Raymond Tallis Lecture mp3

March 23rd, 2007 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, podcast | 10 Comments »

Here’s an absolutely cracking SAS lecture by Raymond Tallis, author of Medicine And Its Discontents, a stirring response to everyone who thinks medicine is founded upon arse. I’d highly recommend it, he’s like me but older, cleverer, and considerably less childish.

Having said that he does win a special prize for Suavest Book Title with this little number on outré literary theorists.

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Accompanying slides and transcript over with possibly-ex-LM/RCP-infiltrated-but-not-so-bad-with-it-shh-don’t-tell-anyone-or-they-get-really-angry rationality campaigners Sense About Science (who we love):

www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/127/


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10 Responses



  1. rvcx said,

    March 23, 2007 at 9:44 pm

    The title says mp3, but I only see obnoxious embedded flash…

  2. Gimpy said,

    March 23, 2007 at 9:57 pm

    There’s no possibly about it. They are ex-LM/RCP and their continued insistance on hiding it only makes people like me suspicious. Having said that their Climate & Weather pamphlet is rather good
    www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/126
    without a hint of any Spiked style politics.

  3. Despard said,

    March 23, 2007 at 10:53 pm

    Beautiful. Thanks for that.

  4. jackpt said,

    March 24, 2007 at 12:06 am

    Sense about science veer from the very good to the awful. The making sense of weather document they produced, for instance, was excellent and written in a approachable way without been patronising. On the other-hand some of their stances on other subjects lack any kind of nuance at all, when the politics kicks-in (e.g. the less qualified more politically aligned entryist types move in like hagfish). This is, BTW, not something I am prepared to get into a thread war over, in case anyone is up for it, this is presented as opinion and should be regarded as extremely dodgy until you verify it for yourself. So there. (Ducks). I am prepared to state that I may be talking out of my arse rather than talk to esstee.

  5. BrunoBigNose said,

    March 24, 2007 at 12:35 pm

    A nice defence of righteousness.

    Hmm, SaS has some good folks on there, eg: Simon Singh and the above mentioned Raymond Tallis are on the Board of Trustees. The secretariat seems to have quite a few LM/RCP associates in it. Leaves me somewhat confused as to what I think of the organisation. Some folk in it give me The Fear, some I quite like.

  6. mike_ said,

    March 24, 2007 at 3:02 pm

    Sorry for my ignorance, what’s LM/RCP? SAS looks good to me.

  7. Gimpy said,

    March 24, 2007 at 5:13 pm

    BrunoBigNose I suspect that the board of trustees is not fully aware of the political history of the office staff. Frankly I think they should be avoided because it is the office staff who make the every day decisions and set the agenda. Now if they sacked the office staff and got politcally neutral folk in I wouldn’t have a problem. I doubt this will happen.

    mike_ LM was a magazine oringally called Living Marxism published by the Revolutionary Communist Part (RCP) a trotsykist party. These days they are extreme right wing libertarians with a history of global warming denial and a extreme laissez faire attitude.
    I will be posting something on the main forums on the link between Sense about Science and a number of other organisations invovled in the public promotion of science sometime next week (time permitting).

  8. lab lemur said,

    March 25, 2007 at 6:29 pm

    Twas a great lecture, I missed the questions sadly. Yes, maybe ex-LM/RCP, but anytime I’ve spoken to them they have been great. not all the office staff are ex-LM/RCP anyway (some of them are even *shock* science graduates!) They were even nice enough to give me a copy of their climate change booklet (no global warming denial there!)

  9. katem said,

    March 26, 2007 at 11:55 am

    Did anyone hear Tallis on Desert Island Discs (sad, I know)? He was great and his choice of music was wonderful.

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