Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Pushkin Industries

We tell our children unsettling fairy tales to teach them valuable lessons, but these Cautionary Tales are for the education of the grown ups – and they are all true. Read more

History

Episodes

Presenting: Drug Story - On Xanax and Anxiety

03/20/2026 00:46:28"And it went click" - Dawn of the Working Dead

03/13/2026 00:41:29 Explosives or Sugar? The Deadly Art of Distraction in Putin’s Russia - with Helena Merriman

03/06/2026 00:42:24Flight of the Fantasist: The Race Around the World - Part 2

02/27/2026 00:41:21The Philosopher and the Handyman: The Race Around the World - Part 1

02/20/2026 00:39:28 Show all episodes

Our take on Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford podcast

As we walk through life, we make many mistakes, some of which significantly impact our well-being. Many of these mistakes are avoidable only if we got cautioned earlier. Tim Harford takes his time every Friday to tell us true stories about mistakes we should learn from. These stories might delight you; they will undoubtedly entertain you, and most will scare you; however, they teach you something. Tom is also the author of "The Data Detective," a book on the rules to make sense of statistics.