Springer Nature medical journal Cureus, which has published some good stuff on COVID-19 lately (even if it did retract Mead et al.), has just published a peer-reviewed article (Lataster and Parry) on the corruption of major medical journals and the need for those in the science game to entertain contrarian ideas. The authors are yours truly (University of Sydney) and the always delightful Peter Parry (University of Queensland). Highlights:
- We draw a distinction between science, at least how it is meant to be, and the incredibly dogmatic The Science™ as it currently is. The Science™ is largely shaped by non-scientific concerns, typically financial, and this has led to censorship and worse.
- We outline many dodgy issues and practices of pharmaceutical companies and major medical journals today, including the former’s enormous financial investments into research, universities, medical education, medical journals, political parties, drug regulators, medical colleges and associations, and supranational institutions such as the World Health Organisation, fines, funding of the trials for their products and of their regulators; and the latter’s effectively being part of Big Pharma’s marketing departments, as admitted by some of their own former and current editors.
- Citing way more evidence than is normal for a glorified editorial, we explain that editors of major medical journals have received payments from large pharmaceutical companies, and peer reviewers have also received such payments (as have doctors).
- We managed to sneak in a few cheeky references to some great articles with similar themes (but focused on Covid) such as the ones published in Public Health in Practice and also the Polish Annals of Medicine.
- We briefly mention low-carb dieting as an example, which we are always warned about, despite the significant evidence in its favour (seemed to be good for me BTW).
- We note that “the recent US Congress House of Representatives’ Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic 520-page report fully or partly vindicated contrarian perspectives on many aspects of public health messaging during the pandemic”. I hope to look more into that one, in the style of my critiques on studies apparently showing the worth of the jabs.
- We conclude: “Academic publishing is easier when sticking to approved narratives, but this retards progress. Contrarian ideas are vital to the expansion of knowledge. Epistemologists will understand that the search for truth is akin to carving a marvellous sculpture out of a block of marble. Much must be discarded, but that is part of the process. We chip away the detritus until we at last stumble upon the beauty that is the truth within. Something is rotten in the Academy. We need to improve. One way to improve is to properly address financial and other conflicts of interest. Another way is to entertain contrarian ideas, to indulge those occupied with ‘taboo science’, while still adhering to time-tested scientific principles and methods.”
As you can see, this article isn’t really about Covid (even if, in another sense, it really is) but one of the reviewers seemed interested in that topic so I casually let the editors know that a spiritual sequel to this article could be in the works if they were eager.
Extra fun fact: this opportunity came about because I angrily contacted the editorial team about the retracted Mead et al. Convinced it was due more to political rather than scientific reasons I ended up writing a draft on some of the issues plaguing science nowadays. The editors didn’t seem to be too keen, but after a chance meeting with Parry, who made some excellent contributions, we ended up with something the editors could tolerate.
By the way, it gets worse, because of course it does. Not only does Big Pharma control just about everything when it comes to our health, but the owners of Big Pharma pretty much own everything else, including the legacy media, social media, energy, junk food, ‘healthy food’, etc.
Dr Raphael Lataster is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Sydney, specialised in misinformation, and a former pharmacist. This article was first published in his Substack newsletter, Okay Then News. Read more on his research and legal actions, including his recent win against the healthcare vaccine mandate in New South Wales.
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Aggressive and assertive rivals will outpace us economically and outmanoeuvre us internationally
We need to reinvigorate the case for free speech, free markets and the institutions that defend a free people because our values and our ideas are too precious not to fight for with all our heart.
Sounds like she is warning us about WEF influence.
I don’t remember a word out her opposing covid restrictions. I believe she voted for Plan B. Her other positions sound preferable to Ben Wallace for example, but she doesn’t seem to mention withdrawing from stupid wars. Where candidates stand on covid HAS to be question number 1 – you can talk a good fight, but if you really believe in personal freedom and small government you must recant any support you gave to covidianism. Never forgive, never forget.
In the meantime, are they not exploiting their internal disruption to sweep things under the carpet?
Damn right.
Unless she outright condemns the last 2.5 years and promises ‘never again’ I am not interested.
Are you a Tory Party member?
No.
They will do everything they can to manoeuvre her out of the final ballot.
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‘My vote for Brexit in 2016 was a vote of confidence in our abilities as a sovereign country.’
‘…the fiercest proclaimers of “social justice” usually believe in the power of government over the people, in the power of the bureaucrat over the individual, and have a distrust of people making their own decisions in the economic sphere just as much as the social.’
‘We need the discipline to transform government into an effective and streamlined machine for delivery, not a piggy bank for pressure groups.’
These are all reasons why many voted for Bunter and were so badly let down.
The contest needed a real Conservative to stand up and say what so many are thinking but, for reasons of expediency, won’t say.
Well said, Kemi Badenoch. Exactly the kind of characterful leadership this country now needs.
Yeah, it all sounds good, except for the “delivery”.jargon.
But then again, most of us on here would come up with a similar set of ideas with the help of a good speech writer.
The question is can she make everyone around her pee their pants the way Margaret Thatcher did? If she can’t, then she’s got little chance of either getting chosen or if by some miracle she does, of acting on any of those ideas.
Whilst I struggle not to like her (amazing speaker), if I were a member of the party (I was until March 2020, when I burned my card after Boris deviated from the ‘Swedish’ approach, or as we know it; standard pandemic protocol pre-2020. Anyway, that’s my virtue signalling out of the way) I would need answers to the following questions:
I’d like to ask when the piano wire gets taken out of the cupboard, but realistically nobody in parliament is that based.
Opposing Net Zero, CRT and the trans-craziness are minimum requirements. No ‘interview’ with me unless you are unambiguously on the right side of these questions.
I don’t know where Suella Braverman stands on all these issues, but she’s rock solid on Brexit. I’m not sure that was always true of Kemi.
Now that Baker has pulled out, none of the declared or likely contenders stood up against lockdowns.
Baker doesn’t really want it. Even on telly he was saying things like ‘I realise I don’t have much of a chance’, ‘even though I haven’t got cabinet experience I can chair meetings’. This came across as a bit pre-emptively defensive to me.
Also Baker’s a bit weak on vaccines. Weaker than Chope, Swayne and Walker.
That said, we owe him gratitude for his resistance to lockdowns and mandates.
Baker is Britain’s Rand Paul. They are good people but not leaders; we need Britain’s DeSantis.
Baker delivered the Together declaration that killed the vaxx mandate in HC and thereby in general to Johnson.
I know it because I was also there.
So, not sure how weak he was on vaccines.
But I agree, he does not come over as terribly charismatic, and his recent style change as per the picture in the DT in the Braverman endorsement article doesn’t improve that, to the contrary, imho.
I read this quote recently, which sums up perfectly why we are where we are with our top personnel and why their quality and our living standards will go ever lower:
“The twin spirals of incompetence and corruption are tightening like a noose around the collective necks of the managerial class. They can only replace bad leaders with worse leaders, and every replacement results in worse government and accentuated public discontent.”
A diplomatic solution in which Ukraine gives up territory? And Russia pauses, takes a breathe, rebuilds and re-invades the bit they didn’t get first time (2014) or seconsd time (2022). You like that “solution” do you?
I kept seeing those 2014, 2022 comments on Jordan Peterson’s latest video about the war.
I also kept seeing rape and murder comments in the same posts.
They all had Ukrainian user names as well, which I never see on any other videos.
They struck me as globalist shills.
The proper term for diplomatic solution which strips an attacked country of some territory
is surrender.
I am prepared to give Kemi Badenoch the benefit of the doubt but those questions have to be answered first and they are good questions Jon.
The left will be all over her, she’s definitely the ‘wrong kind’ of black woman. It’s got to be the biggest irony of our time, a bunch of virtue signalling tw*ts telling the world how morally superior they are, hugging themselves to sleep at night in the knowledge that they’re such fantastic pure beings, whilst slowly explaining to minorities why they need to understand their minority status makes them a victim. If they don’t understand their patient, supportive lessons (no matter how patronising those lessons are) then they’re traitors – ‘Uncle Toms’, ‘N****s’ etc. That’s the intelligence & morality of your Guardian readers.
With respect Kemi, I must admit to not knowing anything about her. My concerns are, as others have already aired, where does she stand on the three big topics of our time – lockdown, ‘vaccines’ & war? For me it no longer matters actually, I’ll never ever vote for any of the big parties again. It’s well past time that people realised that these morons see us as their servants – stupid, worthless, inconvenient pieces of sh*t that they have to scrape from their shoe.
I tend to agree. If the truth be known, it could be that the turnout in the next General Election declines.
Part-time McDonald’s while at school, computer something degree, part-time software engineer for defunct multinational while getting law degree, conslutant/ analyst financial services, then, finally, full-time politics. Born in the UK, then USA, then Nigeria, then back to UK. To quote Theresa May, citizen of nowhere — ubi bene, ibi patria.
Kemi has been very impressive everytime I have seen her. She is very smart, and very sensible, and doesn’t appear to have been bought by the WEF. That on its own will ensure that she gets no-where near being elected.
Well, as my wife says, the last thing we need is another old twat. Bring it on, Kemi. And it would give the Woke Brigade a chance to prove how woke they really are.
If one switches the terms supposed to trigger «lefties» for words more congenial to them, this breathless word-fountain could have been delivered by Pandemalena Baerbock (current German secretary for foreign affairs, Greens). While I don’t have any say in the matter and certainly – insofar this lady goes – shouldn’t have been allowed to continue paying for her upkeep after 2016, the We need to keep changing directions fast enough that dazzled people stop asking where we actually want to go! rethoric is pretty tiresome by now.
She’s up against Rishi Sunak, who wants to rescue the economy that the previous chancellor wrecked.
Nice to see a genuine Conservative applying. But because she is a genuine Conservative, I’m afraid her chances are zero.
I am not a member of the Conservative Party but for them to elect the second truly conservative, female leader (out of three, so far) whereas the Laboutr and Libdems are still electing un electable marxists and unelectable wimps, would be very encouraging.
It would be a game changer if the next Tory leader was a conservative and imposed his/her views on the candidate selection process. It will also be game changing in the destructive way if the opposite happens.
Ben Wallace rules himself out, thereby adding to his reputation.
From the dot Gov website:
“Minister for Equalities, Kemi Badenoch MP, calls for everyone to get
every jab they need, to protect themselves and others, especially those
at greater risk.”
This is a bloody great stain. Found on TCW in the comments section of the Rishi piece. She’s a WEFfer.
Next!
My thoughts, exactly, when I read the excerpt. Despite I still disagree with the theory of the WEF covertly pulling the strings of everything.
She’s not a WEFer, or at least she hasn’t been through their Young Global Leaders programme.
But yes, she heavily promoted the vax, even against omicron
“It is vital we now build on that success as we encourage everyone to Get Boosted Now in the fight against Omicron.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20211219001718/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/225m-of-funding-announced-in-new-community-push-to-get-nation-boosted-now
A fun read about what went and is going on behind the scenes…
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fpolitics%2F2022%2F07%2F09%2Fmessy-battle-replace-boris-johnson%2F
‘Department for Levelling Up.’
Oh dear.
The female candidates all look head and shoulders above the men now Ben Wallace has ruled himself out.
I hope that you are right and that she can save us from Boris version 2.0, Sunak, Javid or Hunt.
I’ve been impressed with Kemi Badenoch whenever I’ve seen her speak. She comes across as very smart, very eloquent, is more than capable of dealing with the idiots on both benches, standing her ground etc, and the fact that she is a black woman should highlight the ridiculousness of the social justice ideology smugly meted out by both Labour and the Lib Dems. Now, if she can just self-id as a man for PMQs then she’s got them all over a barrel.
All sounds good but remember a key criteria for MP’s is an ability to lie!
Hey Sunday
Sceptics
like many ! So there will be a labour coalition and so be it, as parliament is really the Uni-Looney-Party all the same. I will not vote and not save the Conservative party in their present state!
Mr Young says that Kemi Bedinoch is a “smart, hardworking, courageous and properly conservative” the first three adjectives I can see are spot on however when I went through her work there is this; which does not fit my criteria of what I understand as conservative, but in fact very ‘woke’ damagingly so.!
She was “ delighted to announce that you can now apply on line for a Gender Recognition Certificate, just in time for # pride month” .
Gender ideology is NOT conservative! It is a scientific construct pushed through by political activists like Stonewall who have a political ideology opposite to Conservative. I see confused, unhappy, damaged young people in my job due to this anti family, anti scientific agenda, very politically motivated agenda.It is in the government education website as part of our curriculum!!!
Therefore even if she is the best of a bad bunch, I cannot therefore vote conservative unless she exposes gender politics for the scientific imposter that it is. Denounces the entirety of lockdowns, vaccine passports coercion, closes our boarders, stops pride from being a month, a day suffices, demolishes completely gender ideology, race baiting, and banishes the WEF from interference in our sovereign affairs. Pride flags with Black Lives Matter stripes added another anti conservative Marxist group added; flying In our capital cities London Streets And please less government totalitarian diktat.
My conclusion is that it looks like I will have nobody to vote for in the next election