British Chiropractic Association v Simon Singh

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Charity Commission has now handed the Guardian the complaints it received - and dismissed - over Sense about Science and Simon Singhs' legal battle:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/b...-chiropractic-association-sense-about-science

The link includes 11 pages of full text (which can be read on full screen) "in the interests of having the details out in the open as much as possible".

ETA: In full screen, use the Zoom + icon at the foot of the page to make the document legible.
 
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Blue Wode said:
UK Skeptics have an article on veterinary woo that sums it up nicely:



BTW, yesterday the UK McTimoney Chiropractic Association unveiled its new website, complete with a promotion of neck manipulation for infants...
http://www.mctimoneychiropractic.or...content&view=article&id=58&catid=43&Itemid=37
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To quote;

"She had emerged from the birth canal at a slight angle with face pointing 25 degrees to the left of her mother's midline. Her head was misshapen due to the angle that she had travelled through the birth canal and her parents had been advised that she would 'grow out of it'...

The chiropractor made standard McTimoney adjustments to the neck, and used the Neil Davies method to adjust the cranials, with her lying flat and her head cradled in my hands. The chiropractor also adjusted the posterior occipital and anterior parietal 'bumps' using McTimoney adjustments to encourage the skull to change shape, and also applied Myofascial release to the torso. At the third visit, it was found that the baby's palate to be inferior on the left, which was adjusted accordingly, and since then, she has taken a bottle more easily...

Ella is now eight months old, sitting well and enjoying her life. Her head is still misshapen but the parietal and occipital protrusions are much less pronounced, and she is able to lie with her head almost flat, and has a full range of cervical motion when sitting and lying.'"

To paraphrase more accurately;

"She had emerged from the birth canal at a slight angle with face pointing 25 degrees to the left of her mother's midline. Her head was misshapen due to the angle that she had travelled through the birth canal and her parents had been advised that she would 'grow out of it' and she did, though not completely.'"
 
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Professor Yaffle said:
Colic is the perfect condition for woos to "treat". There doesn't seem to be any real medicine that works very well, and the condition resolves spontaneously and very suddenly at about 3 months of age. So whatever cure you were trying at the time seems quite miraculous. And the parenting messaging boards are the perfect place for parents to share tips for their miraculous cures.
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RANT!
Don't you just hate it when that happens? Just recently I took head-on an entire mailing list because someone uploaded some homeopathy booklets as "useful". I just asked "why do you consider them useful"? The rest is "history". I ended up unsubscribing, having realized I took the wrong approach and tried to reason with them. I couldn't find an argument convincing enough against "I just know it, leave me alone". I'm still wondering about how I could have reached them. Sure enough, since I left, vaccinations came up too with a David Icke video labeled as "worthy of consideration"...
 
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Charity Commission has now handed the Guardian the complaints it received - and dismissed - over Sense about Science and Simon Singhs' legal battle:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/bl...-about-science
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Hmmm, yet another who seems to think the libel case was decided at the preliminary hearing. They even claim Eady allowed leave to appeal - which, iirc, he in fact denied. Singh had to seek permission for leave to appeal and now, with that permission finally granted, can actually mount his appeal.

(ETA: I note this is corrected in later correspondence)

I'm neither a lawyer nor a chiropractor and I've had no trouble following the case. It's not like there's a shortage of easy-to-follow commentary on it - for anyone who can be bothered doing a tiny bit of research.
 
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It is so difficult these days to find people who know Latin.
Luckily for me, the use of Latin and (worse) Norman French is no longer needed for the rigorous lawyering exams.
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And from the interpretations/definitions of some judge(s), who shall remain nameless, Modern English isn't exactly a prerequisite either. ;)
 
Latest news

ASA has administered an appropriate second slap to the GCC and it has now removed its claims for colic, etc:
http://adventuresinnonsense.blogspot.com/2009/11/oooops-theyve-done-it-again.html

BCA v. Singh: the Composition of the Court of Appeal:
It appears that the Court of Appeal is assembling a very powerful panel indeed to hear the appeal by Simon Singh of the adverse ruling on meaning by the High Court.

More...
http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2009/12/bca-v-singh-court-of-appeal-composition.html
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Thing said:
Meanwhile, don't let's be beastly to Judge Eady, says Judge Eady:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/01/david-eady-privacy-trials-media
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In a rare public speech, Mr Justice David Eady...said there was an increasing tendency for judges me to become the target of anger from the media.
"The media have nowhere to vent their frustrations other than through personal abuse of the particular judge who happens to have made the decision me," Eady said. "It has become fashionable to label judges me not as independent but rather as 'unaccountable', and as hostile to freedom of speech."
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How to dissolve responsibility by spreading the target.
How to avoid answering the accusation by attacking the messenger.

He is described by friends as "profoundly hurt" by the attacks.
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I'm sure Simon Singh shares their sentiment. :D
 
I do not think Sir David Eady is the real problem. Personal attacks on him do nothing to help the campaign for libel reform, and really should be avoided anyway. I can conceive of many other judges making each and every libel decision he has made.

The problem is instead with the wretched state of English libel law.
 
Maybe Sir David Eady should be the good guy. If a system is only slightly wrong it probably will not get fixed. But if someone like him breaks it then someone will fix the system.
 
Jack of Kent said:
I do not think Sir David Eady is the real problem. Personal attacks on him do nothing to help the campaign for libel reform, and really should be avoided anyway. I can conceive of many other judges making each and every libel decision he has made.

The problem is instead with the wretched state of English libel law.
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Well, maybe I should take that back, Jack, but I've not heard it put that way before. Does the law really constrain his actions to such a degree?
 
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