bad arguments


AWWTM: “Driving has never cost more”

“End to the war on the motorists?  No, driving’s never cost more,” declares Mark King, Money Editor, in The Observer today.  To be fair to King, he doesn’t actually say anything as absurd as that driving has “never cost more” in his article — but newspaper headline writers have never […]


In which I inflict Ken Ham upon myself and others

This is another archival repost originally written for the old blog in april 2008. I listened to a sermon[1] by Ken Ham, creationist head of Answers in Genesis, the other day. I was erm … researching a role? Anyway, it was great fun. My knowledge of church services is limited […]


Lay Science: The Selfish Genius

This was originally written a year ago on a now disused blog. I’m reposting it here because I enjoyed writing it so much that I wouldn’t want it to disappear. People love a good argument with Richard Dawkins. So many people are so desperately seeking reassurance that he is wrong, […]


Church leader declares crackpot ideas, gets free air time

This is another archival repost from the old blog — this one from March 2008. Wow, a slow news day, eh? The BBC, shunning predictable Chinese military aggression, another turn of the tides in Iraq, and yet more boring news about the economy, lead with “Brown criticised over embryo bill“. […]


Broadcast

This is an archival re-post of something written last summer on the old blog. Any Questions, one half of BBC Radio 4’s weekly foray into the realm of mindless US-style talk radio bigotry, this week invited a panel of historians, novelists, and journalists to share their poorly considered thoughts on […]


Lay Science: Further research is necessary

The paper that initiated the great MMR hoax has been thoroughly discredited and retracted by the journal that published it, but the anti-vaxxers still claim — and hoodwink some parents — that more research is required to establish whether or not vaccines cause autism. I thought therefore that it was […]


In which Johnny Ball demonstrates why we can be confident that AGW is happening

This is an archive repost, originally posted on the old blog shortly after Johnny Ball had made his first appearance at Nine Lessons And Carols For Godless People. Skepticism — the movement and the everyday scientific method — is about vetting the new ideas that want to take up residence […]