I normally have nothing good to say about the Guardian, but in this case I think they have behaved admirably.
Ben Goldacre, the author of the Bad Science blog and associated column in the Grauniad, was being sued Mathias Rath, a peddler of vitamins who had persuaded a large number of people to stop buy AIDS drugs and to place their faith in his bogus miracle cure instead. Rath’s attempt to silence this criticsm has failed, and hopefully the Guardian’s costs will be fully met by this quack.
Standing up to bullies who try and use Britains broken libel laws to stifle free speech is a Good Thing. Well done to both the Guardian, and Ben Goldacre.
A typically namby-pamby article from the beeb tells of a bunch of Islamic speakers at a conference who think that Mecca is the core of the world. Rather than it being the red-hot source of magma and what have you, they actually mean that the date line should pass through Mecca. Typically the BBC doesn’t give any more detail or offer any kind of critique. It is therefore hard to make any kind of comment on this odd suggestion.
‘Islam, unlike other religions’ we are told by Yousuf al-Qaradawi, ‘Never contradicted science’. This youtube clip shows the reasoned scientific thinking supporting such statements…
Safeism - A safe, rewarding, fulfilling, protective lifestyle. Not the paranoia common to many self defence people, but a modern, enlightened approach to self protection
La Bête - what you get called when you teach French people to scream and attack each other. I am la bête, 'tis true.
James is a management consultant, budding personal coach and self protection instructor based in Berkshire. He works from home mostly, spending too much time on-line and on the phone. He is also slightly unsettled by talking about himself in the 3rd person. Have a look at the about page, should tell you more than you ever wanted to know.
