One of the things I'm always struck by whenever I investigate the topic of wellness or alternative medicine is how much the promise of empowerment and autonomy is used as a cover for absolving the practitioner of responsibility when it all goes wrong. And this is highlighted so explicitly here.

Well. QED. What a weekend. I am definitely too exhausted to write something comprehensive or coherent but I do have a few things to reflect on. 1) Our community is amazing. I feel so privileged to get to share this space with the most welcoming, compassionate, thoughtful and kind people.

Yesterday Reform UK were given the Rusty Razor award for the worst pseudoscience of the year. From denying climate change to platforming quacks, Reform propagate dangerous nonsense. www.skeptic.org.uk/2025/10/refo...

At final #QEDCon a pleasure to speak on panel on Christian Nationalism with excellent @sianushka.bsky.social @noahlugeons.bsky.social & @aliceemmalouise.bsky.social Times are grim but if we work hard to analyse the problem & embrace the big picture cause of human freedom & equality, we can prevail!

On my way to QED for the last time 🥲 I adore QED because it is so thoughtfully planned, incredibly welcoming & the talks are top tier. I’m sharing how to influence & shape policy. Looking forward to geeking out on Parliamentary process with @lizzicollinge.bsky.social & @louisevthompson.bsky.social

QED is right around the corner! One of the best things about attending QED is the social side – from chatting and hanging out in the bar and social spaces, to sharing thoughts digitally with during sessions. With that in mind, we have a few ways to help make socialising a little easier!

Headed to London. Speaking and doing some filming at New Scientist Live at the Excel tomorrow. If you are around come and say hello! Also kicking around town Sunday evening before the sleeper train.

Time to make those tough decisions on which sessions you'll be choosing to attend at this year's QED. The schedule is now live: qedcon.org/schedule

Final QED 2025 additions: Making policy work panel, the European Skeptics Podcast, and Noah Lugeons. Evidence in Action: Making Policy Work with Jamie Gallagher, Lizzi Collinge and Louise Thompson European Skeptics Podcast with András Pintér and Pontus Böckman And...

MYTHBUSTING - article by @mcintold.bsky.social about common reactions to science manipulation. A great accompaniment to her keynote talk at last week's Beyond Certainty symposium #AIBeyond2025 - recording to be released soon www.alpsp.org/news-publica...

Two more QED 2025 panels announced: The Fat of the Matter: Health Claims, Human Costs with Alice Howarth, Asher Larmie, Maeve Hanan and Angela Meadows. And From Autocomplete to Apex Intelligence with Rick Owen, Ciaran Talbot and Mark Johnson. qedcon.org/news/2025/tw...

QED 2025 - featuring Matt Winning, and the real and fake threats to free speech Delighted to announce the next two additions to the line-up for the final QED: our panel on free speech, and climate policy expert and standup comedian Dr Matt Winning on the main stage. qedcon.org/news/2025/ma...

Please join me in congratulating Woman on her appointment

My article for The Skeptic this week turned into a bit of a rant about how the constant search for relatable seasonal content can contribute to health anxiety and over-medicalisation of certain experiences.

As a disabled pregnant woman currently taking paracetamol (tylenol) for back & pelvic pain... I don't yet have a response for the ableist, eugenicist, evidently pro-life movatived "announcement" from the US President. But I will say this. If you don't want a disabled child, don't have children.

Saturday night at QED 2025 – with Ian Smith, Rosie Holt, Alex Kealy, Eli Bosnick and the Ockhams Our Saturday night entertainment is free to all in person QED ticketholders, and will take place immediately after our Gala Dinner. We look forward to seeing you all there! qedcon.org/news/2025/sa...

Join me, @andrewcopson.bsky.social, @noahlugeons.bsky.social and @sianushka.bsky.social at QED 2025 this October as we discuss exactly this topic. You can get streaming tickets to see this panel, plus so much more at our website qedcon.org.

Today is not Ted Danson's birthday

I picked up a copy of The Salt Path mere days before the Observer investigation broke. I'm about halfway through, now, and I wonder how I would have felt about it if I hadn't seen the new information unfold before beginning to read. This is an interesting piece about the tale.

The last of the online sessions for #OpenFest25 - on Changing and critiquing (open) research culture - is about to get underway, with talks on dependency theory, research environments under pressure and research culture.

Really excited about this announcement. A fabulous speaker and two really interesting panels!

Announcing the first of our panels and workshops! Skepticism: Looking back, moving forward with @richardwiseman.bsky.social, @profchrisfrench.bsky.social, @mrmmarsh.bsky.social and @aliceemmalouise.bsky.social. How to draw anything with @kempchi.bsky.social. qedcon.org/news/2025/tw...

The University of Chicago recently announced pauses on admissions to some of its humanities doctoral programs. Tyler Austin Harper argues that it's “a particular gut-punch to the humanities, not just at the university itself, but nationally and even globally.”

Opinion: Don’t wait for the REF to improve the research environment. Universities can act now to improve, if they wish to, say Neil Jacobs and colleagues. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

Being watched from across the room...

I am a disabled person. I was diagnosed with my first disabling condition in 2008, and I have spent the past 17 years learning how to handle that. It has not always been easy. In fact it has often been very hard. But it got easier to manage when I started doing more disability advocacy.

One thing not addressed… there was a lot of discussion in this podcast about people who might take GLP-1 receptor agonists who should not, but not the reverse. There are a lot of people who should have access who don’t because insurance or healthcare systems won’t cover it.

You can sign up to the Skeptics with a K Patreon, from as little as £1 per month, to get an ad-free version of the show and to support the hosts patreon.com/skepticswithak

Me: "ugh it's so frustrating that I'm in so much pain at the moment, like why do I have so many joints playing up right now it's not fair" Also me: wakes up in the middle of the night with my arm wedged under its own weight, hyper extended in two places & cutting the circulation off.

Seed oils: how a panic over cooking fats is lubricating the alt-right pipeline | Alice Howarth @aliceemmalouise.bsky.social The seed oils fear may look like just another nutritional panic, but it plays into an ideological drive towards 'traditional' alt-right ideals

📣Tickets to last ever QED are now on sale! 📣 Join @annieknk.bsky.social, @mrmmarsh.bsky.social, @annaploszajski.bsky.social, Naomi Ryan, @jamiebgall.co.uk and @robinince.bsky.social and more for a weekend of talks, panels, workshops and podcasts this October. Details: qedcon.org/news/2025/ti...

Skeptics with a K: Episode #413 Alice looks at testosterone home testing kits, and continuing social media pressure on body image. Meanwhile, Mike makes a Doctor Who-related discovery. www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/podcasts/ske...

Cannot believe this is the last ever QED con. Whole lineup is fire. I'll be talking about influencing policy. And Lord knows it needs some influencing.

Both super excited for this year's QED and genuinely heartbroken that it'll be the LAST QED! Get your tickets now!

Some ND people describe their brains as having multiple tabs running concurrently. And I find that hard to relate to, because for me tabs and windows on a desktop are 2D. For me, it's more like one of those cluttered dark offices with books and papers piled high, a desktop and a laptop running.

#RLUK25 Michelle Charters, Head of International Slavery Museum, is giving today's keynote on the history of slavery and its links with the city of Liverpool, alongside approaches for truth telling and learning from our past and legacies to better our future.

Inspiring to hear such an important story of the growth of the international slavery museum from its beginnings in a basement to its coming position in the Granada building on the historic dock. Hearing that story from a local woman with lived experience & a scouse accent is particularly important.

Looking good #RLUK25!

Whoops wrong tag #RLUL25

Mahaletchumy Arujanan tells us how important it is to talk about evidence with the lay audience #rluk2025. Semi-relatedly: tonight at The Casa on Hope Street I'm hosting a @merseyskeptics.org.uk event with multiple speakers. If you're not attending the conference dinner, feel free to join us!

Listen to this, and then be amused at the fact that I came down with a terrible cold one hour after we finished recording...

This afternoon I'm chairing a session on Open research and AI - both changing the nature of scientific research with speaker Nicole Mwananshiku from the Royal Society. Register here: www.liverpool.ac.uk/open-researc...

Really great session this morning on recognising and rewarding open research and other good practice when it comes to responsible research assessment!

Almost halfway⏳️ through Open Research Week #ORW2025, but you can still register: www.liverpool.ac.uk/open-researc... On February 26, if you're free in the morning🔆, 11.00 CET/10.00 GMT, join me for a session on open research in Serbia and the #REPOPSI project. See you there! #OpenScience

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. About how using the shorthand can make it much easier for certain people to come to oppose the concept. Some people don't know what it means and there are plenty who will fill in the knowledge gap and make DEIA something shadowy and scary and oppositional.

"It can be difficult advice to heed in the throes of fear and the feeling of being overwhelmed, but experts also encourage us to remember that people of many generations have encountered crises before. “We are not the first cohort in humanity to face existential threats,” Lee says."