Paul Garner on Long Covid and ME/CFS - BMJ articles and other media.

[Yann04]

People like him are beyond saving I think. We need to focus on him getting listened to less.

 

[Mij]

I keep 'watching' and 'unwatching' this thread and I'm starting to annoy myself.

 

[Mij]

On another thread they said he’d popped up commenting on a Facebook post about the DecodeME preprint. I think he was doing the “nothing to see here” line.

He's gone stealth on X.

 

[MrMagoo]

He's gone stealth on X.

Good. Let’s hope he stays “stealth” media wise

 

[Yann04]

I keep 'watching' and 'unwatching' this thread and I'm starting to annoy myself.

I’m on the other end. I often ignore this thread but then I hear somewhere else about what new terrible thing Paul has done and feel compelled to come here and catch up.

 

[Hutan]

He's gone stealth on X.

Wasn't @Jonathan Edwards going to write to him? I guess it's probably too much to hope that Garner would actually see the error of his ways though.

Probably he's just having a holiday somewhere.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

Wasn't @Jonathan Edwards going to write to him? I guess it's probably too much to hope that Garner would actually see the error of his ways though.

I did write to him indicating that I thought his posts were unprofessinal, incoherent and offensive. I also pointed out that evenHilda Bastion was unimpressed by the Cochrane shenanigans he has signed up to. And then Hilda's broadside (I think in BMJ comments) came a day or two later.

I think he would have to be very thick skinned indeed not to think twice about further nonsense. He may be very thick skinned but he has been behaving in a way that even co-conspirators are likely to feel uncomfortable with.

 

[Sasha]

I did write to him indicating that I thought his posts were unprofessinal, incoherent and offensive.

Thank you. It's so incredibly hard to be listened to by these people as a patient. It's important that they hear criticism from people within the profession.

 

[Mij]

#DecodeME breaking news that there is a genetic influence on the #MECFS: how is this new? We have known this since 2002! Here is a headline from 2005.

 

[Utsikt]

This is the article, it talks about differences in the gene expression in white blood cells. 25 cases and 25 controls.

https://archive.is/2023.03.06-103330/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725093-700-chronic-fatigue-is-not-all-in-the-mind/

It might be this study:

Use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to distinguish gene expression subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) | Journal of Clinical Pathology

I also found this:

https://www.s4me.info/threads/gene-expression-subtypes-in-patients-with-cfs-me-2008-kerr-holgate-et-al.27889/

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

It might be this study:
Use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to distinguish gene expression subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) | Journal of Clinical Pathology

It might refer to the Kerr and Wessely study that claimed to find a HLA-DQ linkage and maybe HLA-C but I don't thin the findings replicated. The subtype claim in the other paper didn't look sound.

 

[MrMagoo]

#DecodeME breaking news that there is a genetic influence on the #MECFS: how is this new? We have known this since 2002! Here is a headline from 2005.

God he’s interminable with his tweeting.

How is this new? Does he need me to get some crayons, and a copy of Genetics for Dummies?

 

[Yann04]

It’s so weird. It’s like he wants the last word on everything, the appear smarter on everything. Like a political debate where instead of actually focusing on specifics they randomly throw insults and simplistic “gotchas”.

 

[MrMagoo]

It’s so weird. It’s like he wants the last word on everything, the appear smarter on everything. Like a political debate where instead of actually focusing on specifics they randomly throw insults and simplistic “gotchas”.

Yes it does seem to be about being so much more cleverer and smarter than the average bore.

 

[Sean]

than the average bore.

 

[Suffolkres]

This is the article, it talks about differences in the gene expression in white blood cells. 25 cases and 25 controls.

https://archive.is/2023.03.06-103330/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725093-700-chronic-fatigue-is-not-all-in-the-mind/

It might be this study:

Use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to distinguish gene expression subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) | Journal of Clinical Pathology

I also found this:

https://www.s4me.info/threads/gene-expression-subtypes-in-patients-with-cfs-me-2008-kerr-holgate-et-al.27889/

This makes me so sad. RIP Jonathan Kerr. Stephen Holgate was also cited.... Pesticides and OP exposure were suggested.
I met with the members of Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution including Holgate in advance of this study and their RCRP report. Wessley even tried to infiltrate this RCEP work but got slapped back!!

 

[Suffolkres]

This makes me so sad. RIP Jonathan Kerr. Stephen Holgate was also cited.... Pesticides and OP exposure were suggested.
I met with the members of Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution including Holgate in advance of this study and their RCRP report. Wessley even tried to infiltrate this RCEP work but got slapped back!!

Department of Geography, Cambridge » The role and Influence of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 1970 -2011

www.geog.cam.ac.uk

 

[Lidia Thompson]

It might refer to the Kerr and Wessely study that claimed to find a HLA-DQ linkage and maybe HLA-C but I don't thin the findings replicated. The subtype claim in the other paper didn't look sound.

If it is indeed referring to this paper from Kerr and Wessely:

Association of chronic fatigue syndrome with human leucocyte antigen class II alleles - PubMed

CFS may be associated with HLA-DQA1*01, although a role for other genes in linkage disequilibrium cannot be ruled out.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

"Association of chronic fatigue syndrome with human leucocyte antigen class II alleles",
then Garner's position is very much in line with that of keeping his preferred group of researchers in control; endorsing "the right people", his people, and by association, himself; making sure the narrative continues to be shaped by them/him and them/him alone. This way, the staus quo can be maintained i.e. to do nothing, keep treatment costs down and ensure that NHS practice never changes.

Heaven help us if a different group with a different agenda end up controlling the narrative and actually manage to get something changed

 

[Utsikt]

Garner and OCFN with an opinion piece in Norway about LC:

Post in thread 'News from Scandinavia'

Sep 11, 2025

Reme, Landmark, Garner and Van der Bergh as representatives of OCFN with an opinion piece about how predictive models and expectations cause LC and that this should be taught in medical schools.

Sitter long covid «bare i hodet»?

KRONIKK: Kunnskap om hvordan symptomer oppstår og vedvarer, bør få mer plass i medisinstudiet, ifølge innsenderne.

www.forskersonen.no

• Utsikt

• 

 

[Chandelier]

Garner and OCFN with an opinion piece in Norway about LC:

Post in thread 'News from Scandinavia'

Sep 11, 2025

Reme, Landmark, Garner and Van der Bergh as representatives of OCFN with an opinion piece about how predictive models and expectations cause LC and that this should be taught in medical schools.

Sitter long covid «bare i hodet»?

KRONIKK: Kunnskap om hvordan symptomer oppstår og vedvarer, bør få mer plass i medisinstudiet, ifølge innsenderne.

www.forskersonen.no

• Utsikt

• 

English translation via Google Translate.