Often crammed into a small section of a page, with variable quality of 'expert', and with the available space often given over to more than one question, I would argue that the medical / health columns in magazines are not conducive to provision of nuanced health advice with appropriate caveats.

Here is a PDF (Schwarz et al) that discusses attempts to improve decision-making - and the frequent failures of these attempts.

Last week, I wrote about the regulation of those promoting food supplements. I was less than impressed with the lack of action taken by Trading Standards and the MHRA.

Back in July, I wrote three blog posts about claims made on the website of a food supplement manufacturer. As well as writing about their claims, I contacted the MHRA and Trading Standards.

There seems to be a perception among some that the alternative medicine industry is somehow warm and cuddly in comparison to everyone's favourite baddie, 'Big Pharma'. I'm sorry to say that 'Big Altie' is every bit as bad as Big Pharma. These are not charities - they are businesses like any other. Their responsibilities are to their shareholders, not to the public.

My Twitter feed has been full of tweets today regarding the Simon Singh / British Chiropractic Association case and a remarkable press release issued by the BCA, but there have also been several mentions of an MP named David Tredinnick.

Yesterday, I went to a talk given by Edzard Ernst at Bradford University. The talk was based on the book he co-wrote with Simon Singh: Trick or Treatment. This is my (unsystematic) review.

Having been given space by the Daily Mail to write a column on vaccination two days ago, Dr Richard Halvorsen has today been given air-time by Radio 4. The programme is available here on iPlayer and an unverified transcript is available here.

The Daily Mail has followed yesterday's article (about the death of a young girl following vaccination against HPV) with one today from Dr Richard Halvorsen. Halvorsen's article is headlined "Dr Richard Halvorsen: I'm not opposed to jabs but there are serious worries."