Sorry no column this week, I’ve got some fun stuff in the pipe, as they say, and a lot on. In case you miss me, here’s my shouty contribution to Radio 4’s “Moments Of Genius”, a eulogy to the startlingly new idea of systematic reviews.
Other bits and bobs… Read the rest of this entry »
Brief note to say I’m a guest on LlewTube this week with Robert Llewellyn (or Kryten off of Red Dwarf if you prefer). The show’s great generally, and a galaxy of nerds, recent guests include Patrick Stewart, Graham Linehan, Martha Lane Fox, Adrian Edmondson, Brian Cox, and the rest. It’s also a genius format for interviews: cars are an intimate space where eye contact is not mandatory and occasional silences are acceptable. I mean, we didn’t talk about anything intimate. I’m just saying.
Anyway, video is right here, clicketyclick Read the rest of this entry »
I was on newsnight a second ago, debating the rather indulgent claims of Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield and Dr Aric Sigman about Facebook and Twitter. It’s 40 minutes in to the show, which can be seen here as a wmv/rm file or here on iPlayer or here:
I promised references. These can be found below. Read the rest of this entry »
I met the lovely Conrad Quilty-Harper (true) in a toilet recently. He made a video of our encounter and posted it on the internet. I’ve embedded this below for your amusement and edification: I hope you find it stimulating.
Ben Goldacre of Bad Science talks about Sensationalised Science Reporting from Conrad on Vimeo.
Just briefly (because my hair looks terrible in it, and they made nerdy stickboy here look chubby) I was on Watchdog last night, talking about some ridiculous magical diagnosis machine.
Just a quick note to say I was on Start The Week a moment ago.
It’s on Listen Again and downloadable as an mp3 podcast here:
Greeetings to listeners of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. About 20 minutes ago I was on the show talking about detox nonsense. Nas Amir Ahmadi of detoxinabox.com denied the rather foolish contents of her own website, and confidently claimed that I must be thinking of the wrong company. I read a quote. She laughed and said I was mistaken.
The audio is here:
I promised on air that I would double check and post on badscience.net. It will not surprise you to hear that she is completely wrong, and I am completely correct. Read the rest of this entry »
Who have a new column called…
…ummm…. Read the rest of this entry »
So I’ve got a documentary on Radio 4 at 8pm this evening on incapacity benefit, and it’s a bit of a veer from the norm, because it’s a subject where I’m not entirely sure what I think.
Here’s why I care. I once sat drinking with a group of medics, arguing over what would be the single contemporary medical activity that future generations would look back on with horror, and think, “what, on earth, were you playing at?” Would it be another thalidomide, or perhaps a social issue that doctors blindly and obediently waded in on, like when we unhelpfully tried to electrocute gay people straight. The answer we came up with was “nurse-led prescribing”. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve got a couple of talks coming up in the next while, and I’m posting them here for people who don’t read the miniblog on the right hand side of the page (it’s the best thing about this site, much better than my rambling blog posts) and aren’t members of the miraculous facebook group which Shalinee Singh very kindly helps to update. Read the rest of this entry »
