The recent moral panic around the Death of MR and the involvement of Instagram and Facebook in her death and maybe that of others is intriguing. Worthy of John Le Carre - at his Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy best. This may be a cynical attempt by the old media – the BBC or NBC, the New York Times or the Guardian to put pressure on new media like Facebook and Google. There are … [Read more...] about Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Surveillor
The Bridgend Suicide Mystery
Dead Contact Following last week's post Are Old or New Media to Blame for Suicide, I had the following email from papyrus: Ged.Flynn@papyrus.co.uk David I’d be happy to have a discussion with you. Perhaps you could contact me. Many thanks Ged Ged is apparently a little more senior within the organisation than Chris. Ged you can get me on the phone number … [Read more...] about The Bridgend Suicide Mystery
Suicide: Are Old Media or New Media to Blame?
Your Worst Horror The week of January 22 to 27 a series of stories of the death of a 14 year old young woman (MR) horrified many people in Britain. This was first item on the BBC news for several days and on the front page of newspapers like the Guardian pushing Brexit, the US Government closure, Venezuela and Huawei aside. The way the story ran the new social media were … [Read more...] about Suicide: Are Old Media or New Media to Blame?
Rest in Dissent
Fifty years ago today, January 19, Jan Palach died. He had set fire to himself 3 days earlier in Wenceslas Square in Prague in protest against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. The spot was close to Charles University where Jan Hus had begun a resistance to religious oppression 5 centuries before that helped ignite the Reformation. He may have fallen as he began to die … [Read more...] about Rest in Dissent
Fake Science, Fake Religion or Fake What?
There has been increasing brouhaha about Fake News of late. In the general media, Facebook are apparently going to introduce panels of reviewers to take down posts that contain fake material. In the academic media, doctors are told not to believe what they hear in the media about the adverse effects of drugs - See Fake News and the Great Purple Pill as well as this article … [Read more...] about Fake Science, Fake Religion or Fake What?
Making Medicines Safer for All of US
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTqei5hZ3g Editorial Note: Aberystwyth on the West Coast of Wales is one of the best places in the world to see starlings murmurate. Clive King from the Computer Science Department there also organises TedX talks and on November 24 convened a panel of speakers to talk about murmurating swallows, ambivalent motherhood and … [Read more...] about Making Medicines Safer for All of US
Simony
Before Google the Bible could be pretty confusing. Peter seemed to be a bedrock, a fixed point in the New Testament narrative. Your name will be Peter which means Rock. This of course means that he had another name before being renamed. Looks like it was Simon. So at various points we have references to a Simon Peter. All a touch confusing, especially when a Simon Magus … [Read more...] about Simony
A strong and independent research community to the benefit of… patients.
Seven weeks ago in the wake of Peter Gøtzsche’s dismissal by the Rigshospitalitet, I wrote to Ellen Trane Nørby the Danish Minister for Health. The letter is HERE. She replied on December 11 - See HERE. The response below was sent yesterday, along with the hard copies noted and link to the Welsh Senate proceedings. December 17th 2018 Ellen Trane Nørby Minister of … [Read more...] about A strong and independent research community to the benefit of… patients.
Uninvited Guests
This post is a break in the usual coverage but the contents are just so good they demand to be shared. Uninvited Guests is a brief video produced by Superflux. Superflux have worked and work closely with many of the people that readers of this post are likely to be wary of if not downright hostile to including the United Arab Emirates, the Cabinet Office in the UK, Innovate … [Read more...] about Uninvited Guests
She’s Caught My Virus & I’ve Caught Hers
This post clearly links to last weeks I've Caught Her Virus. Following the Panorama program Chris Exley wrote to the BBC. The correspondence is here and elsewhere on the net - notably Age of Autism. Annie has commented about a Lancet article by Heidi Larsson on the virus of misinformation about vaccines. This makes media references to Fake News and Viruses look … [Read more...] about She’s Caught My Virus & I’ve Caught Hers