Tim has a great delivery, and presents a wonderful podcast, but the great detractor for me is his lack of control over his political views. I’d love to provide a 5-star rating, but the political viewpoints he voices are not appropriate if he wants to keep his audience.

Between the long real commercials and the story written to support the HBO series, this show has gone from a decent podcast to a barely listenable show. The story is now very choppy and staged around the commercials to keep you listening.

I love listening to it but I just wish they posted more often, and also do less interveiw-type episodes.

I love Cautionary Tales, all the tales are really engaging and balance artistry and practice in the best way. It’s my favorite podcast! I wish it was translated to other languages so I could share with my family who are not so proficient in English.

The whole episode is just a commercial for an HBO series. Not interested. This podcast used to be quite enjoyable. This review reflects more recent episodes (as of late March 2024)

Just got hit with an ad for History of Israel podcast while listening, which pretty much dismissed and laughed at the current situation and genocide. I’m really disappointed you’d take their money, now you won’t be getting mine

I am a paid subscriber, but not for long. Someone used to put remarkable care and thought into each episode. “Cautionary Tales” was a rare, reliable bit of wonder and delight. Speaking of cautionary tales, I remember a little story from my childhood about a goose that laid the golden egg. To spell it out for the business types, I don’t subscribe to the collaborating or substitution podcasts because I don’t want them. You explained why you added them. (That was irritating.) The only relevant questions are, “Is the goose already dead? Or, can the Brits revive the spirit James Harriot to save it?”

Love this show, but I’ll have to stop listening if these ads continue.

With most podcasts, I’ll check titles & read descriptions, then skip episodes that don’t interest me. But I never miss a Cautionary Tale! Because on the rare occasion I’ve thought an idea seemed boring, I end up captivated by the end. The writing, acting, music, & sound design are all top-shelf. The mix of history, modern events, & science never disappoints. The scope from global catastrophe, to personal stories, makes every perfectly-paced minute unmissable. Easy to follow. Deep & profound. Add to that Tim’s stellar presentation… I get hooked, lined, & sinkered every time. First-class. ☕️

Absolutely disgusted when you have me download an episode that is titled Air Disaster only to find out it’s nothing more than a thinly veiled preview and the majority of the podcast is literally a completely different podcast. Unsubscribe

Everything a podcast should aspire to be -excellent writing, research, production, sound production, acting and incredibly interesting topics. Truly fantastic!!

Perfect amounts of entertaining, informative, and intriguing

The stories are well written and, as far as I can tell, are well researched. The audio quality is top notch with interesting background music, sound effects and quoted media all mixed together expertly.

Show now resorts to just running previous episodes without telling the listener that they’re just running previous episodes. Complete meh….

Used to be a great show but has now resorted to tricking people to listen to what they think is a new episodes, with ads beforehand, only to find out it’s only a preview for a show you HAVE to pay for. I know that is done frequently on podcasts that are paid subscriber only- but that is usually more clear in the title and does not include ads at the beginning.

Well, I feel like I’ve been tricked. Not good Pushkin. Don’t give us a teaser and then explain we will have to pay to hear the rest. So sad!

Loved the show, but running ads for Donald Trump is low.

I get you need to pay for the content you produce, but tricking people into listening to what they think is a new episode about an air disaster and it’s really just ads with a preview for the version on your subscription model? No thanks! Why not list that in the episode title instead of whatever this was? Some other episodes off a podcast called deep cover. Instead of being up front, Pushkin is using trickery to get you to either. Listen to more ads or to subscribe to more podcasts. At this point I’m done with Pushkin podcasts and you should be too.

Tim Harford is brilliant and a wonderful storyteller. The combination of these two skills comes together in every episode, and the twist at the end of most shows always leaves me in awe of the tapestry Tim has woven together. To see this on full display, check out the MLK Jr. episode. I’ve listened to it four times since its original airing and have shared it with several friends who regularly engage in public speaking. I appreciate the hard work and creativity that goes into each episode. Keep up the great work!

So many interruptions by too much advertising ruins this podcast.

I love this podcast! One of my favorites!

Now this podcast is its own cautionary tale. What happens to a brilliant podcast author after success and accolades lead to a desperate search for topics and ends up with boring interviews, guests and endless ads.

It saddens me to leave such a low review for such a great show but the ad breaks are so frequent, repetitive and lengthy that they pull you out of the narrative. Very sad to see this change, I love Hardford but have no love for Pushkin

I love the show, so I can’t give it less than five stars. *But* in what region of America is the word ‘important’ pronounced as ‘im•poor’•ant’? It’s not only wrong but a distractedly lame affectation. You don’t drop the middle ‘t’ in any other word or construction. You call yourself a doctor, so talk like one.

Easily a top three podcast. Keep up the good work.

wonderful show, though the ads will drive you away from listening, so subscribe to pushkin

Love the theme, the style, the narrative journey and making me think.

First of all I have loved every episode so far. Thank you for your work. I have a suggestion for one. The mysterious life of Rudolf Diesel. See the book The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt. A truly cautionary tale of ever there was one of a great engineer who wanted to make the world a better place at the right and possibly at the wrong time as well.

This is so well written and narrated. The storytelling and format is compelling. However, these extremely chewy, cringe acting performances are hard to listen to. We have lots of voice actors in America that could do some of these American roles. It’s probably not necessary to have a clearly British actor do an almost offensive New York Jewish accent (like the episode on the Billy Joel musical)

I adore listening to Tim Hartford. He maintains the British love of and respect for, language. I feel sorry for him when he has to deal with guests who are unable to speak as articulately. Specifically Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds who felt the need to say “like” at least three times in every sentence, and laugh like hyenas over nothing. I’m not sure how Mr. Hartford stands it. We couldn’t. The episode looked interesting, but after five minutes of Anthony/Reynolds, we turned it off.

History made accessible and important to know.

Always informative. The recent episodes about the murders of the Osage Nation members are the best, especially the conversation with former Principal Chief Jim Roan Gray. (Chief Roan makes an excellent point at the end about which people needs to do the learning. Thank you for publishing that conversation.)

Always fascinating. Stories well told.

Each season, each episode is interesting even after repeated listening

I listen to all kinds of history podcasts and many of them are excellent, but this one is in a class by itself. I have heard some of the stories told in Cautionary Tales, but this podcast does it better. If history were taught this way, it would be the most popular subject in school.

I have been a serious fan of the Cautionary tales stories since the beginning and still love them. The mystic and cozy vibe makes me feel like I am sitting by a warm fire listening to a story, but as of late the experiments with the cautionary questions and conversations are just not that interesting to me. Stick with what works amigos. Tell your stories and stick to the great production. Every time I click the button hoping to hear a well-produced story and hear you announce something different I just turn it off now. Sorry to be so blunt and negative but thought you should have this feedback.

Show is mostly commercials. They legitimately need to cut about 80% of the commercials. At a guess, I’d say it’s less show than intro/outro and commercials. Pretty brutal.

The conversation shows are bad and here’s why; the host is witty but not a quick wit. The scripted episodes have been edited so that they are entertaining. The conversation shows are just dry boring drivel. I’d rather listen to someone discuss insurance policies.

Are used to be one of my favorites, now I breeze right through it and my feet, because I just don’t like the interview format. When you continue with complete episodes, hopefully I can rendezvous back…

Cautionary Tales is the perfect sandwich of entertaining and interesting.... robust and complex flavors delivered in a warm, friendly nutritious package. It is by far my favorite podcast.

He states his bias by calling the Supreme Court “INSANE”. Also manipulates the facts of a TV show he assumes Samuel Alito grew up watching. A law man shooting a suspect isn’t classified as a murder for per capita shootings. Not really interested in the opinion of a foreigner on the U.S. constitution and the 2nd amendment. Leftist propaganda that I’ll unsubscribe to today.

Malcolm Gladwell‘s recent episode “Get out of Dodge“, must be listen to with a grain of salt, and he has made it clear before, and in this episode his feelings on the subject matter, he speaks of. To make a case that a subway patron should be allowed to dictate how one chooses to protect themselves over the opinion of a Supreme Court Justice that has vastly greater knowledge of the US Constitution can be forgiven knowing that he hails from Canada. Malcom’s attempt to sell the idea that wanting to carry a gun legally is a direct result of westerns from the 50s and 60s is as stretchy as one can get with a story. There’s a reason it’s called “Revisionist’s History”.

It seems the sample episodes - the first 2 seasons - is a bad sample. The show underwent changes for shooting later and the number of gunshots and deaths decreased in later episodes. If you don’t want to be fair, state that you are manipulating politics.

Cautionary Tales is one of my all time favorite podcasts ranking up there with This American Life. In a sea of podcast options its tight editing, intrigue, and clarity make it stand out. Each episode typically contains a fascinating story and by the time you’ve reached the end where Tim Hartford reveals a take away point it can feel like a very satisfying revelation. If you haven’t listened to any episodes yet you’re in for a treat. I’d start at the very beginning and work forward to the present.

Tim is a wonderful story teller; always intriguing tales.

Great podcast with a broad range of stories of how and when things go wrong. As an economist Tim approaches these things from a pragmatic perspective. He has great guests as well.

Great selection of terrifying and fascinating stories. Tim Harford is an excellent host & has great guests too.

I love some of the topics Malcolm reports. However now I find myself listening to so so many repeated long commercial ad breaks that it feels like a waste of my time. I appreciate some ads but this just feels like greed and it’s not worth it. Unsubscribing to save my sanity.

I sort of liked cautionary tales but when I heard the ad for gladwell’s upcoming series, well, I unsubscribe. Not interested in a foreign national’s view of the United States. Bye Malcolm. Scam somebody else. Peace and love.

When is podcast is following the style that it started with, it is one of my favorite shows. I don’t know why they started doing the stupid cautionary conversation (other than on the fact that I’m sure they are cheaper to make). Please go back to the format that was working before.