See: Critical Thinking petition.

A new petition has been started to petition the Prime Minister to introduce Critical Thinking as part of the core curriculum in primary and secondary schools.

From the petition’s creator:

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Only a couple of weeks ago, stem cell research hit the headlines when a 30-year-old Spanish woman became the first person to have a transplanted organ (trachea) that had been grown from her own stem cells. It is an example of the potential that stem cell technology has for the future of medicine: it offers not only the hope of rejection-free transplants, but also cures for genetic diseases too.

Stem-cell treatments are in the news again this week. However, it’s for the wrong reasons this time. (more…)

Last Wednesday (26^th Nov, 2008), UK-Skeptics were contacted by Shannonside Northern Sound Radio in Longford, Ireland to see if we could supply a skeptic to take part in a live debate about psychics and Cold Reading: the techniques psychics use to convince people they are passing messages from the dead or that they are telling them things they couldn’t possibly know and such like.

We don’t normally take part in these ’skeptics versus believer’ debates as they usually turn out to be of little value – skeptics often being included simply to provide some token opposition. UKS forum member Richard Sutherland decided that he would, however, represent the skeptics’ side of the debate; and this conversation turned out to quite different to the usual: (more…)

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John Jackson © UK-Skeptics

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Does aspartame cause cancer? Is Fluoride in drinking water poisoning our children? Are vaccines causing childhood illnesses?

The answer to those questions, of course, is that there’s no evidence to suggest that any of them are true; yet such claims persist, and although completely discredited, show no signs of abating.

It’s disconcerting to see just how willing people are to accept such claims, but we need to understand that there’s a psychological factor involved: we are particularly sensitive to threats of danger, especially when we don’t know who or what to believe. (more…)

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Chillzero © 2007

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“What goes around, comes around.”

I looked at the man telling me this – a phrase he had used often before, and noticed a change in his eyes as he spoke. The tone of his voice was altered subtly as well. At the time I was unable to place the change, or the significance, but years later I see that this was when I lost my support network of new-age healers; people I called friends.

All because of karma. (more…)

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John Jackson © 2008

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This is a report of the programme broadcast by Channel 5 in the UK on 25^th September 2008. The programme featured self-proclaimed psychic Derek Ogilvie, ‘The Baby Mind Reader’, undergoing formal testing of his claimed ability; notably for the JREF $1,000,000 paranormal challenge. This is an overview of the programme commenting mainly on the tests done, why they were done as they were, and what they actually mean. (more…)