Evidence Week - Sense About Science

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
Evidence Week programme
The first of its kind, Evidence Week will run from 25th to 28th June 2018 and will bring together MPs, peers, parliamentary services and people from all walks of life across the UK to talk about why evidence matters. We will be highlighting the role of the House of Commons Library and POST and sharing insights into the work of parliamentarians in seeking and scrutinising evidence.

The week is an initiative of Sense about Science, the House of Commons Library, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, and is being held in partnership with SAGE Publishing with events and briefings being produced in collaboration with community organisations, research and regulatory bodies, including the Royal Statistical Society, Alliance for Useful Evidence and UCL.
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http://senseaboutscience.org/activities/evidence-week-programme/

Am I right in thinking that Sense About Science, in the UK, are blind to the flaws of the PACE trial?
 
Andy said:
Am I right in thinking that Sense About Science, in the UK, are blind to the flaws of the PACE trial?
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Yep, see https://johnthejack.com/2016/10/17/sense-about-science-the-pace-trial-and-me/

Sense about Science UK grew out of the ex-Living Marxism lot with a nice track record of climate change 'skepticism' and strong, sometimes familial, links to the SMC, Institute of Ideas, Frank Furedi etc etc. There's a real 'old boys' network' there involving that strange and influential group of former revolutionary communists turned libertarians, sometimes described as "media-friendly Tory extremists." Some serious questions to be asked about SAS' funding, too.

It's a quagmire of interconnections and interest groups with a whiff of something noxious about it. This page gives a glimpst: https://www.gmwatch.org/en/news/archive/2009/10732-george-monbiot-article-about-sense-about-science
 
Esther12 said:
Anyone live nearby and fancy raising PACE concerns in front of some MPs?
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David and I will be in town that week. But it looks as if it would be quite hard for members of the public to get involved (it seems you have to ask your MP to take you). Moreover, this looks like an orgy of lowest common denominator propaganda. I doubt there would be any point in going along and saying they are the problem rather than the solution.
 
I believe Simon Wessely previously served on the SAS advisory board. He was awarded the John Maddox Prize in 2012..

".. for his ambition and courage in the field of ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) and Gulf War syndrome, and the way he has dealt bravely with intimidation and harassment when speaking about his work and that of colleagues."

http://senseaboutscience.org/activities/2012-john-maddox-prize/
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
David and I will be in town that week. But it looks as if it would be quite hard for members of the public to get involved (it seems you have to ask your MP to take you). Moreover, this looks like an orgy of lowest common denominator propaganda. I doubt there would be any point in going along and saying they are the problem rather than the solution.
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I bet Carol M would invite you
 
Lynda Ware, from Cochrane is doing a talk: Mon 25 June
"Making informed decisions about health care 3-4pm, Room S, Portcullis House, Cochrane Fellow Dr Lynda Ware is speaking about using research evidence to help make informed decisions about health care including systematic reviews – the backbone of Cochrane’s work. She will look behind some newspaper headlines and point to where reliable evidence-based medical advice may be found. Please RSVP to Katie.abbotts@cochrane.nhs.uk"

http://www.evidentlycochrane.net/author/lynda-ware/

Her blog about a talk on EBM to lay people. She is described as a retired GP, so quite possibly from the same era as Wesseley and Co.

http://www.evidentlycochrane.net/evidence-based-medicine-spreading-word/
 
MEMarge said:
Lynda Ware, from Cochrane is doing a talk: Mon 25 June
"Making informed decisions about health care 3-4pm, Room S, Portcullis House, Cochrane Fellow Dr Lynda Ware is speaking about using research evidence to help make informed decisions about health care including systematic reviews – the backbone of Cochrane’s work.

Her blog about a talk on EBM to lay people. She is described as a retired GP, so quite possibly from the same era as Wesseley and Co.
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With people like this talking I doubt there is any point in going near this. The woman is mostly interested in Women's Institute teas and I cannot see anything to be gained by pointing out to her that Cochrane is an unaccountable collection of amateurs.
 
Skycloud said:
Might it be worth pointing out so that others in the room hear?
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I think not. Intelligent people, if there are any there, will see this lady is a clot so not need for me to say anything. Unintelligent people will consider any intervention criticising the nice lady as vexatious. And the person sitting next to them will roll their eyes and whisper - Oh it's that ME lot, they are always trouble.
 
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