30 September 2024
I was sent a link to an article in the Independent the other day, and asked if I'd heard of a new thing the kids are doing called mewing. I quizzed my children about it, as they're young and hip, and they told me that this was old news - “so 6 months ago”, apparently. But the story of mewing was more interesting that I'd first suspected it would be, and involves a good deal that's of skeptical interest.
11 October 2015
The NHS are advertising for a spiritual healer.
1 August 2005
The ACC-sponsored conference Many Faces of Abuse (Auckland, 10-12 August 2005) features a plenary speaker, Anne McDonald from Melbourne, who cannot talk, walk or feed herself. Her minder, Rosemary Crossley, is the inventor of Facilitated Communication - a technique whereby a facilitator supports the hand or arm of a severely disabled person and thereby enables that person point to letters of the alphabet. This technique gives severely disabled people the miraculous ability to spell out words, sentences and even whole paragraphs of astonishing, unlikely and often wildly pornographic prose. As a result of Facilitated Communication, hundreds of families and caregivers worldwide have had their lives and careers destroyed by devastating and subsequently-discredited allegations of sexual abuse. Among responsible organisations and individuals concerned with mental and physical disability there is now widespread agreement that Facilitated Communication is nothing more than a powertrip for manipulative therapists who prey on the vulnerability and dependence of the severely disabled.
1 November 2002
A Hamilton doctor is facing two charges of professional misconduct and one of disgraceful conduct after one of his patients was left looking "like something out of a horror movie". The Marlborough Express (August 21) reports Yvonne Short had gone to Dr Richard Gorringe in 1998 looking for a cure for her skin problems.
1 February 1988
A flying competition with a difference will be held in Auckland at the weekend.
1 February 1987
Claims by an Auckland Physician, Dr Matthew Tizard, of having diagnosed cases of herbicide Poisoning have been rejected by a task force set up by the Director-General of Health.