[A PDF version of this article can be downloaded from this link. Links to papers referenced this article are included at the end of the online version of this article only] There is a short and easily overlooked passage in the Endocrine Society’s recent Scientific Statement on “Considering […]

I have long had a particular interest in the field of “zombie statistics”, statistics that are widely circulated as factual information but which have become entirely detached from their original source to the extent that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to establish their validity. Some zombie […]

I want to return to the High Court judgment in Bell v Tavistock and take a closer look at one of the more contentious issues that was put before the court, this being the question of the exact purpose for which puberty blockers are prescribed to adolescents presenting […]

A few days ago I tweeted a few somewhat sceptical comments on the proposed intervention by the “Good Law Project” in the Tavistock Clinic’s upcoming application to appeal the High Court decision in Bell v Tavistock. This is, of course, the recent case dealing with the issue of […]

Over at Joystiq.com, Jessica Conditt poses a very interesting question… What happened to all of the women coders in 1984? In 1984, women stopped pursuing Computer Science majors at American universities. From 1970 onward, women had composed an increasing percentage of Computer Science majors, but something happened in […]

Around five weeks or so ago The Independent published a report on the DWP’s latest wheeze: Benefit claimants will face ‘attitude to work’ assessments under new government plans People claiming benefits will be expected to undergo attitude tests to assess if they have a psychological resistance to work […]

This was going to be quite a straightforward article. After all, how difficult could it be to dismantle the latest banal and ill-conceived witterings of Nadine Dorries, the sitting MP for the constituency of Mid-Narnia, on the subject of abortion and abortion law? But then I ran into […]

If what you read on the Internet is to be trusted – and let’s face it the Internet never lies, then I have around eight seconds to convince you that this article is worth reading because most of you have an average attention span that’s slightly worse than […]

Okay, I’m going to keep this short and sweet because I’m working on something else at the moment but there a little something that I want to toss into the growing online debate about the “Saatchi Bill” or, to give its proper title, the Medical Innovation Bill. The […]

I expect at least some of you will recall that “The Independent” was originally launched as a quality newspaper. Those days have, however, long since passed as evidenced by today’s front page splash: But before you take any of those statements too seriously, you really pay close attention […]