‘Here at Goddard the auditorium erupted in cheers.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Why Prohibition Fails and What We Should Do Instead
Nov 14th, 2009 | By Colin BrewerAfter the sacking of its chairman, Prof David Nutt, it seems likely that many of the remaining members of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) will resign in sympathy and that nobody of any standing will serve on it unless the government repents. This it is unlikely to do for reasons that, I believe, have more to do with Britain’s relationship with the USA than with more strictly national considerations, never mind pharmacological or scientific ones.
Prof Nutt is one of our most distinguished neuroscientists, and the views for which he was dismissed are founded on good evidence. They are also neither new nor particularly radical and he has been expounding them for several years. I know … Read the rest
Common humanity
Nov 13th, 2009 6:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonA Montreal lawyer, Azim Hussain, is not a fan of Holocaust denial.
… Read the restThe Holocaust denial of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an abuse of the Jewish victims of that genocide, and of the Allied soldiers who sacrificed their lives in order to end the genocide. The Iranian president obviously does not realize that thousands of Muslim Allied soldiers died in World War II. Unbeknownst to many, including many Muslims, soldiers from North Africa to the Indian subcontinent enlisted in huge numbers in the armies of their colonial masters to fight to end the Nazi onslaught. From 15-year-old Indian boy-soldiers fighting in Italy to Noor Inayat Khan, a female spy sent by the British into German-occupied France, Muslims made an
21 November a Day Against Sharia, for Rights
Nov 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne Law for All campaign is organising a rally on Saturday 21 November 2009 in Hyde Park.… Read the rest
Iran: Woman at Risk of Execution by Stoning
Nov 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStarve to death or be stoned to death; it’s your choice.… Read the rest
David Miliband Teams Up With Vatican
Nov 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPublished an article in L’Osservatore Romano pledging to work with Vatican on Arms Trade Treaty.… Read the rest
Why the Stupak Amendment is Unconstitutional
Nov 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt violates the Establishment Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and Substantive Due Process and Privacy Rights.… Read the rest
Some Practices Are Worse Than Others
Nov 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAntonia Zerbisias talks to Jeremy Stangroom about God’s hatred of women and universal values.… Read the rest
‘A Road Which Eventually Can Lead Only to Success’
Nov 13th, 2009 | By Colin BrewerFollowing the defenestration of Professor David Nutt, earlier in the month, from the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs for allegedly intruding on politics in making public his views on the relative risks of legal and illegal drugs, I was moved by simple exasperation to write something in response. This is part of what I wrote and tells the little-known and rather bizarre story of how cannabis came to be prohibited. It also discusses the relative toxicity of cannabis and alcohol and describes what I call the Avocado Theory of illicit drug use.
Many people will have heard of (or even seen) the hilariously alarmist 1930s American anti-drug film ‘Reefer Madness’ which implied that cannabis led inexorably to degradation, … Read the rest
Dangerous to Compare People to Vermin or Disease
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe analogy is dangerous because vermin and disease are things we seek to eradicate for our own safety.… Read the rest
Students are Training in ‘EmoTrance’
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonListen, it’s fully recognised and licensed by the Sidereus Foundation – what more do you want?… Read the rest
Does Jesus Save Aliens?
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere are some difficult issues, such as whether Jesus is the one who saves everyone in the Universe.… Read the rest
The Ethics of British Professional Homeopaths
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEdzard Ernst compares the SoH Code of Ethics with claims on websites of members…… Read the rest
PEN/Index on Censorship Report on Libel Reform
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe law as it stands is hindering the free exchange of ideas and information. … Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Research and Policy
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOddly enough, research really is relevant to policy.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Political Woo
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAn MP dismisses statistics on screening, another embraces ‘the idea of energy transfers.’… Read the rest
Simon Underdown on the Misuses of Darwin
Nov 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDoes it make sense to blame scientists for misunderstandings and corruptions of their ideas?… Read the rest
Humanism and Witch Hunt in Nigeria
Nov 12th, 2009 | By Leo IgweA conference introductory speech presented by Leo Igwe, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Humanist Movement at the Nigerian Humanist Movement’s National Conference on Witch-hunt, Christian Fundamentalism and Child Abuse
Date October 21, 2009. Venue: University of Uyo Community Centre, Uyo Akwa Ibom State
The Guest Speaker, Dr Nkopuduk Etuk
The Executive Secretary of NAPTIP represented by its Uyo zonal head, Mrs Elizabeth Ekaette,
Other governmental and non governmental agencies
Members of the Press
Fellow Humanists, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my honour to welcome you all to this national conference of the Nigerian Humanist Movement taking place here at the University of Uyo Community Centre. This is the first humanist event to be organised by the Nigerian Humanist Movement in Akwa Ibom … Read the rest
More transcendent quantum energy for YOU
Nov 12th, 2009 11:54 am | By Ophelia BensonNow don’t laugh. You mustn’t laugh. It would be terribly rude to laugh. Whatever you do, do not laugh.
… Read the restThe “EmoTrance” project is taking place at the Haydon School in Pinner, Middlesex. Nineteen pupils are being trained in “emotional transformation”, which is described in a press release from EmoTrance.com as a “practical system for energy healing and energy working”…The EmoTrance.com press release says the therapy helps students to “identify where emotions are held in their body”. It quotes one pupil as saying: “I felt hatred towards a person, yet when I went through EmoTrance after some layers of energy were removed I felt as if I could accept this person.”
The release adds that the pupils are practising the therapy
Wishful thinking
Nov 11th, 2009 4:31 pm | By Ophelia BensonJoe Hockey has been reading Karen Armstrong, it appears.
Those who seek to proclaim the prescriptions of the Bible selectively or literally provide an armoury of ammunition to those like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. Laymen like myself struggle with the logic of such an approach. While debate rages about such matters, the true message of the scriptures – of compassion, justice, equality, dignity, forgiveness, charity and respect for other people – inevitably takes a back seat.
That’s the true message of ‘the scriptures’ is it – in spite of all the content of the scriptures that says no such thing but rather the very opposite? In spite of all the abundant material in the scriptures that urges cruelty, … Read the rest