I Think You'll Find It's a Bit More Complicated Than That (59 page)

Neverland Systems 393

Nevirapine 186

New England Journal of Medicine
9

New Humanist
281

New Scientist
xxii, 391, 393, 394, 395

New York Herald Tribune
261

New York Times
39, 273, 274–5

New York University 297

Newsnight
197

NHS xix; abortion and 90–1; Cancer Plan 170; care.data and 78–86; coalition government reforms xix, 73, 169–77; constitution 180; GP Consortiums 171–4, 175, 176; NHS Choices website 18, 63; NHS Information Centre (NHSIC) 84, 85, 170; ‘NHS Operating Framework’ 172; pornography for sperm donors xix, 179–82; price-based competition in 172–3, 174–5; Primary Care Research Network 216; Primary Care Trusts 171–2; waiting times 73–5; ‘Working Together For A Stronger NHS’ government leaflet 169

Nield, Dr Dalia 255–6

Nieuwenhuis, Sander 129, 130–1

Nigeria: polio vaccine scare in 273, 356–7

9/11 13

‘95 per cent confidence intervals’ 59–61

NMT 247–50

nocebo effect 321–4

Nolte, Ellen 175–6

Nordgren, Loran 307

NSA (National Security Agency), US 79–80

NSPCC 394

ntk.net 391

nuclear power xvi, xxii, 85, 94, 95–7, 379, 381

O’Connor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy 183

Observer
: Denis Campbell MMR stories 347–55; Denis Campbell ‘fish oil helps schoolchildren to concentrate’ story 343–7; ‘Forensic DNA Tests “Reveal Traces of Madeleine’s Body on Resort Beach”’ story 276

OECD 175

Office of Fair Trading 265

Office of National Statistics (ONS): ‘Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings’ 150–2; births per year statistics 49–50; exam results and 189; ‘Labour Market’ figures 59; Statistical Bulletin 49–50

Olympics: 1992 156; 2012 xix, 155–7

Omand, Sir David 51–3

omega-3 fatty acids 343–6

The One Show
12

open data 20, 80, 85

Open Data (government initiative) 85

Opera Solutions 153–4

Oransky, Ivan 134

organic food xix, 191–4

Overfield, Dr Derek 57

Oxford University 3, 4, 5, 138, 194

Oxygizer 390–1

paedophiles, ‘Nanniebots’ and 391–5

Page, Dawn 268, 269–70

Pain
322

Pakistan 231, 232, 357

Panorama
: wi-fi link to radiation story
xxi, 289–91, 293

Parker, Matt 68, 69

Parliament 76, 84, 85, 196–7, 200–1, 322

Parry, Vivienne 353

peer review xvii, 4–5, 29, 139–41, 145; alternatives to 139–41, 145–6; dodgy peer reviewers delaying publication of findings they don’t like 10; GP fundholding and 176–7; journals deliberately not peer reviewed 145–6; post-publication xvi, 4–5; problematic nature of 138–41; putting a finding in a press release but not into the paper as a subversion of 66; refusal to submit ideas to 3–5

Pell, Cardinal George 183

Perfect Sommelier 123, 124

Perry, Simon 252–3, 266

pesticides, food and 191–4

Pfizer Trovan drug trial 357

Phelan, Jo: ‘Genetic Bases of Mental Illness – a Cure for Stigma?’ 41–2

Philip Morris 319–20

Philips, Alasdair 289, 290, 291

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
33

phone masts, suicides and 333, 363–7

pink, girls’ love of 42–6

piracy, music xix, 159–62

Pirate Bay 33

placebos 8, 124, 140, 322, 323, 343, 344, 345, 389

PLoS One
137; ‘Beaked Whales Respond to Simulated and Actual Navy Sonar’ 341

Poisson distribution 102, 103

Political Behaviour
316

political stance, beliefs and 13

politicians, knowledge of which policy works best 177–9

pornography, hospitals and 179–82

post-modernism 295–300; Archie Cochrane characterised as a fascist 297–300

postcode information 77

power calculation 125, 132–3, 164

Powerwatch 290–1

Poynter Institute 339

Prasad, Vinay 9

Prescription Cost Analysis 105

Press Association 155

press release: academic xxi, 6–7, 107–9, 358–60; breast cancer rates and 101–4; caveats and 338–40; linking to primary sources 340–2; positive anecdotes and 118–22; putting a finding in a press release but not in a paper 65, 66; without a scientific paper existing 29–31, 65, 116–18

Pringle, Tom 372

Pritchard, Stephen 344

processed foods 11

Project Redsand 94–5

prospective cohort study 117

prospectively defined studies 198–9

psychological or behavioural condition, linking to a biological cause 40–2

Psychological Science
313

PTSD 105

Public Health Observatories, The 104

Public Library of Science, US 25

‘Public Service Agreement Delivery Agreement 25’ 226

publication bias 132–3, 136, 314, 315

Pusztai, Dr Arpad 29

QLIF 192

Quackometer 252, 253

quacks xx, 261–70; alternative therapist regulation 265–7; moron-baiting, tradition of 261–4; nutritionists 267–70

Queen Mary, University of London, School of Mathematics 68

Quilty-Harper, Conrad 159

racial hygiene 22

Radio 4:
Born With Down’s
61–3;
Today
programme 5

Randi, James 273, 274, 276

randomised trials: animal experiments and 137–8; antiretroviral medications and 140; blinding xviii, 12, 118, 124, 126, 133, 137–8, 292–3, 345; drug addiction and sentencing 178–9; in education xvii, 8–9, 12, 137, 138, 202, 202
n
, 204–13, 214, 216, 217, 218; fish oil and 345; how randomised trials work 204–7; HRT 8–9; methadone and 236, 241–2; myths about 207–13; NHS reforms and xix; placebos/nocebos and 8, 124, 140, 321–4, 343, 344, 345, 389; public policy and xvii, xix, 401; systematic reviews of 6–7, 12, 20–1, 23, 25–8, 140, 156–7, 192–3, 298, 314, 323, 336, 359

Rasnick, David 139, 140

Rath, Matthias 185

Rationalist Association 281

Reader’s Digest
261

recession: anti-depressants and 104–7; public sector pay and 149

Red Bead Experiment 58

reductionism, crass xvii, 37–9, 239, 323–4

Reform: ‘The Value of Mathematics’ 194

registered sex offenders 158

relative risk reduction 115

RetractionWatch 134, 135, 136

‘retrospective case-control study’ 117

risk compensation 111

ritalin 135–6

RK Partnerships Ltd 365

Roberts, Judge Jeremy 265

Rodial 255, 256

Rolleston clinics 240–2

Rolleston Committee Report, Department of Health, 1926 229–30, 231, 235, 239, 240

Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway 379–81

Rosa, Emily 11

rosiglitazone 120

RoundAbout
120–2

Royal Brompton Hospital 249

Royal Institution xvi, 331

Royal London Homeopathic Hospital 322, 389

Royal Mail 77

Royal Society of Chemistry: ‘The Five Decade Challenge’ 188–9

Royal Society 227; JSTOR scanning of papers 33–4; motto ‘
Nullius in Verba’
(‘On the word of nobody’)
17–20;
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
33–4

Rubin, Dr James 125

SABIP (the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy) 160–2

Sagan, Carl 13

SAGE (a ‘stakeholder’ group) 365

salaries, public and private xix, 149–52

Samaritans 361–2

sampling error 57–61

Sarah’s Law 157–8

Sars 388

Saturday National Post
(Canada) 388

‘Scared Straight’ programme 208

science: ‘by press release’ 29–31
see also under individual article or story
;
how science works 3–34; process of close critical appraisal and xv–xvi; resistance to challenge of orthodoxy 8–10; what is? 124–6

Science and Technology Committee, House of Commons 196–7, 200–1, 322

Science Citation Index 22

Scientific American
261

Scott, Fiona 352, 353–5

Scottish Health Survey 106

screening for diseases xviii, 113–15, 334

Seasilver nutrient potion 387

‘second-round’ effects 111, 112

select committees xx, 84, 196–201, 322

Sense About Science 256

Sgreccia, Bishop Elio 184

Shape Up for Summer
269

Sharp, Dr Julie 339

Shaw, Sophia 329–31

Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra 310

Sheldrake, Rupert 190, 304

Sigman, Aric 5–8

Singh, Simon 250–4

Sky TV 371–5

smear campaigns, evidence-based 316–18

Smeed’s Law 112

Smith, Gary 104

smoking: Alzheimer’s and 20–1; ‘bioresonance’ treatment to help quit 277–8; cancer and 3, 22, 108, 109, 187; cigarette packaging 318–21; number of deaths caused by 187