Michael Marshall – Project Director Co-founder of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and co-organiser of the QED skeptical conference, 'Marsh' was the project leader and figurehead of the 10:23 Campaign, aimed at raising public awareness of homeopathy - resulting in international coverage and worldwide skeptical involvement. With a background in marketing and communications, his skeptical activism has included testing psychic claims, trialling sports performance wristbands, interviewing proponents of alternative beliefs and exposing the influences of PR in journalism.
Michael Marshall
Author's posts
May 25 2015
Daily Telegraph: “MPs call for police inquiry into bogus ‘cancer cures’”
Earlier this month, we worked with Tom Bruce from Brighton Skeptics in the Pub in order to investigate the Spirit of Health Conference, which took place on the 4th of May in Sussex. Today, the Daily Telegraph have reported extensively on Tom’s findings and video recordings: Cancer patients are being offered “fake cures’” by unscrupulous alternative medicine practitioners, …
May 06 2015
Diluting NHS Homeopathy until it’s just a memory
In my first year as Project Director of the Good Thinking Society I was able to visit almost 40 different skeptical groups around the country (and, indeed, around the world!) to talk about skeptical activism and the work we are doing at Good Thinking. While I’m still happy to give my ‘Lifting the Lid: Ongoing Adventures …
Apr 29 2015
Homeopaths: Call me. Let’s Talk
Messsage from Simon Singh, Founder of Good Thinking UPDATE 2 days ago, I invited critics (particularly homeopaths) to call me in order to discuss their concerns, but nobody took me up on my offer. Instead, just more attacks on facebook, blogs and comments. The comments on one post alone call me a bully, mentally ill, …
Apr 13 2015
NHS Homeopathy Legal Challenge
Simon Singh and The Good Thinking Society have today welcomed the decision of the Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to reconsider spending money on homeopathy. Chair of The Good Thinking Society and popular science writer Dr Simon Singh said “NHS spending is a major issue, especially in the run-up to the election.”
Apr 08 2015
Good Thinking Investigates: Osteopathy
Many osteopaths claim to treat colic with cranial osteopathy – a therapy with no evidence of effectiveness. Following our recent investigation into similar claims made by chiropractors, we decided to find out what an osteopath would tell a distressed parent seeking advice… While this conversation has been edited for length, we have taken care to retain …
Feb 18 2015
Good Thinking About… Live Blood Analysis
Are you thinking about trying Live Blood Analysis? Practitioners of Live Blood Analysis claim to diagnose health conditions (e.g. vitamin and mineral deficiencies, food intolerances, allergies and digestive issues) by observing blood cells. Some also claim to identify early warning signs of cancer, diabetes and other serious illnesses. Clients are then encouraged to follow restrictive …
Feb 12 2015
Good Thinking About… The Cancer Act (1939)
Although there are plenty of alternative cancer treatments out there, there is very little evidence that any of them actually work. Such‘miracle cures’ offer false hope, undermine confidence in effective medicine and can be dangerous and expensive. The Cancer Act (1939) effectively makes it illegal to advertise such products. There have been over twenty cases …
Feb 10 2015
Good Thinking Investigates: Chiropractic
In 2008, the British Chiropractic Association unsuccessfully sued science writer Simon Singh for highlighting that there is no reliable evidence that chiropractic can treat colic. Six years later, we wanted to find out whether chiropractors would still treat babies suffering from colic. While this conversation has been edited for length, we have taken care to retain …
Jan 15 2015
Good Thinking Investigates: Sosatec Wellbalancer
Sosatec Bionics Ltd sell pendants and products (“Wellbalancers”) to protect against what they claim is harmful radiation emitted by mobile phones and WiFi – claims which are highly questionable. They claim their products, which sell for £30-£44, are “made of high grade electronic silica programmed with natural botanical frequencies”. The scaremongering around mobile phone radiation …
Dec 18 2014
Mark Tilbrook explains why he supports Good Thinking
In 2014, skeptic Mark Tilbrook started a campaign aimed at giving audiences at psychic shows a simple leaflet to help them question the information presented by psychics. Soon after his campaign began, Mark found himself threatened by psychic Sally Morgan’s team. He was subjected to verbal, physical and legal intimidation. Fortunately, with the help of …
