Hellos!

Hello Bristol!

Hello Truro!

Hello Reading!

Hello Cambridge!

Hello St Albans!

Hello King's Lynn!

Hello Cheltenham!

122 gigs done - Edinburgh & Melbourne Festivals included... just 6 more to go.

No Slouch

I'm indebted to @Dellybean for this picture taken in Common Room 11 at the Houses of Parliament where yesterday's Mass Lobby For Libel Reform was taking place.

My Mum's first reaction will be to swoon over the presence of Brian Cox. Her second will be to tell me off for my bad posture. I've always been a sloucher.

Never mind the fact that this was the occasion of my first (and no doubt last) speech in Parliament.

Or that immediately afterwards we headed to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition. "It's all very well fighting for free speech," she'll say, "but you should sit up straight or you'll get a bad back."




She's right. I should. But we should also fight for free speech. What with it being free speech and that.

One of the problems with having proper celebs like Dara and Brian involved is that some people assume libel is some kind of celebrity issue. They hear the word 'libel' and they think of Elton John or Naomi Campbell and their dealings with the red tops. The campaign has nought to do with any of that. It's about the way in which libel is used to bully people into silence. Rich individuals and corporations are able to silence their critics simply by threatening a libel action... because very few people can afford to fight a libel case.

Matthias Rath is a doctor who sells vitamin pills. Not that much wrong with that. Except that was claiming that his vitamin pills can cure Aids. And cancer. And stuff. Ben Goldacre wrote about him in The Guardian. Rath sued for libel. The Guardian and Goldacre won the case but fighting it cost over £500,000. They will never recover the full costs. Winning a libel case has cost them 18 months and around £170,000. It also means that a chapter about Rath was omitted from Ben's book, Bad Science. (Although that chapter is now in the new edition and online for free here.)

How many people will fight a libel case - defend what they think is right - when the cost of doing so is years of your life and hundreds of thousands of pounds? We find out about the cases where brave people do stand and fight. What we don't see are the books and articles that don't get published because of the fear of litigation.

A young NHS biochemist spoke at yesterday's meeting. He's received a threat of libel for discussing treatments offered by a doctor that seem to be, let's say, outside the norm. He is not a wealthy man. He has no reasonable way of defending his point of view. He can fight and win... and be ruined. Or give in. He won't blog about science and medicine in future. He can't afford to take that risk.

Libel long ago stopped being to do with establishing the truth of the matter. It has become about establishing silence. And in some areas - public health and other areas of obvious public interest - silence is the last thing the world needs. The world needs debate.

The story of Peter Wilmshurst - touched on here - is another that illustrates what is wrong with the law at present.

Yesterday was an optimistic day. It felt like people understood why the draft bill isn't yet satisfactory.

Like many people, I first engaged with the campaign because of the Simon Singh case. The fact that the draft bill that is before Parliament does nothing to prevent a case like it happening in the future (or the cases of Wilmshurst or Goldacre) shows that it is incomplete. It doesn't address the very situations people set out to address.

But there is time. Amendments can be added. And for that to happen, people need to keep the pressure on their elected representatives to keep libel reform on the agenda. Do please write to your MP.  And I'll try to work on my posture.

Libel Reform. Nearly.

I've blogged before about the campaign for Libel Reform.

I first got involved in it when I heard about the plight of Simon Singh who was being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association after writing an article in the Guardian in which he offered the opinion that there was not a jot of evidence to support the efficacy of chiropractic treatments.

I'm able to say that there isn't a jot of evidence for it because Simon was heroic in the way that he stood up for what he believed in, fought the case and eventually won.

I say heroic because it took a huge amount of time and energy and involved spending huge amounts of money. It was risky. If the first judge's understanding of the word 'bogus' had remained he could easily have lost... but even having won he doesn't get all of his expenses covered.

Simply put, libel is a lose-lose situation. If you're accused of it you can give in straight away or stand and fight knowing that if you win you're down tens of thousands of pounds and if you lose you're ruined. Which means it can be used by the wealthy to bully others into silence. It takes extraordinary courage - and an extraordinarily understanding family - to stand up for what you believe in.

The campaign has been successful. To a point. There is a draft bill before parliament. It contains many good things. But not everything that's really needed. Crucially, a case such as Simon's could still happen under the proposed reforms.

The British Chiropractic Association were given the opportunity to have the words used in the article clarified. They turned that down. They were offered the right of reply. They turned that down too.

I can't see why any organisation interested in the pursuit of truth would do that. It is through a process of debate that science moves forward. Instead, it seems they were more interested in silencing a critic than in engaging with that debate.

And that seems especially wrong when it's a matter of health. Indeed for all matters of public interest, libel should not be a remedy. Because libel doesn't result in the truth. More often that not it simply results in the little guy shutting up.

Which is why a Public Interest Defence really needs to be added to the bill. If a subject is in the public interest - and health clearly is - then the subject is too important for debate to be brushed aside in this way.

There is a mass lobby in Parliament today - Wednesday - to try and drive this point home. You can come and join us if you like. There's more information here. Simon Singh will be there, I'll be saying a few words as will Dara O Briain, Brian Cox and others. We'll also be delivering a petition to Downing Street afterwards. (My Mum is quite excited about this. It's not the speaking in Parliament or the visiting Downing Street... it's the meeting Brian)

You can also write to your MP (link) and sign the petition (link)

It's a simple matter of free speech. A simple matter of trying to make the law fair for all.

Young Love

In the window of a London phone box two sorts of Young Love are being advertised: 

Stay classy Jedward!

Absolutely June 24th

The two songs I brought in from home this week were, Greatest Hits by The Mystery Jets:

 


And No One's Ever Gonna Leave You by Toy Horses (although it wasn't this version... there are two on the album and I went with the acoustic one... I just can't find a link to it online anywhere.)




Michael Legge joined Danielle and me again this morning which means that as well as Ward's Weekly Word, Found Poetry and a second visit to Which Bong Is Wrong - we also had another dose of Michael Legge Is Angry. And very funny it was too.

Our topic for the day was Methinks He Doth Protest Too Much - and any topic that ends up with a tweet about two men turning up at A&E - both with garden gnomes wedged up their posteriors - and both denying that they know one another has got to be worth it.

You can get the podcast here.

What's In A Name?

The other day, after my gig in Harrogate, I saw this tweet from a member of the audience. I make a rule never to retweet compliments so forgive me for sharing this one. I think you'll see that it's not the compliment I'm trying to share:

I never really thought of my audience being that sort... so I retweeted it... as if I was a proud parent, sharing some grand achievement. Sort of.

I wasn't expecting the person concerned to see my tweet... but if they did, well I wasn't expecting them to join the conversation. But that's what happened next... with Mr-I-show-naked-photos-of-myself-to-my-girlfriend chipping in with the following:

To me that only made it weirder. How did he take photos of his back? Do people shave their backs? Why show her something she'd likely see for herself? So many questions! Why join in at all. A moment ago we were talking about an abstract stranger and now we're talking about you!

And then I saw his username.

Naked_Ray.

Hmmm. 

Methinks he doth protest too much!

Thanks to Ray for giving me permission to blog about this.

Absolutely June 17

Danielle and I were joined by the brilliantly inventive comic, Michael Legge as a guest presenter this week.
=""
Those of you who listen to Danielle's brilliant Do The Right Thing or mourned the loss of Gregg Jevin will already be familiar with Michael.

As will those of you are already familiar with him for any other reason. Obviously.

Anyway. He's brilliant. And he went a full two hours without swearing... so it can be done.

As it was Fathers Day we had a one off quiz - Top Of The Pops - in which our three fathers competed. I'm not sure it played out entirely fairly as the Dad who knew the most ended up losing... but as Michael's Dad cracked the line of the show it seems only fair that he won the title.

It was a busy show. We also had Chris Difford and Norman Lovett drop in to chat about their stage show, It's All About Me.

I love the fact that one of the nation's finest songwriters has teamed up with such a uniquely funny comic and they definitely spark off each other in a funny way.

It's lovely to meet people of such standing and to discover that they're so warm and genuine. Hurrah for things like that.

While Chris is always going to be best known for Squeeze (and they have new stuff coming up) his solo stuff is great too. His the song we played on the show, 1975 from the album Cashmere If You Can:

Meanwhile, the other songs I brought in from home were Flittin' by Meursault:

... and Devil Fool by Be Brave Benjamin:

Which as you can see, has a very don't-try-this-at-home video.

The free podcast, should you be so inclined, is here.