MATHEMATICIAN and scientist Dr Simon Singh - the man getting sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association after writing about their particular brand of 'alternative medicine' - will find himself in the Court of Appeal on Tuesday. The case will be heard by three of the most powerful legal figures in the UK, namely Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger and Lord Justice Sedley.
Given my own impending appointment with Mr Justice Eady over a 2007 post concerning Baader-Meinhof suspect turned Tower Hamlets Tory activist Johanna Kaschke, I am extremely pleased to be one of the speakers at a solidarity meeting for Simon in London tomorrow night.
Also on the bill is consultant cardiologist Dr Peter Wilmshurst, who faces a libel action after criticising research by US company NMT Medical, in what is a test case for the freedom of scientists to engage in academic debate.
The other guest is Dr Ben Goldacre, author of the 'Bad Science' column in the Guardian, who successfully fought off a libel action from a vitamin manufacturer who promoted his pills to AIDS sufferers in South African townships.
I have over the years shared platforms with many luminaries of the left and the labour movement, including Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone, Peter Tatchell and Arthur Scargill. I have even addressed a 20,000-strong demo in Istanbul, made of up of angry Turkish ultraleftists raging at the state-directed murder of one of their comrades. But this gathering will be more daunting than even those rallies, not least because I will be the only bleedin' thicko without a PhD.
The event kicks off on Monday night at 7.00pm, at the Monk Exchange pub in Strutton Ground, SW1. Nearest tube: Victoria. It's two quid to get in. I'd love it if any Dave's Part readers are able to get along. Wanna see four guys bricking it at the prospect of being homeless and bankrupt? This is the place to be.
Posted at 23:14, 21 February 2010
Comments (11)
Hope it goes well Dave!
OCH well Dave better than being limbless like some of our men and women fighting for our democracy and freedom of speech. I am sure you will survive. Have a good time doon ra pub. I would not worry about the PhD thing. I reckon most of them are brassing it. I will withdraw that if you could be sued. It was a joke!
Best of luck, Dave!
I fancy that Simon Singh is the only PhD among the four of you.
Yes, that would be one PhD and two medical doctors. But don't worry, you know lots of esoteric stuff they don't.
Good luck.
Break a leg, Dave - all the best.
Best of luck and look forward to reading about your victory in a few weeks time.
The current mania for libel actions is going too far. Before we know it there'll be super-injunctions flying all over the place and we'll need to get written permission from the courts before we express ourselves over any matter at all.
Don't worry about your lack of a PhD. Before I went to college, I wrote that 'academic qualifications do not prevent men from being fools or charlatans or both'. Seven years at university and three degrees later, I stand by every word of that.
This particular case is of interest to me, as I have a long-term illness (chronic fatigue, or ME) which baffles the medical profession in respect of its cause and treatment, and people with this and similar puzzling illnesses are prone to spend a lot of money on quack 'remedies' such as homeopathy. Yet to state that this or that 'alternative remedy' is suspect can lead one into a libel case.
Now, how about a report on the meeting?
I went along on Monday.
While I'd heard about your case, I didn't realise how bizarre it is.
Hope everything goes well for you :-)
Hope you don't mind but I used a quote from your blog on the Dave Prentis election which says more or less what I said before (making the same point) in other words that Dave Prentis will win and that Banister and Holmes will be spliting the vote on the left.
Cheers
Nick
"I have even addressed a 20,000-strong demo in Istanbul, made of up of angry Turkish ultraleftists raging at the state-directed murder of one of their comrades."
I don't see what was so "daunting" about this. I am presuming, of course, that you didn't actually applaud the work of the Turkish state at the demo.