Let me remind you what this blog is about | Edzard Ernst

Some of the recent comments on this blog have been rather emotional, a few even irrational, and several were, I am afraid, outright insulting (I usually omit to post the worst excesses). Moreover, I could not avoid the impression that some commentators have little understanding of what the aim of this blog really is. I tried to point this out in the very first paragraph of my very first post:

Why another blog offering critical analyses of the weird and wonderful stuff that is going on in the world of alternative medicine? The answer is simple: compared to the plethora of uncritical misinformation on this topic, the few blogs that do try to convey more reflected, sceptical views are much needed; and the more we have of them, the better...

Read on: Let me remind you what this blog is about

What a paean from Ben Goldacre can do

After an interchange on Twitter about how blogs get noticed, I commented that the best thing for me was being thrown off the UCL web site by Malcolm Grant, and the subsequent support that I got from Ben Goldacre. I am a big fan of just about everything that Goldacre has done. So are a lot of other people and his support was crucial.

When I looked up his 2007 post, I found a lot of links were now broken, and some characters didn’t render properly. So, as a matter of historical record, I’m reproducing the whole post with updated links where possible...

Read the rest here: What a paean from Ben Goldacre can do by David Colquhoun

The Alan Hunter saga

Over the past few days, WWDTYDTY received several increasingly bizarre emails from a person who sometimes signs as "Alan Hunter", sometimes as "Dave Warren" . This is the story so far. It may run and run...

The post that started it all: Alan Hunter’s allergy cure

WWDDTYDTY accused of being scientists!
Alan Hunter writes to WWDDTYDTY

An outraged Major General clutches the traditional journalist-rebutting horsewhip convulsively:
Alan Hunter girds his loins for legal battle

Alan Hunter hides hehind a false name while accusing others of cowardice:
Alan Hunter: the plot thickens

More chest-thumping and a glimpse into Hunter's noble spirit via a letter to a national paper:
Alan Hunter and the Ongoing Legal Bluster

The posturing continues, we are treated to details of Hunter's professional - erm - credentials and a legal threat:
Alan Hunter resorts to CAPITAL LETTERS! Will The Ed falter?

How dull my days would be without the joy of the ‘fan-post’ by devoted chiropractors | Edzard Ernst

DOCTOR Jeffrey Collins, a chiropractor from the Chicago area, just sent me an email which, I think, is remarkable and hilarious - so much so that I want to share it with my readers. Here it is in its full length and beauty:

If you really think you can resolve all back pain syndromes with a pill then you are dumber than you look. I’ve been a chiropractor for 37 years and the primary difference between seeing me vs. an orthopedic surgeon for back pain is simple. When you have ANY fixation in the facet joint, the motor untitled is compromised. These are the load bearing joints in the spine and only an idiot would not realize they are the primary source of pain. The idea of giving facet blocks under fluoroscopy is so dark ages. Maybe you could return to blood letting. The fact that you attack chiropractors as being dangerous when EVERY DAY medical doctors kill people but that’s OK in the name of science. Remember Vioxx? Oh yeah that drug killed over 80,000 patients that they could find. It was likely double that. Oddly I have treated over 10,000 in my career and nobody died. Not one. I guess I was just lucky. I went to Palmer in Iowa. The best chiropractors come out of there. I should qualify that. The ones that have a skill adjusting the spine...

Read the rest of this gem here: How dull my days would be without the joy of the ‘fan-post’ by devoted chiropractors