Tomfoolery Blog

Archive for the ‘skeptics’ Category

I’ve learned something about the pseudo operatic rock band Muse that is slightly depressing: they appear to be supporters of Alex Jones’ conspiracy sites www.infowars.com and www.prisonplanet.com.

The evidence? They link to those sites from the Links page of their own website.

Of course, Alex Jones’ lot have pounced on it like an endorsement from the Queen or something.

Is this a cause for concern? Well, no. Muse, like many other bands, have a reputation for being eccentrics. The page is pretty well hidden and not immediately accessible from their front page. Also, it doesn’t exactly jump out at you, the links are merely entitled “Red Pill” (a reference to a scene from the Matrix). In my opinion, it’s nothing to worry about so far, but let’s see what Muse do next.

It’s been shrouded in mystery for some time, but the QED conference, a joint venture of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and the Greater Manchester Skeptic Society, has made itself fully public. The first of th speakers have been announced, and oh boy, is it exciting!

I’m most looking forward to the visit of Eugenie C Scott. In case you need telling, she is the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) over in the States, the author of this fantastic introduction to the evolution/creationism “controversy”, and she has been at the forefront of the science versus religion battle for decades. She is an excellent speaker, and many videos of her talks are available on youtube.

Also announced are Jon Ronson, the man behind “The Men Who Stare At Goats” (and not responsible for the propagation of the dreadful song “Valerie”), science documentary maker Jim Al-Khalili, psychology Professor Bruce Hood, and “Science of Scams” co-host Kat Akingbade. The event will be compared by George Hrab.

The QED conference (which I’m already nicknaming “Smugfest”) will run from February 5th-6th at the Manchester Ramada Piccadilly. Tickets are only £99, or just £75 for students. Less than half the price of TAM London tickets, and no comic books in sight!

I’m so excited by this, if I wasn’t at work I’d be doing a little leprechaun dance!

Yesterday I enjoyed my first full speaking invitation at a skeptics society, when the Leeds Skeptics invited me to give a talk on the scientific method. I was given a warm welcome, and the friendly atmosphere continued as I went over the scientific method, did a bit of creationist bashing, before testing my very own imaginary product: homeopathic luck! I hope everyone enjoyed it, Leeds has a very supportive and friendly skeptical community!

Special thanks to the people who took me out for a curry afterwards. Cheers!

I’ll put some pics up when I get them.

After bugging people for long enough, some poor soul has given in and let me on a podcast! Gavin Schofield, Alex Dennerly and Dr Janis Bennion of the Greater Manchester Skeptics host the “Just Skeptics” podcast, where they discuss the skeptical issues of the day. In this episode, we discuss the state of homeopathy in the UK, skeptical issues in India, and my soap box segment is on the argument from authority.

Big props to Gavin for cutting out most of my “ummms” and “errrs”!

If you’ve got any comments on the show, please leave them on the Just Skeptics website, the GM Skeptics website, or on this very blogpost.

The show can be listened to here, and is available on iTunes. Just search for “Just Skeptics”.

By the way, if any Adam and Joe fans recognize my sign off, you know what to do!

Finally, we have received the government’s response to the Science and Technology Committee’s Evidence Check on Homeopathy. It’s not good. Rather than act on the recommendations to stop NHS funding and MHRA licensing of homeopathy, the government have completely copped out and kept the status quo, whist somehow agreeing with the evidence check. The government seems to be trying to pander to both scientists and homeopaths, and as such the response is horrible to read. I’ll go into detail later, but in the meantime I’ll leave it to Martin Robbins at the Guardian.

The response is being discussed in the media, and last night our own Michael Marshall from the Merseyside Skeptics Society and 10:23 campaign appeared on BBC Radio 5Live (1:48 in). He was joined by presenter Tony Livesey, and not one, but two homeopaths: Dr Brian Kaplan, a medical doctor and fellow of the Faculty of Homeopathy, and Mary English, a “qualified homeopath”.

Brian Kaplan came across as rabid, massively overplaying the government’s decision on homeopathy. Mary English seemed nice and polite, but as expected she only bought anecdotal evidence to the table. The debate felt unbalanced, even for the BBC’s standards, and seemed like an ambush, although Marsh did well to keep a level head and put across his points calmly and succinctly. To be fair, the first two callers made good points about the studies of the efficaciousness of homeopathy. However, support for homeopathy was taken from a couple of callers, who again could only come up with anecdotal evidence.

Which brings me to my first issue: why don’t the BBC train their presenters in the basics of critical thinking? For example, you do not counter systematic studies and randomized double-blinded controlled trials with a couple of personal anecdotes! The presenter, Tony Livesey, actually said “That wasn’t an anecdote, that really happened!” when Marsh pointed out that a caller’s story about his daughter’s experience with homeopathy was an anecdote. Is it unreasonable to expect a BBC presenter to know what an anecdote is? He also seemed impressed by authority, noting that Brian Kaplan is a medical doctor, and accepting that Mary English had trained in homeopathy for five years. In my opinion, the qualifications of the debater are irrelevant, bullshit is still bullshit. If you ever hear me saying anything like “Trust me, I’ve got a PhD”, then please shoot me.

My second point is to do with the BBC’s obsession with ‘balance’. Now, balance is fine if you are discussing something subjective like an art exhibition or Mel Gibson’s latest crap film, but when discussing scientific issues, things are different.  Science should be recognized and discussed by people who have at least a modicum of scientific understanding, not pseudoscientists with vested interests. If the BBC were discussing the rights and wrongs of murder, would they have the Prime Minister squaring up to Peter Sutcliffe? Would you see the head of the NSPCC discussing the merits of child abuse with a catholic priest? I think not. Sort it out BBC!

Tony Livesey: well meaning, but could do with a little scientific training

Every month, the Merseyside Skeptics Society holds a lecture in the grandiose setting of the Vines. Thursday night’s guest was none other than David Aaronovitch, acclaimed journalist and author of Voodoo Histories.

The MSS are a highly socialable, friendly bunch, and I was lucky enough to sit right next to David Aaronovich before his talk, where he was kind enough to share a few anecdotes with us over a beer. When the event itself started, MSS President Mike Hall gave Mr Aaronovich a warm humorous welcome, although he seamed more concerned about the welfare of David’s brother Ben Aaronovich, a scriptwriter for Dr Who!

David’s talk was engaging and passionate, as he effortlessly explored the conspiracy theories in his book Voodoo Histories, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the death of Princess Diana, and of course 9/11. Each one was skillfully demolished in turn, and it was a joy to hear his thoughts on the mindset of people who cling to such ludicrous beliefs such as “9/11 truth”. I could have listened for hours, but sadly due to time constraints host of InKredulous Andy Wilson had the unenviable job of cutting him off!

Copies of Voodoo Histories were available at a discount (bargain!) during the interval. I bought a copy, and David was kind enough to sign mine “To Dr Tom!”. Fortunately, someone was around to capture the meeting on camera.

Myself and David Aaronovich (photo from Andy Wilson)

The second half was a Q and A, although each question seemed like a valid excuse to hear more of David’s entertaining thoughts on conspiracy theories. I asked a question on the irreversible mindsets of conspiracy theorists and skeptics, but before I was handed the microphone Mike Hall was kind enough to congratulate me on my PhD graduation! I was touched! Dr Who?

To conclude the evening, and in keeping with the jovial atmosphere, Mike Hall got David to sign one of his brother Ben’s Dr Who books, which was a lovely little moment. After much more chatting and a few drinks, the night was over, everyone I met went home very chuffed. It felt like another step forward for the skeptic cause on Merseyside.

Forthcoming talks look very promising, with August seeing MSS President Mike Hall giving a talk on God, before Dr Evan Harris turns up in September. These events (and the skeptic socials in Dr Duncan’s) are always great fun, and it feels like there is a real skeptic community in Liverpool now. If you see me there, be sure to say hello!

David Aaronovitch signs Mike Hall's Dr Who book (photo from Andy Wilson)

Thanks to the British Medical Association’s slaughtering of homeopathy, that very subject was discussed on BBC Radio Leeds today. Presenter Liz Green did well to introduce homeopathy as being unscientific and costing the NHS approximately £10 million per year, but she was quickly inundated by the “it worked for my dog” brigade.

Thankfully, Merseyside Skeptic’s Society co-founder Michael Marshall was bought in towards the end of the discussion to give the skeptic’s point of view. In the limited time available, I thought Marsh did very well, especially to introduce the “secondary placebo” effect to explain the effect of homeopathy on dogs.

From a personal perspective, I thought it was good to hear my own email broadcast. (I’m such a media whore wannabe). I gave three reasons why people may feel better after taking homeopathy:

1. They were going to get better anyway.
2. They were experiencing the placebo effect (or a secondary placebo effect in the case of dogs).
3. If they were taking homeopathy as a ‘complementary’ medicine, the conventional medicine may have been working.

There is also one aspect of the homeopathy argument that really bugs me: homeopathy supporters claim that the estimated £10 million per year the NHS spends on homeopathy “isn’t that much”. Well, if that’s the case, could I have £10 million from the NHS budget every year? If it’s not that much…

The whole BBC Radio Leeds Liz Green program is available here (homeopathy discussed towards the end of the show, Michael Marshall’s appearance and my email from about 1 hour 30 minutes onwards).

In the last parliament, you may remember that the House of Commons Science and Technology committee produced an evidence check on homeopathy, concluding that it should no longer be funded on the NHS. Following this, quack-supporting MP David Tredinnick wrote Early Day Motion (EMD) 908, criticising the report and supporting homeopathy. This EDM became a nice little reference, because MPs could demonstrate their scientific inabilities by signing it.

Now that the dust has settled on this new parliament, David Tredinnick is back to his old tricks in a big way. Not content with EDM 908, he has tabled an additional four (yes, four) EDMs. Each one offers a smidgen of support to homeopathy:

EDM 284 expresses concern about the British Medical Association’s recent motions concerning homeopathy. EDM 285 welcomes the publication of a paper in the Journal of Oncology, which appears to show that some cancer cells can be killed by homeopathic preparations (which of course, isn’t the case). EDM 286 similarly welcomes a Brazilian study on homeopathic antidepressants, while EDM 287 welcomes yet another study, this time from South Africa on homeopathic insomnia treatments.

Of course, each EDM from David Tredinnick contains factual inaccuracies and references to poorly controlled studies. To point these errors out, step forward Dr Julian Huppert MP of the Liberal Democrats  (who else?). Julian has tabled an amendment for each of Tredinnick’s EDMs, correcting each of David Tredinnick’s mistakes.

So now we have another tool for quickly judging the scientific competency of our MPs. With EDM 908 it was simple: if they signed it, they were an idiot. Now, if your MP signs EDMs 284-287 in their original forms then they are an idiot, but if they sign the amended forms then they are showing some respect for science and evidence based policy.

I would advise you to write to your MP to ask them to sign EDM 284A1-287A1. They can be found and contacted via the site www.theyworkforyou.com, and the Merseyside Skeptic Society have written a template to make things a little easier. Hopefully together we can put a stop to David Tredinnick’s quackery nonsense.

Viewers of Channel 4′s excellent series “Derren Brown Investigates” will be familiar with Joe Power. He is a psychic medium who has the uncanny knack of knowing things about his sister’s next door neighbor and television actresses who he parks next to. However, Richard Wiseman took us through the techniques of cold reading that Joe was “allegedly” using, and when Joe was tested to read the mind of a believer who wanted to contact her deceased friend, he failed miserably.

Recently I found that Michael Marshall (aka ‘Marsh’) of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, host of the Righteous Indignation and Skeptics With A K podcasts, has a history with Joe Power. When Marsh challenged Joe Power to the James Randi million dollar challenge, Power went on the offensive, comparing all skeptics to paedophiles.

Well, it seems that Joe Power is now making frivolous complaints to the police about Marsh, based on so-called “threats” on the MSS Facebook group.  In response, Marsh has written a very nice history of Joe Power, including his shameful involvements in the cases of Madeline McCann and Shannon Mathews. Enjoy.

The Amaz!ng Meeting (TAM) is coming to London this October! It’s two days chock full of the best skeptical speakers, including Richard Dawkins, Alan Moore, PZ Myers, Andy Nyman, Cory Doctorow, Marcus Chown (who badly needs a new website), Susan Blackmore, Richard Wiseman, everyones little mate Robin Ince, Stephen Fry (hopefully) and of course, James Randi himself!

It promises to be a skeptical extravaganza not to be missed! I shall be there, if you recognise me (unlikely, but you never know), please say hello, I won’t bite! I may try and promote the blog in some way, but I’m much more interested in learning what others have to say and having a good time.

I trust that tickets are selling fast, you can get that at tamlondon.org. A ticket for the two days is just over two hundred pounds, but I understand concessions are available for students and the unemployed.

Stop press: I’ve just been informed that Graham Linehan has been added to the bill. He is one of the writers of Father Ted, and is a comedy hero of mine. If they just added Chris Morris to the bill it would be perfect!