Who have a new column called…
…ummm…. Read the rest of this entry »
“Incapacitated” on Radio 4
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 »
A few talks coming up, Oxford, Cambridge, London
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 »
Nice review of my book in the British Medical Journal by Richard Smith
Reproduced cheekily below. He’s Arthur Smith‘s brother, don’t you know. Read the rest of this entry »
Generous review of my book in the Daily Telegraph
There’s a very nice review of my book “Bad Science” in the Telegraph this week. I have to say I’m delighted to see that the two newspapers I’ve probably been meanest about over recent years are the two that have reviewed it so far. This betrays a genuinely wholesome grown up approach to life which properly warms the cockles of my heart.
Talks this week in London, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday..
Sorry for the slightly late notice, I’m doing three talks this week in London, Monday in Holborn in a pub, Tuesday in King’s Cross in a Library, and Wednesday in Charing Cross Road in a bookshop.
Also I’ve been bullied into making a facebook page which is here:
www.new.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Goldacre-Bad-Science/26030473910
Ohh look I’m on the One Show on BBC One
Slightly tiggerish and lacking in gravitas but that’s roughly what you’d expect from a 12 year old delivering a 100,000 word thesis on mainstream television in 3 minutes.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dcy6n/
It starts 8 minutes in. As you can see the presenters really engaged with the film, they loved the book, and it triggered a thought-provoking discussion of the issues raised. Read the rest of this entry »
I totally just touched my book
Okay, this is all a bit indulgent, but it was a total mission, so I will now cheerfully declare, to my childishly ecstatic delight, that in a rather exciting moment a few minutes ago my book totally arrived in my hand. I quite like it. Since there are those who doubted whether I would ever finish the beast, and you’re all plainly bastards, here is a clumsy picture of me holding it before I dash out to the Nature Scienceblogger Conference drinks. It’s out on Monday.
Part two of my Radio 4 show on the placebo effect, 9pm tonight (Monday)
So tonight at 9pm on BBC Radio 4 (Monday) you can hear the second episode of my two-part miniseries on the placebo effect, one of the most effective and neglected evidence based treatments known to man.
In this show we look at the ethical and practical implications of research into the placebo effect, and discuss whether it’s okay – or even necessary – to lie to patients. The answer, from me at any rate, is “no”. Read the rest of this entry »
