Event Listing
The Skeptical Psychotherapist: a Bit of Slap and Tickle
Kevin Friery is a skeptical Psychotherapist. With a background in Psychology and Counselling he has been closely involved with the world of psychological therapies since a time when they hadn't even discovered the 'C' in CBT.
One of his claims to fame (try and stop him talking about it!) is that he has appeared several times on BBC 1's The Big Questions offering the voice of skepticism and reason in the face of some very vocal True Believers.
A Bit of Slap & Tickle takes a close and skeptical look at some of the 'treatments' for common mental health conditions, and looks at the people who profess themselves to be 'practitioners'. It looks at the meaning of effectiveness and explores our relationship with placebos and comes up with some uncomfortable conclusions.Skeplit: 2-for-1 and post-QED chat
After taking a break in April for QED, we are back in May with two books!
The Story of Language by Mario Pei and Smart Swarm: Using Animal Behaviour to Organise Our World by Don Tapscott and Peter Miller.
Feel free to read one, both or neither of the books. We'll also be catching up on all the highlights from QED at our usual haunt of The Vienna Coffee House, so pop along for a chat and some cake.Towel Day Quiz 2015
Join us for our almost annual Towel Day/Geek Pride Pub Quiz! Think you know your sci-fi from your sci-fact? Or your Romulan Wines from your Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters? Join us from 8pm on Thursday 28th May in the upstairs bar of Bar 21. Entrance £1 per person. Maximum of 5 in a team. Use of smartphones to cheat punishable by airlocking (or arbitrary deduction of points).
Aids Denialism… Yep, That's a Thing
Fresh from his appearance at QED, Myles Power comes back to Manchester, discussing some examples of the dangerous assertions and explain how they have led to the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people. He will also talk about the failure of the DMCA and how it can be exploited by the proponents of pseudoscience.
QED: Question, Explore, Discover
QED is a science and skepticism convention run jointly by the Greater Manchester and Merseyside Skeptics Societies, taking place at the Palace Hotel in Manchester from the 24th-26th April 2015.
Fantastic speakers from the worlds of science and entertainment will be joining us for a weekend celebration of science, reason and critical thinking.Lies, damned lies and statistics: How we get science coverage wrong
Dr. David Robert Grimes discusses the frequent problems in reporting science from misunderstandings to bad statistics to false balance, and discusses the factors that influence this and how such problems can be remedied.
Irregular Social
So that our April speaker event can mesh nicely with QED, we've moved our social for April to the second Thursday. Otherwise, it's the same old Skeptics in the Pub.
Manchester Skeptics in the Church (Inn)
Despite losing our speaker event this month, the social is on as normal, with all the usual chat, beer, coffee and discounted food.
Skeplit Has An Unquenchable Thirst
This month we will be discussing An Unquenchable Thirst, a memoir by Mary Johnson. In this book, Mary writes about becoming a member of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity and her struggles with her sexuality, faith and the order itself.
Manchester Skeptics in the Church (Inn)
Good grub, strong coffee, reasonably-priced ale, a proper beer garden and lively, informed conversation. If that sounds like your scene then get yourself along to our monthly social.
There's a 10% student discount on food, extended to all SITP attendees.