Talking points NEWS 21
2November 2019 THE WEEK
Isis children: do we have aduty of care?
“Therealproblemof
humanityisthe
following:wehave
Palaeolithicemotions;
medievalinstitutions;
andgod-liketechnology.”
BiologistE.O.Wilson,
quotedinTheSundayTimes
“Progressisnotcreatedby
contentedpeople.”
ColumnistFrankTyger,
quotedonForbes
“Practicedoesn’tmake
youperfect.Itmakesyou
alittlebitbetter.”
HarrisonBirtwistle,quoted
inTheSundayTimes
“Onereasonthatcatsare
happierthanpeopleisthat
theyhaveno newspapers.”
GwendolynBrooks,quoted
on Medium.com
“No personsare
more frequentlywrong
than thosewhowillnot
admittheyare wrong.”
Françoisde La
Rochefoucauld,quoted
ontheAssociatedPress
“The bourgeoisare
other people.”
Jules Renard,quotedin
The Times
“The poor have
sometimes objected to being
governed badly;therich
havealways objected to
beinggovernedat all.”
G.K. Chesterton,quoted
on Wired
“You only live once,
but ifyoudoitright,
onceis enough.”
Mae West, quotedin
TheHerald-Mail
“I am notworried about
int imidatingmen.The type
of man whowillbe
int imidatedbymeis exactly
thetype ofmanIhave no
int erest in.”
Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie, quoted in Vogue
SimonStevensdidn’tsugarthe
pill,saidNickMcDermottin
TheSun.TheheadoftheNHS
thisweeklaunchedanoutspoken
attackonthehomeopathy
industry,slammingpractitioners
as“chancers”whopush
“bogus”treatmentsontothe
Britishpublic.Healsoblamed
homeopathsforspreading
“misinformationaboutvaccines”
–asubjectofgreatconcern,
whenthelevelofvaccination
amongpre-schoolchildrenhas
beeninsharpdecline.TheNHS
stoppedfundinghomeopathic
remediesin 2 017,butthe
ProfessionalStandardsAuthority
forHealthandSocialCare(PSA)
stilllistshomeopathsonitsofficialregister.
Stevenshaswrittentothewatchdogtodemand
thatitstriptheSocietyofHomeopathsof
accreditation.Failingtodoso,heargues,risks
givinga“veneerofcredibility”tothose who
seekto “conmorepeopleintopartingwith their
hard-earned cash” inreturn for“miraclecures”.
ThePSAshould“heedStevens’sadvice”,said
TheTimes. There’snota“moleculeofevidence”
thathomeopathy–analternative medicine
workingon theprinciple thatnaturalsubstances
intinyamounts cancureailments–actually
works.Inmany cases,it maybe harmless,
butwhenused asareplacementformedical
attention,it canbe dangerous,making “sick
people sicker”,orevencausing “fataldelays
inpropertreatment”.Italso
overlapswith“moredangerous”
beliefs.About 60 membersof
theSocietyofHomeopathsare
practitionersofCeasetherapy,
which“claimswronglythat
vaccinescauseautism,andthat
homeopathycancureit”.There
areshadeshereofthemeasles,
mumpsandrubella(MMR)
scareofthe 1 990s,whenthe
vaccinewaslinkedtoautism,
causingasharpdropin
inoculationsandariseindeaths
fromthediseases.
YoucansenseStevens’s
exasperation,saidHarry
deQuettevilleinTheDaily
Telegraph.“Whywon’tthesepeopleacceptthe
factsandgoaway?”Butthetruthis,“people
don’t,theyneverhaveandtheyneverwill”.As
psychologistsremindus,debatesover“things
likehomeopathy,vaccines, or–Godforbid–
Brexit”are rarely rational.Theyarecertainly
notwonbytellingopponents thattheyare
stupid,orbeing“conned”. When tryingto
persuade others,it’sfar bettertowinthem
roundwithpowerfulemotionalstoriesthanto
shoutandbombardthemwithdata.Ironically,
byignoringthatfact,it’sthe scientific,rational
people –like Stevens –whoare reallydeluding
themselves.Untilthose whocampaignagainst
homeopathy and quackmedicinework thatout,
the ywillcontinuetobangtheir heads “uselessly
against the wall”.
Homeopathy: bad medicine
“Bogus” treatments
Thesituationinal-Hol is
desperate,said Letta TaylerinThe
WashingtonPost.The campin
northeastern Syriaholds70,00 0
womenandchildrenfrom 5 0
countrieswho were detained by
Kurdishforces whenIslamicState
wasdefeated.Thingswere“dire”
evenbeforeTurkey’srecent
invasionof northern Syria. Over
the past year, more than3 40 of the
children whomakeup two-thirds
of al-Hol’soccupantshave died
of malnutritionanddisease.And
now, with theregionin chaos,
latrinesareoverflowing,foodand
water supplies are dwindling,and
theinmatesare terrified–ofinvadingforcesand
each other. It’stime for the countriesthemother
came from–manyofthemin western Europe –
to take them andtheir children back.
It’s easyto call foraction,saidCatherinePhilp
in TheTimes. Butlet’s notforgetthe “violent”
reaction thatfollowedthe discoveryof
Shamima Begum in another Kurdish-run camp
in February.Days afterthe 19-year-old from
BethnalGreeninLondon expressed herdesire
to return to theUK, theGovernment saiditwas
stripping herof hercitizenship, amid public fury
at theprospectofthislargely
unrepentantIsisbridecoming
home.Thenewslast weekthat
Begumwasappealing that
decisioninaUKcourtprompted
another spasm ofpublic rage. But
therearesigns nowthatministers
aresofteningtheirposition, said
DipeshGadherinTheSunday
Times.The Governmenthas
committedto rescuing someof the
60 or so Britishorphans estimated
to residein theSyrian camps.
Surely it’s hypocritical to help
the children while refusing to
acknowledgethatBegum herself
wasachildwhen sheleft Britain,said Catherine
DeveneyinThe Press andJournal.She was 15
when she was groomed by Isis propagandists
and luredto Syria. TheHomeOffice’sown
anti-terrorist strategyargues that Isis brides
shouldbegivena“managed” return,said Sarah
BaxterinThe SundayTimes–they should be
chargedwith supportingterrorismandmadeto
attendderadicalisationsessions.Of course,Isis
bridessuch asBegumaredeeply unsympathetic
characters.But“it doesn’tmatter how hostileor
sympatheticwefeel towards them”. They are
British andtheyare “our responsibility”.
Begum: largely unrepentant
Statistic of the week
More than three-quarters of
women with dependent
children are now in work, a
record high for the UK. The
proportion of fathers in the
workplace has declined
slightly, to 92.6%.
ONS/The Guardian
Wit &
Wisdom
©JAMIE WISEMAN/DAILY MAIL
