British Chiropractic Association v Simon Singh

Ben Goldacre in the Guardian:
Saturday 17 October 2009

For those with the finances to try to silence their critics, this has been a week of spectacular own goals. Trafigura has loudly advertised the report on the dumping of toxic waste in Africa by taking out a super-injunction through Carter-Ruck. And on Wednesday Simon Singh, the science writer being sued by the British Chiropractic Association, won his right to an appeal.

Briefly, Singh was sued by the BCA over an article in the Guardian in which he criticised chiropractors for claiming they can treat children's colic, sleeping and feeding problems, ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, by manipulation of the spine. He said these interventions were "bogus", with "not a jot of evidence". Before this case most people hadn't really noticed chiropractors. Now the internet is awash with reviews of the evidence and its flaws, so this is a good time to revisit the evidence.

Read on...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/17/bad-science-chiropractors
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Meanwhile, a judgment given by Eady yesterday includes the following comment:
The object of any libel action is to restore reputation. It is difficult to see what the Claimant hopes to gain from this litigation. It may be true that the newspaper was "having a laugh" at his expense, but it is not immediately apparent how the claim is likely to restore or enhance his reputation.
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Nonetheless, the solicitors have lodged a costs estimate of over £500,000 (not including success fee or ATE premium). To an outside observer, it may seem difficult to understand how the case could give rise to such expenditure.
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Jeebus. Yes, it is very difficult to understand.
 
Correction/clarification in the Grauniad:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/oct/23/corrections-clarifications

But the appeal court, our column said, "struck Eady's ruling down, deciding that his interpretation was 'legally erroneous'". This was incorrect, as was an earlier news story that used "legally erroneous" without qualification. The appeal court did not overturn the earlier ruling, but rather gave Simon Singh leave to appeal. In explaining his decision, Lord Justice Laws said: "I give no finding as to the end result. I only give reasons why the appeal ought to be allowed to go forward." One of these reasons, he said, was that "It is arguable that [Mr Justice Eady's] approach to the issue of whether something that was objectively verifiable could be a comment was legally erroneous"
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ETA: refers to this article, linked to above by Pipirr: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/oct/19/eady-libel-tourism-free-speech
 
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BenBurch said:
Aside; Why the "Grauniad" anagram?
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The paper is (was?) notorious for typos.

ETA: From wikipedia:
The nickname The Grauniad for the paper originated with the satirical magazine Private Eye.[87] This played on The Guardian's reputation for frequent typographical errors, such as misspelling its own name as The Gaurdian.[88] The domain grauniad.co.uk is registered to the paper, and redirects to its website at guardian.co.uk.

The very first issue of the newspaper contained a number of errors, perhaps the most notable being a notification that there would soon be some goods sold at atction instead of auction. There are fewer typographical errors in the paper since the end of hot-metal typesetting.[89] One of their writers, Keith Devlin, suggested that the high number of observed misprints was due more to the quality of the readership than their greater frequency.[90]
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Aitch said:
Also, IIRC, the record for misprints is held by the Times.
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According to the entry for "the most misprints in a newspaper" in Stephen Pile's The Return of Heroic Failures (1988) the Times managed 97 misprints in five and a half inches of a single story in June 1978, thus breaking its own record, reported in The Book of Heroic Failures (1979), of 78 misprints on a page. The latter book notes:
These errors were caused by an industrial dispute and do not, in any case, have the sheer style of the Guardian which can do this sort of thing quite unaided. Among its most famous misprints was a review of the opera Doris Gudenov.
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The June 1978 record appears to have been largely caused by a shortage of the letter "e". Pile quotes it as saying: "Incrased collegiality in th running of th church ld to cration of the synod of bishops, a large gathering of ky bishops vtry thre yars", and notes that the Pope is referred to as "Pop" throughout.

I also remember a weather forecast in the Guardian which included "sunny pernods".

[/off topic]
 
Lionel Milgrom comments:

CAM, Free Speech, and the British Legal System: Overstepping the Mark?

"The British Chiropractic Association recently won a libel case against the science writer and CAM "skeptic" Dr Simon Singh for publishing an article in a British newspaper in which he accused them of promoting "bogus" treatments."

...

"The judge agreed with [the BCA's] argument, awarding the BCA substantial damages."
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"Overstepping the mark" indeed.

This isn't the first time that Milgrom has overstepped the mark regaridng Eady's preliminary ruling: Here he is in the BMJ's rapid responses claiming that "the judge agreed [Singh's article] was libellous".

Analysis of Milgrom's article from Jack of Kent, Gimpy and Dr Aust.
 
Mojo said:
Lionel Milgrom comments:

CAM, Free Speech, and the British Legal System: Overstepping the Mark?




"Overstepping the mark" indeed.

This isn't the first time that Milgrom has overstepped the mark regaridng Eady's preliminary ruling: Here he is in the BMJ's rapid responses claiming that "the judge agreed [Singh's article] was libellous".

Analysis of Milgrom's article from Jack of Kent, Gimpy and Dr Aust.
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I like the links, Mojo. Helps to understand what is a very complex matter, particularly when it comes to a legal issue in England.

One thing is certain: Simon Singh has facts to back his assertions. The BCA does not. We'll see what comes of that.
 
So, what is it with Lionel Milgrom?

If you read the previous article, and you don't know anything about Quantum Theory, he sounds confident, knowledgeable and erudite. Even when you do know something about Quantum Theory he still sounds confident, knowledgeable and erudite. But you realise he's talking absolute nonsense.
This most recent contribution (I can read only the first page because I'm not paying $44 to read the rest) illustrates clearly how he is just unable to get it right. Yet he still writes with seeming confidence and authority.

I don't quite get how this is possible. I mean, surely he would have to realise evetually what a ******** artist he is. I mean it requires a certain degree of intelligence to be able to write what he does in such a convincing manner, so how can he not know.
 
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BillyJoe said:
So, what is it with Lionel Milgrom?

If you read the previous article, and you don't know anything about Quantum Theory, he sounds confident, knowledgeable and erudite. Even when you do know something about Quantum Theory he still sounds confident, knowledgeable and erudite. But you realise he's talking absolute nonsense.
This most recent contribution (I can read only the first page because I'm not paying $44 to read the rest) illustrates clearly how he is just unable to get it right. Yet he still writes with seeming confidence and authority.

I don't quite get how this is possible. I mean, surely he would have to realise evetually what a ******** artist he is. I mean it requires a certain degree of intelligence to be able to write what he does in such a convincing manner, so how can he not know.
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BJ, the reality remains that guys like Milgrom are out there, and there are people lazy enough in their own intellectual pursuits that they'll allow them to continue. Thankfully, it also allows Milgrom enough rope to hang himself. As JofK has pointed out, he's demonstrating a profound willingness to do just that.
 
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