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Use Astrology To Save Britain's Health System, Says MP
An anonymous reader writes: An MP from the governing Conservative Party has said that using astrology could radically improve the performance of Britain's National Health Service and that its opponents are "racially prejudiced" and driven by "superstition, ignorance and prejudice." David Treddinick even claims he has "helped" fellow legislators through astrology.
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/health/aortic-aneurysms-caused-by-movement-of-saturn-admits-nhs-2015022595714
Is...is this real? Not some wayward story from The Onion?
... that this is all a dream and I'm going to wake up.
"Ninety per cent of pregnant French women use homeopathy. Astrology is a useful diagnostic tool enabling us to see strengths and weaknesses via the birth chart."
At first, I have failed to see the common ground between homeopathy and astrology - these two sentences sounded completely unrelated. But they are actually related - it says
"90% of French women are gullible enough to fall for homeopathy. This means that most of them are stupid enough to also believe astrology crap, so market is ripe"
But I asked a magic 8-ball if it was a good idea and it said "Without a doubt". Who am I to argue with science?
Tredinnick's a nut who has form for this kind of statement.
Still. At least he's not on the House of Commons Health Committe or anything. What's that? Oh...
I had a dream, bright and carefree, but now there's doubt and gravity
I'd like to remind David Treddinick, and any other non-US citizens contemplating similar actions, that we in the US take our intellectual property rights seriously. We believe that we and we alone enjoy the right to use or sell crackpot politicians. Unless Mr. Teddinick has a license for our technology, he's set himself up to be on the receiving end of some very strongly worded letters from our attorneys.
And here I thought the USA got all the nut jobs after the American War. Good to see the UK retained a few.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
We had a good run from post WWII to about the early 21st century. For some reason, science and technology had to wait for a major war, then suddenly we accepted science and technology as we gave ourselves a great orgy of technology.
Now that the wind has run out of that sail, and we've hit plateaus on pretty much everything, and university education is dumbed down and sold like a late-night infomercial, humanity will slide back to what we always were; a bunch of emotionally-driven lunatics hungry for power.
but what else would you expect from a capricorn...
-- Make America hate again!
What's the difference? Obamacare was based on Romneycare, which itself was bipartisan.
Is Astrology bipartisan? If so, then I'm wrong about that being the difference.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
David Tredinnick ... come on down, you're our next contestant on "how did I live so long being such a fucking moron?"
I'm sorry, but no.
Dumb as a box of hammers, looking to spend taxpayer money on unproven voodoo, and this guy is a conservative??
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
They borrowed it from Republican Mitt Romney who referenced Republican Newt Gingrich.
Which makes sense when one considers the voodoo Republicans have with trickle down economics (witness the wonderful state Kansas is in) or that swallowing a small camera can somehow lead to being able to perform a gynecological exam.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Democrats used voodoo to come up with Obamacare. What's the difference?
Voodoo involves sticking pins through a simulacrum of your nemesis. Sticking giant pins through Republicans can certainly be seen as something contributing to the greater good - at the very least it is quite cathartic.
And catharsis is a powerful healing tool.
QED.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Good to hear about the trans-Atlantic stupid-party co-operation.
Treddinick and his family with withdraw from the NHS and use astrology for 10 years as a test of the effectiveness. If he's still alive then we can talk.
Anyone who laughs at using the predictable alignment of stars and planets to make earthbound decisions is clearly only doing it because they hold an ugly prejudice against ancient Sumerians.
Few things are more disgusting than an anti-Urist. Come on people, its not 1965 (BC) anymore!
When applied correctly homeopathy is GREAT for treating not-actually-existing issues plaguing patients. Essentially you are applying a placebo to a patient who is feeling "nervous" or something else rather hypochondriac and if the placebo producer did not violate production regulations you end up giving them a bit of sugar and like that you cured the non-existing with the not-healing.
Despite tongue-in-cheek I do mean this serious because there are people who DO suffer from non-existing issues, yes it is all in their head, and that's where homeopathy can help. So even homeopathy does have its uses.
The real question is whether it should be covered by a national healthcare system and I am inclined to saying absolutely not.
"Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." - Mark Twain
its opponents are driven by superstition !! .. oh my god i'm gonna laugh my ass out .. I cant stop ..
But I'm only laughing because I'm not British. This would terrify me if I were British. Not that we don't have plenty of similar nuts in Congress.
Has anyone checked recently if Treddinick weighs as much as a duck? I think it's time.
"Astrology is a useful diagnostic tool enabling us to see strengths and weaknesses via the birth chart."
Doctor: Hmm, I've consulted the charts and I'm afraid you're in for a difficult birth. It would seem that on the due date your Sun will be in Uranus.
The funniest line in this article is "The MP for Bosworth, in Leicestershire, who is a Capricorn..." -- well done to the journalist who wrote this!
"If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it." --- Arthur Kasspe
Surely this is grounds for him being dismissed as an MP. What a truly stupid man.
... even when used with good intentions.
It may do good in the short term for some people, much the same as a placebo, but unlike a placebo it brings with it a whole load of baggage (like homoeopathy and it's pseudo science research that was government funded in the UK until only recently).
The last thing anyone wants to see is astrology becoming more widely accepted as anything other than fiction... Stick with the placebo pill, it has the same effect and is a plain white lie with no baggage polluting minds of the mass ignorant.
They borrowed it from Republican Mitt Romney who referenced Republican Newt Gingrich.
Which makes sense when one considers the voodoo Republicans have with trickle down economics (witness the wonderful state Kansas is in) or that swallowing a small camera can somehow lead to being able to perform a gynecological exam.
Well the trickle down isn't voodoo, it's just that, a trickle. Only a small benefit making it down to the lower layers. If you take a second to count America as symbolic of trickle down capitalism and the USSR as symbolic of socialism then in practice capitalism has left the lower end better off than socialism. Of course those are terribly flawed analogies, but there is more to the notion of trickle down economics than 'voodoo'. The one thing capitalism undeniably has in it's favour is that it 'works' when the metric is economic growth, and without economic growth, everyone is sharing pieces from a smaller pie.
Romney signed it. He is a Republican.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Seriously.
I did consult a homeopath in the 90ies and early 2000nds, mostly because my mother was all super-pushy about it and I wanted her to quit pestering me. He would question me on the phone for 40 to 60 minutes. His anamnesis was the best I ever had. I don't recall if I even opened the package that came a week or so later containing the "LM Potence" of some obscure Homeopathic substance, i.e. a water and alcohol mixture in a small important looking flask. But I do remember being way calmer and way more educated on my condition. I thought I had heart problems and he pin-pointed reflux after the extensive questionaire and talk on the phone.
I've never spoken to an doctor for that long and I'd be suprised if any doctor had time or could afford such a thing. I would like to have such a medical expert to talk to that does not push obscure 'treatment' on me, that would be optimal.
I treated my reflux with healing-earth, baking soda, meditation/relaxation excercise and a change in diet and told my MD who wanted to sell me a "heart and lung condition" diagnosed in the record time of 2.5 minutes to fuck off. Never had problems since.
The point is: Good Homeopaths are actually quite well medically educated and can be terrific "anameticists" (wording?), because their main job actually is to talk to the patient, find out what's bugging him and - ideally - do a solid diagnose. That they only prescribe sugar-pills is a minor nuiscance from that perspective.
If astrology would lead to a new occupation in which the main purpose is talking to the patient and find out what exactly the condition is, it could be a good thing. Wether the professional in question would be a homeopath, an astrologer, magician or whatnot wouldn't really matter. Only treatment then, of course, would need to be decided upon by a different party.
Modern medicine need a profession specifically for anamnesis. Until that happens, homeopaths and perhaps even astrologers will fill that gap. Poorly at time perhaps, but they'll fill it.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Astrology and Homoeopathy are both extremely effective, especially for difficult conditions such as mental health issues. Now sure, this is only due to the placebo effect, but doctors are pretty rubbish at exploiting the placebo and the placebo is extremely powerful! Something seems to prevent them from telling a patient nonsense that will make them believe they will get better and thus actually help them get better. Astrologists and Homoeopaths have no such issues, so this politician is completely correct that utilising astrologists and homoeopaths could help take the load of the NHS.
This is the most sensible Tory policy on the NHS that I have heard for a long time ...... sad but true
The guy is a well known loon. In the past he's been very vocal in his support of homeopathy and various other quackery. If memory serves he once also publically claimed that blood won't clot under a full moon.
He sits on the Science and Technology Select Committee and the Health Select Committee. An astonishingly clear example of an elected official not being fit for purpose.
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
I guess it might be less so if you were actually british though.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/...
what a complete and utter waste of democracy this man is.
Ahh yes, crying racism is the new solid defense against anti-batshit/religious/woo claims.
I don't know who this asshole is, but I am willing to bet he is a white christian, which makes the claim even more hilarious.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
The Guardian is a left-wing newspaper which supports Labour to a ridiculous degree.
There are stupid politicians of both colours, take the Labour MP who claims to be the son of a 9ft alien.
If the Guardian had simply made up this story about a Tory MP in order to discredit the Conservative Party, you might have a point, although it would still only be partially counterbalancing the anti-Labour bias in most of the UK media..
But as it appears to be a true representation of what he said, it's irrelevant whether the newspaper is a mouthpiece for the Communist Party or the Catholic Church.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
here is the working group list referred to in the parliamentary answer http://www.publications.parlia...
"An MP from the governing Conservative Party..."
Why am I not surprised.
The stars are also against the EU, I presume.
In a high tech world, we can no longer afford to be governed by the innumerate, technically challenged and the uneducated. Democracy as currently constructed is failing.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
...to have him removed from the Health committee and the Science and Technology Committee: http://epetitions.direct.gov.u...
Ask any police officer or health care provider how people act during the full moon. They will almost always tell you that they are busier and people are crazier around that time of the month - consistently - although they can't quite explain why.
Confirmation bias. I've heard the same thing from nurses, but the fact is, no correlation has been found.
Last post!
He'll have to consult the stars - same as always :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
No, it's not. The sun and the moon have effects. So does anything that actually runs into the Earth. Everything else is too damn far away.
And, guess what? They're wrong. They remember the weird stuff that happens during the full moon because they expect weird stuff to happen during the full moon. Numerous studies have been made looking for the so called "Lunar effect". No actual correlation between human behavior (including police calls, emergency room visits and such) and the full moon has been found,
Is simply right. There is no known mechanism by which the planets or other stars could affect human life on Earth in this fashion. It's bunkum, pure and simple.
The evidence shows fairly conclusively that selective remembering of evidence and wishful thinking is perfectly capable of sustaining a practice with no basis in reality for several thousand years. It's happened a lot of time. People sincerely worshipped Zeus for thousands of years. Do you believe in Zeus?
Brits here on Slashdot keep telling us how wonderful their single payer system is and how backwards the US is for not having it adopted long ago.
Are the stories of long wait times and poor service in the UK true after all? Do the Brits perhaps just manage to live a long life because they know their health care system is sh*t and they therefore avoid getting sick in the first place?
"But the village idiot's dirty smock and wall falling are a far cry from the modern world of the urban idiot. What kinds of backgrounds do these city idiots come from?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
It's related to day of the week - Friday and Saturday nights are the crazy ones (after payday, natch). So is the beginning of the month (gov't cheques).
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
It also is, as Mr. T. said, an ancient practice that was well respected before modern science. Mind you, there have always been astrological crackpots, those who don't apply it scientifically, but just make stuff up. And, yes, the inference is "the sun's position in the sky has a direct and obvious effect on existence below the sphere of the moon; the moon's position in the sky also has an influence, although less strong (think: tides); therefore, the position of the other celestial spheres - mercury, venus, mars, jupiter, saturn and uranus - against the sphere of fixed stars, notably the constellations of the ecliptic, should have an influence.
Of course, it doesn't quite work that way. The inference is false, and the whole thing collapses.
but isn't astrology just superstition?
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
It's good to know that USA does not have a monopoly on anti-science whackjob politicians.
Maybe we can swap politicians to keep 'em fresh: We'll trade you 2 witches and a faith healer for 2 astrologers and a Stonehenge cultist.
Table-ized A.I.
Since Vito Barbieri thinks woman can swallow a camera for a gynecological exam these two would make a great pair for medical reform. http://www.startribune.com/lif...
Based on a study that shows the average Briton doesn't take nearly enough placebo.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
As a Virgo, I'm very skeptical of such things.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
"But I'm feeling better..."
"You are Sagittarius, dammit, you're dead." bonks him with the crystal ball.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Astrology-based medicine could be the next social activism trend beyond anti-vax. Spend some time walking around in Hollywood (I have relatives there) and you will notice the creepy omnipresence of Scientology. The LA practice of putting company names on buildings makes this pretty obvious. In this environment, I can see a market for Tredinnick's outpourings. Watch for him on The View by summer and hosting the Oscars next year.
So, despite his handicap (beliving in the paranormal) he was elected president, and remembered by most Republicans as "The Greatest President".
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company -- Mark Twain
As a resident in Mr Tredinnick's ward I am looking forward to voting him out at the next election. He also voted against the legalisation of gay marriage.
> "helped" fellow legislators through astrology.
In much the same way I "helped" yesterday's lunch through my sphincter this morning.
I recall an article a couple of years ago, about the results of a scientific survey of all NHS data since World War II - essentially all the medical data about every UK citizen since WWII, which is about as comprehensive a data set (presumably anonymized of course) as could possibly be found, including the required birth date and time information. They found zero correlation between these medical histories and any astrological profiles.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
So voodoo produces 1200 pages of legalize that does nothing the title of the document suggests it might? (need I say "Affordable Care")
It must be time to ban the first religion in the United States them....
/sarcasim
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
And he was one at the time, a Republican who was governor of a largely democratic state...
But all this brew-ha-ha overlooks the fact that what Romney signed was a STATE law, which IMHO is the correct venue for laws like this. The Federal government has little business being involved in such things constitutionally, unless you use a pretty contrived interpretation of the commerce clause...
So can we dispense with this "it was a republican idea" canard. It wasn't and republicans oppose it almost universally now as they did then.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Ask any police officer or health care provider how people act during the full moon. They will almost always tell you that they are busier and people are crazier around that time of the month - consistently - although they can't quite explain why.
Confirmation bias. I've heard the same thing from nurses, but the fact is, no correlation has been found.
There have been studies showing it messes with a good nights sleep. Your own link even admits that, Lack of sleep does tend to make people a little crazier.
........cause there's a difference.
The USSR isn't "socalist" like Norway, it's a flat-out keptocracy.
As you were born under the sign of the feted barnacle, today you will have doubts but tomorrow will be a new day and there will be a sense of resigned indifference before first coffee. Initially, as the sun moves into the burrow of the Aardvark you will be unable to find comfort but later a game of exploding kittens and fails videos on Youtube will cheer you up and your, cancer predicted in your previous medical horoscope, will be gone. Later in the week you will be standing beside someone on packed public transport, reach out to this person, but be prepared to duck as they may not like your advances.
Can you pay a homeopath with a stack of paper with one dollar stuck in there somewhere?
Only seems right.
you don't actually leave the dollar in there. you dump a hundred slips of paper and one dollar bill into a jar bang it on the table a few times. then you dump it all out, put one of the treated slips and a hundred fresh ones into the jar and bang it... repeat 10 times and that's a jar of 10C homeopathic dollar bills. you'd have to ask a homeopath what the actual value of each of those bills is.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. -- A.E.
Anybody who is dead set against astrology has never bothered to explore it beyond the newspaper entertainment section and various skeptical papers claiming to disprove it. *Never* at the subject itself. That's a plain, simple truth.
The critics of astrology choose to play it safe and lazy, attacking from the side. "Confirmation bias!" "Cold reading!" "I don't need to look because I already know!"
Yes, yes. People can be tricked, this is true. -But you're still a biased coward playing at pretend science with sacred 'truths' lodged in your brain. No. Hush. You really are.
Until you genuinely explore without bias, your opinion remains based purely on populist dogma and smarty-pants bluster. Those who look, truly look, inevitably come away stunned by the discovery that astrology is not all BS. But having to say, "Gosh! I was wrong," is too big a fear to face for most people when their sense of self-worth is so wrapped up in their long-stated opinions.
That being said...
When I think of commercial/government policy being involved in alternative medicine, I get cold shivers. It's alternative precisely because the main stream is so limited in certain areas. (Not all.)
Big pharma is collectively one of the shadiest cons currently running.
Well, they do say laughter is a good medicine so horoscopes could add something.
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
>"People sincerely worshipped Zeus for thousands of years. Do you believe in Zeus?"
Yes, I do. And here's why:
Zeus, and indeed, all deities - are psychological archetypes for personal self development; not supernatural beings. Hollywood has implanted many fairy tales into the minds of humanity and twisted their perception of reality. But when you peel away the multiple layers of illusion, you are left with the bare truth.
Jesus - as a human - may or may not have physically existed. Nobody can prove it either way, regardless of what they would like to believe. It is irrelevant. But that does not prevent people from "finding Jesus within" or truly achieving the "Christ consciousness", or connecting with the higher self.
Likewise, "occultists" are said to be able to summon demons to do their bidding. Aleister Crowley, through years of research, determined that the demons are not real in a physical sense, but summoned into one's mind and consciousness. Fighting demons and facing one's fears is key to personal development.
That doesn't mean that the bogeyman is sitting in your closet, although the bogeyman may be quite real to you.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
Yes, the link includes studies showing a correlation with something that could conceivably cause weird behaviour (sleep cycles), but haven't actually found a correlation with the weird behaviour.
So either there's no "lunar effect", or whatever effect there is results in a nonexistent/negligible increase in hospital/police activity.
Last post!