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Do lay members have the same voting rights as other committee members? Do we know if all the lay members are non-BPS? (I only know Adam and Sally.) And are we confident that the chair and vice-chair are at least neutral on BPS issues? I really hope I’m wrong but in the past I’ve tended to be...

I don’t think that will be enough. This all feels very stage managed. They appear to be trying to make it looks as though they are listening to our concerns by appointing extra patients to the commitee, inviting non-BPS witnesses, and then (trying to appear to be bending over backwards to listen...

Yes, I would be very happy to have White, Sharpe, Chalder, Wessely and Crawley called as witnesses if we had Edwards, Crowhurst, Speight, Shepherd, Nacul and others we could trust on the committee asking questions and making the judgements. But we seem to have almost the complete opposite. I...

MS: “Well CFS stands for Chronic Fatigue SYNDROME, and a syndrome defines a collection of symptoms, It’s not the same as a disease, where we know the cause.” KG: “...I do think the disease is clearly... its really unpleasant, and I do really feel, it must be a really difficult thing to have...

Kelland’s report states: The above suggests that Cochrane had made the decision to withdraw the review, and that it would not be reinstated unless Larun was able to adequately address feedback. The new note below the review states: Withdrawing the review until the author has adequately...

Although this can’t be directly inferred from the available PACE trial data, one could also argue that it is when the therapies have been most effective at changing cognitions and/or short-term behaviours that they are most likely to have caused harms. If a patient receives CBT/GET but refuses...

Do trials of psychological/behavioural interventions have phases? Or do they just run any old sort of trial whenever they feel like it according to what they think is most likely to produce the desired results? It has always seemed strange to me – and this overlaps with the point Jonathan was...

I fully agree with this. However, one must be careful not to equate evidence that has been reported in a controlled trial with anecdotal evidence or evidence from surveys. (NB I’m not saying that the latter should be ignored or dismissed – only that it is different.) In response to Richard...

Yes, and this was a quantitative review that includes a diverse range of studies which themselves produced uninterpretable results! I’ve just been re-reading Tom and Bob’s comments on the Cochrane review. Larun’s responses are so weak it is astonishing that the review has been able to stand for...

We could really use some friendly media coverage There are also the Dutch studies (Nijmegen group/Bleijenberg) referred to in the TMG minutes which found that actigraphy showed no improvement despite improvements in self-reported fatigue. (Good summary on @Lucibee’s blog...

Echoes of Fiona Fox: “I do feel that being one of the few people in the world who can really understand imposes a certain burden and definite isolation ... quite frankly if it is a choice between carrying the burden of RCP politics and ending up like my old friend Carol there's no choice...

Thanks, but no need to apologise. I think we’re all entitled to feel pretty pissed off. Maybe great was an exaggeration, but I generally enjoyed listening to it before the Wessely interview. Yes. It’s more Michael Parkinson than Jerry Paxman, and, as such, they really shouldn’t be interviewing...

Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan, author of It’s All In Your Head, is to appear on BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific on 6 November: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000112j According to MEpedia, Dr O’Sullivan “published her book, It's All In Your Head, in 2015. It is a book about medically unexplained...

I understand your caution but if Larun could answer the questions that have been asked she would would have done so by now. As the article states, it’s highly unusual to withdraw a review without the authors’ consent. To say that it has been temporarily withdrawn to give the authors time to...

Surely Cochrane won’t sit back and allow the spin that is being put on this, will they? Their reputation is already damaged enough by having to withdraw the review, but to accept being portrayed as having caved in to an unscientific mob of activist would surely be fatal. It appears that the CDC...

Would the RNA in someone’s stool not reflect their microbiome? NB I should perhaps have added that, as far as I can see, the company makes no claims about being able to treat disease.

Great to hear @dave30th invited to speak at the CMRC conference and to read David’s positive comments in his blog (http://www.virology.ws/2018/10/01/trial-by-error-the-cfs-me-research-collaborative-conference/). Just a bit disappointed that he didn’t mention circle jerk! Although I share much...

I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts on this commercial service offering to analyse people’s microbiome using RNA sequencing, and to give personalised dietary advice based on the results: https://www.viome.com/our-science From the wesbite: There is also a commercial podcast interview with...

Got ME? Fatigued patients who go out and exercise have best hope of recovery, finds study (2011) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1358269/Chronic-fatigue-syndrome-ME-patients-exercise-best-hope-recovery-finds-study.html ME can be beaten by taking more exercise and positive thinking...

Thanks, once again, for an excellent blog, @Simon M. Have you considered pitching it (or similar) as an article for a newspaper or magazine?