Health on Graeme's

Homeopathy is magic

Tue, 02 Jul 2013 13:36:11 +0000

When I say that homoeopathy is magic I do not mean it as a metaphor or analogy, I mean that its principles are a variation of those of sympathetic magic. The term sympathetic magic was first, as far as I know, coined by Sir James George Frazer in The Golden Bough. He wrote:

How to eat healthily in one blog post

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 08:37:01 +0000

There is a whole industry telling people what to eat, and frequently selling the dubious benefits (from diet books, to health food). It seems to me that most of it boils down to some simple rules that are easy to follow, and some points of controversy (on which it may not be possible to decide what is best). I follow a simple rules that work very well.

Alcohol deaths public health and fuzzy thinking

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:38:37 +0000

This article arguing (yet again) for the government to introduce minimum prices and other strict controls on alcohol consumption. As usual, it contains fallacies, fails to provide important information, and is generally rather vague.

Journalists eat spin on organic food

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:04:14 +0000

I assume that everyone who is interested knows by now that the headlines claiming that a Food Standards Agency study showed that “organic food was not healthier” were grossly inaccurate. I want to know why journalists did not even read the first paragraph of the report itself, let alone any real analysis of the report itself, before reproducing the Food Standard Agency’s spin.

What do the army do? Fat soldiers and the meaninglessness of BMI

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:16:26 +0000

According to The Observer, the army has a problem with soldiers who do not get a minimum of two hours of physical exercise a week. I know accountants who get more than that. What exactly do the army do with their time?