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Obesity and Responsibility
There has been a good deal of discussion about obesity recently, since the Royal College of Surgeons criticized access to weight loss operations in the UK as a ‘postcode lottery’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/21/morbid-obesity-gastric-bands-nhs-costs One common response – for example by Catherine Bennett in The Observer ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/24/homeopathy-obesity-gastric-bands ) has been that the question of unfairness shouldn’t be…
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The judge is out on juries
Is the traditional jury system in trouble? The first crown court criminal trial in England and Wales without a jury in 350 years is being held right now, dealing with the Heathrow robbery of 2004. The Guardian discusses the problem of keeping potentially prejudicial Internet information from modern juries. Are we seeing an erosion of…
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The Disease Industry
In a recent article, “Sure, It’s Treatable. But Is It a Disorder?” the New York Times warns its readers to “brace yourselves for P.E. – shorthand for premature ejaculation”. If the pharmaceutical industry is to be believed, that may not be bad advice, since according them, “One in three men actually have the condition.” But…
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Killing is killing – or is it?
In the headlines this week is the tragic story of Frances Inglis, whom a jury at the Old Bailey found guilty of murdering her disabled son Tom and sentenced to nine years in jail. Tom Inglis had been left severely braindamaged after falling from a moving ambulance in 2007, throwing his mother in a state…
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Shame on Bioedge
It may be naïve to hope for better, but the world cannot afford sly pandering to lying propaganda. Failures of epistemic integrity have real practical consequences, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the middle east. Consider this: ‘In August Sweden’s leading daily newspaper, Aftonbladet, alleged that Palestinians were being killed for their organs.…
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We’re all guinea pigs, and it’s not so bad
The outrage provoked by Professor Anthony Mathur’s suggestion that patients should sometimes be obliged to enrol in clinical trials (discussed already on this blog by Steve Clarke: 11 December) continues to rage on. Armies of shrill autonomists tell us that all our worst nightmares are real: that Mengele walks again.
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Climate scientists behaving badly? Part 3: the conduct of enquiry.
Part 1 Part 2 Now we move on to virtue in the conduct of enquiry. honest dealing in the conduct of enquiry There is some evidence giving cause for concern · There is evidence of dogmatism: ‘The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it…
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LIES AND THE IRAQ WAR
By: David Edmonds The current British inquiry into the Iraq war – led by Sir John Chilcot – is a cathartic exercise. No issue since New Labour was elected in 1997 has been so divisive. The war split friends, families and political parties. While the catastrophic impact of the war is still being felt in…
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Climate scientists behaving badly? Part 2: Objectivity
As promised at the end of part 1 (here ), I shall now run over the evidence for the failings of epistemic character among climate scientists. I shall be breaking this up into loosely related groups: objectivity, the conduct of enquiry, what is owed to other enquirers and virtue in testimony. impartiality The emails…
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When Patients Should be Obliged to Participate in Medical Research
In a recent article on the BBC News website Professor Anthony Mathur, Head of Advanced Cardiac Imaging at Barts and the NHS Trust, argues that cardiac patients should be obliged to take part in medical research (See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8399763.stm). It seems that it is difficult to get patients to agree to participate in clinical trials, however…