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Rod's back! Coverage in The Spectator, 2nd November

Wildcat

Wildcat

Messages
1,446
..
"What would happen if they were completely ignored and no-one posted anything?"

Then online readers of the Spectator would continue reading derogatory trash about ME and the patients, which would remain uncontested with facts.
 
Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
sarah darwins said:
So, the question is: how do we get a major British newspaper to publish an article by Jonathan Edwards, rather than a comment below the line.

Because nothing much will change until we start seeing contrary opinions published by people who aren't patients but scientists/doctors. What happened with The Telegraph last week was a perfect double-hit for us: first "The Science", from the psychiatric perspective, of course. Then the contrary view. By a patient. Naturally. It all reinforces the "only ME patients think they are really ill" myth.
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It seems to me quite tricky, especially if my comments on journalists' articles are deleted as SPAM.
 
Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
Tom Kindlon said:
I've posted it for you now:
http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/20...ctually-a-chronic-illness/#comment-2339408066

ETA: Looks like it has been deleted. Can't help. Not sure if anyone else can.
@Jonathan Edwards

I checked my account and it was marked as spam. Maybe somebody else can post it but don't put a link in it (I linked to the Jo Edwards' post on PR).
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Interesting, I think there must be rules about what is not allowed to actually say in a comment on their page.
This is all a side show when it comes to getting real change but it does indicate the level of ignorance around and the difficulty of tryig to get people to think sense. Actually, you never get people to think sense but sometimes they change to thinking something more helpful.
 
BurnA

BurnA

Senior Member
Messages
2,087
Jonathan Edwards said:
Interesting, I think there must be rules about what is not allowed to actually say in a comment on their page.
This is all a side show when it comes to getting real change but it does indicate the level of ignorance around and the difficulty of tryig to get people to think sense. Actually, you never get people to think sense but sometimes they change to thinking something more helpful.
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It is a big side show and you have to wonder if so much time and effort was put into a proper intelligent discussion on me/cfs how much more productive that would be.

However, it's doctors and politicians who read newspapers and thereby form their opinions, it's part of the overall battle but it's so far from the front line it's depressing.
 
Esther12

Esther12

Senior Member
Messages
13,774
worldbackwards said:
To be honest, James Coyne isn't doing us much good on there. I suspect he hasn't learned from bitter experience what happens when you get worked up.
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I think that Coyne is doing us good, partly because he's indifferent to the politics. He says what he thinks and doesn't feel that he needs to toady up to journalists who write poor quality articles. He's talking as a professor who does not have a personal connection to ME and the fact that he's the most aggressive 'advocate' just shows how silly and overblown these complaints about dangerous terrorist patients has been.

Maybe it would be a little better to tone it down a little, but not by much imo.
 
Rick Sanchez

Rick Sanchez

Messages
84
Oh god this is just like the AIDS epidemic all over.

How could a bunch of lousy French scientists be the first to find the HIV strain, when Americas great retro-virus scientist had not!?

Simple, they clearly had not!!

And of course we are now just like the alarmist militant AIDS sufferers who always greedily ask for too much. Not being grateful for all the money being allocated to our illness.
 
Esther12

Esther12

Senior Member
Messages
13,774
Looks like Rod was replying to the Isabel piece:

rodliddle•3 hours ago
No,Isabel, the game was up a long time ago. Every serious investigation into ME (and fibromyalgia and, for that matter Morgellons) has concluded the illnesses are not occasioned by viruses, have no definable cause, have no identifiable cure, have no identifiable pathology. They are either neurological or psychological in origin. They are, in short, something to do with "stress". Suggest this and those who insist they suffer from these ailments will resort to the sort of irrational fury you might see herehttp://hanlonblog.dailymail.co...and in countless, countless, cases beyond. I am aware of The Lancet report. I am also able to read between lines. Look at the conclusions of the report.
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rodliddle•3 hours ago
This does not of course mean they are not "genuine". They are. Simply that the answer may not be strictly medical. My suspicion, based upon the evidence I have seen and wrote about in my book "Whining Selfish Monkeys" is that all of these rather ectoplasmic complaints have a root in stress, chronic dissatisfaction, despair and misery.
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S

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
Sasha said:
I didn't know what your title meant @worldbackwards!

Haven't bothered reading Liddle's nonsense but I'm grateful to him for giving me access to the Spectactor's massive online platform.

Please vote up my comment about the PACE petition!

http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/20...ctually-a-chronic-illness/#comment-2339495327
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Thanks, guys - I'm currently in poll position so if anybody sorts on 'best' the link for the petition comes up at the top.

Note my new signature (with boffins! I love those boffins) - feel free to copy. :nerd:
 
W

worldbackwards

Senior Member
Messages
2,051
Rod Liddle said:
I am aware of The Lancet report. I am also able to read between lines. Look at the conclusions of the report.
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In a sense, Liddle is quite perceptive here. He knows very well what the agenda of this research is and he doesn't buy the "we're very reasonable", centre ground spin. The only problem is that he agrees with them.
 
sarah darwins

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
worldbackwards said:
In a sense, Liddle is quite perceptive here. He knows very well what the agenda of this research is and he doesn't buy the "we're very reasonable", centre ground spin. The only problem is that he agrees with them.
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Hard to know what he actually thinks. He's all about provocation.

Nobody ever said Rod Liddle wasn't smart. Or gifted. He's both. It's just a shame that he uses his talents to stir things up and get himself noticed, rather than going after the truth. British journalism in a nutshell.
 
S

Starlight

Senior Member
Messages
152
Professor Edwards it does seem difficult to login to this site but if you have a gmail, google account, twitter or facebook account you can just press the symbol for that account (eg, G for gmail) beside the area to post a response and you'll be automatically logged in. If it asks for a password it will be the password corresponding to what symbol you press. You can post your response then.
I would be happy to register an email address on your behalf and register an account on that site and send you the login details if it would be a help. As I don't know you I wouldn't like to take liberties by doing it without your express permission.
Your response is excellent. I am so heartened b
Jonathan Edwards said:
I tried to post this on Harman's comments:

Dear Isabel,

I am afraid even you have got it wrong. I am a retired professor of medicine at UCL and have a lot of experience with designing therapeutic trials. The PACE trial is completely valueless because it breaks the most basic rule of reliable trial design - it is unblinded and has subjective end points. Ask any trials designer and they will tell you this is a waste of time. The fact that Oxford University is involved means nothing - there are people who do not understand what they are doing in all major universities.

The reason the patients are vociferous is that they are being forced to accept very poor science. If I Had ME and realised just how bad this trial is I would be spitting blood as well. This is the Emperor with No Clothes in Spades. Just sit next to a professor of clinical pharmacology at dinner sometime and ask about this trial - it is about time the psychiatry profession realised they can no longer get away with this sort of rubbish.


But I don't think I am logged in. I cannot cope with all these logging in procedures. If anyone like @Dolphin can post it by proxy then that would be good. Sorry for being a wimp.
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Professor Edwards it does seem difficult to login to this site but if you have a gmail, google account, twitter or facebook account you can just press the symbol for that account (eg, G for gmail) beside the area to post a response and you'll be automatically logged in. If it asks for a password it will be the password corresponding to what symbol you press. You can post your response then.
I would be happy to register an email address on your behalf then register an account on that site and post your words and send you the login details if it would be a help. As I don't know you I wouldn't like to take liberties by doing it without your express permission.
Your response is excellent. I am so heartened by your support, you have no idea how much it means to us.
 
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