics:Building Inclusion by Marsha Ramroophttps://www.buildinginclusion.info/The Land Collectivehttps://thelandcollective.com/Black Girls in Propertyhttps://bgip.thelandcollective.com/Building Peoplehttps://www.buildingpeople.org.uk/CIC - Equity, Diversity and Inclusionhttps://www.cic.org.uk/committees-and-networks/diversity-and-inclusion-panel

The first quarter of 2023 has seen food inflation in the UK surpass 16%, according to the Office for National Statistics. Such inflation rates hadn't been seen for forty years. It's contributed to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and an increasing number of people are struggling to afford to buy enough food. With all that in mind, many people's number one concern right now is keeping their supermarket bill as low as possible, regardless of how healthy what they're eating is. But there are ways of sticking to a balanced diet even on a shoestring budget. Isn't healthy food always expensive? What are the tips to buy healthy food at a low cost? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here : ⁠⁠Are men still being paid more than women?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠What makes us ticklish?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Why are there calls for a halt to AI research?⁠⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast. A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 12/4/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textIn Episode 265 of The Data Diva Talks Privacy Podcast, Debbie Reynolds, The Data Diva, talks to James Robson, Data Protection Officer for the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Together, they explore how public sector organizations and political entities navigate modern data protection challenges while balancing public trust, transparency, and societal benefit. Their conversation highlights why research data, safe data environments, and responsible access structures are increasingly essential for tackling complex social problems.Debbie and James discuss the importance of privacy-preserving data sharing for research and the practical realities of enabling societal value without compromising individual rights. James describes his work supporting research ecosystems, including the creation of secure data archives, the role of the Office for National Statistics, and how the United Kingdom's “five safes” framework helps protect high-risk datasets in controlled environments. They also examine the ethical considerations around using sensitive data to improve outcomes for vulnerable groups, and how organizations can design safe, centralized systems without sacrificing privacy.In the final segment, Debbie and James reflect on the future of data minimization, trust, and governance. They consider how architectures that strictly limit data use could reshape long-term privacy protections and discuss the human element required to steward data responsibly. Their conversation underscores the need for collaboration across government, research institutions, and technology teams to build trustworthy systems that support both privacy and public benefit.Support the showBecome an insider, join Data Diva Confidential for data strategy and data privacy insights delivered to your inbox.

Why marry? Jane Austen began her novel Pride and Prejudice with the observation "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics show less than half the adult UK population are married or in a legal partnership and predictions are that by 2050, only 3 in 10 people in the UK will marry.Shahidha Bari hosts Radio 4's round-table discussion programme Free Thinking, which brings together philosophical and historical insights in a conversation about issues resonating in the present day. Her guests this week are: columnist Zoe Strimpel, who has been considering the history and current state of the family in a 5 part series running on Radio 4 this week Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, biographer of Thomas Cromwell and author of Lower than Angels: A history of Sex and Christianity Dr Reetika Subramanian from the University of East Anglia, who hosts a podcast called Climate Brides. Reetika is one of Radio 4's current researchers in residence on the New Generation Thinkers scheme run in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Psychoanalyst and literary scholar Josh Cohen Philosopher and film scholar Catherine WheatleyProducer: Luke Mulhall

'Marriage is the real rebellion' argues Madeline Grant in the Spectator's cover article this week. The Office for National Statistics predicts that by 2050 only 30 per cent of adults will be married. This amounts to a ‘relationship recession' where singleness is ‘more in vogue now than it has been since the dissolution of the monastries'. With a rising division between the sexes, and many resorting to alternative relationships like polyamory, how can we defend marriage?For this week's Edition, host William Moore is joined by political editor Tim Shipman, assistant editor – and parliamentary sketchwriter – Madeline Grant and the Spectator's diary writer this week, former Chancellor and Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng.As well as the cover, they discuss: how Rachel Reeves benefited from the OBR Budget leak, whether through cock up or conspiracy; what they thought of Kemi Badenoch's post-Budget performance; whether it is fair for Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds – in an interview with Tim – to say that ‘the architects of Brexit ran away'; and finally, how inevitable was the idea of ‘progress' when thinking about Britain's Industrial Revolution.Plus: Kwasi explains why he agrees with Tim that the Budget should be confined to the 19th Century. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Marriage is the real rebellion' argues Madeline Grant in the Spectator's cover article this week. The Office for National Statistics predicts that by 2050 only 30 per cent of adults will be married. This amounts to a ‘relationship recession' where singleness is ‘more in vogue now than it has been since the dissolution of the monastries'. With a rising division between the sexes, and many resorting to alternative relationships like polyamory, how can we defend marriage?For this week's Edition, host William Moore is joined by political editor Tim Shipman, assistant editor – and parliamentary sketchwriter – Madeline Grant and the Spectator's diary writer this week, former Chancellor and Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng.As well as the cover, they discuss: how Rachel Reeves benefited from the OBR Budget leak, whether through cock up or conspiracy; what they thought of Kemi Badenoch's post-Budget performance; whether it is fair for Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds – in an interview with Tim – to say that ‘the architects of Brexit ran away'; and finally, how inevitable was the idea of ‘progress' when thinking about Britain's Industrial Revolution.Plus: Kwasi explains why he agrees with Tim that the Budget should be confined to the 19th Century. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to the UK Office for National Statistics, September 26 was the most popular day to be born over the last two decades, which falls 39 weeks and two days after Christmas day. Babies are born with certain reflexes that result in involuntary movements. These are called primitive reflexes, and the movements happen automatically without the baby sending a message to their brain. Such reflexes develop during the foetal period and indicate that the baby's brain is functioning well. What are some examples? Isn't it just the cutest when a baby grabs your finger? Do these reflexes remain with babies as they develop into children? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠Is it bad to drink water with a meal?⁠ ⁠Are Skyr yoghurts really good for you?⁠ ⁠Why is physical contact important for our health?⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First broadcast : 20/11/2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cost of living crisis has seen food prices increase by as much as 65% according to the Office for National Statistics meaning that the average British household spends an extra £600 pounds a year on food. But considering that there is also about 4.5 million tonnes of food waste annually the possibility of reducing wasted food as well as bills has never been more needed. Reducing your bill at the checkout comes down largely to planning. Getting organised about how, when and where you buy your food as well as how you store and cook it is essential. For starters buying in bulk can really reduce costs. How can I reduce the amount I spend on food? How can I reduce my food waste? How can technology help? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠How much do surrogate mothers get paid?⁠ ⁠What is the Barnum effect?⁠ ⁠How to spot, prevent and treat heatstroke ?⁠ A podcast written and realised by Amber Minogue. First broadcast: 08/12/2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University says that Labour is now seeing as much rancour as the last Tory administration. The briefings against Wes Streeting appear to have increased the focus on the party's leadership. But could a more capable, charismatic leader fix the systemic crisis in a Britain where nothing seems to work when no politician is even discussing it? The crisis at the Office for National Statistics is crucial, as the Bank of England and OBR rely on it to base their decisions. Poor data undermines the fabric of our society. Tim notes that US financial services in several places are growing faster than New York, particularly in Dallas. Could New York be about to kill the golden goose? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Britain's jobless rate has surged to its highest level for more than four-and-a-half years, as the labour market continues to weaken. London had the highest unemployment rate of any region in the UK at 6.5%, up 0.5% since the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics reports. Hikes to employer national insurance contributions have been largely blamed for the trend. But the grim jobless figures make a December interest rate cut from the Bank of England a near certainty. The capital has been hit particularly hard because of its large numbers of relatively low paid workers in hospitality and retail. It comes ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' autumn budget later in the month, when it's widely expected that she will break Labour's manifesto pledge and increase taxes in an attempt to kickstart the UK's sluggish economy. The Standard's Business Editor Jonathan Prynn is here with the latest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 50, the season finale of Season 5 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom was joined by James Benford, Director General of Surveys, Economic and Social Statistics at Office for National Statistics, where they have a candid discussion regarding the turnaround job at hand after recent public scrutiny and high-profile errors.They dig into what went wrong, the impact on trust, and how new leadership is refocusing priorities, rebuilding quality, and resetting culture, plus more, which includes;How a turnaround mandate is reshaping ONS culture, leadership, and structure after the June review.Why transparent acknowledgment and correction of high-profile errors is central to rebuilding trust.How grand tech ambitions drift without clear use cases and why that must change.Why building a single data platform without a clear use case became a costly lesson in purpose-led design.How ruthless focus and prioritisation are creating space for excellence in core statistics.Why survey response rates are falling globally and how ONS is adapting to the new reality.How digital-first, user-centred survey design can lift completion and reduce bias.How alternative data sources add power and why third-party data quality and governance matter.Why multidisciplinary teams are non-negotiable.How recognising data and AI as economic assets will reshape national accounting.Why GenAI and ML can raise quality while saving time.How “Stats GPT” style access can make official statistics easier to find, query, and use.Find more information on the general reset underway at the ONS, and the detail on the statistics and the surveys discussed in this episode.If you wish to provide feedback on what ONS is currently doing, please use this mailbox:

In this edition of The Naked Scientists: Among British people vapers now outnumber smokers for the first time. From Big Bang to Big Crunch - the new theory showing the expansion of the Universe might be slowing down. And, evidence that our early ancestors, three million years ago, may have excelled at DIY!Linda - So these are the annual population survey statistics from the Office for National Statistics that look at smoking, it was the main focus, so smoking in the UK but also vaping behaviour. And we see that for the first time the proportion of people aged 16 and older who vape is higher... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Two distinguished leaders in federal statistics—Nancy Potok, former chief statistician of the United States and CEO of NAPx Consulting, and Connie Citro, senior scholar at the National Academies' Committee on National Statistics, join hosts Donna LaLonde and Ron Wasserstein this month. Together, they discuss how the ASA is working collaboratively with other organizations to identify ongoing […]

In CI News this week: The Office for National Statistics cuts ties with Stonewall amid accusations it fell prey to the lobby group's pro-trans ideology, Sheffield University comes under fire for warning students about ‘graphic' scenes in the Bible, and gambling firms are taken to task by the advertising regulator for airing adverts that appeal to children. You can download the video via this link. Featured stories ONS exits Stonewall scheme after census' dodgy trans data Sheffield Uni slaps ‘violent' trigger warning on Gospel accounts Top psychiatrist warns teenagers against ‘stewing brains in cannabis soup' Betting ads with child appeal ‘irresponsible', regulator rules

In "Crime: Numbers, Narratives and Nuance" our host Miles Fletcher speaks with Nick Stripe, Joint Head of Crime Statistics at the ONS and John Rentoul, leading commentator on crime, policing, and the media, about the challenges in interpreting crime data. Transcript MILES FLETCHER Hello and welcome to another episode of Statistically Speaking – the official podcast on the UK's Office for National Statistics. The time we're returning to the scene of a major statistical topic we've touched on before but amid a new and sometimes highly polarised public debate, one we think fully bears further investigation: how best to understand and interpret the crime figures produced and published by ONS. Helping us with our enquiries is Nick Stripe, Joint Head of Crime Statistics at the ONS. It's his job to assemble and present the complex statistical picture of crime revealed in two very large and sometimes conflicting data sources. We also have an independent witness in the highly experiences shape of John Rentoul, Chief Political Commentator for the Independent and visiting professor at Kings College London. He'll be talking about the use and possible abuse of crime figures in the media and political debate. Are the statistics and those who produce them doing enough to enable the public to understand properly the prevalence and nature of crime in our society today? Nick, a big question to start with, some people think crime is going down, other people insist it's going up. Who's right? NICK STRIPE Well, it's a question that sounds simple, doesn't it? And it's a question I get asked quite a lot. But if you think about the concept of crime, you soon realize that it covers a really huge range of actions and behaviours. If I was a chief constable trying to reduce crime in my area, I'd want to know what kinds of crimes are causing the biggest problems. So, is it theft, robbery, violence? Domestic abuse? sexual offenses? Maybe it's fraud. And even if you tell me it's theft, then there's still a broad spectrum. So, is that burglary from houses? Is it theft of vehicles? Is it people having things snatched off them in the street? Is there a new thing about theft from doorsteps? Each of those types of theft would have its own trends, patterns and challenges. So, what I'm really saying is that whilst I understand your desire for a single answer, the real stories are in the detail of those different crime types. But I will come back to your question, is crime going up or down? Broadly speaking, I would say we're experiencing much less crime now than we did 20 or 30 years ago. Many crime types have been declining at a fairly steady rate since the mid 1990s and in more recent years, probably since we started to emerge from the pandemic, crime levels have broadly flattened out at that lower level. But some types of crime are rising now, some are still falling, and some are changing in ways that reflect shifts in society, shifts in technology and shifts in policing. MF That's the complex and highly nuanced picture, and it's the one that is designed to best serve those who make policies around crime, those who try to contain crime, those who try to fight it? NS That's right, Miles. And it's a picture that we get from drawing on several different data sources. There are two main ones. One is police recorded crime, and the second one is our independent survey of crime across England and Wales. And then we can use other data sources to provide richness for certain crime types, or to triangulate what we're seeing in those main data sources. And when we pull all of that together, we try and give a rich, nuanced, accurate picture for policy and policing. MF That's the aim of the statistics, but when it comes to public debate and public perceptions, do we risk misleading people by not being able to come up with a single barometer of crime? You can't go on the ONS website and see whether overall offending is up or down for example, or is that a completely pointless exercise? NS Well as I said, different crime types will have different things acting on them at any one point in time. But what we can do, for example through the crime survey, that has measured what I'm going to call traditional types of crime experienced by us as the public. So that's things like theft, that's things like violence, that's things like criminal damage, and in the last 10 years or so, that also includes fraud. And when we look at those types of crimes, we can see that, if you want a single figure, the numbers have come down. And that's when I say that over the last 30 years, there's been a big reduction in crime. If you take violence, theft and criminal damage, about 30 years ago, four in 10 of us, about 40% of us, every year would experience one of those types of crime. Now it's one in 10 of us. So, I can give you that picture for certain types of crime, but there are different ways of measuring and different data sources are better for certain types of crime, so coming up with that overall number is actually quite difficult. MF John, when it comes to political and media debate around crime, there are no simple answers, and yet those are to arenas where we want simple answers. JOHN RENTOUL Well, I think Nick did give a fairly simple answer, which is that if you ask people an open-ended question - have you been the victim of crime over the past 12 months - then the number of people saying yes to that question has gone down very dramatically over the last 30 years. So, in that very simple sense, crime has gone down hugely over the past 30 years. But of course, people don't feel that, because that requires comparative memory...collective memory over a long period of time, and people are worried about what they read in the papers and what they see on social media. So, people, just as they always think that Britain is becoming a more unequal society, they always think that crime is rising, and it's very difficult to contradict that with simple statistics. MF Isn't that because there's always some aspect of crime, some type of crime that's always rising and it's opposition politicians, headline writers, particularly...of course you'll find lots of sophisticated, nuanced debate in the media...But those who write the headlines like to seize on the negative, don't they? Bad news sells. And you can see how people get these impressions because it's just the scary stuff they're hearing about. JR Well, possibly, although I think it's probably deeper than that. I think it's just human nature to feel fearful about the threats in society and the way of dealing with that psychologically is to assume that those threats are worse now than they used to be. When you ask people has crime increased, they're not really giving you a statistical answer. They just say yes I'm afraid of various sorts of crime. And, you're quite right, the sorts of things that stick in people's minds are phone thefts and shoplifting, the sorts of things that get highlighted on social media all the time. MF As they used to say at the end of Crime Watch every week, these types of crimes are rare, don't have nightmares. Yet, that's no good if you've had your phone nicked or witnessed a shoplifting incident. JR That's right, and what's interesting about those two is that witnessing a shoplifting incident wouldn't be recorded in the crime survey because you personally are not the victim of that crime. So that's an example of an incident that has gone up, but that wouldn't be captured in the survey statistics, although having your phone nicked is something we probably would remember. MF And how responsible would you say our political leaders have been over the years? How responsible perhaps are they being now in the way that they present crime statistics? JR Well, it's very difficult, isn't it, because it's always partisan between government and opposition because ministers are always saying that crime has gone down, just as they're saying more nurses and doctors are employed in the NHS and all that. It's one of those statistics that well, certainly for the past 30 years, has been true, but opposition politicians have to try to argue the opposite, and they point to the sorts of crimes that have gone up, such as shoplifting and phone theft. So, it is a constant battle between what sounds to the public like just rival political claims, and the public will just discount more or less what any politician says and just choose to believe what they want to believe. MF Like many big statistical topics, once again, people can argue diametrically opposing things and both be right in a sense... JR Yes, exactly MF ...and have some statistical basis for saying it. So it's the job of this podcast to help people untangle those sorts of complexities and decide for themselves. Let's embark on a little journey then around how the crime statistics, these are the ONS crime statistics for England and Wales, how they are put together, how best to interpret them. And nobody better to guide us through that than yourself Nick, as joint head of crime. Starting at the beginning, because this would have been the original source for crime statistics going back a very long time indeed, and that is police recorded crime. And that sort of conjures up an image of The Bill, doesn't it, or Dixon of Dock Green for older listeners of a desk sergeant sitting there and dutifully recording offenses. Is that what it's like? NS I'm pretty old myself Miles, but that's stretching it... MF [Laughter] Yes. Very elderly... NS But yes, police recorded crime is one of the two main sources for crime statistics, and we report what we find in that data every single quarter. It's why John can confidently tell you that shoplifting, for example, is a current issue because we are seeing record levels of shoplifting offences in police recorded data quarter after quarter at the moment, so something's going on. But we've got to remember that police recorded crime is dependent on a couple of things. The first thing it's dependent on is what we as the public report to the police. And the second key thing is that, even if we report that to the police, how do the police record that. If we go back 20 odd years, the national crime recording standard was introduced to police recorded crime. And this introduced concepts like if I report a crime, then I am to be believed, and that crime should be recorded. It shouldn't be the case that the police officer waits to find corroborating evidence, or thinks to themselves there's not much to go on there, I'm not likely to get very far with this and not record it. And there are some rules around that. So I might come and tell you that something's happened to me on a number of occasions, the same person has done something to me on a number of occasions over the past few weeks, that will be recorded as one crime. If I then a week later come and tell you it's happened again, that's a second one, but that first one that could have included lots of different instances, that's just one crime. Then there's a kind of weighting that goes on. So, when we count these things, there's something called the Home Office counting rules. And the most serious crime is what gets counted. You can have an incident that might involve violence, theft, criminal damage and, ultimately fraud, but it'll be the most serious of those crimes that gets counted. Now what happened is, after the introduction of this standard at the start of this century, that really meant you couldn't use police data to measure trends in crime before that, because here was something that should start the current count again. Now, fortunately, we have the crime survey, which was an independent survey to go alongside it. But for the next 10 years, what we saw is that crimes recorded through police recorded crime dropped a lot faster than crimes that were recorded by the crime survey. And about 10 or 12 years ago, that led to people questioning police recorded crime, that led to some detailed audits of police recorded crime, and that led to conclusions that the police were actually not recording everything they should be. And so what's happened in the last 10 years is real dramatic improvements to police recording crime, and we now get different data patterns. So for the last 10 years or so, police recorded crime numbers have gone up, but we understand why. It's because of improvements to police recording practices. At the same time, crime survey estimates have continued to trend down, and that's where we can come and use other data sources to triangulate against those two main data sources. So if I look at data from similar countries like Scotland and Northern Ireland, they match the crime survey data we have here. They don't match police recorded crime data. And if I look at Home Office outcomes data, which looks at the number of people that are actually charged or summoned for these offenses, the difference over the past 10 or 12 years matches crime survey data. It doesn't match the number of things that are recorded for police reported crime. And that's one of the key things that allows politicians who want to paint a different picture to seize on certain statistics that suit their agenda. MF Improved reporting was bound to lead to an apparent increase, wasn't it? So, it's that point that's got lost. It's because of the improved reporting, and it's been misinterpreted, John, just to bring you in on this, how widely understood is that point, or has it been wilfully ignored in some quarters? JR It's not widely understood, partly because there's such a strong belief among the public that crime is rising, that any evidence which appears to support that, such as police recorded crime, tends to get many more shares on social media than the crime survey graph showing that the level of crime is going down. [Transition music] MF So there we are, a crucial and vital source of information there in police recorded crime. John, do you think there's anything the ONS should be doing to help people better understand the strengths and limitations of police recorded crime? JR I would say that what the ONS does on crime is a model of its kind actually. The reporting of that data is very carefully done, very soberly done, I mean, in a way, almost too restrained, because I think it sort of allows people to cherry pick the little bit that supports their argument rather than the bigger picture. But no, I don't think there is anything much more that can be done, apart from trying to explain how the crime survey works in sort of simple language. But I mean the problem is that, generally speaking, people's understanding of probability surveys, representativeness and weighting of such surveys is not high. And if you say that the evidence that crime is much lower now than it used to be is from an opinion poll, then people will say, well I've never been asked, you can't trust them, and it's all done by You Gov and they're owned by the Tory party. I mean, it's just very difficult to explain to a lay audience how a proper representative sample survey works. MF Explaining the statistics and communicating them as well as possible, that'll always be an important priority for the ONS, but also, as we said earlier, making sure the policy makers, making sure the police, the experts, academic researchers and so on, have that detailed picture is half of the mission as well. Let's turn then to the other big source of information about crime. It's one that we've discussed a fair bit already, but let's really unpack it, and that, of course, is the Crime Survey for England and Wales. The crime survey seeks to produce a snapshot of crime as experienced by the entire population, Nick? NS Yeah, that's right, and that removes some of those key variables that are in police reported crime. So, it's a national survey, we sample addresses around the country, we weight the data back to what the shape of the population looks like, and it's very in depth. So, it's not just anecdotal, it's rigorously designed, it's nationally representative, and it's been running for over 40 years now. Every year it involves tens of thousands of detailed interviews with members of the public, and the basic methodology has remained unchanged which is why it's so good for measuring trends over time. And what we're asking people about in terms of their experiences of crime is that we don't care whether they've reported it to the police or not. It's what's actually happened to them, and if they tell us about it, we will record it, and we will assess whether it meets the threshold for a crime or not. So, it's that independence from the police data that's key. It's removing that influence of reporting behaviour and recording practices to try and give us a much clearer picture of actual victimization. MF And how representative is it at the moment, because much has been made elsewhere of the problem ONS has unfortunately been having getting people to fill in the Labor Force Survey, are response rates for the crime survey a better story? NS Well, response rates for the crime survey are one of the, if not the best in the country. But that isn't to say that we haven't seen similar impacts from the pandemic. It's the pandemic that seems to have been this big rift that's changed things. So, for example, on the crime survey prior to the pandemic, about seven in ten addresses would eventually give you responses, and currently it's just under five in ten, so just under 50%. So, we have seen that big drop, but it is still a good response rate, generally speaking, and one of the best across the country. But what we have done, is we have checked the shape of the sample, in terms of completed responses, matches the last census, and it still does very closely. But we're keeping a close eye on it, because there could be things around crime that mean that the more people don't take part, the more chance there is for non-response bias, a technical term, to creep into results, particularly for certain types of crime. MF And that representativeness is so important, isn't it, because some groups are more likely, unfortunately, to be victims of crime than others. NS Absolutely right. Yep. So I mean, if you think about sensitive crimes like sexual offenses, you will see that younger people, particularly younger women, are more likely to be victims. If you look at things like violence or theft from a person, it's those types of people that tend to be out and about more, which again, is often younger people. And that's another example of where societal changes since the pandemic may have had an impact, and demographic changes over the past 10 or 20 years. So we've got an aging population. We've also got a population that perhaps doesn't go out as much as it used to. That reduces opportunities for crime and it reduces the demographic types of people that are more likely to both commit and be the victims of crime in the population. So there's lots of things going on underneath that we start to see reflected in the results. MF Does it tend to produce a less dynamic and less rapidly changing picture of crime? NS Yeah, it does, compared to police recorded crime. So, every reporting period that we report later from the crime survey will be based on, I mean, those interviews will have been asking respondents about their experiences in the year before that. So, in effect, each reporting period is covering about two years' worth of time, so there is more of a lag effect. That's one of the key things that police reported crime is good for. It's much quicker. You could tell that in the pandemic. Police recorded crime dropped very sharply, very quickly, and recovered relatively quickly afterwards, whereas crime survey data was much more of a slow pick up. MF And that John is, I guess, why the media and political commentators seem to be keener on the story being told by police recorded crime? JR It hadn't occurred to me, actually, that it was more sensitive to changes and would show changes more quickly. The media just responds to any dramatic negative change. I don't think we worry too much about the methodology behind them. MF Well, I mean, do people bother at all about the methodology behind it, because Nick has shared what a giant enterprise this really is. Is the value of that really understood in political debate? JR I'm afraid not. MF What can we do to underscore that? JR Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think, I think it's just a matter of making the crime survey better known, because almost every debate I've taken part in on social media always goes along the lines of you can't believe the figures these days, nobody bothers to report crime anymore...And then, you know, I point out that it's not police recorded crime I'm talking about, that it's the crime survey. And then people say, oh well you can't believe government. Certainly, it is going to be always an uphill battle on something like crime, where public perceptions are very deeply entrenched, very passionately felt, and immune to facts of this kind. I mean, I think that's just something that you've got to live with and try to educate people as best you can. MF Ah, another thing the ONS is going to have to keep on at clearly. Okay then, talking about the facts, and this is the nub of the debate that's been going on recently in UK politics, about whether crime is up or not. So, give us the big picture. You've hinted at this already, but what is the big picture, in terms of what has changed in recent decades? NS Yeah. So the big change in recent decades is those traditional types of crime. So the traditional thefts, burglaries, vehicle thefts, used to be huge. Honestly, huge amounts of this stuff used to go on all the time, and it's things like that that have really dropped. So as I said, if you look at theft, criminal damage, and violence, with or without injury, from the crime survey, about 40% of us 30 years ago, that's four in 10 people, experienced at least one of those every year. Now it's about one in 10 or 10%. That is a massive, seismic drop. A generational drop. And that's from the crime survey. Now police reported crime showed exactly the same picture until 10 years ago, when there were those improvements, and for things like theft, it hasn't shown much of a jump since then, because they were relatively well recorded. You tended to need a crime reference number for your insurance claim for example. Whereas for things like violence, that's where we've seen a huge jump, and particularly for lower level violence. So it used to always be the case that the police would record a lot more violence that involved injury than they did violence that didn't involve injury. But in the last 10 years, that has completely flipped around. Now there's a hell of a lot more violence that doesn't involve the injury that gets recorded. What you're not telling me is it's the nature of violence in society that has changed, and we just don't hit people as hard anymore. And you know, of course, that's not what's happened. It's the way that things are being recorded that has changed. We also see a big increase in the number of stalking and harassment offences recorded from virtually nothing to 10 to 12 years ago. MF Is that because of greater awareness? That people are more ready to report these things? NS That's right. And there's also legislative change, changes to the law, which means that these things now are more likely to be considered offenses. And there was a period of time for a few years where the instruction to the police was don't only record stalking and harassment, but record the other crime that take place alongside it. So there was another wrinkle in the counts that came in, that has since been rescinded in the last couple of years, and we're starting to see it fall down again. One other reason why you can't look at trends. But what we do see in police recorded crime, what it's good for, is the most serious types of offenses and things that the crime survey just cannot pick up because we're not asking shopkeepers, for example. So shoplifting is the one. So shop shoplifting is the one that we're at record levels for now, and have been every quarter for the past year, or 18 months or so. There's over half a million shoplifting offenses recorded every year now by the police. And you think that's quite a lot, but actually, if you were to look at the British Retail Consortium today, their estimate is that there's 20 million shoplifting offenses every year. Now, they don't publish their methodology. They do some sample of their members. I can't vouch for that figure, but let's say the number is somewhere in between the two, and let's say it's 10 million, because that's an easy number to work with. So if we're getting half a million offenses recorded by the police, but there's actually 10 million offenses. As shopkeepers, hopefully over time, start thinking actually, the police are taking this much more seriously, it's much more worthwhile me reporting this to the police, then you might actually see an increase in police recorded shoplifting offenses that is just an artifact of people being more likely to report it, rather than any change in the underlying level of crime. And similarly, that could happen the opposite way round as well. So we do see that shoplifting is clearly up, but things like homicide, very flat, if anything, trending down over time, and things like theft from the perso. With phone theft that we've mentioned once or twice, we're seeing that spike in police recorded crime data, but we're also seeing it go up in crime survey data, particularly in London at the moment, through police recorded crime. MF Of course, one thing we haven't touched on much so far is the apparent rise in cyber-crime, very high-profile firms, brands, big name companies, getting hit. Secondly, the huge number of attempted frauds. I mean, just one example, today I get an email from a dodgy email address inviting me to renew my Spotify subscription. I haven't got a Spotify subscription, so clearly fraud there, but I'm not going to go report that to anybody, am I? Is it the case that, as some people might say, the villains have gone online in the last decade or so? NS Yeah, I think I would probably characterize some of the broader changes in crime over the last few years being that more of it, in relative terms, tends to take place either behind closed doors or online. And your description there of cyber-crime very much fits that bill. So about 10 years ago we developed a new module for the crime survey, which specifically asks people about fraud and computer misuse offenses, and it now makes up almost half, if not about half, of the individual crimes that we measure through the crime survey. They are some of the most common types of offenses people face, and we have adapted to try and include them. So for example, last year, the estimates are that nearly 1 in 12 of us experienced fraud or computer misuse where we were the intended victim. So the example that you describe where someone's asked you to confirm your Spotify account and you haven't got a Spotify account, at that point, as long as you don't click on something or go down their rabbit hole and into their dark world, you are not yet the specific intended victim. You're just one part of a big phishing exercise. It's if you click on that link and you end up being the specifically intended victim, you may or may not end up losing money or losing your card details. At that point, you start to count in terms of a victim of that type of offense. So it's difficult to measure. It does involve quite a lot of questioning. And the police measurement of fraud is patchy, I mean, the Office for Statistics Regulation did a review of police recorded crime on fraud and said there's a lot of room for improvement, basically. So the crime survey is a much better source for that data. But they're hard to detect, they're hard to report, they're hard to measure, and that is one area where we need continued investment in data quality, and we need continued, constant investment in public awareness, because those types of crimes and the tactics that criminals are using are changing all the time, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the factors that has led to things like drops in response rates to surveys. I'm guilty of it. I will not answer the phone if I don't recognize the number. So it is leading to us being much more susceptible to being cynical. MF That's an interesting point. John I know you've taken part in an often charged social media debate around this where you've advanced the broad narrative that is told by the statistics, and yet so many people ready to doubt that. Is that because people do feel that crime is much closer these days? Now that we are getting the dodgy calls it feels much more proximate? JR I'm not convinced about that actually. I think the reason that cyber-crime is as a separate module on the crime survey is because it wasn't traditionally thought of as crime. I mean the sort of crime that people worry about is the violence and lawlessness on the streets, being attacked or burgled. I think it's very much to do with real world crime rather than computer crime. MF Or perhaps being more likely to witness shoplifting at first hand? JR Shoplifting and phone theft are the two things that really worry people and make them think that there's something to this idea that Britain is descending into lawless mayhem, but actually, we're safer and better off than we've ever been before. MF So Nick, what comes next in terms of how the ONS measures crime? Is it a question of refining these excellent data sources, and finding more corroboration just to improve their accuracy? Or are there game changing developments that might be available through technology or any other means that might not just improve the measuring of crime, but deal with some of these communications issues, and these trust issues, as well? NS Yeah. I mean, there's a few things there. So one I mentioned earlier is that we always need and try to keep up to date with the questions we're asking, the way that we're managing and tracking things. So as technology starts to have an impact on the types of crimes that people experience, we update and we adapt the questions. As the law itself changes, we update and we adapt the questions, and we'll continue to look at that. Just picking up on your last point around perceptions, and why they feel perhaps differently to what the stats show, we ask that as well through the crime survey. We asked people whether they perceive crime to be going up, and we ask them whether they perceive crimes to be going up in their local area and at the national level. And there's this persistent gap, and it's quite a big gap, between what people think locally and what people think nationally, which you know either points to things like, it's the kind of things that you see on the street, or it's the kind of things you're seeing on the news, it's the kind of things you're seeing on your social media feed that are sort of giving you that emotional reaction that you think, well, nationally speaking, crime must be going up, even though I might not be seeing so much of it in my local area. So we will continue to evolve those things. The government of the day are particularly interested in looking at things like violence against women and girls, neighbourhood policing and better policing of crimes that are currently showing upticks, crimes like shoplifting and theft from the person. So there is some demand for more granular data, at sort of police force area level, a more local level than we can currently provide through the crime survey. So what is next is seeing whether technology can help us in a cost-effective way, to interview more people in an online environment. And that requires a lot of testing, and there's no guarantee of success, but that's one key area that we're going to be looking at. What's the art of the possible over the course of the next sort of couple of years or so. MF John, what would you be your advice to, well, firstly, people who want to understand that fully nuanced picture of crime, and listeners of this podcast, of course, are relentless seekers of that, but also to ONS on how to provide it for them, and perhaps how to try and allay people's irrational fears and better inform the topic. JR It's difficult, isn't it, because I think we are dealing with some quite powerful social forces of irrationalism and belief about the nature of society. And as Nick said, people think the country is going to the dogs even if their own local area is nice, secure, safe, quiet. I mean, there are some remarkable figures, which I think are from the crime survey, that people feel much safer walking around after dark in their local area than they used to, but people simply will not believe those kinds of data. So I think there's quite a lot of thinking to be done. I mean, on my part just as much as anybody else's as to how to convey a true and honest picture of what's actually happening to an audience which is just psychologically resistant to wanting to hear it. And I think that's got to do with acknowledging people's fears and saying, yes, shoplifting and phone snatching is going up, although, I mean, phone snatching is an interesting one. I don't think, I mean, I stand to be corrected on this, but I think, actually, it's not as bad now as it has been in the past. And there was a time, maybe 10 years ago, when phone thefts in London were very bad, and by working with the phone companies to make phones, in effect, disabled the moment they were stolen, that was brought under control. There's this sort of constant technological battle between the criminals and the phone manufactures. But you've got to acknowledge that people think correctly that some kind of crimes are increasing, although the ones that people are most worried about, such as knife crime and so on, I think the evidence is that it's not. But you've got to find some way of acknowledging people's fears before you try to get the actual information across. MF So, I hope we've made the point that the reality of crime is far more complex than a single headline can possibly convey. That's why understanding the full context really matters and we hope this podcast has been helpful to that end. Thank you to our guests and thanks as always to you at home for listening. You can subscribe to future episodes of Statistically Speaking on Apple podcasts, Spotify and all other major podcast platforms. I'm Miles Fletcher and from me and our producer Alisha Arthur, goodbye and mind how you go!

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of births in the UK continues to fall. Experts are even talking about a “baby bust”, the opposite of the “baby boom”, to describe these statistics, which have reached the lowest level since records began in 1938. One explanation for this could be that people are having children later than previous generations, leaving them with a reduced fertility window. In 2020, the Office for National Statistics notes that the average age at which women become mothers is 30, compared with 26 in 1975. In addition to this, the latest ONS birth data, released in 2020, reveals that 28% of women have their first child after the age of 30 and 5% after the age of 40. Can you run into problems if you want to get pregnant after the age of 30? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: Could intentional lazy parenting foster your child's independence? What causes tocophobia, the fear of pregnancy and childbirth? ⁠Why do children have imaginary friends? A podcast written and realised by Amber Minogue. First Broadcast: 27/2/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Rachel Reeves approaches a tricky budget, her job has got that much harder. Some of our most fundamental economic data, statistics that policymakers are used to accepting at face value, suddenly have major question marks over their accuracy.The UK's top stats agency, the Office for National Statistics, finds itself under considerable pressure as falling response rates to its surveys leave politicians flying blind. David Aaronovitch asks what this means for government decisions and how the ONS can rebuild confidence in its most vital statistics.Guests: Georgina Sturge, research affiliate at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford Professor Denise Lievesley, former Principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford Chris Giles, economics commentator at the Financial Times. Peter Lynn, Professor of Survey Methodology at the University of EssexPresenter: David Aaronovitch Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Producers: Nathan Gower, Kirsteen Knight, Cordelia Hemming Studio engineer: Duncan Hannant Editor: Richard Vadon

The latest unemployment figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the jobless rate has risen to its highest level since the pandemic in 2021 - but analysts also say the jobs market is stabilising after a year of volatility. Meanwhile, wage growth in the UK cooled slightly over the summer, from 4.8 per cent to 4.7 per cent. Does this mean that getting a job is becoming harder? And how do these statistics play out in the capital? Joe Evans, a researcher at the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank, is here to help us unpack the figures. And in part two, The Standard's Commissioning Editor and Culture Writer Vicky Jessop joins us to review Guillermo del Toro's new Frankenstein film, which is in cinemas from October and on Netflix from November 7. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We spend over a third of our lives sleeping. It allows our mind and body to recharge, which is vital for a number of reasons. It helps our immune system to ward off diseases, and the brain to function properly. And yet as many as 16 million adults in the UK suffer from sleepless nights, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics. You may have noticed that your own optimal sleep duration is different from that of other people you know well, like family members or friends. But some things are common to all of us, like the regularity and quality of sleep in particular, which are very important pillars in reaping the benefits of good sleep. What are the health risks if you don't sleep enough? What's the minimal advised length of sleep? Why do some people need more sleep than others then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here : ⁠Why is Camilla becoming queen and not queen consort?⁠ ⁠What is Extinction Rebellion ?⁠ ⁠Could I save more money by cash stuffing?⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast.A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 8/5/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Wednesday, September 3rd, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Turkish persecution of Christians heats up The Turkish Association of Protestant Churches reports Christians in Turkey faced increased persecution last year. The persecution often came in the form of hateful speech either in person or online. And, iIn two cases, assailants fired guns at church buildings.  Turkey also banned many foreign Christians from entering the country in recent years. Nine of these Christians appealed the ban. However, a court ruled against them and published their names. Media outlets branded the Christians as enemies of the state. Many social media comments called for them to be put to death. Turkey is ranked 45th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of the most difficult countries worldwide to be a Christian.  2.5 million acres of European Union burned The European Union is experiencing its worst wildfire season since records began in 2006. Nearly 2.5 million acres of land have burned so far this year. Spain and Portugal account for over two-thirds of that area. Between the two countries, over 1.5 million acres have burned with much of it happening in just two weeks. Birth rates in England and Wales continue to fall The U.K. Office for National Statistics reported last week that birth rates fell to a new low in England and Wales. Other developed countries are also seeing low birth rates like the United States, France, and Italy. However, there appears to be a political gap in fertility. John Burn-Murdoch of the Financial Times wrote, “From the US to Europe and beyond, people who identify as conservative are having almost as many children as they were decades ago. The decline is overwhelmingly among those on the progressive left, in effect nudging each successive generation's politics further to the right.” Quebec, Canada to ban public prayers Quebec, Canada's largest province, is planning to ban public prayer. Quebec's Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge said, “The premier of Quebec has given me the mandate to strengthen secularism . . . This fall, we will therefore introduce a bill to strengthen secularism in Quebec, in particular by banning street prayers.” The move comes in response to Muslim prayer gatherings. However, it would apply to all religions including Christianity. Nearly 65% of Quebec's population identifies as Christian. Psalm 10:4 says, “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek [the Lord]. All his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.'” Univ of Michigan fired Christian doctor who objected to transgender surgeries In the United States, a federal court ruled in favor of a Christian in a religious liberty case. Back in 2021, the University of Michigan Health-West fired Valerie Kloosterman for her beliefs. The Christian physician assistant refused to support transgender procedures or pronoun usage. The latest ruling allows her case against the university to move forward.  Kayla Toney, counsel at First Liberty Institute, said, “Today's decision is a reckoning for institutions that discriminate and punish caring people of faith.” Bill Gates funds embalming of deceased newborns to harvest organs Modernity News reports the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a new gruesome project. The project involves embalming deceased newborn babies who died in neonatal intensive care units. Researchers would harvest tissues and organs from the babies for artificial intelligence development. LifeNews noted, “The Gates Foundation's involvement is seen as particularly troubling given its history of funding abortion.” 150th anniversary of Japan Bible Society And finally, the Japan Bible Society is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. In the 1870s, American and European Bible societies established branches in Japan. These early Bible societies translated the Scriptures into Japanese in the 1880s. Their work laid the foundation for the current Japan Bible Society. Bible distribution in Japan picked up in the 1940s as 2.3 million copies of the Bible were distributed. After World War II, the Japan Bible Society became a fully self-supporting Bible Society.  Its website says, “Since then, the Japan Bible Society has not only been serving the Japanese people but also other Bible Societies that are not yet independent.” Psalm 22:27 says, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, September 3rd, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

This week on The Curve, Faiza Shaheen is in the hosting chair and is joined by Laurie Macfarlane - co-director of Future Economy Scotland. They discuss the latest research on UK unemployment and whether or not we can confidently trust the figures coming out of the Office for National Statistics.In the extended episode, available to Macrodose members on Patreon, Faiza and Laurie discuss Trump's brand of authoritarian capitalism and it's implications for other economies.Subscribe to support the show at patreon.com/Macrodose. Your pledge is a donation supporting free public education; perks are thank-you gifts for your support.

UK inflation has risen more than expected to 3.8 per cent today, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. It's the highest since January 2024, and when Labour came to power last summer, inflation was just 2.2 per cent. We're joined by Jaya Sood, a senior economist at the New Economics Foundation to discuss. And in part two, The Standard's Culture Writer India Block joins us to talk about the frenzy caused by Labubu collectibles - and the growing backlash against blind box toys. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

England goalkeeper and Lionesses legend Hannah Hampton joins Nuala McGovern on Woman's Hour fresh from winning the UEFA European Women's Championship. Born with a serious eye condition, doctors told her she should never play football. She came into the recent Euros with questions over her ability to fill the gloves of recently retired Mary Earps. To add to that, she revealed her grandfather had died just days before the biggest tournament of her life began earlier this summer. Despite this, Hannah had an extraordinary tournament, particularly in those agonising penalty shootouts. She joins Nuala McGovern to chat all about it. In June this year in Pakistan, Bano Bibi, a mother of five, and Ehsanullah Samalani, a father of three, were accused of having an affair and were shot - on the orders of a tribal leader, according to police. The event caused outrage, not just because it was another so-called ‘honour killing', but because the authorities only took action after a video of the shootings went viral, more than six weeks later. Nuala is joined by Azadeh Moshiri, Pakistan Correspondent for BBC News, and Sheema Kermani, a woman's rights activist, dancer and theatre director who has been working with women in rural and marginalised communities for 50 years. Writer and director Celine Song's semi-autobiographical debut Past Lives earned her two Oscar nominations and a host of other accolades when it was released in 2023. She talks to Nuala about her second film, Materialists, a romantic dramedy starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, and how it was inspired by her own time working as a matchmaker for high-net-worth individuals in New York. Construction employs around 1.4 million people in Great Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics, but only around 15% of those people are women. And they don't always have a positive experience, with 30% having reported sexual assault at work and 64% saying men were paid more for the same role. So, as the industry faces a recruitment crisis, how could it evolve to become a safer and fairer place to work and encourage more women into construction? Nuala explores the problems and the opportunities with Faye Allen, author of Building Women, and Dr Carol Massay of Unity for Construction, who've both worked in the industry for more than 30 years. And we remember long-serving Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter, renowned for turning the children's show into a television institution, who has died at the age of 92.Presented by: Nuala McGovern Produced by: Sarah Jane Griffiths

 Critical Thinking  Combatting Domestic Abuse (Part 2) Black Spy Podcast 199, Season 20, Episode 0010 Below is a concise yet data-rich overview of the current domestic violence situation in the UK, as discussed in Part One of the Black Spy Podcast, featuring host Carlton King (“The Black Spy”), neuroscientist Dr Rachel Taylor, and journalist Firgas Esack. Host Carlton King (“The Black Spy”) sits down with Dr Rachel Taylor, a leading neuroscientist, and journalist Firgas Esack, to dive deep into these figures. This episode explores not only the statistics but the human, systemic, and gendered dimensions of domestic violence—shining light on under‑reported experiences, prevention strategies, and why these numbers matter. This is Part Two of an extremely informative series on Combatting Domestic Violence—essential listening for anyone looking to understand and address this crisis in modern Britain.

The First Minister answers questions from Party Leaders and other MSPs in this weekly question time. Topics covered this week include: Joe FitzPatrick To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Sarcoma UK report, Unique Among Cancers. Tim Eagle To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that several local authorities are delaying the introduction of a visitor levy. Marie McNair  To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the latest Office for National Statistics inflation statistics and any implications for its work to support low-income households.   A full transcript of this week's First Minister's Questions is available here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-26-06-2025

The great un-retirement is a term that has been coined to explain the fact that people are working longer or even coming out of retirement completely to return to work. Find out why this is happening in this episode. In a poll by Rest Less, a digital community that supports the over-50s, 32% of members said they would consider returning to work or that they were already working again. And statistics back this up. The Office for National Statistics reports that there are now more people aged 50 and older in work or looking for work than before the pandemic, while figures from the Centre for Ageing Better show that the number of people aged 65 or over entering the workforce rose by 173,000 in the first quarter of 2022. Why are so many people coming out of retirement? What problems do older people face when looking for a job? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the latest episodes, click here: ⁠Why do we get addicted to social media?⁠ ⁠What are the dangers of using Botox?⁠ ⁠How can I wake up refreshed every morning?⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast, written and produced by Amber Minogue. First Broadcast: 24/10/2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A parade of pauses WAR! Middle East at it again Oracle earnings - wow! Tesla robotaxi spotted PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter ** Look At Album Art ** - So bad  Warm-Up - More pausing floated - We have a CHYNA deal -  kind of - Saying goodbye to Brian Wilson - Tesla - back in buy mode Markets - War! Middle East again (US seems to be helping ?) - Within 2% if ATH and then... - Oracle blows the roof off - UK economy shrinks - bigly ***A NEW Closest to the Pin! Middle East Again - Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran early Friday morning local time, targeting locations it said were related to Iran's nuclear program, sparking market fears of a wider conflict. - Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, chief of the Iranian Armed Forces and the country's most senior military official, was killed during the strikes, alongside the commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, Iranian state media reported. - The Israeli airstrikes also targeted and killed two of Iran's leading nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, according to Iranian news outlets. - Odd timing? - Markets initially took it better than expected - until Iran stuck back Valuations - As of the most recent update on June 5, 2025, the forward P/E ratio of the S&P 500 is 21.70. This reflects a decline from 22.44 in the previous quarter and 25.20 one year ago, 10 -year average is about 19 PE Forward Chart Something we discussed on TDI  - Presidential Cycles - The U.S. stock market tends to follow a four-year cycle aligned with presidential terms. Historically, the first year of a president's second term (4 years apart in this case) often mirrors the first year of a new presidency in terms of market behavior—marked by uncertainty, policy re-calibration, and sometimes muted performance - While the first half of the first year can be choppy due to post-election adjustments and early policy moves, the second half—especially Q4—has historically shown stronger performance. This is often attributed to: Stabilizing policy direction after early-year volatility Investor optimism around fiscal planning and budget cycles Seasonal tailwinds like the holiday rally and year-end portfolio rebalancing Presidential Cycle UK Economy- This is why we need to dig further than the headline (more beneath the surface) - The U.K. economy shrank sharply in April as global trade tariffs and domestic tax rises kicked in, data showed Thursday. - The latest monthly growth figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the U.K. economy contracted 0.3% month on month in April, following growth of 0.2% in March. - It was also more than the 0.1% fall economists were expecting. - “After increasing for each of the four preceding months, April saw the largest monthly fall on record in goods exports to the United States with decreases seen across most types of goods, following the recent introduction of tariffs,” --- The real culprit: ----- Domestic tax rises have also been blamed for the steep decline in economic activity. British businesses have been confronted with an increase in national insurance contributions and rise in the minimum age from the start of April, while a temporary tax break on property purchases also came to an end in March. - ----The change in the Stamp Duty Land Tax (paid when buying property or land) in April meant there was a decrease of 63.5% in U.K. residential property transactions from the previous month, the ONS noted, with buyers rushing to complete purchases before the tax break ended. US Economy - U.S. consumer prices increased less than expected in...

The first quarter of 2023 has seen food inflation in the UK surpass 16%, according to the Office for National Statistics. Such inflation rates hadn't been seen for forty years. It's contributed to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and an increasing number of people are struggling to afford to buy enough food. With all that in mind, many people's number one concern right now is keeping their supermarket bill as low as possible, regardless of how healthy what they're eating is. But there are ways of sticking to a balanced diet even on a shoestring budget. Isn't healthy food always expensive? What are the tips to buy healthy food at a low cost? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here : ⁠Are men still being paid more than women?⁠ ⁠What makes us ticklish?⁠ ⁠Why are there calls for a halt to AI research?⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast. A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 12/4/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, Dame Diane Coyle argues that traditional measures like GDP no longer capture economic realities.Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is also the director of the Productivity Institute, a fellow of the Office for National Statistics, and a member of the UK's Competition Commission. Drawing on her deep expertise, she proposes an alternative framework for measuring productivity that enables better policymaking.In her conversation with Nikolaus Lang, global leader of the BCG Henderson Institute, she discusses the shortcomings of GDP—such as a lack of accounting for immaterial goods or natural capital, alternative measures of progress, and how corporate leaders should rethink their approach to measurement.Key topics discussed: 01:32 | The shortcomings of GDP as a measure of productivity09:14 | The issues of inflated GDP statements11:12 | Alternative measures of productivity and progress13:47 | A time-based approach to measuring productivity16:39 | How productivity measurement works in practice18:57 | Implications for corporate leadersAdditional inspirations from Diane Coyle:Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be (Princeton University Press, 2021)GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History (Princeton University Press, 2015)The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters (Princeton University Press, 2009)Sex, Drugs and Economics: An Unconventional Intro to Economics (Texere, 2002)

As summer heats up, deodorant becomes a faithful ally. But this product can be very dangerous. On May 2022 a 14 year old girl, Giorgia Green, died from inhaling deodorant. The teenager, who was on the autistic spectrum, liked to spray deodorant on her blankets as she found the smell comforting. "The smell of it gave her a certain sense of relaxation," said her father. Sadly her cause of death was found to be "unascertained but consistent with inhalation of aerosol” and although it is not common she is not alone. According to the Office for National Statistics, (ONS) "deodorant" was mentioned on 11 death certificates between 2001 and 2020. Though, it is likely that the actual number of deaths are higher than this, due to the fact that specific substances are not always mentioned on death certificates. What is dangerous in deodorant? Why are people not being made aware of the danger? Should we stop using aerosol deodorants? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠What are earworms, the songs we just can't get out of our heads?⁠ ⁠Is it a good idea to sleep with my pet?⁠ ⁠Who are digital nomads, the new generation of remote workers?⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast, written and produced by Amber Minogue. First Broadcast: 23/2/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of smokers in the UK is estimated at 6.6 million. The proportion has been steadily dropping for years now. Given the health risks, you'd think smokers would be delighted to give up, but the prospect of putting on weight is a cause of concern for many. To be fair, it i's a well-founded fear to some extent. In 2014, Addiction journal reported that the average prevalence of weight gain after quitting smoking was 80%. In such cases, the average weight gain is 5 - 10lb. Of course, putting on a few pounds is far less dangerous than continuing to smoke, so the choice to quit should still be a no-brainer. Nevertheless, let's delve deeper into the post-quitting weight gain phenomenon. What effects do cigarettes have on the body? It must be difficult not to start compulsive eating, mustn't it? What about going on a diet? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠What is eatertainment, the "next-level" dining experience?⁠ ⁠Should vapes have the same restrictions as cigarettes?⁠ ⁠Why do we get goosebumps?⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast, written and produced by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 2/3/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the UK Office for National Statistics, September 26 was the most popular day to be born over the last two decades, which falls 39 weeks and two days after Christmas day. Babies are born with certain reflexes that result in involuntary movements. These are called primitive reflexes, and the movements happen automatically without the baby sending a message to their brain. Such reflexes develop during the foetal period and indicate that the baby's brain is functioning well. What are some examples? Isn't it just the cutest when a baby grabs your finger? Do these reflexes remain with babies as they develop into children? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: Is it bad to drink water with a meal? Are Skyr yoghurts really good for you? Why is physical contact important for our health? A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First broadcast : 20/11/2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to measure the good life? According to Cambridge University's Professor of Public Policy, Diane Coyle, quantifying progress doesn't involve traditional economic metrics. In her new book, Measure of Progress, Coyle discusses how economic metrics like GDP, designed 80 years ago, are increasingly inadequate for measuring today's complex economy. She argues we need new approaches that account for digital transformation, supply chains, and long-term sustainability. Coyle suggests developing human-centric balance sheet measures that reflect true progress beyond simple growth numbers. Five Key Takeaways * Economic metrics like GDP were developed 80 years ago and are increasingly outdated for measuring today's complex digital economy with global supply chains.* We lack adequate tools to measure crucial modern economic factors such as data usage, cloud services, and cross-border supply chains.* Economic statistics have always been political in nature, from their historical origins to present debates about what counts as progress.* Coyle advocates for a "balance sheet" approach that considers long-term sustainability of resources rather than just short-term growth figures.* While productivity growth has slowed for many middle-income families over the past 20 years, Coyle rejects "degrowth" approaches, arguing instead for better metrics that capture true progress in living standards.Professor Dame Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Diane co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity. Her latest book is 'Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be', exploring the challenges for economics particularly in the context of digital transformation. Her current research focuses on productivity and on economic measurement: what does it mean for economic policy to make the world ‘better', and how would we know if it succeeds?Diane is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics, and an expert adviser to the National Infrastructure Commission. She has served in public service roles including as Vice Chair of the BBC Trust, member of the Competition Commission, of the Migration Advisory Committee and of the Natural Capital Committee. Diane was Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester until March 2018 and was awarded a DBE for her contribution to economic policy in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Some Labour politicians have been calling for a wealth tax, claiming a 2% tax could raise £24bn. Where are the numbers from and do they add up? A listener asked why housing in the UK is the oldest in Europe. We explain what's going on. The Office for National Statistics has changed how it measures the value of pensions and knocked £2 trillion off its estimates of wealth. Not everyone thinks it was a good change. We find out why.And Lent is here, but how long is the Christian fasting period? We look at the history of a very flexible 40 days. Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news, and the world around us. Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Producers: Nathan Gower and Charlotte McDonald Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show the UK economy unexpectedly shrunk by 0.1% in January. This comes only a few weeks after the Chancellor's pro-growth speech, and a fortnight ahead of her Spring Statement. Just how much pressure is Rachel Reeves under? And how likely is it that Labour will change their approach? Economics editor Michael Simmons and deputy political editor James Heale join Patrick Gibbons to discuss, as well as a look ahead to next week's expected announcement on reducing the welfare bill. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

It's a double celebration for Rachel Reeves today. Not only is it her birthday, but the UK economy grew by 0.1 per cent in the last three months of 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics' latest report. December, when the economy expanded by 0.4 per cent (the market consensus had been 0.1 per cent), was the saving grace. This helped tip the final quarter of 2024 onto the right side of positive growth. But it's not all rosy for the Chancellor. This morning's update won't take anyone in the Treasury off high alert, and there has been a development in the story about her CV. The BBC has been looking into her expenses during her time at Halifax bank. The Chancellor's response is that she had no knowledge that there was an investigation into wrongdoing. Will it be a happy birthday after all? Elsewhere, it's a big day at The Spectator. In this week's issue, we have launched The Spectator Project Against Frivolous Funding (SPAFF). This online tool lets readers explore the wastelands of government procurement contracts, reckless credit card splurges and absurd research grants. Spoiler alert: there's no shortage of material. Can you find more wasteful funding? Go to: spectator.co.uk/spaff Oscar Edmondson speaks to Kate Andrews and Michael Simmons. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

In episode 85 of the Eyes on Jesus podcast, Drew and Tim address the urgent and daunting issue of trafficking and its impact on the church and next generation. They discuss alarming global and U.S. statistics, including the fast-growing prevalence of platforms like OF among 18 to 24-year-olds. Highlighting the spiritual battle and the church's responsibility, they stress the importance of action, from partnering with organizations fighting trafficking to individual spiritual vigilance and repentance. What can you do to fight against the lucrative culture of perversion? Get the most comfortable shirts we've ever worn with powerful Christian messages! And support the show! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://kingdomandwill.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Use code: EYESONJESUS for 15% off Get all our links in one easy place! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/eyesonjesuspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Group on Facebook- Eyes on Jesus podcast community ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/eyesonjesuspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email feedback, questions or show topic ideas to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠eyesonjesuspodcast@outlook.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more information on Drew Barker: Follow Drew on ⁠Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/pastordrewbarker⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Drew's church's website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://yes.online/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more information on Tim Ferrara: ⁠ ⁠ Get all his links in one place- to his social media, all 3 of his books, and more ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/discerning_dad⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Personal updates 03:42 Addressing the Pervasive Issue of Trafficking 06:19 Global and National Statistics on Human Trafficking 10:14 The Lucrative and Dangerous Industry 12:23 The Church's Responsibility and Action Plan 15:02 Hotspots and Organizations Fighting Trafficking 16:45 Partnerships and Success Stories 17:34 The Dark Side of Major Events 18:07 Supporting Victims and Nonprofits 19:47 The Rise of OF 22:04 The Impact on Relationships and Society 25:02 A Call to Action for the Church 29:28 Repentance and Living for Christ 32:03 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Joseph and Paula bring you Part 1 of one of their most listened to episodes. They will continue to bring you these Encore episodes in between their new ones, as requested by many listeners. We continue to be grateful for the engagement. This multi-episode topic is a tough one. Joseph and Paula are talking about abuse. This is not a pleasant topic, but definitely a necessary one. According to the National Statistics on Domestic Violence, nearly 20 people each minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. For one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men. Those figures only take into account domestic violence. We are covering 8 different types of abuse. We are examining the different types of abuse, their symptoms, and how to seek support if you find yourself experiencing any of them and how to support a person who has.  Part 1 addresses Physical, Emotional, and Verbal Abuse. Due to the nature of the content, we hope you will take care while listening. Resources: You can visit the website we acquired our sourced material at ⁠HealthyPlace.com⁠. Should you need support for any of the topics we discuss, please use any of these hotlines: Child Abuse Hotline – 1-800-4-A-CHILD (800 422 4453) National Domestic Violence Hotline – 1-800-799-7233 Missing & Exploited Children Hotline - 1-800-843-5678 Suicide Hotline: Dial 988 4UTrevor for gay and questioning youth - 1-866-488-7386 Questions? If you have a question, you would like Joseph and Paula to answer during an episode of Questions for Counselors, feel free to reach out through the website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.lifelivedbetter.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or email them directly at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Info@lifelivedbetter.net ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can find information about this and other episodes on the website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.lifelivedbetter.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  Just a reminder - anything shared by the pair during this and all other episodes is based on personal experiences and opinions. It is not to be viewed as professional counseling or advice and is solely the opinion of the individual and does not represent their employers or profession.   We would love for you to rate our show and tell others about us. And remember, Knowledge leads to a Life Lived Better.

Today, the BBC's special correspondent Fergal Keane travelled with the first Jordanian helicopter delivering aid inside Gaza.Adam speaks to Fergal about what it was like to be the first international correspondent to fly with the Jordanians into Israeli-held territory in southern Gaza. And, the Office for National Statistics has projected a population growth of 7.3% between 2022 and 2032; the number is almost entirely based on the net migration of an estimated 4.9 million people over the 10-year period. Adam is joined by Stephanie Hegarty, BBC population correspondent, and Professor Sarah Harper, an expert on demography and Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford, to discuss today's ONS findings and what population scientists say about how demographics are changing around the world.You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://tinyurl.com/newscastcommunityhere Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Chris Gray with Miranda Slade, Anna Harris and Shiler Mahmoudi. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The editor is Sam Bonham.

Richie Allen with two hours of news analysis like no other. On today's show Richie discusses the UK's Assisted Dying Bill. A committee of MP's has begun hearing evidence from doctors and legal professionals to help shape the controversial legislation. Also on the show, The Office for National Statistics says the UK population will grow by 5 million people in the next decade through migration alone, Labour backtracks on broadening the definition of extremism and much more.Support YOUR Richie Allen Show here:

FREEDOM - HEALTH - HAPPINESS (WARNING - This podcast is highly addictive and seriously good for your health.) SUPPORT DOC MALIK To make sure you don't miss any episodes, have access to bonus content, back catalogue, and monthly Live Streams, please subscribe to either: The paid Spotify subscription here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/docmalik/subscribe The paid Substack subscription here: ⁠https://docmalik.substack.com/subscribe ABOUT THIS CONVERSATION: James Freeman transitioned from working at the Office for National Statistics to serving as an MEP for the Brexit Party, later hosting a popular political show on TNT Radio until its closure. James and I discuss everything from studio setups to big shifts in health and politics. He shares his path from the ONS to Brexit Party MEP, tackling Brexit's cultural divides, EU lobbying, and democracy myths. We also cover his weight loss journey, health advice, and why lifestyle changes matter most. I hope you enjoy it. For further details and Wendy's links, visit my website, www.docmalik.com or my substack, www.docmalik.substack.com Ahmad x Links Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@TheFreemanReport X https://x.com/james_freeman__ IMPORTANT INFORMATION AFFILIATE CODES Waterpure I distil all my water for drinking, washing fruit and vegetables, and cooking. If you knew what was in tap water, so would you! ⁠https://waterpure.co.uk/docmalik BUY HERE TODAY Hunter & Gather Foods Seed oils are inflammatory, toxic and nasty; eliminate them from your diet immediately. Check out the products from this great company https://hunterandgatherfoods.com/?ref=DOCHG BUY HERE TODAY Use DOCHG to get 10% OFF your purchase with Hunter & Gather Foods. IMPORTANT NOTICE If you value my podcasts, please support the show so that I can continue to speak up by choosing one or both of the following options - ⁠Buy me a coffee⁠ If you want to make a one-off donation. Join my Substack To access additional content, you can upgrade to paid from just £5.50 a month Doc Malik Merch Store⁠ Check out my amazing freedom merch To sponsor the Doc Malik Podcast contact us at ⁠hello@docmalik.com⁠ Check out my website, visit ⁠www.docmalik.com

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

*Content warning: childhood abuse, sexual abuse, homophobia, stalking, rape, physical violence, sex trafficking, suicidal ideation, and suicideResources:Darkness to Light: End Child Sexual Abuse - http://d2l.orgThe Army of Survivors - https://thearmyofsurvivors.org/National Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation - https://endsexualexploitation.org/End Violence Against Women International: https://evawintl.org/Survivor Space: https://survivorspace.org/Additional resources + non-profit organizations: http://www.somethingwaswrong.com/resourcesSources: Department of Homeland Security. (n.d.). Human Trafficking. Retrieved July 8, 2024, from https://www.dhs.gov/hsi/investigate/human-traffickingNational Human Trafficking Hotline. (n.d.). National Statistics. https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/statisticsDarkness 2 Light. (2023). Child Sexual Abuse Updates. https://www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Child-Sexual-Abuse-Updates.pdf​​Strauss Investigation. (n.d.). Ohio State University. https://straussinvestigation.osu.edu/Burga, S. (2023, April 23). Congress Re-Introduces Bill to Protect Kids from Online Sexual Abuse. Here's What To Know. Time Magazine. https://time.com/6273895/congress-re-introduces-bill-to-protect-kids-from-online-sexual-abuse/John-Michael Lander: An Athlete's Silence: ​​https://anathletessilence.com/John-Michael's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmichaellanderSurface Tension by John-Michael Lander: https://amzn.to/3q7K1ptCracked Surface by John-Michael Lander: https://amzn.to/42499ukSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.