In this series

Not as many MPs are dying in office as normal. It has consequences for the number of by-elections which are often seen as large scale judgements of the government's day to day popularity.

We look at actuarial calculations and the science of predicting life span.

Plus, who could object to basing decisions on the evidence? But what counts as evidence? Often it turns out to be the things that can be counted.

The Government has a strong commitment to evidence-based policy, saying it prefers what works to what is dogmatic. We investigate the evidence about evidence.

And the series looks at the statistician who caused a still blazing row about the environment. He was criticised for being selective with his data, and is standing up for objectivity in statistics.

Producer: Michael Blastland
Editor: Nicola Meyrick

This series of More or Less started on 12 June 2003 and is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Thursdays, at 15:00 BST.