Sorry I can’t make Glasters

June 26th, 2008 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, onanism | 6 Comments »

Just a very brief note to say I’m sorry I have to work this weekend, so I can’t make my talk in the Green tent at Glastonbury with my old friend Shane Collins from the Green Party. It’s a shame, I was going to do the usual fun festy pack of (a) how the media distort evidence on cannabis and cocaine (b) evidence based social policy (c) how the story that science can tell about the relationship between body and mind is waaaay more interesting than handwavey fantasies about quantum nonsense and magic pills, and (d) how big pharma is evil, and what a tragedy it is that so much valuable political energy which could be used in discussing and campaigning against this is, instead, wasted on nonsense like homeopathy and MMR. I find it very revealing that incredibly important stories like this on drug companies hiding data on SSRIs lasted only 3 days in the press, while foolish stories like MMR have run and run and run in the media for ten long years. That is so wrong. The drug co’s must be delighted. Good work quacks.

Anyway, lots of festy fun and comedy gigs this summer, I’ll be posting links as ever in the miniblog (so subscribe to this using this), and mp3s to come too, including a comedy classic with PZ Myers. For anyone who likes to think ahead this Nature event on science bloggers in August should be fun, I’ll be chatting on the Saturday and will hopefully make bits of the rest, so if we’re internet linky-love friends then do let me know if you’re going.


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6 Responses



  1. Blake Stacey said,

    June 26, 2008 at 7:36 pm

    You better get that “comedy classic” online: nobody will believe my story without evidence. Bloody skeptics being all skeptical about what happens at TAM. . . .

  2. coracle said,

    June 26, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    I’ll be there. Looking forward to meeting any other bad-sciencers that make it. And all the other science bloggers that go too.

  3. le canard noir said,

    June 26, 2008 at 11:00 pm

    Me too. I am going to be setting up the Sceptics’ Field next to the Healing Fields. We can all sit around and not feel the vibes.

  4. le canard noir said,

    June 26, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    What shall we say? Stone Cirle. Mid-day. Saturday?

  5. coracle said,

    June 27, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    Oops, think I may have inadvertently caused a little confusion. LCN, I was referring to the nature science blogging conference, not glasters. Unfortunately, I won’t be going to glasters. 🙁

  6. Tom P said,

    June 30, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    But you’re still doing the Latitude festival, right? Half the reason I bought a ticket…