Ben Goldacre – he reads stuff so you don’t have to
On the one hand, Ben Goldacre’s job seems really easy. He just reads stuff and then says what he read — at least, that’s what he’s doing today. On the other hand, no-one else is bothering to read it, and as a result he’s valuably exposing a lot of pseudo-scientific nonsense.
Today he’s just bothered to look up some references provided by Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD). And blow me if those references happen to not to say what she says they say. She confuses proof with reportage; she thinks that if someone says they are calmer this means they are demonstrably more sleepy; she refers to a case study which turns out instead to be a lab experiment on a bit of rat entrials. And more. All very entertaining.
Incidentally, it’s always bothered me that Ben Goldacre never writes Gillian McKeith’s qualifications in quote marks. Not only do the “Dr” and “PhD” repeat information, but she acquired her doctorate via a non-accredited correspondence course — which, by the way, offers a bulk discount.
