The New Age Medicine of Prince Charles

19th December, 2010 63

Imagine the not too distant future. You book an appointment with your GP, as you have had a persistent and bad headache for a while now, and before you talk to the doctor, you are encouraged to see a number of in-house ‘experts’ who take your pulse on your wrists and feet, examine the patterns in your irises and look at your tongue. You are given a cinnamon paste to [read more…]

Escaping the Cult of Homeopathy

13th December, 2010 69

How are we to understand the persistence of alternative medicine beliefs? Despite the absurdity of many of the claims of the various superstitious medicines, we see very entrenched positions amongst believers, hostility to criticism and an imperviousness to external mainstream views. Why do people fervently lock themselves into such positions? Over the past few years, as I have researched the the world of alternative medicine , one of the most [read more…]

BBC Radio 4: The Life of Samuel Hahnemann

10th December, 2010 1

This the BBC Radio 4 programme that was on today about the Life of Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy. It is well worth a listen.http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/wdk90/ This is not a programme about whether homeopathy works or not. But an examination o… [read more…]

TED Quacks

8th December, 2010 38

The TED talks are a treat. TED runs a series of conferences around the world where interesting people are invited to speak about “ideas worth spreading”. You can view hundreds of these talks online from great thinkers, such as Richard Dawkins, the inspirational, such as Brian Cox, and the influential, such as Bill Clinton. Nobel Prize winners mix with politicians mix with innovative business leaders. And the video archive online [read more…]

Homeopaths Find The Solution – Hire PR Consultants.

6th December, 2010 33

Under the banner of One Vision, One Voice you can watch the conference as it used a PR Consultant to brainstorm a set of ‘themes’ for how homeopathy should tackle its problems. There is nice insight at the end to see how they think they can counter the threats to their trade that are appearing globally from people realising that all they trade in is sugar pills. It would appear [read more…]

I Have Been Putting on my Shoes

22nd November, 2010 46

The Internet does not forget. This is, arguably, the single most important techno-sociological change that we, as individuals, corporations, celebrities and politicians, have had to learn over the past decade. And it is a lesson that appears not to have sunk in at all. Everything we do on the web, whether that be browsing, blogging, twittering or updating Facebook statuses, leaves a trail. And once that trail is set, there [read more…]

On the The Reckless Physicking of Amateur Females.

16th November, 2010 35

It would appear to be important for homeopaths to show how the rich, blue blooded and famous are supporters of homeopathy. One might suggest that in lieu of meaningful scientific evidence for homeopathy, appeals to the beliefs of the influential and celebrities are all that are left. Dana Ullman, America’s chief propagandist for homeopathy, takes this approach to its zenith with his book, The Homeopathic Revolution: Famous People and Cultural [read more…]

Can “Neuro-Electric Therapy” Treat Drug Addiction?

16th November, 2010 23

I have been sent an email where a recruitment consultant was looking for someone to train as a ‘drug worker’ using a technique called Neuro-Electric Therapy (NET) to work on a Scottish substance misuse programme. The idea appears to be that by passing small electrical currents though someone in a specific pattern you could help people overcome drug addictions. It is quite a remarkable claim. Drug addiction is a complex [read more…]

The University of Wales Degree Validation Scam

12th November, 2010 12

This is essential viewing. Available for a few days more on BBC iPlayer, this Week In Week Out investigation shows how the University of Wales validates a huge range of colleges, both in the UK and abroad, to provides its degrees. These colleges r… [read more…]

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