Woo in the Telegraph - a response (of sorts)

24 June 2009

Dear Dr [Schroedinger99],

I am writing in response to your email concerning Annabel Croft article, which appeared in the Telegraph.

Your comments have been passed on to our editorial team for their future reference on this topic and I would like to thank you for taking the time and trouble to write to us on this matter. We value your readership and appreciate our readers' comments.

I hope you shall continue to enjoy The Daily Telegraph.

Yours sincerely,

Andy King

hmmm........

Well, let's just say that if I ever hear that someone has died because he/she relied on ingredient-free homoeopathic remedies rather than seeking the medical intervention he/she required, I shall remind Andy King of this email.

Woo in the Telegraph

Someone may die after reading this tosh!

Article about treating ovarian cysts with magic water

Sir
It is grossly irresponsible of the Telegraph to publish an article like this without any accompanying opinion from a genuine health professional.
If people choose to “treat” their hay-fever using “homeopathic medicines” (i.e. “medicines” with no ingredients) that’s fine by me. If people choose to treat their ovarian cysts using “homeopathic medicines”, they could die.
Yours faithfully
Dr Schroedinger99

Footnote to anyone reading this who might be inclined to believe that there is something in homoeopathy:

Let’s take one of the remedies mentioned: Nux Vomica. This is an extract from the Strychnos Nux Vomica tree which contains a number of highly poisonous alkaloids – none of which, to my knowledge, have any useful role in the treatment of hangovers. Fortunately for Annabel Croft, homoeopaths do not supply this extract in its pure form. They dilute it first. They really really dilute it:

As you will find if you follow the http://www.healthroughhomeopathy.com/ link for this article: “Over the counter remedies tend to come in 6c and 30c potencies. A solution labelled as '6c' has been diluted six times at a ratio of one part substance to 99 parts alcohol and water, whereas a solution labelled as '30c' has been diluted 30 times at a ratio of one part substance to 99 parts alcohol and water. 6c potency is typically used for long standing conditions, such as rheumatic pain. 30c potency is typically used for first aid or acute situations, such as the onset of a cold or bruising after a knock or fall.”

What this means is that homeopathic Nux Vomica with a potency of 6c has one part Nux Vomica to 100 to the power 6 parts alcohol and water – eg 1 ml Nux Vomica in 1000000000000 ml of alcohol and water; homeopathic Nux Vomica with a potency of 30c has one part Nux Vomica to 100 to the power 30 parts alcohol and water – eg 1 ml Nux Vomica in 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 ml of alcohol and water (which won’t even display on my calculator).

(I hope I've got these figures right, but, hey, I could be out by several million and still make the same point)

This alcohol and water is sprinkled onto pillules (typically containing lactose) and these are then dried – ie the alcohol and water is allowed to evaporate. The pillules can then “be dissolved in warm water” (I am not making this up) which the patient can (presumably) either drink or dilute 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 times and begin the whole process again.

Anyone who believes that these remedies could possibly have any effect is, IMHO, in serious need of clinical help.

I suppose, to be fair, I should at least consider the possibility of "water memory":

It has been suggested that one way to explain the alleged efficacy of homoeopathic remedies may be that water somehow "remembers" what used to be in it. There is, in should be noted, no scientific evidence for such a mechanism or for the efficacy of homoeopathic remedies, but I think it is also worth pointing out that the notion of "water memory" is inherently implausible.

For example:

* The tap waster we all drink has had all sorts of things removed from it and would be extremely hazardous if it "remembered" those constituents in the sense suggested by homoeopathy.

* There are (I suppose) chemicals that "remember" other chemicals (in a certain sense) like antibodies; but injecting someone with rabies antibodies will not produce a similar effect to injecting someone with rabies antigens.

* Even if we allowed water to "remember" what had been in it, how are we to explain the transfer of that memory to pills (which may be made of lactose or calcium carbonate or almost anything and which have lost all the water put on them to evaporation) and from the pills back to water?

Who would you rather have move in next door to you?

Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Newsreader & TV presenter

Freema Agyeman BA Actor

Dr Simon Singh Science jounalist & author

Shami Chakrabarti CBE Lawyer & Director of "Liberty"

Stephen Fry BA Jewish homosexual TV presenter, actor & author

Konnie Huq BA “Relaxed Muslim” TV Presenter

OR

Nick Griffin Fat white bog-eyed racist bigot, Holocaust denier & leader of the BNP

Shami Chakrabarti in Bradford

My wife I took my teenage daughter to see Shami Chakrabarti of "Liberty" (formerly the National Council for Civil Liberties) speak at Bradford University last week (2009 June 03).

It was, in many ways, a wonderful experience. The "Great Hall" at Bradford was full to bursting, and it was nice to see that so many people were prepared to drag themselves away from things like Big Brother and Britain's Got Talent (not to mention their computers) to simply listen to someone speak in a hall. Shami was eloquent, entertaining, and self assured. A superb role model for my daughter.

Shami spoke movingly about the battles fought and won over the years, and the battles (e.g. on "rendition" and torture) still playing out today. She reminded us that the European Court of Human rights is not some kind of arm of Brussels's EU bureaucracy that forces us to eat straight bananas (as the Daily Mail might have it) it is the result of a process began, after the horrors of World War II, by Winston Churchill's brain child: The Council of Europe. Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe (who oversaw the drafting of Convention and whose moniker hardly conjures up an image of Johnny Foreigner) said at the time that it was designed to incorporate a traditional civil liberties approach to securing "effective political democracy", from the strongest traditions in the United Kingdom, France and other member states of Europe.

But then Shami said a few words about religion .......

First of all she contrasted states where a single compulsory state religion that permeates all aspects of life (citing Afghanistan under the Taliban and England under the Tudors as examples) with states where religion was more or less outlawed (the French Republic and Soviet Russia) and indicated that her position lay somewhere between these extremes. Fair enough! Shami then went on to suggest that (Professor) Richard Dawkins (who she insisted on referring to as "Mr Dawkins") was an advocate of the Soviet approach to religion and that he denied the contribution of religion to art, culture, and music. This is quite simply false in every respect and a gross calumny against Richard Dawkins.

Shami went on to provide an example of how Liberty had helped forge a righteous path between these two extremes by (for example) championing the case of Sarika Watkins-Singh who wished to wear her kara (Sikh bracelet) to school that had rules against the wearing of any jewellery.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not generally against people wearing karas or crosses round their necks or any other symbols and I don't really understand why the school thought it necessary to ban jewellery - other than (perhaps) in the laboratories and on the playing fields - but the judgement in this case (endorsed by Liberty) seems just plain barmy.

The judges ruled that though it was perfectly okay for schools to impose general bans on jewellery, they have to make exceptions for individuals who claim that their jewellery is religious in character. In other words, the judges and Liberty have endorsed the principle of different laws for people of different faiths.

As we have seen in many parts of the world, this is the road to tyranny not the road to liberty.

Writing to the The General Chiropractic Council

Me first:

Dear Sir/Madam

I note that your CoP contains the following entry:

C1.6 may publicise their practices or permit another person to do so consistent with the law and the guidance issued by the Advertising Standards Authority.

As you may be aware, the ASA recently declared in a ruling against Chiropractors “Dr Carl Irwin and Associates” (http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_46281.htm) that

“We considered that, whilst some of the studies indicated that further research was worth pursuing, in particular in relation to the chiropractic relief of colic, we had not seen robust clinical evidence to support the claim that chiropractic could treat IBS, colic and learning difficulties.

On these points the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 50.1 (Health and Beauty Products and Therapies).”

It has come to my attention that Huddersfield Chiropractic (http://www.huddersfieldchiropractic.co.uk/BCAD02_Babies.asp) make the following claim on their website:

"Birth and early infancy can sometimes be a very difficult and traumatic time for both mother and baby. After the baby's head has engaged, usually during the eighth month of pregnancy, there can be a lot of stress on its head and back as it continues to move within the womb. This stress can increase further during the birth process, particularly if it is prolonged or involves breech presentation or forceps delivery. As the child grows up, and starts to walk, climb and run, the inevitable falls and bumps can affect the still-developing bones of the spine and skull. Once at school, the child carries heavy bags, sits on badly-designed chairs and participates in a variety of sporting activities.
These stresses and injuries can result in the tightening of muscles in the neck or back, so causing the bones of the spine to lose their normal motion or position. This can irritate or put stress onto the nerve roots that branch off the spinal cord to the organs and tissues of the body. In babies and young children this may lead to symptoms including:
• asthma
• colic
• hyperactivity
• bedwetting
instead of treating the symptoms with drugs, or assuming that the child will 'grow out of it', the chiropractor will gently adjust a child's spine to remove the nerve stress and return his/her body to healthy healing."

Unsurprisingly, the cited Danish research is not regarded as "robust clinical evidence" by the ASA - it would seem to fall well short of the standards applied in conventional medical research.

The claim concerning “colic” would seem to be in breach of the ASA Code. While this is not an advertisement in the sense defined by the ASA, Huddersfield are publicizing their practice and would, therefore, appear to be in breach of your code.

Please could you inform me whether you consider Huddersfield’s claims to be appropriate and whether you intend to take action against this company.

Yours faithfully


Dr* Schroedinger99

*non clinical

The first reply - which came straight back:

Dear Dr Schoedinger99,

Thank you for your email of 4 June 2009. With regard to the final sentence of your email, the Investigating Committee of the General Chiropractic Council investigates complaints relating to the fitness to practise of individual chiropractors, rather than complaints against companies or organisations. In this respect please contact us if you wish to make a complaint about a chiropractor or wish to receive a copy of our complaint information pack.

As your email refers in part to a ruling made by the ASA against a chiropractor, I have referred your email to the Chief Executive & Registrar, Margaret Coats, who will provide a separate response to your email.

Yours sincerely

XXXXX
Specialist Officer (Regulation)
General Chiropractic Council

Ths was quickly followed up by another response:

Dear Mr Schoedinger99
Your email of 4 June has been brought to my attention because it refers to the recent ASA adjudication against a chiropractor – Carl Irwin. I thought you might be interested to see that the GCC’s patient information leaflet (copy attached) includes the following statements

Chiropractors mainly treat
• back, neck and shoulder problems
• joint, posture and muscle problems
• leg pain and sciatica
• sports injuries
You may also see an improvement in some types of
• asthma
• headaches, including migraine; and
• infant colic

It’s important to emphasise that the GCC doesn’t claim that chiropractors 'treat' asthma, headaches (including migraine) and infant colic. It is possible that chiropractic care may help to alleviate the symptoms of some of these conditions. Chiropractors are trained in differential diagnosis and should refer any patient for appropriate care from another health professional when necessary. It is important that, where appropriate, there is good co-management of patient care. But the statement about the possibility of improvement has been included on the basis of the currently available evidence.

I'm not sure what level of detail to go into but as you may know there are a number of ways of measuring, or rating, evidence levels. One relevant example is Brønfort G. Efficacy of Manual Therapies of the Spine, Amsterdam: Thesis Publishers, 1997. This study rates the levels of evidence available at the time and provides a measuring tool to do it - I've cut and pasted the 'ratings table' below for your information. If there's anything that's unclear please do get back to me.

The available evidence of the efficacy of the chiropractic contribution to the management of some types of asthma, migraine headache and infant colic is inconclusive (i.e. level D in the measuring tool used by Brønfort).

Further, with regard to some types of asthma:
• Brønfort concluded in 1997 that there is moderate evidence (Level B) that SMT is a non-efficacious therapy for chronic to moderately severe asthma in adults. There was insufficient data (Level D) to draw conclusions about the efficacy of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) for other respiratory diseases (including childhood asthma)
• In 2001, Brønfort et al ( see c. below) concluded that after three months of combining chiropractic SMT with optimal medical management for childhood asthma, the children rated their quality of life substantially higher and their asthma severity substantially lower. The observed improvements were thought unlikely to be as a result of the specific effects of chiropractic SMT alone, but other aspects of the clinical encounter that should not be dismissed readily.

So although some clinical trials had positive results there is insufficient data to make strong statements about efficacy. There is a higher level of available evidence (i.e. level B) with regard to some types of headache (such as tension-type and cervicogenic headache) and there appears to be a clinical advantage, of both SMT and exercises, both of which chiropractors use, compared to placebo and at least equivalence with commonly used therapies.

Other studies which appear to echo the evidence levels outlined in the paragraphs above are:
a. Nielsen NH, Brønfort G, Bendix T. et al 1995. Chronic asthma and chiropractic spinal manipulation: a randomized clinical trial. Clin Exp Allergy Jan;25(1):80-8
b. Balon J, Aker PD et al 1998. A comparison of active and simulated chiropractic manipulation as adjunctive treatment for childhood asthma. NEJM 339 (15): 1013-1020
c. Brønfort G , Evans RL, Kubic P, Filkin P 2001. Chronic pediatric asthma and chiropractic spinal manipulation: a prospective clinical series and randomized pilot study. JMPT 24(6):369-77
d. Brønfort G, Nilsson N, Haas M, Evans RL, Goldsmith CH, Assendelft WJJ, Bouter LM. Non-invasive physical treatments for chronic/recurrent headache. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 3 Art. No.: CD001878. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001878.pub2
e. Wiberg JMM, Nordsteen J, Nilsson N. 1999. The short-term effect of spinal manipulation in the treatment of infantile colic: a randomised controlled clinical trial with a blinded observer, JMPT 22 (8): 517-22.
This isn’t an exhaustive list but I do hope that this level of detail is helpful.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
YYYYYY
Chief Executive & Registrar

This all seemed rather irrelevant, so I worte back again:

Dear Ms YYYYYY

Thank you for your email, but I do not feel that you have addressed the complaint I raised.

To summarize:

the GCC’s CoP states that chiropractors “may publicise their practices or permit another person to do so consistent with the law and the guidance issued by the Advertising Standards Authority.”

The ASA have made it clear that it is not acceptable for chiropractors to claim that they can treat infant colic – a judgement which you appear to endorse in your email to me.

Huddersfield Chiropractic claim that they can treat infant colic.

I suggest, therefore, that Huddersfield Chiropractic would seem to be in breach of your CoP and I am requesting that, in view of this, you take action against them.

Yours sincerely

Dr Schroedinger99

I then received a very polite phone call from Ms YYYYYY from which the following emerged:

1) As XXXXX indicated, the Investigating Committee of the General Chiropractic Council investigates complaints relating to the fitness to practise of individual chiropractors - not chiropractic businesses.

2) XXXXX did not pass on my complaint to YYYYY for her to deal with instead. XXXX passed on my complaint so that she could advise me on the sort of evidence the GCC use and how they assess that evidence.

3) If I wish my complaint to be considered, I shall have to resubmit it naming the individual chiropractors who work at the firm I am complaining about.

I note that the GCC seem to be very professional (unlike other "regulators" I have dealt with - e.g PhonepayPlus) and obviously take their role seriously.

I hope this helps others making complaints to the GCC about chiropractors who make bogus claims on their own websites.

The War on Reason (the fight back begins)

More on "faith schools"

On the Government's Teachernet site, we find the following:

Faith schools: working for cohesion
Examples of how faith schools' contribute to community cohesion through their inclusive admissions

The trust deed for Nottingham Emmanuel, a secondary school with a Church of England religious character, explicitly states that 33% of places are for local community children plus places for other faiths. As a result, of the published admission number of 180 places, 60 places are for the local community, 15 places for world faiths and 30 for Church of England primary schools. The remaining places are general places under the school's admission criteria.

Sir John Cass School, a secondary school with a Church of England religious character in Tower Hamlets, offers 20% of its places under its religious admission criteria; 10% as 'language' places; and the remaining 70% as 'open' places. As a result around 80% of pupils at the school are of Muslim faith.

Church of England schools in Norwich have the proximity of the pupil to the school as the first criteria for admissions rather than the faith of the pupil.

The admission policies for the Guru Nanak Sikh Primary and Guru Nanak Sikh Secondary Schools in Hayes give some priority to children of any faith, who attend worship regularly with their parents/carers. The schools' (sic) also gives (sic) priority to pupils with a sibling at the school, regardless of faith, and to children with acute medical needs. Currently the schools' student community consists of Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh students.

Further information on school admissions.

Return to Faith schools: working for cohesion

Published 15 February 2005

Now leaving aside the curious use of the apostrophe in the title, what are we to make of the logic here? Let's try replacing "faith" with "race":

Racially segregated schools: working for cohesion

Examples of how racially segregated schools contribute to community cohesion through their inclusive admissions

The trust deed for Nottingham Whites, a secondary school with an ethnic European character, explicitly states that 33% of places are for local community children plus places for other races. As a result, of the published admission number of 180 places, 60 places are for the local community, 15 places for coloured children and 30 for white children. The remaining places are general places under the school's admission criteria.

John Bull School, a secondary school with an ethnic European character in Tower Hamlets, offers 20% of its places under its racial admission criteria; 10% as 'language' places; and the remaining 70% as 'open' places. As a result around 80% of pupils at the school are coloured.

Black schools in Norwich have the proximity of the pupil to the school as the first criteria for admissions rather than the race of the pupil.

The admission policies for the whites only Primary and Secondary Schools in Hayes give some priority to children of any race, who attend Aryan meetings regularly with their parents/carers. The schools also give priority to pupils with a sibling at the school, regardless of race, and to children with acute medical needs. Currently the schools' student community consists of whites, coloureds, and black students.

Further information on school admissions.

Return to Racially segregated schools: working for cohesion

Published 15 February 2005

The Government, promoting sense through nonsense.

(I look forward to a Government report on how criminality promotes social morality because some crooks sometimes give back some of what they have stolen…… actually, thinking about it, that’s exactly what Ofcom & PhonepayPlus do say when it comes to premium rate crooks..hmmm)

Faith in Schools - a dialogue

This began with my filling in some kind of comment or feedback form on the Department for Children, Schools and Families website expressing my dismay at the current Government's policy of encouraging the segregation of school children in accordance with their parents' religious beliefs.

I received the following reply:

Dear Dr Ward

Thank you for your email of 31 March about faith schools.
I acknowledge that some people may have concerns about the contribution of faith schools to community cohesion, but we know that the faith school providers are fully committed to a diverse school system and take the various requirements of maintained status very seriously.
I believe that all schools – whether they have a religious character or not – play a key role in fostering understanding, appreciation and shared values amongst their pupils. That is why section 38 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 places the governing bodies of all maintained schools under a duty to promote community cohesion, with this element of what they do to be inspected by Ofsted from September 2008.
A key component of schools' work on community cohesion should be to provide reasonable opportunities for children, young people, their friends and families to interact with people from different backgrounds and build positive relations. One way schools can provide these broader experiences to their pupils is through developing links with other schools in the UK. The DCSF is supporting schools to make these links by providing £2m to roll out the work of the Schools Linking Network into a national school linking programme with pilot projects in local authorities.
It is not right to draw comparisons with Northern Ireland, because the histories of our two countries have been shaped by very different circumstances. Ministers do not accept that the existence of faith schools inevitably leads to segregation by race or that faith schools are any less committed to inclusion and community cohesion than other schools.
Schools that are more than 75% of one race are generally no more likely to be faith schools than schools without a religious character.
Taxpayers’ money does not fund religious indoctrination. All maintained schools, including faith schools, must deliver a broad and balanced curriculum, including the National Curriculum, and are inspected by Ofsted accordingly.
All maintained schools must provide Religious Education for all their pupils, and some categories of faith school have additional freedoms around the teaching of RE, as RE does not form part of the National Curriculum.
RE encourages respect for those holding different beliefs and helps promote pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In partnership with national faith organisations and the British Humanist Association, we have introduced a non-statutory framework for RE.
The Framework places inclusion, tolerance, diversity and interfaith dialogue at the heart of children's learning. These principles are shared both by the Department and faith communities.
In February 2006, the faith communities renewed their support for the framework in a joint statement making it clear that all children should be given the opportunity to receive inclusive religious education, and that they are committed to making sure the framework is used in the development of religious education in all their schools and colleges. This is an essential part of enabling young people to develop their own informed views on moral and ethical issues.
In maintained faith schools, as in any maintained school, parents have the right to withdraw their children from all or any part of RE. They do not have to give a reason for withdrawal and the schools is expected to comply with the request.

Yours sincerely
XXXX
Public Communications Unit

I replied:

Dear Ms XXXX

Thank you for your email.

To summarize: you argue that the negative effects of segregating children in accordance with their parents' religions are nowhere near as bad as people like me think; and you assure me that the government is putting all sorts of measures in place to mitigate these effects.

What is missing from your email, however, is any argument whatsoever in favour of the proposition that segregating children in accordance with their parents' religions is a good thing in itself. It does not really surprise me that such arguments are missing from your email, since you are clearly a reasonable person and it is impossible to imagine how any reasonable person could argue that it is a good thing to segregate children in accordance with their parents' religions.

By the way, I did not say that segregation along religious line leads to segregation along ethnic lines (though, pace your carefully chosen statistic, it very often does). I simply pointed out that the suggestion that segregation along religious lines leads to community cohesion is as coherent as the suggestion that segregation along ethnic lines leads to racial harmony. Or put it a different way: Why is religious segregation in education considered to be a good thing whereas racial segregation in education is considered to be a bad thing?

I find both types of segregation equally distasteful - as, according to the opinion polls I have seen, do most of the population of this country.

I hope that, sooner or later, reason will prevail in government and I look forward to a day when all schools (at least all state funded schools) will open their doors to all children, teach understanding of and tolerance towards all religious traditions, and leave the question of whether any particular set of supernatural beliefs is true to bodies outside the education system.

Yours sincerely

Dr M A Ward

the correspondence continued:

Dear Dr Ward,
Thank you for your email dated 17 April about faith schools.

I note your comments.

Further to my colleague's, Ms XXXXX, response I would add that faith schools are a long-established part of the school system with the involvement of the Church in education predating that of the state, and with a focus on the most disadvantaged. The dual system of voluntary schools supported by faith organisations and schools without a religious character is at the heart of the school system in England.

The Government will continue to develop a diverse system in which institutions work together, learn from each other and thereby drive up quality across the board. Faith schools make an important contribution to this diverse system and in Faith in the System, the Government and faith school providers have confirmed their commitment to continue to work together.

As explained previously, the Government recognise that people do have concerns about the contribution faith schools make to community cohesion and Ministers expect all maintained schools with and without a religious character to improve the life chances of children, to build bridges to greater mutual trust and understanding and to contribute to a just and cohesive society with all schools being inspected by Ofsted from September this year on the duty to promote community cohesion.

Yours sincerely,
YYYY
School Commissioning and Supply Division

and continued:

Dear Ms YYYYY

I realize that the segregation of children in accordance with their parents' religions is a long-established part of the school system. The same could be also said of bullying, sexual and physical abuse, racial discrimination, the illicit consumption of nicotine and any number of other practices. The fact that these practices are long established has never been considered a "knock-down argument" in favour of the notion that the government of the day should support and encourage such things. If fact, a series of governments has had considerable success is tackling or even eliminating the practices I have listed.

If the government wishes to justify its policy of promoting and increasing the segregation of children along religious lines, it really needs to come up with some convincing reasons why this policy, despite all the indications to the contrary, might be seen as a "good thing". I am afraid that the arguments you have presented thus far: "It's not as bad as you think" and "It's been going on for years" really do not do the trick.

And I am sorry, but I think you would struggle to get your proposition - that the segregation of children along religious lines can contribute to community cohesion - past the population of Salt Lake City let alone the population of the UK.

Yours sincerely

Dr M A Ward

and continued:

Dear Dr Ward,

Thank you for your email dated 01 May 2008 about maintained faith schools.

Ministers do not share your view that faith schools foster racial and cultural divisions and tensions in our society. Schools are well placed to become a focal point for the local community and to foster better relationships between diverse communities. Many Church of England schools have a high proportion of Muslim pupils and are very popular with Muslim parents.
The Commission on Integration and Cohesion’s report ‘Our Shared Future’ recognised that there are faith schools which have pupils from many different backgrounds and faiths, as well as largely single background schools which are not faith schools. Ministers believe that all schools – whether they have a religious character or not – play a key role in fostering understanding, appreciation and shared values amongst their pupils, thereby helping to promote community cohesion and equipping them to be active, responsible citizens in an increasingly diverse UK society. That is why, as mentioned in previous correspondence, section 38 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 places the governing bodies of all maintained schools- faith and non-faith schools alike- under a duty to promote community cohesion, with this element of what they do to be inspected by Ofsted from September 2008.

I acknowledge that some people may have concerns about the contribution of faith schools to community cohesion and about whether faith schools' admissions policies may sometimes contribute to selection or covert selection, but I must reiterate that the faith organisations are fully committed to the school system and take the various requirements of maintained status very seriously.

Yours sincerely,

YYYYY
School Commissioning and Supply Division

and continued:

Dear Ms YYYYYY

You wrote:

"Many Church of England schools have a high proportion of Muslim pupils and are very popular with Muslim parents."

You obviously think this is a good thing. So presumably you also think it would also be a good thing if many Christian parents sent their children to Muslim schools; and you think it would be even more of a good thing if more Christian and Muslim parents sent their children to the "wrong" schools.

Carry this argument to its logical conclusion, and you end up with desegregated schools.

So now in addition to the two arguments:

1) Religious segregation is schools is a good thing because, in England and Wales, its negative effects are unlikely to be as severe as we have seen in Northern Ireland and other divided communities around the world.

and

2) Religious segregation is schools is a good thing because, it has been going on a long time.

you have added a third:

3) Religious segregation is schools is a good thing because, it does not always result in complete segregation.

As for the "views of Ministers", I do not say that faith schools foster racial and cultural division; I say that faith schools are a racial and cultural division. Whether this will lead to greater tensions, is a matter not for anyone's views but for empirical research. All the evidence of history and from around the world points to what the results of such research are likely to to be. Why, given that you don't have a single coherent argument in favour of religious segregation, take the risk?

Dr M A Ward

and then finished:

Dear Dr Ward,

Thank you for your email and observations about faith schools.
I cannot add anything further but I note the points you have made.

Yours sincerely,

YYYYY
School Commissioning and Supply Division

I think I won all the arguments, but the Government carried on segregating kids anyway.

Nick Cohen on Chiroquacktic

Excellent article on the #singhbca case here; and Nick is a splendid journalist whose articles I always enjoy reading; but why oh why oh why does he insist on inserting his view - that anyone who questions the wisdom of the Iraq war or expresses any concern for the plight of the Christian and Muslim (and other?) "Semites" living in Israel or the occupied (or encircled) territories is a raving Islamo-fascist anti-Semitic leftist Nazi - into each and every piece he writes?

(Okay, Nick does not quite put it like this, but if you read his stuff often enough, you come to realize that this is what he thinks.)

If you are reading this Nick (and I don't suppose you ever will) please note that, for some of us at least, exactly the some sentiments that tell us that we would never ever wish to live in a country controlled by Hamas also underlie our concerns about the notion of a state whose criteria for citizenship and equal rights derive from ethnic and religious considerations.