The "harassment" campaign - references

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Press articles

Mind over body?
New Scientist
Clare Wilson (Simon Wessely interview)
2009, 11 march
Link to article

'Torrent of abuse' hindering ME research
BBC News
Tom Feilden
2011, 29 july
Link to article

'Vicious campaign' against ME researchers
BBC News
2011, 29 july
Link to article

ME researchers 'receive death threats from sufferers'
The Telegraph
2011, 29 july
Link to article

Doctor reveals intimidation and abuse of scientists researching ME causes
The Irish Independent
Theo Usherwoo
2011, 29 july
Link to article

Scientists investigating ME get 'death threats' for investigating psychological causes
The Daily Mail
Jenny Hope
2011, 30 July
Link to article

Head case
The Economist
C.H.
2011, 30 July
Link to article

Shoot the medical messenger – see if that’ll cure you
The Sunday Times
Rod Liddle
2011, 31 July
Link to article

‘Disease of the brain, not the mind, has no stigma’
The Times: today’s columnists
Prof Colin Blakemore
2011, 2 August
Link to article

Chronic fatigue syndrome researchers face death threats from militants
The Guardian
Robin McKie
2011, 21 august
Link to article

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Death threats for scientists?
Discover
Carl Zimmer
2011, 21 August
Link to article

Chronic Fatigue Scientists Get Death Threats
The Scientist
Tia Ghose
2011, 23 August
Link to article

Protesters have got it all wrong on ME
The telegraph
Max Pemberton
2011, 29 august
Link to article

Chronic Fatigue: Enough Energy Left for Death Threats, Anyway
Science Translational Medicine
Derek Lowe
2011, 6 September
Link to article

The findings of a study into the role of viruses in ME will not be acceptable to some sufferers
The Telegraph
Max Pemberton
2012, 24 september
Link to article
Link to Pemberton Tweets

It’s safer to insult the Prophet Mohammed than to contradict the armed wing of the ME brigade’
Daily Telegraph
Damian Thompson
2012, 28 September
Link to article

ME: bitterest row yet in a long saga
The Independent
Sanchez Manning
2012, 25 November
Link to article

This man faced death threats and abuse. His crime? He suggested that ME was a mental illness
The Sunday Times
Michael Hanlon
2013, 5 May
Link to article
Link to printed article

How the ME zealots tried to terrorise me
The Daily Mail
Max Pemberton
2015, 31 october
Link to article (scroll down)
Link to images of the first version of this article

The ME lobby is just a symptom of our stupidity about mental illness
The Spectator
Rod Liddle
7 November 2015
Link to article

Blog

Science by Intimidation
Neurologica
Steven Novella
2011, Sep 01
Link to blog

Inconvenient truths
SMC blog
Fiona Fox
2017, 28 september
Link to blog


Other publications

Threats of persecution
Science Media Centre: Anniversary Brochure
Interviews with Dr Esther Crawley and Tom Feilden (p. 16-17)
2011
Link to brochure

Letter to the editor protesting false allegations made against Simon Wessely
The Independent
Letter signed by (amongst others): Peter White, Michael Sharpe, Esther Crawley, Stephen Holgate, Rona Moss-Morris, Alastair Miller, George Davey-Smith, Gabrielle Murphy, Hazel O'Dowd, Alison Wearden, Trudie Chalder
2012, 12 december
Link to letter (scroll down)

Chronic fatigue syndrome
RationalWiki
Link to article


Parliamentary debates

PACE Trial: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
House of Lords Hansard
2013, 6 february
See Lord Winston intervention - 5.36 pm
Link to debate report

Radio

Comparison of treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome - the PACE trial
ABC Aus
Interview with Michael Sharpe, psychiatrist and Richard Horton, Editor in Chief of The Lancet
2011, 18 April
Link to broadcast

Talks, lectures

Standing up for Science: A panel discussion
2017, 29 march
Link to presentation


How open should open data be?
Better Science through Better Data
Esther Crawley
2017, 25 october
S4ME thread

Disrupting Your View Of ME
TEDxBristol
Esther Crawley
2017, 2 november
S4ME thread
Link to video: Part 1 - Part 2

John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science 2012 granted to Simon Wessely

2012 John Maddox Prize
Sense about Science
2012
Link to article

Psychiatrist and journalist win prize for defending science
The Lancet
Becky McCall
2012 17 November
Link to article

Esther Crawley gets 'commendation' at 2017 Maddox Prize awards

Sense about Science
2012
Link to article
S4ME thread

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Critiques and rebuttal of the threats narrative

Articles and blog posts

Wessely’s Words Revisited
Malcolm Hooper
2011, 30th July
Link to article

'The Threats', a stunning new thriller from UK media
Velo-gubbed legs
Nasim Marie Jafry
2011, 1 september
Link to blog

Sticks and stones
Velo-gubbed legs
Nasim Marie Jafry
2012, 1 october
Link to blog

My email correspondence with Journalist Michael Hanlon regarding a proposed Sunday Times article
Angela Kennedy
2013, 6 february
Link to correspondence

Shining A Light On The CMRC Setup
The Young ME Sufferers Trust
2014, august
Link to report

My (current) position on the PACE trial
Nick Brown
2015, 14 december
Link to blog

Trial By Error, Continued: A Few Words About “Harassment”
Virology blog
David Tuller
2016, 1 February
Link to blog

In the Expectation of Recovery - MISLEADING MEDICAL RESEARCH AND WELFARE REFORM
Centre for Welfare Reform
George Faulkner
2016, april
Link to report (see p.22, 47)

Major breakthrough on PACE trial
Center for Walfare Reform
George Faulkner
2016, august 19
Link to article (quote tribunal FOI verdict, see below)

No Reported Harassment at Bristol University (Information Obtained Under FOI)
The Young ME Sufferers Trust
2017
Link to article
S4ME thread

Esther Crawley claims harassment, university has no record
Vada
Adam Lowe
2017, 30 october
Link to article

Radio/Television

UK Column News
2017, 10 November
Link to video (37.30 - 39.33)
S4ME thread

Judiciary

Complaint to the Press Complaints Commission
IiME
29th August 2011
Link to complaint

Complaint to the Press Complaints Commission against the Daily Telegraph
MEAssociation
2011, november
Link to complaint

Court order on Alem Matthees FOI request about QMUL PACE data
2016
Link to court order (p.33, 36)

 

2018/2019 Campaign

Science journal to withdraw chronic fatigue review amid patient activist complaints
Reuters
Kate Kelland
October 2018
Link to article
S4ME thread

Republished in:
The South China Morning Post (here)
Medscape (here)
Japan Today (here -expired now)

Articles linked:
Scientists Withdraw Study About Chronic Fatigue Amid Patients, Activists Criticism
Business Times China / KM.D (article)
Study backing exercise for chronic fatigue withdrawn
6 minutes Australia (article)
Cochrane drar tillbaka ME-översikt
Dagens Medicin, Sweden (article / Google translate)
Vil trekke tilbake ME- forskning etter kritikk
forskning, Norway (article / Google translate)

Podcast
What role should the public play in science? - Science Weekly podcast
The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast , 2 Nov 2018
Link to podcast
S4ME thread

Blogs
Cochrane drar tillbaks rapport om gradvis ökad träning vid ME/CFS
pacegranskaren (blogpost / Google translate)
GET Paper Withdrawal Shocks CBT/GET Proponents – Emboldens ME/CFS Advocates
Healthrising / Cort Jonson (blogpost)
Forty-one international scientists have signed a declaration supporting Cochrane’s decision to withdraw its controversial review of exercise therapy in ME/CFS
notthesciencebit / Brian Hughes (blogpost)


Online activists are silencing us, scientists say
Reuters
Kate Kelland
March 2019
Link to article
S4ME thread

Republished in:
The New York Post - USA (here)
The New York Times - USA (here)
Medscape - USA (here)

Articles linked:
Top Oxford researcher trying to bust the mystery of chronic fatigue syndrome says he QUIT and turned his focus to new research because trolls are 'too hostile'
The Daily Mail (UK) Natalie Rahhal (article)
Trolls force Oxford expert to stop research into ME
The Times (UK) Chris Smyth (article)
Always fatigued — yet they never tire of claiming their malady really is a virus
The Times (UK) Rod Liddle (article / S4ME thread)
Treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome is a complicated matter
The Times (UK) Dr Mark Porter (article)

Radio
Radio 4 Today BBC / Tom Feilden
Michael Sharpe's interview (podcast - 2:45 / transcription / S4ME thread)


Critical of the Reuters' narrative

Articles
Rod Liddle vilifies disabled people. I’m tired of the hate. We all should be
The Guardian (UK) Frances Ryan (article / S4ME tread)
M.E. Patients and the Researchers that Silence Them
Medium - Laura Elliott (article / S4ME thread)
The establishment media has launched a vicious ‘war’ on chronically ill people
The Canary (UK) Fréa Lockley (article / S4ME thread)

Blogs
PACE trial for chronic fatigue syndrome (still) being put through its paces: a reply
Questioning Answers / Paul Whiteley (blogpost)
The media is waging a coordinated war against chronically ill and disabled people
mrtopple / Steve Topple (blogpost / S4ME thread)

Letters
To the editor:
Fighting for Rigorous Science and Accurate Reporting
MEAction (letter)

To the journalist:
Trial By Error: My Letter to Kate Kelland
David Tuller (letter / S4ME thread)



2021

Is standing up for expertise a fool’s errand?
Times Higher Education, Anna McKie (Article / S4ME thread)


Criticism of Michael Sharpe's vision of ME activism

Apparently just by talking about it, I’m super-spreading long Covid
The Guardian (UK) George Monbiot (Opinion piece / S4ME thread)

Trial By Error: The World According to Sharpe
David Tuller (Blog) (Discussed in the S4ME thread about Monbiot's opinion piece)