This has a whiff of the SMC about it, I think. Narrative getting out of control: who are our friends?
My exact first thought. There is clearly a pretty cozy relationship between the Guardian and the SMC crowd. Their reporting on PACE is terribly skewed by this.
Is it too optimistic to hope that this desperate error by Peter White could result in pushing the PACE scandal into the mainstream media?
We can but hope, but they have been getting away with a lot for a long time now.
This is shockingly, shockingly desperate. He's unhinged if he thinks this sort of white washing doesn't risk biting him in the ass down the line.
Sadly, he will more likely be lined up for a nice pension and easy retirement along with a bit of consultancy work. He's already in with the CMRC lot (who show their true colours by refusing to distance themselves from the PACE study and its authors), so I'm sure he'll smarm his way out of any serious consequences at all
Agree, their behaviour is beyond pathetic. They have now become a laughing stock, and seem to be their own worse enemy.
They're a laughing stock to us, but he's still accepted by many in the "CFS" research world, he is supported by his university, the SMC (and hence much of the press), by the Lancet, his mates in parliament and the HOL,funding bodies and so on. There is a whole nasty mess there, which few in the mainstream seem to be prepared to tackle.
And, here is the archive just in case they pull it totally, http://archive.is/aTTLq