[Direct MP3 Link]
Homeopathy Evidence Check (1:15) by Martin Robbins
Cherie Blair and Making the Pope pay (7:06) by James O’Malley (ft Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society)
David Nutt’s new job (15:32) by Mark Thompson (ft Prof David Nutt himself!)
What is this thing? (23:58) by Rob Weeks
Evan Harris vs the Homeopaths (30:30) by Smitha Mundasad with sound effects from Milton Mermikides
Commercial Break (39:26) by Martyn Norris
Show notes:
- Make the Pope Pay petition
- (We’ll link to Martin’s Guardian piece when it’s online)
Update: Due to editorial incompetence, we had a technical problem with our Evan Harris vs the Homeopaths report. This is now fixed and working, so if you can’t hear it, simply re-download the episode
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Re the homeopaths… it’s very ironic that CAM enthusiasts claim that “allopaths” and skeptics don’t believe in the natural healing power of the human body. And yet, listen to the homeopath trying to claim that the skeptic felt better after having a headache earlier due to the chance that maybe he had ODed on the right remedy for him, rather than the more obvious explanation that a bit of fresh air, exercise, and time had allowed his body to return to normal naturally, without any assistance.
Marc, I agree – one of the hallmarks of pseudoskepticism (such as that which homeopaths have for mainstream medicine) is this double-standard reasoning. They are quite happy to accept circumstantial evidence and anecdotes as proof of their own beliefs however they are unwilling to accept high-quality controlled studies when they conflict.
I actually thought that Evan Harris was too nice and polite. To a lay person, I fear that she would have apparently come off better.
Is that just me?
I agree, I feel that he demonstrated remarkable self-control in the face of a woman who was trying to make a very silly point rather aggressively. I don’t think she listened to a word he said.
I mean, just to be clear, I don’t think that shouting at her would have been helpful. But she controlled the conversation and his answers appeared weak in comparison.
This is from a person that loves Evan Harris, and I wish that he was my MP.
Hi Pod Deluders,
Your last three MP3′s have crashed my ancient smartphone (no big deal, just the kind of crash where it restarts). I’m playing them on TCPMP on a Palm Treo 650. It’s TCPMP’s fault, because the MP3 works fine on the Treo’s default audio player, RealPlayer. (Too bad RealPlayer is completely useless except in random mode.)
So I’m not gonna be able to listen anymore if you keep processing MP3′s the way you have for the last three weeks or so. =(
Dan
PS – I looked for some other place to report this, but was met with defeat.
This is my favourite episode so far, without doubt. It’s so ‘newsy’ and I laughed out loud at the sound effects when they finally worked.
Really liked Rob’s piece, as well, although agree, I’d expect Evan Harris to be better able to respond to the amount of nonsense the homeopath was chucking out.