Skeptics in the Pub

Twice a month we run a “Skeptics in the Pub” event, where a group of us get together to drink beer, tell jokes and talk about nonsense. One event is a social, where you can get to know new people and have a drink and some fun. The other features a lecture from a guest speaker.

You don’t have to be a member to attend any of our events, so if you want to come down and see what we’re about, you’ll be made welcome.

  • Social: First Thursday of the month, 8pm, in Doctor Duncan’s pub, on St Johns Lane, Liverpool.
  • Guest Speaker: Third Thursday of the month, 8pm, in the Vines (aka the Big House) on Lime Street, Liverpool.

If you’re planning to attend, why not let us know via Facebook?

Upcoming Lectures

Skeptics in the Pub: Daniella Rudloff

Mental “Shortcuts” – A Necessary Evil?

by Daniella Rudloff

When: Thu, Mar 18, 2010 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Vines (aka the Big House), 81 Lime Street, Liverpool

Summary

Can we really trust our eyes? Why does a footballer’s performance usually drop right after they’ve been sold to a high-paying football club? What exactly is “anchoring”, and why are we doing it in a pub?

Daniela Rudloff will answer these and other questions by giving an introduction to the everyday mental shortcuts and biases we often employ, arguing that even though they might be misleading, they are also necessary – and almost impossible to avoid.

Biography

Daniela has always had a profound interest in critical thinking, leading her to join the German Skeptics in 1994. In 2006 she commenced a PhD in Psychology to find out what keeps Joe Bloggs from being a rational, reasonable and skeptical person.

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Skeptics in the Pub: Matt Smith

Million Dollar Psychic

by Dr Matthew Smith
Matt Smith
When: Thu, Apr 15, 2010 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Vines (aka the Big House), 81 Lime Street, Liverpool

Summary

Can a scientist become a psychic and win a million dollars?

Do we all have hidden psychic powers? Can we learn to be psychic? Psychologist Dr Matthew Smith is determined to find the answers to these questions and see if he can discover and develop his own abilities and claim the $1 million offered by magician James Randi for anyone who can demonstrate psychic ability.

Biography

Dr Matthew Smith was an Associate Professor of Psychology at Liverpool Hope University until September 2009. His sceptical views on the paranormal have led to appearances on a number of television programmes broadcast throughout the world.

After nearly twenty years investigating the paranormal from a scientific perspective, he is embarking on a unique and ground-breaking experiment in which he becomes his own test subject.

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Past Lectures

Skeptics in the Pub: Anniversary Special (formerly Andy Lewis)

Anniversary Bonanza

When: Thu, Feb 18, 2010 8.00 – 11.00 PM
Where: The Vines (aka the Big House), 81 Lime Street, Liverpool

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances our booked guest speaker Andy Lewis is unable to make this event. However, all is not lost – in honour of the first anniversary of the Merseyside Skeptics Society we’ve decided to replace Andy’s talk with a number of short talks on a variety of topics:

  • Emotional Freedom Technique, by Allan Callister – a look at the latest craze for face-tapping therapy
  • Bad Logic, Mike Hall – examining logical failures, with examples from the world of religion
  • PR and the Media, Michael Marshall – how PR gained control of journalism, and where we go from here
  • How Science Works, Tom Williamson – what is science, how do we do it and how do we know it works?

Plus, a live recording of the Skeptics with a K show.

The Persistence of Delusion

by Andy Lewis

Summary

The late eighteenth century was a very creative time for inventing new forms of quackery and many became quite wealthy on the back on their invention. Of these creations, it is perhaps only homeopathy that has survived virtually unchanged into the 21st century. The majority of alternative medicines available today have been invented and developed within living memory, despite claims of their origins in antiquity. What makes an alternative medicine successful? Why should homeopathy survive when the very popular tractors of Perkins have long since been forgotten? Could you have predicted this in 1800? Today, we have a new industry of quack devices protecting us from mobile phones. Should you invest in such enterprises? In this talk, Andy will look at the factors that make pseudo-medicines thrive and why consumers and practitioners latch onto them. Importantly, we shall explore the implications of these views for regulation and protecting the public from delusional or fraudulent claims.

Biography

Andy Lewis developed the web site quackometer.net that explores the pseudo-medical claims of alternative medicine web sites and their impact on society. Despite his detractors claims, he does not own a yacht in the South of France paid for by Big Pharma. He has yet to secure a single penny from such sources for his work.

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Skeptics in the Pub: Simon Singh

Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial

by Simon Singh
Simon Singh
When: Thu, Jan 21, 2010 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Where: The Vines (aka The Big House), 81 Lime Street, Liverpool, L1 1JQ

Summary

Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money. But how do you know which treatments really heal and which are potentially harmful? Simon Singh and his co-author Professor Edzard Ernst investigated the evidence for and against alternative therapies and published their conclusions in “Trick or Treatment?”, an honest, impartial and hard-hitting examination and judgement of more than 30 of the most popular treatments. Singh, who has also authored “Fermat’s Last Theorem” and “Big Bang”, will discuss how and why he got involved in writing about alternative medicine. In particular, he will discuss the origins, philosophy and testing of acupuncture and homeopathy, two of the most popular forms of alternative medicine. Singh, who is currently being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association, will also comment on his ongoing legal battle and the impact of libel laws on scientific journalism.

Biography

After completing a PhD in particle physics, Simon Singh MBE joined the BBC and worked as a director and producer on programmes such as Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. He has also presented programmes on Radio 4, BBC4 and Channel 4. He is best known as the author of Fermat’s Last Theorem, The Code Book, Big Bang and Trick or Treatment?.

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Skeptics in the Pub: December 17th – Trystan Swale

Trystan Swale

Ghosts and the People Who Hunt Them

Trystan Swale

When: Thu, Dec 17, 2009 8:00 – 11:00 PM
Where: Crown Hotel, 43 Lime Street, Liverpool.

Summary

Who are the people that spend their weekends sat in haunted buildings hoping to capture evidence of an after life or a snapshot of a ghost? From academics to housewives, Trystan Swale blows the whistle on the profiles, methods, means, deception, poor research and bad science of the people who continue to shape popular culture and perception of ghosts.

Biography

Trystan Swale is a folklore hobbyist and between 2004 and 2009 was an active member of two paranormal investigation teams in southern England. He is a serving officer with educational charity ASSAP and has investigated a range of phenomena including ghosts, unidentified flying objects and out of place animals. When not busy pieceing together and co-hosting Righteous Indignation podcast, Trystan is a teacher by profession.

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Skeptics in the Pub: November 19th – Alastair Miller

Quackery in the 21st Century: Unproven Treatments for Unexplained Symptoms

Alastair Miller MA FRCP DTM&H

When: Thu, Nov 19, 2009 8:00 – 11:00 PM
Where: Crown Hotel, 43 Lime Street, Liverpool.
Alastair Miller

Summary

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) otherwise called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) is a medically unexplained syndrome. That is, it is a well defined complex of symptoms that add up to this diagnosis but with no biomedical explanation at a physiological, anatomical, biochemical or molecular level to give a basis for these symptoms. However, there are well established therapeutic approaches (Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Graded Activity programmes) that are evidence based and approved by NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence). Regrettably, because these approaches are behavioural rather than pharmacologic there is much dissatisfaction with them in the patient community which therefore spends considerable time and money on unproven therapies exploited by well meaning or less well meaning practitioners.

Biography

Alastair Miller read medical sciences and law at St Johns College, Cambridge and completed clinical training at Westminster Hospital where he also worked as a house physician and surgeon. He then spent some time in the Royal Naval Medical Service including service with the Royal Marine Commadoes. He specialized as a physician in Naval Hospitals and trained in Infectious Disease at Birmingham and London. He held various consultant posts in Navy hospitals and was Naval Professor of Medicine in his last post.

He then spent nearly 10 years as a consultant physician in West Midlands with NHS appointments at Kidderminster and Worcester and an Honorary Senior Lecturer post at the Dept of Infection in Birmingham Medical School.

Since 2004 he has been consultant in the department of medicine and the Tropical & Infectious Disease Unit at Royal Liverpool University Hospital and an honorary Fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He is lead for Bone infection and chronic fatigue services and also has major interests in blood borne virus infection. He chairs the Specialist Advisory Cttee on Infectious Disease at the London Royal College of Physicians and is Director of the Clinical Research Facility at Liverpool. His outside interests are mountaineering, sailing and adventure sports.

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Skeptics in the Pub: October 15th – Ariane Sherine

The Atheist Bus Campaign and The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas

Ariane Sherine, Comedy writer and journalist

When: Thu, Oct 15, 2009 8:00 – 11:00 PM
Where: Crown Hotel, 43 Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ariane Sherine

Summary

Journalist and comedy writer Ariane Sherine talks about creating the global Atheist Bus Campaign, now running in twelve countries across the world, and how it started with just 700 words on The Guardian’s website. She’ll also talk about editing the new charity book The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas, which features 42 of the world’s most entertaining atheists, including Richard Dawkins, Charlie Brooker and Derren Brown.

Biography

Ariane Sherine is a television comedy writer, journalist and the creator of the Atheist Bus Campaign. She writes regularly for The Guardian, and has also contributed to The Observer, The Independent, The Sunday Times, New Statesman and the NME, as well as writing for television shows including My Family (BBC1) and Countdown (Channel 4).

Ariane won a Special Award from the National Secular Society for the Atheist Bus Campaign, and was a nominee for Secularist of the Year 2009. She was asked to give the first humanist equivalent of Thought For The Day, which was broadcast on Radio 4 in January. She was born in 1980 and lives in London. You can find out more about Ariane on her official website.

This event is being held in association with the Liverpool Humanist Group and the University of Liverpool Atheist Society.

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Skeptics in the Pub: September 17th – Chris French

The Psychology of Anomalous Experiences

Professor Christopher C French, Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London

When: Thu, September 17, 2009 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Where: Crown Hotel, 43 Lime Street Liverpool, L1 1JQ

Chris French

Summary

Ever since records began, in every known society, a substantial proportion of the population has reported unusual experiences many of which we would today label as "paranormal". Opinion polls show that the majority of the general public accepts that paranormal phenomena do occur. Either the paranormal is real, in which case this should be accepted by the wider scientific community which currently rejects such claims, or else belief in and experience of ostensibly paranormal phenomena can be fully explained in terms of psychological factors. Anomalistic psychology attempts to provide non-paranormal explanations for anomalous experiences in terms of known psychological factors. This approach will be illustrated with examples relating to a range of ostensibly paranormal phenomena.

Biography

Chris French is a Professor of Psychology and Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has published over 100 articles and chapters covering a wide range of topics within psychology. His main current area of research is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. He frequently appears on radio and television casting a sceptical eye over paranormal claims. He is the editor of The Skeptic magazine.

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