The European Skeptics Podcast

– Brisbane Skeptics in the Pub!Our two-week long tour to Australia is soon coming to an end, but we have been lucky enough to be welcomed by lovely people in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast.On this week’s episode we are releasing a recording we made before a lovely audience in Brisbane, where we had a panel discussion about our thoughts on the present and future of the skeptic movement, based on our experiences and actives as skeptics in our respective countries.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Brisbane Skeptics; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

– Sydney Skeptics in the Pub!Our two-week long tour to Australia has begun, the main event of which will be the Australian Skeptics National Convention (SkeptiCon) in Canberra between 3rd and 4th December. But beforehand, we will have a few stops along the way where local branches organised events for us that we can’t wait to attend.The first event of our tour has now concluded. It was a Skeptics in the Pub event in Sydney, with short talks as well as an interview with Australia’s most popular science communicator, Dr Karl, and host of The Skeptic Zone, Richard Saunders. This week, instead of a regular show, we are releasing a special recording of the whole evening.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

– plus, the Princess who will never be Queen – and why that’s a good thingShould we all abandon Twitter and move to Mastodon? Call us contrarians, but we’ll wait and see! Preparing for our Australian trip to Skepticon we may need an umbrella or two due to the severe weather, but if you are based in Europe and like to go to a great conference, why not head down to Leiria in Portugal for ComceptCon 2022 that opens this weekend! In TWISH we hear about another great Hungarian skeptic, Mihály Beck, born this week in 1929. Pope Frankie is worried about those porn watching nuns, while we just move on to take a look at the news:INTERNATIONAL: How screwed are we – any results on COP27?GERMANY: The Golden Aluminium Hat awards ceremony now onlineNORWAY: The Shaman’s Princess leaves all her royal commitmentsLISTENBURG: How a fictive country was born and became viralSWITZERLAND: Nathalie wasn’t a victim of ritual satanic abuseSWEDEN: Pontus Pokes the Politicians: Environment budget a disasterThe Russian TV host Andrei Nor

– Czech / Slovak Skeptical TV-series ‘Investigátori’ renewed for second season!The gang is reunited and there’s so much to talk about – memories of QED, the Ockham Award, the Rusty Razor and our upcoming Australian Tour. With sadness we note the passing of Kendrick Frazier and then we talk to Claire Klingenberg and Peter Pokorný regarding the second season(!) of their skeptical TV series ‘Investigátori‘ (‘The Investogators’). In TWISH we remember the Hungarian scientific communicator and TV personality József Öveges and then Frankie gets a poking for the latest Cardinal scandal.Then it’s time for the news:INTERNATIONAL: COP27 now on!UK: Earthshot Prize announcedINTERNATIONAL: Is Google funding climate change disinformation?INTERNATIONAL: Public more likely to support climate action if other countries commit as wellEUROPE: Europe’s unvaccinated childrenGERMANY: INH press ReleaseSWEDEN: New book out by Greta ThunbergFINLAND: Change to abortion laws in FinlandPOLAND: Tomasz Witkowski’s new bookQueen Consort Cami

– Claire and Brian joins us, while Luna fills in for AndrásAs we are joined by Claire Kroulik-Klingenberg and Brian Eggo, Luna steps up to fill the shoes of András who to everyone’s deep disappointment had to cancel at the last minute. To celebrate our 350th show and enjoy our live recording at QED in Manchester, we take some liberty with the normal format.So, brace yourself for mythical tales of papal pasts as well as the long awaited Eurovision WRONG Contest:GERMANY: Annika – ‘Riceburger lady’, 75, plots to kidnap Karl LauterbachSCOTLAND: Brian – Scottish archbishop: Euthanasia pushes message that some lives ‘aren’t worth living’RUSSIA: Pontus – Patriarch Kirill: Love for the Fatherland is what keeps the global apocalypse at bayCZECH REPUBLIC: Claire – Charter 2020 – National propaganda hijacking Charter 77HUNGARY: Luna – All good things done by Orbán this weekA big thank you to all who came to see us and said hello at QED!Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Pontus Pokes The Pope; TWICH; Eurovision Wrong Cont

– and BTW, Elvis really has left the building – no matter what psychic mediums sayThis week we first chat about a “psychic medium” who is friendly with Elvis and touch on the Tories in the UK who apparently is friendly with no one, not even themselves. Then Kevin Davies of the Canberra Skeptics joins us and tells all about the Australian Skeptics National Convention 2022 where we will be in December! In TWISH we hear about Tycho Brahe and his achievements and Pope Frankie is still infallible and does not take kindly to criticism. Then it’s time for the news:INTERNATIONAL: Edzard Ernst‘s blog just turned 10 years oldGERMANY: Cybersecurity chief turns out to have Russian tiesSWEDEN: Pontus Pokes the Politicians:– What the experts say would solve the murder cases– Danish warning about prison places abroad: Don’t!Swedish MD Elsa Widding of the Sweden Democrats is an antivaxxer (and not a little stupid) so she gets the prize for being Really Wrong.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; TWISH; Pontus Pokes Th

– and get your flu shot, people!This week the full crew is back and we urge you to take the flu seriously. We recommend a video of a presentation by Germany skeptic Amardeo Sarma about critical thinking, find out how to pronounce ‘that town’ in the Netherlands and feel sad that Robbie ‘Hagrid’ Coltrane passed away. In TWISH we celebrate 100 years with the BBC, and then it’s time for the news:RUSSIA: The online guide Russians use to escape Putin’s warGERMANY: 75-year-old conspiracy theorist woman planned to kidnap LauterbachSWEDEN: Pontus pokes the politicians – New Government lets Sweden Democrats dictate immigrationSWEDEN: Study of media use and trust during the COVID-19 pandemic shows consistency of messages is keyINTERNATIONAL: Survey shows even thought threat is getting worse, concern about climate change is shrinkingRUSSIA / SWEDEN: Chamber of commerce bombarded with fake Russian mailsTo round off, Dutch MP Thierry Baudet gets a Really Wrong Award.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wro

– Lauterbach takes on pseudoscienceBrian Eggo steps in to save the day as he covers for both András and Annika this week. We talk about listener reactions to last week’s episode and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the last of this year’s Nobel prizes in the natural sciences. In TWISH we reminisce about QED 2018 as we prepare attending the next one. Pontus Pokes the Pope for his failure to handle the relations to Russia but give’s him a broken clock award for taking a stand for refugees. Then it is time to look at the news:EUROPE: ECDC gets extended mandate to tackle emerging future epidemicsNETHERLANDS: Court rules that Twitter has done enough to stop conspiracy theory about satanic paedophilesSPAIN: No matter what social media giants promised, Spanish disinformation is rampantRUSSIA: Russia’s financial monitoring agency adds Meta to list ‘terrorists and extremists’GERMANY: Münster Circle issues Memorandum Integrative MedicineGerman Health Minister Karl Lauterbach gets a Really Right Award together with Edzard

– we’re back in the Dark AgesWe start this week with commenting on the winners of the two first Nobel Prizes this year – Svante Pääbo who won the prize in Medicine or Physiology and the trio of Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger who shares the Physics prize. We also celebrate the first ever female European commander of the ISS, Samantha Cristoforetti, before we travel back in time with our TWISH-machine and acknowledge this week’s birthday bay, Denis Diderot. Then we dig into the news:UK: The dark side of social media? The Molly Russell caseUK: Children’s digital resilience to be approached as a collective effort to prepare young people for the futureSWEDEN: MD who assisted man to die loses his licenseGERMANY: Voting now open for the ‘Heroes of Facts Awards‘UKRAINE: Four regions of the country annexed by Russia following sham referendumPOLAND: New-born babies are handed over through a hole in the wallThe Prize for being Really Wrong goes to Jacob Rees-Mogg, British minister of Business, Energy and Industrial Strat

– don’t listen to the fish and chips physicianThis week we have several things to get through before the actual show – the Swedish Skeptics at the international book fair in Gothenburg, the Hungarian Skeptics at the upcoming HungaroCon, the new book from the SGU (The Skeptic’s Guide to the Future), a listener question about organic farming and reactions to the Italian elections. In TWISH (This Week in Skeptical History) we hear about the Voronezh UFO incident.Then it’s time for the news:CONFLICT IN EUROPE: Sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines – watch out for the conspiracy theoriesGERMANY: SkepKon 2023 – Call for papersUK / GERMANY: UK and German politicans behind American counterparts in tweeting misinformationGERMANY: Eurocom press release for the promotion of quackerySWEDEN: Pontus Pokes the Politicians: The new second vice speaker of the parliament is a science denier – do we need to name her party?UK: As was expected: government lifted ban on frackingThe Award for being Really Wrong goes to German-Swedi

– Frankie has found his own 007!This week we reveal further plans about our travels and about Skepticamp at QED. We also have listener feedback about air quality in planes regarding last week’s Really Wrong. No TWISH this week, but Pope Frankie has found a super Cardinal to drop behind enemy lines for covert operations. And then we look into this week’s news:GERMANY: Honorable mention of HomöopaTeaUK: Charles feels vindicated for going organic. He is wrong.UKRAINE: UFOs above KievSWEDEN: Pontus Pokes the Politicians: Winning parties of the election advocate irrational actions in fighting criminalityThe WHO gets another Really Wrong Award for their failed logic around NSS (non-sugar sweeteners)Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

– but at least the bees were informed of the death of their queenWe’re back from ESC in Vienna! Thanks to all who came up and said hi to us, that was a blast! This week we reflect on what Charles III, the king of SCAM, may mean for skepticism and what there is to say about the Swedish election results. For TWISH we get to learn about Foucault and his pendulum, a simple but brilliant demonstration of the rotation of the Earth. We leave the poking-of-the-Pope for next week and dig into the news:GERMANY: Prominent figure of New Germanic Medicine Helmut Pilhar diesUK / INTERNATIONAL: Madness around the Queen’s deathUK: Celebrity Russel Brand admits spreading falsehoodsEUROPE: Europe’s hottest summer on recordRUSSIA: Anti-censorship tool lets Russians read Blocked NewsGERMANY: Study shows behavioral studies got the sampling all wrongFRANCE: Didier Raoult‘s lab under investigationGerman party FDP and airlines get the Really Wrong Award for campaigning against masks on planes.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH;

– a carnival of Cardinals says it’s permittedThis week we are packing our bags for the ESC Vienna – hope to see you there! But we also have plans for QED – András and Pontus will both talk at Skepticamp, and BREAKING NEWS! – live recording of the ESP has now been announced! In TWISH we celebrate 200 years of “cardinal” permission of the heliocentric model and in more current Vatican news, Pope Frankie elevates a predecessor who is now on his way to full sainthood. Then there is the news:GERMANY: New book out – Science Matters!INTERNATIONAL: Cranky Uncle Game now available in Spanish and Portuguese, too (Swedish soon out as well)UK: New prime minister on the Horizon… Or not so much.RUSSIA: Die for the Motherland – Indoctrination in Russian schoolsFRANCE: Medical service Doctolib under attack for promoting SCAMUK: Kate Moss – yet another supermodel who turns to selling bogus productsA Really Wrong Award goes to an Irish transphobic teacher who doesn’t know when to quit.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv

– and Francis flips the birdAndrás is back and we chat about next week’s upcoming European Skeptics’ Congress in Vienna – the ESC, and we’re looking forward to go! Mikhail Gorbachev died and we comment a bit on what he meant for Russia and the contrast Putin is compared to him. Going back to the autumns events there is also QED where the winners of the Ockham Award and the Rusty Razor will be announced. Listeners can now put in their nominations for the best Skeptical activism and the most prominent promoter of unscientific ideas, respectively. There is more developments in to last week’s Really Wrong Award to cover, and breaking news! Annika has got a book out of short stories for children! (in German). In TWISH (This Week in Skeptical History) Pontus is in for a surprise, and Pope Frankie seems to have had it with Kirill’s shenanigans. Then it’s time for the news:ISRAEL: Antivax doctor’s medical licence gets revokedSLOVAKIA: Study shows 41% of students cannot tell true online health information from fakeUK:

– speaking of cults, Mother Teresa wasn’t much of a saintTurns out the “hunger stone” found in Elbe is not a photo from this year. It’s almost like you cannot trust the internet any more… Climate change is here to stay, regardless. In TWISH (This Week in Skeptical History) we hear about Mother Teresa, probably the best known modern saints of all, and we learn that she was in fact pretty mean and cruel. The guy who made her a saint (Francis) gets a poking for messing with the on-going “trial of the century” when he suddenly makes up with the main suspect Cardinal Becciu – or did he? Not even the Vatican seems to know. Also, Pontus predicts that Kirill may back out of meeting with Frankie. (BREAKING NEWS! Confirmed by orthodox official the day after the recording). Then it’s time for the skeptical news:INTERNATIONAL: The cult of Ivermectin refuses to dieSWEDEN: More science denial from Sweden DemocratsUK: NHS Fund looking for Reiki healersRUSSIA / UK: The assassination of Darya Dugina: Which conspiracy theory

– nepotism, bribes and orgies in the Vatican!We start the episode with some listener feedback that led us to look a bit deeper into Mindfulness and find that it’s worse than we thought. We share the sad news that the great Italian science communicator and skeptic super hero, Piero Angela, has passed away at the respectable age of 93. In TWISH we take a look at pope Alexander VI who was an intriguing figure and who also has a legacy that pope Francis has to deal with to this day. Speaking of Frankie, he really demonstrates appalling lack of leadership when it comes to the ongoing scandal in the Archdiocese of Cologne. Then we have the news:UK / US: Polio in London (and New York)POLAND / CZECHIA / GERMANY: What is killing the fish in river Oder?SWEDEN: Sweden Democrats wants to rename The Prison and Probation Service to “the Agency for Punishment”FRANCE: Homeopathy in France is in steep declineAnthroposophs in Germany gets today Prize for being Really Wrong after trying to sue critics and taking them to court.E

– a look into the Vatican’s hidden financesWe start by revisiting last week’s sad news about Dr Kellermayr and explore the reactions of other skeptical activists. In TWISH we learn about Peter Atkins, professor extraordinaire in physical chemistry. A deep dive this week in the busines of Pope Francis, both regarding his recent apology and trip to the indigenous peoples of Canada (did he do enough?), and also then into the hidden finances of the Vatican which we suddenly know much more about than before. Then we have a look at the news:US / UK: Harriet Hall‘s children’s book promotes critical thinking (with illustrations by a fan from the UK)UK / US / AUSTRALIA: Olivia Newton-John dies at age 73 – another victim of SCAM?UK: School-based Mindfulness training proves not beneficial compared to teaching-as-usualRUSSIA / UKRAINE: Anti-vax Twitter accounts pushing food crisis disinformationTo round off, Viktor Orbán and his regime gets the Really Wrong Award for allowing clear-cutting of native forests in Hungary.En

– also, climate change is a ‘total meltdown’More confusion regarding the collaboration between Roscosmos and NASA, Tantra is back on the menu and (on a not so skeptical note) today marks the release of the Beatles ‘Revolver’ album. Pope Frankie finally went to Canada, which was a literal ‘feather in is cap‘. Then we have a look at the news:DENMARK: Russian oil and gas supply issues could drive green transitionUK: Heatwave basically impossible without climate changeINTERNATIONAL: Total climate meltdown cannot be stoppedAUSTRIA: Austrian medical doctor and science communicator commits suicide after relentless bullying from anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theoristsA number of companies sells totally unnecessary blood tests to healthy people and for that the are Really Wrong.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

– student writes bill for UK Parliament re climate change educationThis week we mention that Eurovision will be held in UK next year, that Steven Pinker makes clear that ESP is not real (but WE are!) and Annika clarifies how the police system is organised in Germany. No TWISH or Pope this week so we skip right into the news:UK: TikTok is fastest growing source of news for adultsUKRAINE: Google to be banned in Donetsk and LuhanskGERMANY: Manual on climate communication publishedUK: Students write bill on climate change educationThe UK National Lottery gets the Really Wrong award for funding homeopathy.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

– with special guests Alice and MarshThis week we have celebrity company in the form of Alice Howarth and Michael “Marsh” Marshall of Skeptics with a K fame! Before they tell all about QED in October, we chat a bit about the LHC firing up again, EU law suits against Hungary, homeopathy against the heath wave and the brand new interview with Claire Klingenberg on Skeptical Inquirer conducted by Annika. In TWISH we here about Sir Richard Owen and his role in in founding the Natural History Museum in London. Pope Frankie is going to Canada next week to make his apologies, but we suggest he bring a big bag of money as well. Then it’s time for the news:INTERNATIONAL: Record child vaccinations setback, due to covidINTERNATIONAL: Stronger democracies have seen fewer excess deathsSWEDEN: Anti-vaxxer site publishes names of 800 covid-vaccinated childrenGERMANY: The ‘Europol ploy’ that scammed thousands of GermansUK: Tory leadership contestant supporter of homeopathySPACE: More info on space collaboration between Russi