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Male suicide, School ratings, Are female tennis players treated unfairly by umpires?

Tim Harford on what statistics can tell us about suicide, good schools and sexism in tennis, and the results of the great goat statue count are in.

A recent Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Horizon programme claimed suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50. Tim Harford examines this sobering statistic and considers how the UK's suicide compare to the rest of the world.

Back to school, and there's good news: apparently more and more children are in schools rated "good" or "outstanding". But our loyal listeners wonder if the improvement is real and we think they're right to ask the question. While there is evidence of genuine progress, that's not the only thing going on. Tim Harford discusses the statistics with education journalist Laura McInerney.

Are female tennis players treated unfairly by umpires? After Serena Williams' outburst at the US Open and her claim that she was judged more harshly by the umpire because she was a woman, we look at what the statistics can tell us about whether men are treated more favourably than women when they break the rules.

Are you more chimp or Neanderthal? We're talking about DNA, not spirit animals. We often hear scientists talking about how we are related but what's the difference between 96% similarity and sharing 20% of our DNA, and do some of us literally have pieces of Neanderthal within us? Tim speaks to Professor Peter Donnelly to help answer this genetic generation game.

And the results of the great goat statue count are in.

Producer: Ruth Alexander.

Available now

26 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Fri 14 Sep 2018 16:30
  • Sun 16 Sep 2018 20:00

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