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articles by Michael Fitzpatrick
Tuesday 16 April 2013
Andrew Wakefield: return of the wicked witch
Wakefield’s MMR-autism nonsense had a baleful influence on public health, but he doesn’t bear sole responsibility for recent measles outbreaks.

Thursday 24 January 2013
The rise of a pseudo-scientific links lobby
Every day there seems to be a new study making a link between food, chemicals or lifestyle and ill-health. None of them has any link with reality.

Wednesday 12 December 2012
The charge of the anti-
enlightenment brigade

Far from heralding a new dawn of reason, today’s New Atheists are at the vanguard of the counter-Enlightenment.

Friday 30 November 2012
After ‘New Atheism’, let’s
re-humanise humanism

In his latest selection of essays, Raymond Tallis puts the case for wonder against the deterministic pseudoscience of modern atheists.

Friday 16 November 2012
After ‘New Atheism’,
let’s re-humanise humanism

In his latest selection of essays, Raymond Tallis puts the case for wonder against the deterministic pseudoscience of modern atheists.

Friday 23 December 2011
Saving medical practice from the tyranny of health
Dr Michael Fitzpatrick talks to James Le Fanu, the one-time scourge of those medical practitioners who blamed lifestyle or pollution for ill health, to find out if he really has made peace with the medical establishment.

Tuesday 20 December 2011
From revolutionary student to Byronic celebrity
Michael Fitzpatrick recalls his first meeting with Christopher Hitchens 40 years ago, when there was more to him than flashy posturing.

Monday 14 November 2011
Social democracy is dead. Now let’s move on
Across Europe, labour parties are reinventing themselves to stay relevant, but they’ve been redundant for decades.

Thursday 10 November 2011
Our society is hooked on harm reduction
We should approach the use and abuse of alcohol and drugs as a moral question, not as a clinical or legal matter.

Tuesday 18 October 2011
Note to NHS: stop treating the public with contempt
With nothing to say about the paternalism and authoritarianism of the UK health system, the Save Our NHS protests seem wilfully out of touch.

Monday 20 June 2011
Don’t tinker with the NHS. Completely rethink it
Why do both the right and left champion Britain’s health system when it remains inefficient, bureaucratic and sometimes inhumane?

Thursday 7 April 2011
Save our National Health Service? Why, exactly?
Given the contempt with which the NHS treats ordinary people, it’s no wonder they aren’t lining up with the ‘Save our NHS’ lobby.

Friday 25 March 2011
‘There's never been a better time to be autistic’
In the run-up to a speech in London, author Roy Richard Grinker challenges the idea that there's an autism ‘epidemic’ spread by ‘malign forces’.

Friday 4 March 2011
Meet the new breed of anti‑vaccine agitator
Meaner, cruder, more strident and possessed of celebrity clout – the modern anti-vaccine lobby has learnt how to make a splash

Friday 25 February 2011
The rise and rise of anti‑vaccine agitators
There have always been people opposed to vaccination, but the new anti-vaccine lobby is different: 'meaner, cruder, more strident' and possessed of great celebrity clout.

Tuesday 25 January 2011
The real lessons of the MMR debacle
It was a widespread mood of anxiety and hostility to reason that allowed an insubstantial figure like Andrew Wakefield to have such an impact.

Monday 15 November 2010
A futile intervention into our drinking habits
Just because excessive alcohol consumption can have medical consequences, that doesn't make it a Medical Problem.

Monday 16 August 2010
Apocalypse looms – again
Before you fall for the scare about antibiotic-resistant plagues, just consider how insanely wrong the authorities were about swine flu.

Tuesday 25 May 2010
Censorship is not the answer to health scares
The only way to challenge the pseudoscience of Andrew Wakefield and others is to have more debate, not less.

Wednesday 5 May 2010
Public health and the obsession with behaviour
ESSAY: Recent thinking on health policy has been driven by two myths: that bad health is caused by bad habits, and that government can promote good health by changing our behaviour.

Next Page >>

 

Time for a serious debate about the welfare state

Has welfarism gone too far? Is it time to trim this massive machine? And more importantly, shouldn’t it be trimmed for the *right* reasons - that is, not in order to save the state money but as a way of protecting communities from the negative impact of constant welfarist intervention?

We’ll be debating these issues at the next session of our spiked drinks events at Portcullis House in London on Monday 3 June at 6.30pm. Find out more here.



15 May 2013
St Angelina, save
us from ourselves!

14 May 2013
Remember, Fergie is for football, not for life

17 May 2013:
The Star Trek hype? It’s illogical, captain.


17 May 2013:
Don Draper: it’s time to buck your ideas up