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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Roger Kimball |Philip Hensher |Stuart A Ritchie |John Lough
When Winston Churchill saw the portrait commissioned by parliament for his 80th birthday, he called it “filthy and malignant” and said it made him look “half-witted.” The picture, painted by Graham Sutherland, was soon whisked off to Chartwell, Churchill’s estate in Kent. It moldered there unseen for some years before Churchill’s private secretary ferried it to a secluded cottage and burnt the wretched object. Clemmie, Churchill’s long-suffering wife, approved of the conflagration.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Stuart A Ritchie |John Steele Gordon |Paul Wood |Yascha Mounk
One usually likes to think that scientists know what they’re doing. Here’s something that might shake your confidence. In bio-medical research, scientists often use cell lines. These are in vitro cells, originally taken from a human or animal donor, which can be experimented on to help develop new drugs or treatments. The problem is that, according to one review, in “at least 5 percent” of studies, the scientists have totally mixed up where the cells came from.
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Nov 24, 2024 | 
greatbritishlife.co.uk | Stuart A Ritchie
As winter settles across the Cotswolds and gardens prepare for their seasonal rest, there’s a hidden opportunity lying right in your kitchen waste. Every bit of organic material is a potential treasure for your garden’s ecosystem. ‘Soil is exciting – it’s not just mud, it’s a living resource,’ explains Stuart Ritchie, environmental education manager at Earth Trust.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
professionaladviser.com | Stuart A Ritchie
Crucial for clients to discuss inheritance plans with their adviser Even though broaching the subject is a difficult topic, there are techniques that advisers can use to help clients deal with inheritance planning. Stuart Ritchie shares his insight...
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
thestudiesshowpod.com | Stuart A Ritchie
Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., just a big crank? Well, yes. But is he nevertheless correct in his specific claims about the harms of water fluoridation? It’s long been argued that it’s no longer necessary, and that it might have the scary adverse effect of lowering children’s IQs. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look at the evidence.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
minutehack.com | Stuart A Ritchie
Guides According to Deloitte whilst 86% of leaders believe leadership succession planning is of utmost importance, only 14% think their organisation does it well. So why does succession go badly for so many companies, and what should they be doing instead?
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Oct 11, 2024 | 
yourmoney.com | Stuart A Ritchie
Many people are wealthier by comparison than they realise, with the so-called ‘mass affluent’ market applying to around 13.1 million people – that’s the population of a mega-city like London or Mumbai. This means they may underestimate their wealth and the complexity of their personal finances (and those of their families), leading them to rely on mainstream, ‘high street’ financial products that may not be optimal for their needs. But what is ‘mass affluent’?
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Sep 17, 2024 | 
thestudiesshowpod.com | Stuart A Ritchie
Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. A while back, The Studies Show covered the question of whether smartphones and social media cause mental health problems. Amazingly, that podcast didn’t settle the issue, and the debate has continued—and continued rather acrimoniously. Psychologists—most notably Jonathan Haidt—are currently laying into each other, analysing, re-analysing, and meta-analysing datasets to try and work out whether “it’s the phones”.
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Sep 11, 2024 | 
astralcodexten.com | Stuart A Ritchie
[I haven’t independently verified each link. On average, commenters will end up spotting evidence that around two or three of the links in each links post are wrong or misleading. I correct these as I see them, and will highlight important corrections later, but I can’t guarantee I will have caught them all by the time you read this.]1: NPR has an article on the movement to compensate kidney donors, including the role of ACX grantee Waitlist Zero. 2: Many personality differences are partly genetic.
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Jul 23, 2024 | 
thestudiesshowpod.com | Stuart A Ritchie
Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. We all agree that misinformation is bad. So why do we cringe when we hear prominent scientists and commentators talking about “misinformation” these days? It’s because the public discussion on misinformation bears very little relation to what we actually know about it and its effects. Ironically, some scientists—misinformation researchers who should know better—are at the root of this confusion.
