pseudoscience

A collection of 22 posts

anti-vax

Vaccine Hesitancy and Brexit/Green Voting Linked

This is some interesting research. There is a link to being a Brexiteer and being hesitant to take a Covid vaccine. But, even stronger than this correlation is the new agey sort of anti-vax stance so that Green Party members are even more likely. iNews reports: People who voted for

anti-vax

Anti-Vax: Customer Interception Hotline

A little bit of fun for you this Saturday (well it is here). And a bit of the North for you: @rachelharpercomedyReply to @_curti5_ worried about vaccines? You’ll only feel a prick xxx ##fyp ##foryoupage ##comedy ##customerservice♬ original sound - Rachel_Harper_Comedy H/T Geoff Benson. Stay in

anti-vax

This Is for You, Anti-Vaxxers

I love this so much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8V4NG1HmE8   Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Or buy some of my awesome ATP merchandise! Please... It justifies me continuing to do this!

anti-vax

Anti-Vaxxers are Winning Their Facebook Battle

Anti-vaxxers have a special place in my Hall of Infamy. They are idiots, plain and simple, and no amount of whining by them or on their behalf will change my opinion. Yes, Big Pharma is a problem, yes there are issues with the financing and distribution of such drugs -

anti-vax

WHO Adds Anti-Vaxxers to List of this Year's Challenges

The World Health Organisation (WHO) produces a list of things it will focus on and for this year they have added vaccine hesitancy - the polite way of naming anti-vaxxers as a healthcare worry: Vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy – the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines – threatens

homeopathy

End of NHS Homeopathy Prescriptions in England

This is great news and long overdue. From the Humanists UK: In reaction to the news that the board of NHS England has voted to defund homeopathy prescriptions, and recommended that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt blacklist homeopathy from being provided on the NHS at all, Humanists UK Director of Public

homeopathy

Quote of the Day: Joe on Homeopathy

I love this, in reply to the news that the NHS is banning homeopathy: The only problem now is how to dispose of the remaining stock of homeopathic remedies. You can't just pour them down the drain, because they'll become even stronger when they reach the

homeopathy

NHS Bans Homeopathy for Lack of Evidence

This is great news, being reported all over the shop just now. People like Michael Marshall and the Good Thinking Society have been campaigning for this long and hard, and it has paid off. In all honesty, homeopathy has reduced on the NHS over the years and only accounts for

Aaron Adair

Another Great Review for "The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View"

Aaron Adair has written a fantastic skeptical analysis of the claims surrounding the Star of Bethlehem. It really is the go-to book on the subject, and it was a joy for me to edit it. Here is another recent review for it: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Rising

NHS

State-funded homeopathy no longer available in the North of England

Another one from the BHA. This one is something that I am also very interested in, having recently attended a talk by the Good Thinking Society's Michael Marshall. He is well worth going to see at your local Skeptics group in the UK, if you get a chance:

Skepticism

Alternative medicine treatment put four-year-old boy in A&E

The BBC reports: The plight of a four-year-old boy who nearly died after his parents gave him 12 alternative medicines has prompted doctors to warn against the treatments. Doctors at Newham Hospital in east London said the parents were "devastated" that their good intentions had made him so

homeopathy

Please complete this short survey against homeopathy funding in UK

Please help to put a stop to the NHS/state funding of homeopathy. The Good Thinking Society has launched a long-running campaign to work out the funding across different NHS groups and organisations in the UK, and it turns out that we fund homeopathy to the tune of about £5

evidence

Debating Homeopathy, and Water Not Remembering Urine and Faeces and Disease

There appears to be a bit of a debate gearing up over at this thread on homeopathy and its effectiveness. Check it out and get involved, in the name of evidence-based rationality. All I can say is that pro-homeopathic people tend to have rather interesting special pleading for the ability

homeopathy

Homeopathy Now Consigned to Dustbin of Ideas. Officially.

Well, if officially means by anyone with a brain who can use, analyse and reflect on empirical data. An Australian meta-study has looked at 1800 studies, and has concluded that the quackery that is homeopathy is bullsh*t. No surprise. But it's good to have such robust data

Caleb Lack

Critical Thinking, Science, & Pseudoscience - Lack and Rousseau Nail It!

Caleb Lack is a good friend of mine. Indeed, I have published four of his book son the Onus Books imprint. He has just had a superb book published (aimed at the academic market but begging a popular release) that has been highly lauded (including by the likes of Michael

pseudoscience

Old but classic deconstruction of woo

I love this video (and all of Minchin's stuff), it's long been a favourite. Watch and savour.

homeopathy

Homeopaths Totally Baffled By Cordial

A spokesperson for Australian Homeopathic Association has released a statement today conceding that they are “baffled” by the concept of cordial. Homeopathy, an alternative medicine practice dating back to the 18th century, operates under the principle that water holds “memory” and that a substan

Featured ATP

Germany court orders measles skeptic to pay 100,000 euros

Bad skeptics suck. The BBC reports: A German biologist who offered €100,000 (£71,350; $106,300) to anyone who could prove that measles is a virus has been ordered by a court to pay up. Stefan Lanka, who believes the illness is psychosomatic, made the pledge four years ago

aliens

The Earliest Connection between UFOs and the Star of Bethlehem–A Follow-up

In my last post about the various ways that the Star of Bethlehem from the Gospel of Matthew had been imagined, I talked about the folks that thought it was some sort of alien craft or UFO. When I wrote it, my best efforts to find the earliest claim to that came from Rev. Barry Downing in 1968. Howe

homeopathy

Genius! The humour of skepticism

I went to see local fellow skeptic at Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub the other night. Crispian Jago has a great blog called Reason Stick and is fairly famous for some of the images that he has created, some of which I have tweeted and blogged. Here are a few below:

pseudoscience

TED revokes license for TEDx West Hollywood event

Jerry Coyne reported this recently. It follows in a line of items in the news about TED and their speakers being somewhat unscientific. Well, in relation to this, TED have pulled their licence on a TEDx to have taken place in Hollywood. As Coyne reports:

pseudoscience

TED pull Sheldrake & Hancock talks after backlash (including mine!)

Last week, I posted this: TEDx, Pseudoscience and the Rupert Sheldrake controversy TED has reacted to a considerable amount of pressure from posts similar to mine. They have pulled the videos from their usual places. The TED blog explained the move, claiming they were not censoring the videos,