The Sunday Independent ran a short piece on psychics the other week, in which I was quoted as referring to “unreliable forces” when I had actually said “unreliable sources.” My bad, I’m sure. The writer had interviewed me for this piece many months ago. I guess the obvious joke here would somehow refer to […]
I have another post up over at Psychology Today, which has been included in a special feature on ‘The Science Behind Politics.’ This time I’m talking about negative political campaigning: …The US Presidential Primaries have been widely maligned as a parade of interpersonal nastiness, the UK referendum is accused of being […]
I’ve posted a piece at Psychology Today on the methodological problems surrounding Britain’s new alcohol consumption guidelines: The UK government has published new guidelines on healthy alcohol consumption and, yes, as might be predicted, they are controversial. According to the new advice, adults — male or female — should drink no more than 14 […]
Have you ever noticed how irrationalities (a) tend to cluster, (b) tend to offer hope to the desperate, and (c) tend to appeal to folks with strongly held dogmatic beliefs? No? Well here’s an interesting example of the genre: Get a load of Alive!, a FREE Catholic newspaper produced in […]
Metaphors are powerful tools. Similes are like tools. And tools are — well, tools are just tools. Now, of the three statements just made, only the last (‘tools are tools’) is truly indisputable. And yet for many people it will be the least interesting, the least compelling. Such is the […]
A letter in today’s Irish Times bemoans a recent column on homeopathy. The column had drawn attention to a report by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council that was dismissive of homeopathic treatments. But according to our letter-writer The report of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) […]
