[A version of this article previously appeared in TheJournal.ie] In the 1930s, US President Calvin Coolidge made the following observation on the annual yuletide festivities: “Christmas is not a time nor a season,” he said, “but a state of mind.” This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a radical rethink of our […]
Year: 2020
Letter to the BMJ
David Tuller, Vincent Racaniello, and I have written to the BMJ about that guest editorial on the draft NICE guidelines for ME and related conditions. The letter is also online over at Virology Blog and has now been posted as a Rapid Response on BMJ.com. * * * Subject line: […]
Expert reaction to the BMJ editorial calling for the abandonment of standards
An invited, non-peer-reviewed guest editorial in the BMJ has claimed that behavioural interventions for “complex conditions” (such as ME or CFS) should not be judged using the customary criteria — and that the relevant studies should not be evaluated as though they were proper randomised controlled trials — because, among […]
COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: Media round-up
The Psychological Society of Ireland have issued a report on vaccine hesitancy, Maximising the Benefit of a COVID-19 Vaccine: Getting the Psychology Right. I was part of the group that produced the report, which seeks to explain how psychological barriers to vaccine uptake can best be overcome. The report was […]
Psychology’s exaggeration crisis
From the Archives [A while back, I wrote this piece about academic exaggeration for The Psychologist magazine. See what you make of it…] Not another article about the crisis in psychology, you might complain. Déjà vu all over again? You thought we reached peak crisis some time ago, didn’t you? […]
Human rights in a global pandemic
Event announcement:– Next week I will be speaking at a virtual seminar organised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties to mark World Human Rights Day, December 10 (from midday, Dublin time). I’ll be part of a panel discussing the challenges of balancing emergency public-health guidelines with human rights. How […]