Patrick Holford at the RCSI

sciencewatch

Hi

I can't believe the RCSI are hosting this... eh... lecture, and even worse the Irish Times are supporting it. Maybe RCSI will give him a visiting professorship just like Teesside did - or rather didn't.

AtomicHorror

Good God, I can't believe the RCSI would host that total charlatan. Have they no idea of the amount of total crap he talks? I mean, I'd accept it if this were a public debate but I don't see that.

Ostrom

AtomicHorror wrote: »

Good God, I can't believe the RCSI would host that total charlatan. Have they no idea of the amount of total crap he talks? I mean, I'd accept it if this were a public debate but I don't see that.

Someone call Ben Goldacre, quick

2Scoops

AtomicHorror wrote: »

Good God, I can't believe the RCSI would host that total charlatan.

He's just renting the room. Money talks. No doubt, he solicited this venue to give the appearance of credibility.

Shame on the Irish Times, though. Journalists, tbh. :pac:

sciencewatch

2Scoops wrote: »

He's just renting the room. Money talks. No doubt, he solicited this venue to give the appearance of credibility.

Yes, it is just room rental, but unfortunately his resume will now have the credibility of "Lecture at the RCSI"

efla wrote:

Someone call Ben Goldacre, quick

He knows (see first response)

2Scoops wrote: »

Shame on the Irish Times, though

Yes, although unfortunately the Health and Property supplements seem to be exempt from their editorial standards. The latter is property porn while the former is far too susceptible to the woos of comp and alt medicine.

AtomicHorror

I was going to say, let's get a sceptical posse together and ask the guy some really tricky questions. But then I saw that the tickets cost €125 each. Even if I could justify that, I think we can safely say that winning an audience who just shelled out that kinda money would be impossible. I'd be boo-ed down out of their sheer embarrassment.

JuliusCaesar

Has anyone told the Irish Skeptics Society???

(ok, I just did...http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=422)

Dixie Chick

Hey, he isnt all that bad. I have followed his diet for the last 4 months and I have ever been slimmer and healthier. i take some of the vitamins he recommends. That website holfordwatch.com is actually a bit pathetic when you read its acticles.

2Scoops

Dixie Chick wrote: »

Hey, he isnt all that bad. I have followed his diet for the last 4 months and I have ever been slimmer and healthier. i take some of the vitamins he recommends. That website holfordwatch.com is actually a bit pathetic when you read its acticles.

Getting people to lose weight and hawking the odd vitamin pill is fine by me; lying and distorting the truth for profit is not.

JuliusCaesar

AtomicHorror wrote: »

I was going to say, let's get a sceptical posse together and ask the guy some really tricky questions. But then I saw that the tickets cost €125 each.

:eek:

sciencewatch

Dixie Chick wrote: »

Hey, he isnt all that bad. I have followed his diet for the last 4 months and I have ever been slimmer and healthier. i take some of the vitamins he recommends. That website holfordwatch.com is actually a bit pathetic when you read its acticles.

I think this post is really the nub of the debate... "it works for me so what's wrong with him?"

Which parts of holfordwatch didn't you like? The bits where the site criticise Holford, whose formal education is a degree in psychology, for giving medical advice? I sat beside him on a plane once. He wasn't reading medical articles or catching up on latest research. He was reviewing stock lists for his vitamins which cure all ills. Unfortunately it's "it worked for me" and "lecture at the RCSI" that give the guy credibility.