Ben Goldacre's Blog, page 12

I'd expect this from UKIP, or the Daily Mail. Not from a government leaflet.

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, 15 April 2011 HM Government have issued a new leaflet to justify their NHS reforms: Working Together For A Stronger NHS. It was produced by Number 10, appears on the Department of Health website, and many of the figures it contains are misleading, out of date, or flatly incorrect. It begins, [...]

When journalists do primary research

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 9 April 2011 This week some journalists found a pattern in some data, and ascribed a cause to it. "Recession linked to huge rise in antidepressants" said the Telegraph. "Economic woes fuel dramatic rise in use of antidepressants" said the Daily Mail. "Record numbers of people are being handed antidepressants" [...]

Anarchy for the UK. Ish.

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 2 April 2011 Here are two fun ways that numbers can be distorted for political purposes. Stop me if I'm boring you, but each of them feels oddly poetic, in its ability to smear or stifle. The first is simple: you can conflate two different things into one number, either [...]

When ethics committees kill

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 26 March 2011 Every now and then, very occasionally, a government will do something awesomely good. The budget contains plans for a new unified Health Research Regulatory Agency to streamline the regulations on clinical trials, and so make them cheaper and easier to run. It's motivated, disappointingly, by a desire [...]

Why don't journalists link to primary sources?

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 19 March 2011 Why don't journalists link to primary sources? Whether it's a press release, an academic journal article, a formal report, or perhaps (if everyone's feeling brave) the full transcript of an interview, the primary source contains more information for interested readers, it shows your working, and it allows [...]

Why cigarette packs matter

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 12 March 2011 This week our government committed itself to the removal, albeit slowly, of cigarette displays in shops. But plain packaging on cigarettes has been delayed for further consultation. The Unite union is unimpressed. They represent 6,000 people in tobacco production and distribution, and put out a statement: "Switching [...]

EudraCT, the clinical trials transparency tool held in secret

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 March 2011 The European Medicines Agency now regulate the pharmaceutical industry throughout the whole of Europe. In December 2010 Thomas Lonngren stepped down as their executive director. On the 28th of that month he sent a letter telling the EMA management board that he was going to start working [...]

EudraCT, the clinical trials transparency tool that is held in secret

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 March 2011 The European Medicines Agency now regulate the pharmaceutical industry throughout the whole of Europe. In December 2010 Thomas Lonngren stepped down as their executive director. On the 28th of that month he sent a letter telling the EMA management board that he was going to start working [...]

When regulation is opaque, trust is all you have

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 5 March 2011 The European Medicines Agency now regulate the pharmaceutical industry throughout the whole of Europe. In December 2010 Thomas Lonngren stepped down as their executive director. On the 28th of that month he sent a letter telling the EMA management board that he was going to start working [...]

You're ooonly cheating yourself

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 26 February 2011 Science is about disproving hypotheses, and no matter what the armchair conspiracy theorists tell you, torpedoing cherished ideas is a very good way to make a name for yourself in academia. Here are two fun ones from the literature this month. Firstly: are sniffer dogs for real? [...]