0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by

0:02

ads outside the UK. the and

0:04

thank you for downloading the More

0:06

or Less more or less podcast. We're that looks

0:08

at the numbers in the news, the

0:11

and I'm Charlotte and I'm Charlotte McDonald.

0:13

Today we're lining up the fireworks to

0:15

bring you more you of the year, of

0:17

and this time this time your own your

0:19

own picks. We We asked you to send

0:21

in your your numbers of 2024, the

0:23

figures and stats that have caught

0:25

your eye, have and which feels significant

0:28

at this particular moment in time. Let's

0:30

start with our first number. in

0:33

time. Let's start with our

0:35

first number from of the

0:37

year is 1 .62 year is

0:39

the average number of degrees

0:41

above the pre -industrial level the

0:44

on average over the past

0:46

12 months. on average over the

0:48

past 12 months. 1.62 .62 it's at

0:50

1.5 degrees, the isn't 1 .5 degrees the

0:52

figure we always hear as the

0:54

threshold figure when reporting on climate

0:57

change? Amanda Amanda Maycock, in a professor

0:59

in climate dynamics at the University

1:01

of Leeds in the UK. UK. Now

1:03

in 2015, the governments of the world

1:05

signed the Paris Agreement which set up up

1:07

the targets to limit the increase

1:09

in the global average temperature to well

1:11

below two degrees and to pursue

1:13

efforts to limit the temperature increase to

1:15

one and a half degrees. one This

1:17

year is the first year where

1:19

we will have exceeded that one and

1:21

a half degree threshold. and a half However,

1:24

it's important to note that that

1:26

target is referring to the long is referring

1:28

to temperature over many years, rather than

1:30

just the value in a single

1:32

year. year. So we we haven't breached

1:34

the commitments from the Paris from the Paris

1:36

least not yet, at least not yet.

1:38

.62 degrees figure that Gary

1:40

spotted spotted the period from

1:43

November 2023 to October

1:45

2024. It comes It comes from

1:47

a report released via the EU's

1:49

Copernicus Climate Change Change Service. So does

1:51

this mean that we can expect

1:53

a rise above 1 .62 degrees

1:55

next year? next Not necessarily. So

1:58

we have a long -term increase. in

2:00

temperature and on top of that we

2:02

have these bumps and wiggles from

2:04

year to year. year know that this

2:06

year has been particularly warm partly because

2:08

of a phenomenon known as the

2:10

El as the El Oscillation. that's the

2:12

weather pattern that causes water in

2:14

the eastern Pacific to heat up more

2:16

than normal. But it's quite possible

2:18

that next year the temperature will drop

2:21

back down again a little bit again

2:23

we don't have another El Nino

2:25

event another El the temperature will be a

2:27

little bit below 1 .5 below 1.5 degrees.

2:29

But these year to year wiggles are

2:31

not the thing that the Paris that

2:33

concerned with. They're concerned with the

2:35

long with. climate and the warming level

2:38

of that. However, as it stands, based

2:40

on our current greenhouse gas emissions greenhouse

2:42

gas emissions we expect to happen over the

2:44

coming years to those emissions, it

2:46

is looking likely that the one

2:48

and a half degree target would be

2:50

broken sometime in the early 2030. sometime

2:52

in the early 2030s. Is this year's

2:54

specific temperature increase of

2:57

1 .62 degrees something we

2:59

should be aware of. is It

3:01

is telling us that we're on this

3:03

trajectory into a warmer climate that we've

3:05

been on for many decades now. So

3:07

this should be a warning bell to

3:09

us all that we need to up

3:12

our action to up try to mitigate our

3:14

greenhouse gas emissions and to combat further

3:16

climate change. to combat further climate change.

3:18

is is a new year's for us

3:20

all. us all. On to to our next listeners

3:23

number of the year. of It comes

3:25

to us from comes to us from Emil

3:27

Richmond. the year of the .7

3:29

billion, the number in in 2054, that

3:31

there will be people over

3:33

65, 65. An an incredible rise

3:36

from the current 830 million.

3:38

million. over double the population

3:40

of over over in about

3:42

30 years years time. That is

3:44

indeed indeed an astonishing We called on We

3:46

called on someone who can help

3:48

us make sense of it. it. My

3:50

My name is Jennifer Dowd and I'm a

3:52

I'm a professor of and population health

3:54

at the University of Ottawa. of

3:57

Oxford. Demographers how to to

3:59

count people. So where does

4:01

this figure come from? from? And how

4:03

accurate is it? it? This number from

4:05

the most recent from the the UN

4:07

world prospects. I would say

4:09

this say quite reliable quite because

4:11

the people who are over

4:14

65 in 2054 are already

4:16

born a we have quite a

4:18

good idea of how many

4:20

of them there are and

4:22

have to make some assumptions

4:24

about mortality. Is this this down

4:26

to people simply living longer? But

4:28

that's a misconception, says Jennifer. says

4:30

It's actually what I would

4:32

call a demographic call a of

4:35

changes in fertility from the past.

4:37

So if you think about

4:39

the size of the about the

4:41

older population in 2054, in

4:43

it's a function of how

4:45

many people were born, let's

4:47

say, from 1954 to 1989.

4:49

which I which I find scary because

4:52

it means that Taylor Swift, famously born

4:54

in 1989, will actually be 65

4:56

in 2054. 65 in But it also means

4:58

that in this sense, in the demography

5:00

of old age is already written. So

5:03

So 1954 was still squarely in the

5:05

baby boom when people on

5:07

average were having four to five

5:09

babies. People are now having fewer

5:11

children. So the the size of the

5:13

population coming up behind the older generations

5:15

older will not be so large. be

5:17

so And it does mean that eventually

5:19

eventually will run its course will run age

5:21

groups will be closer to the

5:23

same size in the long run. run.

5:26

And while this population shift does

5:28

bring plenty of challenges, of Jennifer

5:30

says says shouldn't cause

5:32

panic. panic. It It certainly is something

5:34

that societies need to be prepared

5:36

for because of public spending on

5:38

pensions and medical care. care, But

5:40

I also think. lot A lot of demographers

5:42

would argue that we're a little a little We're

5:44

scared of population aging. You know older people

5:46

are living longer but also healthier

5:48

than they they were in the past on

5:50

average, still contributing a lot

5:52

to society, their spending their retirement savings,

5:54

quite and I am quite sure that

5:57

it's Taylor Swift Taylor Swift. will be

5:59

contributing a lot to the... economy. And just

6:01

And just imagine all the

6:03

eras for between now and

6:05

then. number comes Our final

6:07

number comes from loyal

6:09

listener read in the Times newspaper that 80% of

6:12

just read in a Times still use fax

6:14

of German companies still use fax

6:16

machines Can third use them regularly. And

6:18

Can this really be true, and

6:20

is it the reason for their

6:22

current economic concerns? had Lizzy had look

6:24

look into this. Hello, Lizzie. Hi Charlotte, well

6:26

as as usual, I started out

6:28

by looking into the key component

6:30

of the question. You mean where

6:32

the statistic came from? No. from? What

6:34

a a machine is. is. So fax machines,

6:36

or facsimile machines, do what the

6:38

name suggests. They create a copy

6:40

of a document. a So, like,

6:42

basically a scanner a photocopier, but the

6:44

copy is printed out at the

6:46

other end of a phone line.

6:48

of a I mean, I think most

6:50

people know that. people know I mean,

6:52

mean... most older people. Anyway, onto the on

6:54

to the statistics. this number comes from

6:56

a report published in 2023 by which is

6:58

a which is a digital association based

7:00

in Germany that aims to digitize

7:03

the German business sector. This report found

7:05

that 8 % of 8% of that they

7:07

surveyed did still use fax machines,

7:09

but in a new report published by

7:11

them in 2024, that number had

7:13

fallen to 77%. Do we have an

7:16

idea of how much they them? I them?

7:18

because just because you have something doesn't

7:20

actually mean you use it a lot.

7:22

mean you use it a lot. I mean, I've got running shoes. Right.

7:24

So they published another I mean, that said of

7:26

this % of companies use them very

7:28

often them 13 % and say they

7:30

use them often. them If we look

7:32

at the paper at the paper numbers off,

7:34

then their use them then 40% use very

7:36

often. or very the people who

7:39

fax who fax, half use them regularly,

7:41

and again, that and falling. that numbers

7:43

falling. Why are are people still using

7:45

fax machines? have so many other options

7:47

now. now. Some Some companies claim it's to meet

7:49

legal requirements. Legal requirements? Yeah, so this is

7:51

a is a classic case of the

7:53

law being to to change. years in For years

7:55

in Germany other many other countries, emails

7:57

weren't seen as sufficient or legal emails fa...

7:59

weren't in court. Facts are considered to

8:02

hold the same value, legally speaking,

8:04

as an original contract. However, that's

8:06

now changing and the German government

8:08

are amending the law to include

8:10

emails and these signatures as legal

8:12

forms of text. Okay, but what

8:14

about listener Matt's question? Does it

8:16

damage their economy? Well... Germany faces

8:18

problems such as an aging population,

8:21

the knock-on effects of COVID, global

8:23

demand shifting from manufactured goods to

8:25

services, but the International Monetary Fund

8:27

also believes that productivity could be

8:29

boosted by cutting red tape. Many

8:31

government services are also not digitised.

8:33

So there's a problem, but can

8:35

we blame this all on the

8:37

little fax machine? I think they've

8:40

become a symbol for clunky, sluggish

8:42

bureaucracy rather than the root of

8:44

it, but Germany isn't the only

8:46

country with a reliance on facts.

8:48

Japan is still a huge fan

8:50

of the facts. Thanks, Lizzy. That's

8:52

a wrap on last year's numbers,

8:54

but we will soon be ringing

8:56

in the new ones for 2025.

8:59

Thanks to all of our experts.

9:01

Until next week. Goodbye. Yoga

9:09

is more than just exercise.

9:11

It's the spiritual practice that

9:13

millions swear by. And in

9:15

2017, Miranda, a university tutor

9:17

from London, joins a yoga

9:20

school that promises profound transformation.

9:22

It felt a really safe

9:24

and welcoming space. After the

9:26

yoga classes, I felt amazing.

9:28

But soon, that calm, welcoming

9:30

atmosphere leads to something far

9:32

darker, a journey. that leads

9:34

to allegations of grooming, trafficking

9:36

and exploitation across international borders.

9:39

I don't have my passport,

9:41

I don't have my phone,

9:43

I don't have my bank

9:45

cards, I have nothing. The

9:47

passport being taken, the being

9:49

in a house and not

9:51

feeling like they can leave.

9:53

World of Secrets is where

9:55

untold stories are unveiled and

9:58

hidden realities are

10:00

exposed. In In this

10:02

new series, we're confronting the

10:04

dark side of the wellness

10:06

industry, where the hope of

10:08

a spiritual breakthrough gives way

10:10

to disturbing accusations. breakthrough You just

10:12

get sucked in so gradually,

10:14

You and it's done so and

10:17

you don't so skillfully, that

10:19

you don't secret that's

10:22

there. like wanted to that's

10:24

there, I that, believe know,

10:26

you know, that... they

10:29

were doing, even if

10:31

it seemed to me, to

10:33

me, was for some

10:35

spiritual reason I couldn't yet understand.

10:37

Revealing the hidden secrets of

10:39

a global yoga network. I feel

10:41

that I have no other

10:44

choice. The only thing I can

10:46

do have no to speak about

10:48

this do is to put my reputation

10:50

and everything else on the

10:52

line. I want on

10:55

and justice, and justice.

10:59

and for other people to

11:01

not be hurt for things to

11:03

be different in the future.

11:05

in bring it into the

11:07

light bring it almost light and some

11:09

of that evil stuff that

11:12

went on. evil stuff take back

11:14

the power. take back the power. World of Secrets,

11:16

season six, the bad Bad Guru. Listen

11:18

wherever you get your podcasts.