I was hoping my first blog post about football would be somewhat more jovial than this, but it’s a subject that I take very seriously and it’s something I feel I need to add my two cents on: a Norwich City ‘fan’ has been banned from Carrow Road for life after making racially offensive comments … [Read more…]
You’ve got to love the #ifevolutionweretrue hashtag on Twitter. Invented by creationist tweeter @UndyingTruth, the aim is for creationists to use it to challenge the theory of evolution with a series of ‘how come?’ style questions. Of course, it’s yet another opportunity for creationsts to show their puzzlement and bafflement towards science. I’ve picked out … [Read more…]
I’ve just got back from a trip to Lisbon, capital city of Portugal. Despite their economic problems and a ridiculously strong Euro (which is almost on par with sterling) I had a thoroughly enjoyable time, with many notable highlights. Day one was spent largely at Lisbon Zoo. I’m not sure what they put in the … [Read more…]
For awhile now, I’ve been an admin of the “Stand Against Vaccinations..Find Out the TRUTH” group on Facebook. It was founded as an anti-vaccine group, a place where people could spew misinformation that puts their own an other people’s children at risk. Various members were also pushing homeopathy, chiropractic and various other quack treatments, even … [Read more…]
Here in the UK, we are being given an historic opportunity to vote in a referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) this Thursday, May 5th. It will decide how our MPs are elected in future, and the result will determine whether they are elected with AV or if First Past The Post (FPTP) is retained. … [Read more…]
The Internet is chock-full of quacks advertising their shoddy wares and practices. Since March, the remit of the Advertising Standards Agency has been extended to cover Internet advertising, with group like the Nightingale Collaboration co-coordinating efforts to report false claims in advertising. Now, the genius Simon Perry of the Leicester Skeptics has come up with … [Read more…]
Last Thursday I was very kindly invited to Portsmouth to give my talk on the scientific method to the Portsmouth ‘Skeptics in the Pub’ group. I had a great time, and I think that the subject matter certainly got people talking. I’d like to thank everyone who was very welcoming, my ‘test subjects’ during the … [Read more…]
I’ve considered myself to be a skeptic for over a year now, and although I’m very new to the movement, one thing does strike me about it: there seems to be a lack of skeptical outreach, or if you will, ‘skeptical evangelism’. I would really love to see a concerted effort from within the skeptical … [Read more…]
The week of April 10th-16th sees the World Homeopathy Awareness Organization hold it’s World Homeopathy Awareness Week, so I thought I’d do my bit. People need to be aware that homeopathy doesn’t work, as various systematic reviews of it have shown. Not only that, it couldn’t possibly work, as homeopathic ‘remedies’ above 12C contain no … [Read more…]
Before I address the deliberately provocative title of this post, I’d like to let people know that the videos of the Conspiracy Debate at MMU are now available on We Are Change Manchester’s YouTube channel. They were filmed by WACM, and show the debate between Steve and Paul which I covered on an earlier blog … [Read more…]