Kathy Sykes rides again

[Ivor the Engineer]

<snip>

The best bit was the "Hug party".
I suggest this is mandatory for TAM6 attenders. It might even rival the PJ party.

Some people don't like being hugged or otherwise crowded.

 

[Blue Wode]

So...... last night.....
The Prof seems to appreciate that reflexology has no scientific basis, but realises that the touchy-feely rituals, context and language provided by the reflexologists affect people's emotional state; i.e., it's just like any other CAM therapy you wish to mention.

The best bit was the "Hug party".
I suggest this is mandatory for TAM6 attenders. It might even rival the PJ party.

For those wondering what they might have missed, the programme can be viewed online here for the next 6 days:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/i...&scope=iplayerla st7days&version_pid=b009nlww

(Duration: 60 minutes)

So far we have a reflexologist who has just joined the discussion about it over at UK Skeptics,
http://www.skeptics.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2261&page=2

a UK MD who is far from happy with the way in which it was presented,
http://drkaplanarticles.blogspot.com/2008/03/reflexology-on-bbc2-last-night.html

and a UK journalist who wasn’t at all impressed by it:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/25/nosplit/bvtv25last.xml

 

[jimbob]

and a UK journalist who wasn’t at all impressed by it:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/25/nosplit/bvtv25last.xml

Seems fair comment by the journalist, especially the part highlighted...

But Sykes, as she reminds us every couple of minutes, is a scientist. This apparently means that, unlike the rest of us, she wants to understand the world and won’t accept such assertions at face value. So it was that she now set her face to stern, and decided to find out if the claims for reflexology are true.

Needless to say, the answer is “obviously not” – but, in order to fill an hour, Sykes was obliged to take her time reaching it. As ever, she did a pretty good job of pretending to weigh up the evidence carefully, and of putting disingenuous questions to somewhat startled academics.

 

[Thing]

And yet according to the idiot Bunting "Sykes is too good a scientist to give complementary medicine an easy run." Where does this idea that she's a particularly good scientist come from? She's got a PhD but never published any articles that I can find. Her career has been spent studying science not doing it. To Bunting and co the fact that she's on telly and says things they like to hear makes her a good scientist. Crazy. By a similar token the pubs of Britain contain their share of neckless thugs who couldn't tell you the difference between a black hole and a black object, but would take the suggestion that there might be a scientific mind greater than or even comparable to that of Stephen Hawking as a personal affront.

 

[Deetee]

For those wondering what they might have missed, the programme can be viewed online here for the next 6 days:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009nlx6.shtml?filter=txdate%3A24-03&filter=txslot%3Aevening&start=1&scope=iplayerla st7days&version_pid=b009nlww

(Duration: 60 minutes)

So far we have a reflexologist who has just joined the discussion about it over at UK Skeptics,
http://www.skeptics.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2261&page=2

a UK MD who is far from happy with the way in which it was presented,
http://drkaplanarticles.blogspot.com/2008/03/reflexology-on-bbc2-last-night.html

Didn't realise the woo was so strong in this one....
Shamefully he is a doctor and should know better. An example of his cognitive ability:

Almost every cell in the body has the DNA to clone the whole body again. Thus it's not surprising to me that one part of the body could have some subtle knowledge about another part.

Now why didn't I think of that? - it's so obvious! Why earlier today i was wondering why my stomach grumbled when I thought of lunch. Now I know - it was my DNA! God bless the little blighters.

Also the following:

And reflexologists practise the true art of healing a lot better than most doctors, not that I'd go to one if I had appendicitis of course.

How's that for a non sequitur?

 

[Rrose Selavy]

I caught about two minutes of it but turned over when they got to the part where Sykes felt the need to explain what an "anatomist" is.-