Episode Synopsis "From the archives: How statistics lost their power – and why we should fear what comes next"

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: The ability of statistics to accurately represent the world is declining. In its wake, a new age of big data controlled by private companies is taking over – and putting democracy in peril. By William Davies. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

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• From the archives: How statistics lost their power – and why we should fear what comes next