The Good Thinking Society is a nonprofit organisation promoting scientific scepticism established by

Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, (born 19 September 1964) is a British popular science author, theoretical and particle physicist. His written works include ''Fermat's Last Theorem'' (in the United States titled ''Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve th ...

in September 2012.

Activities

The society aims to raise awareness of and fund sceptical projects. During the 2014 World Homeopathy Awareness Week, the Good Thinking Society set up a website at homeopathyawarenessweek.org with the purpose of giving a factual scientific view on

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

. They also ran Psychic Awareness Month in October 2014 which included handing out leaflets to audience members before a

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

's shows in the UK. In April 2015 the organisation threatened legal action against the

Liverpudlian Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Clinical Commissioning Group Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were NHS organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to organise the delivery of NHS services in each of their local areas in England. On 1 July 2022 they were abolished and replaced by Integra ...

over its spending of £30,000 per year on homeopathy, with Singh saying "Homeopathic treatments when paid for by the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

are a waste of crucial resources". Thereafter, Singh and project director Michael Marshall called on all remaining homeopathy-funding CCGs in the UK to follow the example of Liverpool to reconsider their funding policies. QED 2015 Marsh

In June 2015, the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' reported that Marshall had investigated the curious case of Freeman's, a NHS-supplying pharmacy that, amongst other products, sold "homeopathic

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

", apparently meant for people with sleeping problems or who "pick up the characteristics of n owl. Marshall commented that "Around £3-5 million is spent each year n homeopathic products by the NHSand it's completely worthless. People are being told that it works when there's no evidence that it does." In May 2015, GTS obtained video footage from the Spirit of Health Congress, where, according to Marshall, claims were made about health that 'appeared illegal and could cause serious harm': "The dangerous misinformation at the Spirit of Health event is shocking, particularly with regard to serious conditions such as

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

." In September 2015, Marshall showed how American televangelist and self-proclaimed

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

and

faith healer Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

Peter Popoff Peter George Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born American televangelist and debunked clairvoyant and faith healer. He was exposed in 1986 for using a concealed earpiece to receive radio messages from his wife, who gave him the names, ad ...

–previously exposed by

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. ...

– was trying to persuade people to send him money on promises of "fabulous extreme fortune" and "miracles". Moreover, at a recent London gathering, GTS filmed how Popoff supposedly 'healed' a woman 'who said her body was wracked with pain', but who Marshall and his colleague believed could have been planted in the audience as part of Popoff's team: they saw she was handing out pens and a questionnaire at the start of the event, and quietly left the room soon after the alleged miracle. In November 2015, following a threat of legal action by the Good Thinking Society, the British government stated that the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

would hold a consultation in 2016 regarding whether homeopathic treatments should be added to the

NHS treatments blacklist The NHS treatments blacklist is an informal name for a list of medicines and procedures which will not be funded by public money except in exceptional cases. These include but are not limited to procedures which the National Institute for Health ...

(officially, Schedule 1 of the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Prescription of Drugs etc.) Regulations 2004), that specifies a blacklist of medicines not to be prescribed under the NHS. In November 2017, the

British Homeopathic Association The British Homeopathic Association (BHA) is a British charity founded in 1902 by John Epps to promote the pseudoscience homeopathy and advocate for its training and research. The BHA was re-branded in 2021 to Homeopathy UK. It seeks to encourage ...

(BHA) filed suit to overturn NHS England's 2017 guidance which advises GP's not to prescribe homeopathic remedies. In June, 2018, BHA lost that case, in a decision characterized by

Edzard Ernst Edzard Ernst (born 30 January 1948) is a retired British-German academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, alleged ...

as the result of "4 years of excellent work by the GOOD THINKING SOCIETY". In June 2019, the Good Thinking Society filed a Judicial Review claim to challenge an earlier decision by the

Professional Standards Authority The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the nine statutory bodies that regulate health professionals in the United Kingdom and social care in England. Where occupations are not subject to statutory regulation ...

to re-accredit the Society of Homeopaths' register. At the time of filing several (GTS alleges it to be over 50) Society of Homeopaths members were still offering

CEASE therapy CEASE (Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression) therapy is a pseudoscientific practice used by naturopaths (particularly homeopaths) who claim that it can treat or even cure people with autism, claims which have been adjudicated by ...

for

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

. In October 2019 the High Court gave permission for the judicial review to proceed. The Good Thinking Society also promotes mathematics education, through projects like "Who wants to be a mathematician?", "Top, top set maths", and the "Parallel Project". In March 2020 the Good Thinking Society announced their collaboration with

Richard Wiseman Richard J. Wiseman (born 17 September 1966) is a Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. He has written several psychology books. He has given keynote addresses to The Royal ...

to set up The Good Magic Awards. These awards recognize and reward performers that use magic tricks to improve the lives of people like disadvantaged groups, charities, community groups, hospital patients and others struggling with physical and psychological challenges. These awards were announced on March 17, 2020, and were awarded the first time on May 5, 2020.

Awards

The society runs a number of awards including the Golden Duck award, given for a 'lifetime achievement of

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

', awarded to

Andrew Wakefield Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (born September 3, 1956) is a British anti-vaccine activist, former physician, and discredited academic who was struck off the medical register for his involvement in ''The Lancet'' MMR autism fraud, a 1998 study that ...

in 2012. The society also awarded a joint Science

Blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

Prize to Suzi Gage and

David Colquhoun David Colquhoun (born 19 July 1936) is a British pharmacologist at University College London (UCL). He has contributed to the general theory of receptor and synaptic mechanisms, and in particular the theory and practice of single ion channel f ...

in 2012;

Ben Goldacre Ben Michael Goldacre (born 20 May 1974) is a British physician, academic and science writer. He is the first Bennett Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford ...

and science writer Mark Henderson were among the judges, choosing from over 100 entries. The society was given the 2016 Ockham Award for Best Skeptic Event/Campaign by '' The Skeptic'' magazine.

References

{{Skeptic Organizations Skeptic organisations in the United Kingdom Scientific skepticism Scientific organisations based in the United Kingdom Simon Singh

Activities

Awards

See also

References