Esther Crawley talk at TEDxBristol, Thurs 2nd Bristol - "Disrupting Your View Of ME"

Allele said:
Didn't watch the whole thing either, but I did see that bit and noted she was *very* careful not to say she had actually received the mock-up, but used clever words to lead the audience to absolutely believe it was.
Click to expand...

Cheshire said:
"This is an email that I got a few years ago. It was used for the front cover of the Suday Times.[...] I still laugh at the idea that someone was going to cut my balls off."
Click to expand...

I'm confused. So she did receive a letter or email with that wording and the only issue is that it wasn't made up from cut-out letters?
 
markiemark said:
Not only this but government organisations and the media have been allowed to promote and implement the findings in these trials to the detriment of many patients well-being. If EC truly believes in thorough and fair and robust trials as she claims, why would she allow, on ethical grounds, her research to be used and promoted so prematurely?
Click to expand...

I think you are being to kind to EC here, @markiemark. EC is not an innocent bystander whose research is 'being used' in publicity.

She is right at the heart of the publicity, going on the media herself and spreading her misinformation about the value and quality of her research.

It was she who was all over the broadcast media telling the world how wonderful her FITNET trial was because it would help lots of sick children. And that was before the research started. By doing this she scuppered any objectivity in the trial, making it a massive waste of £1 million.

Don't be taken in by her plea for better research. She is the perpetrator of some of the worst research ever seen into ME. It is a travesty of science and a danger to children with ME.

Edit to add: I may have misunderstood your comment, @markiemark. You make some good points. I just thought you were too trusting of some of her statements.
 
Might I suggest to anyone wanting to comment on the talk,

  • Ask about the technology of magic circles and shouting STOP.
  • Ask why this was not disclosed in the talk.
  • Don't bombard with papers and links.
  • Ask if they would agree with their child keeping 'secrets' with a stranger.
You can't shame people without shame, but you can embarrass people for believing and hosting.

It would only take a few of them to ask questions.
 
Sasha said:
I'm confused. So she did receive a letter or email with that wording and the only issue is that it wasn't made up from cut-out letters?
Click to expand...

Someone please correct me if wrong, but from what I've seen, what she's claiming was an email to herself was actually a mock-up of a phone call to Simon Wessely and was created by an artist at the Sunday Times:

 
EzzieD said:
Someone please correct me if wrong, but from what I've seen, what she's claiming was an email to herself was actually a mock-up of a phone call to Simon Wessely and was created by an artist at the Sunday Times:
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ezzie, but we still seem to be getting our info indirectly (from an Andy Hugh now).

I don't mean to be picky but in the past I've seen BPS people misquoted and while I understand that they're not popular and have a lot to answer for, I think it's important that if we're going to call someone a liar on this site that we have our facts absolutely nailed down and are using direct quotes from authoritative/primary sources.

People may well start writing complaints about her and tweeting about this all over the place and it would reflect very badly on us if the basis for that wasn't solid.
 
Sasha said:
Thanks, Ezzie, but we still seem to be getting our info indirectly (from an Andy Hugh now).

I don't mean to be picky but in the past I've seen BPS people misquoted and while I understand that they're not popular and have a lot to answer for, I think it's important that if we're going to call someone a liar on this site that we have our facts absolutely nailed down and are using direct quotes from authoritative/primary sources.

People may well start writing complaints about her and tweeting about this all over the place and it would reflect very badly on us if the basis for that wasn't solid.
Click to expand...

 
Sasha said:
I don't mean to be picky but in the past I've seen BPS people misquoted and while I understand that they're not popular and have a lot to answer for, I think it's important that if we're going to call someone a liar on this site that we have our facts absolutely nailed down and are using direct quotes from authoritative/primary sources.
Click to expand...
The article itself (paywalled) claims that the ball-cutting threat was made to Simon Wessely via a phone call. Presumably it wasn't recorded and we just have to take his word for that. But it certainly wasn't an email sent to Esther Crawley.

The parts which do involve Crawley:
Things soon got worse for Crawley - death threats, mostly online.

Overwhelmingly busy, she hoped the threats would go away and initially ignored them, but eventually she began to take notice and even considered stopping her work.

"I got nasty phone calls, nasty emails. This went on for about a year.

I contacted the police.

We had advice and training regarding parcels and so on.

I am not going to overplay it, but I felt a bit anxious going home. I have children."

She showed me some of the emails.

In one she is referred to as an "evil bastard".

Another reads: "To those of you who are responsible for preventing us sick ME sufferers from getting the help we need, wasting £5m on flawed bullshit and trying to discredit the real scientists who are trying to help us, you will all pay."

Is "you will pay" a threat?

Crawley thinks it is.
Click to expand...
Full text of article at http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...ng-article-in-sunday-times.23050/#post-352572

I think the recent FOIA request to Crawley's university covered most or all of that time frame, and no threats were reported to the university in that time.
 
Sasha said:
Thanks, Ezzie, but we still seem to be getting our info indirectly (from an Andy Hugh now).

I don't mean to be picky but in the past I've seen BPS people misquoted and while I understand that they're not popular and have a lot to answer for, I think it's important that if we're going to call someone a liar on this site that we have our facts absolutely nailed down and are using direct quotes from authoritative/primary sources.

People may well start writing complaints about her and tweeting about this all over the place and it would reflect very badly on us if the basis for that wasn't solid.
Click to expand...
I understand what you're saying. I went off looking for a tweet I'd read a few days back in which Mat Gill, the Sunday Times artist, had said he wasn't happy about his artwork being used in this way, but couldn't find it. But I see Cheshire has now posted a tweet above that says similar, thanks for that.

ET: re: "It would be good if this Gill would make a public statement.", yes, that would be great.
 
A copy is available on eBay if anybody else wants to say that they've received a threatening letter...
Code: 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JULIE-BURCHILL-CAMILLA-LONG-Sunday-Times-Magazine-May-5-2013/401428523281?hash=item5d77012911:g:CfYAAOSwImRYkvRx

Copy and paste the URL if you are really interested to see it.
 
EzzieD said:
I understand what you're saying. I went off looking for a tweet I'd read a few days back in which Mat Gill, the Sunday Times artist, had said he wasn't happy about his artwork being used in this way, but couldn't find it. But I see Cheshire has now posted a tweet above that says similar, thanks for that.

ET: re: "It would be good if this Gill would make a public statement.", yes, that would be great.
Click to expand...

Thanks for understanding, Ezzie! We've still got Gill's views being reported by a third party and I think it really is important to get these things first-hand.
 
From the original Sunday Times article SW as quoted as saying "The person who telephoned him to say, "We will come and get you soon", did not leave a name or address, nor did the man who said he was going to "come and cut your balls off"

EC said "Things soon got worse for Crawley - death threats, mostly online." and

"She showed me some of the emails.

In one she is referred to as an "evil bastard".

Another reads: "To those of you who are responsible for preventing us sick ME sufferers from getting the help we need, wasting £5m on flawed bullshit and trying to discredit the real scientists who are trying to help us, you will all pay."

Is "you will pay" a threat?"

I recognize the graphic she uses as the one of the Sunday Times article in 2013. It was the front page to their magazine that day.

So, the top line about Evil Bastard(s) may be from her email with an "S" added or it could easy have come from another doctor if they reported the same thing. The 2nd line about cutting balls off came from SW according to the Sunday Times article and was from a telephone call.

The other quotes I can't find a reference to where they came from
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom