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

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:

(00:40) Does the UK account for nine out of ten of the poorest regions in Northern Europe? It’s a classic story of devil meets detail where the true meaning is the geographical inequality we met along the way.

(07:54) An article in The Economist has claimed that a single donkey charity in Devon received more in annual donations than all the major political parties combined. Is this true? And if so, should we be Led by Donkeys?

(11:29) Last week 781 migrants crossed the channel in small boats in one day. Social media is keen to work out how much this might cost the UK economy. We put the numbers in context and ask Madeleine Sumption from the Migration Observatory about the fiscal impact of asylum seekers.

(21:38) A claim has been buzzing round the internet that bees could hold the secret to long life, but our team is sceptical. We deliver the statistical exposé of Big Honey that the mainstream media’s been too afraid to cover.

Guests:

Liam Sides, Associate Director at Oxford Economics’ Cities and Regions team Dr Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford Professor Dot Bennett, Professor of Cell Biology at City St. George's, University of London Dr Ramsay Bowden, Consultant in Clinical Genetics at Cambridge University Hospitals

Presenter: Tim Harford Series Producer: Tom Colls Reporters: Lizzy McNeill and Kateryna Pavlyuk Producer: Nathan Gower Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound Engineer: James Beard