@mrmmarsh
Project Director of Good Thinking Society Editor of The Skeptic @skeptic.org.uk President @merseyskeptics.bsky.social Podcasts: The Know Rogan Experience, Skeptics with a K, Be Reasonable, a few of others. Quasi journalist, sometime lecturer. He/Him.
Scotland’s recent rise in sex crimes is almost certainly not linked to immigration | Brian Eggo
The 2025 Scottish crime statistics saw a rise in sex crimes - and social media immediately jumped to the conclusion that immigrants were at fault.
I say read all, I think I’m actually only as far as about June 2022, so I’ve just under four years left to read.
But yeah, I just didn’t think “Queens” worked as well in the gag, as it’s a word that also refers to something other than the area, and not everyone would go to Queens=place in New York
I promise you nobody needs to tell me where Peter Parker is from, though! This was behind me as I recorded. And I was almost certainly wearing Spider-Man socks at the time too. Over the last 3 years I’ve read every Spider-Man comic going back to 1962!
Hah! So, I did add, but it might have slipped by or got lost under someone else’s voice, that I meant Brooklyn’s Miles Morales.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_M...
Not sure why I went there, I think because Brooklyn is more known that Queens to a non-US audience. Though Miles isn’t as well known!
From the archives: The Cumbrian Vampire – The bloody mystery of Croglin Grange | CM Drapkin
From the archives in 1992, CM Drapkin on historical reports of vampiric goings-on at Croglin Grange, near Guildford.
Patrons can access extensive bonus segments for every show, for as little as $1 per episode - which also gets you an early, ad-free version of every show. This week, it's 40m in which we hear that Hitler isn't dead -> www.patreon.com/posts/gavin-...
The world's biggest podcaster is an AIDS denier, and we appear to have been the only people to notice it.
I literally paused a podcast that was at 2.5x to read this (can’t process language both reading and listening at that speed).
I do regularly listen to Joe Rogan at 3x speed, to wade through long shows to find the bits that need analysis/debunking, but I do that with the luxury of a transcript.
Love to be lectured on censorship by a company that threatens to sue female scientists who dare to question the company's claims around fertility tech. Companies don't empower women by threatening to sue them and the outlets they (voluntarily) write for.
www.the-independent.com/news/health/...
Machine learning without critical thinking only encourages tech pseudoscience | Richard Glover
When ask how a machine learning tool can be used – but not whether it's accurate – we risk encoding technological pseudoscience into society.
The Skeptic Podcast – Episode 054
Featuring articles from Noah Lugeons (November 2020), Dave Hahn (May 2021), Nick Garrett (December 2024), and Deborah Hyde (July 2022).
Venezuelan “birtherism”: the nationalistic movement to delegitimise Nicolás Maduro | Gabriel Andrade
Nicolás Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, has long faced false rumours of his Colombian' birthplace - driven by nationalist politics.
"British female track and field athletes are being asked to cover the cost of their own £185 sex tests if they want to compete internationally"
A tax on women courtesy of the Gender Critical.
You know feminism /s 🙄
archive.is/2026.03.05-1...
You can also support Merseyside Skeptics at www.patreon.com/merseyskeptics
You can support the show and the hosts by signing up for the Skeptics with a K Patreon at patreon.com/skepticswithak.
Skeptics with a K: Episode #454
Mike looks at the strange new conspiracy theory that there is a secret new episode of Stranger Things which is landing Netflix any day now. Any day now...
www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/podcasts/ske...
So I heard, since! I’m going to mention it at the end of the season in a wrap-up. Thanks!
Rights over regulation? The moral case against legalised snake oil | Aaron Rabinowitz
Whenever the regulation of pseudoscience is raised, we can reliably expect to hear the same objections – none of which justifies deceiving vulnerable people.
Or at the very least a subscribe to @knowrogan.bsky.social ;) haha
Hah! They’re not, but my podcast @knowrogan.bsky.social has a Patreon, so that covers my psychic damage!
"I listened to 170 hours of Joe Rogan’s podcast – trust me, he hasn’t turned against Trump"
Me, for The Guardian, on why we can't just believe out of context clips about Rogan breaking from Trump.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
From the archives: In no hurry to go – musings on life and death | Charles Ward
From the archives in 1992, Charles Ward contemplates what death and mortality mean for a skeptical atheist with no belief in an afterlife.
Plus, our February bonus show is up now, for Patrons at the $10 per month level and above. We spent 1h 27m looking at Joe's conversation with Matthew McConaughey, and hear Joe's defence against Christian nationalism and a surprisingly progressive view of masculinity.
www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-...
Patrons can access extensive bonus segments for every show, for as little as $1 per episode - which also gets you an early, ad-free version of every show. This week, it's an hour of Joe's Epstein reactions -> www.patreon.com/posts/jre-on...
The Know Rogan Experience Podcast #057 -
The Epstein Files, Part 2
We break down more of Joe's reactions to the Epstein Library, including Joe's interviews with Cheryl Hines, Mike Benz, Evan Hafer, Roger Avary, Robert Malone, Penn Jillette and Peter Thiel.
www.knowrogan.com/0057-the-eps...
YouGov's tracker of "Brits' beliefs about God(s)". Subheading: People have different beliefs about God(s). Which of the following comes closest to your view? The graph shows 27% of 18-24 year olds say they believe in god, down from a suspicious bump that peaked at 45% in Jan 2025. Prior to that outlier bump, the figure was reliably around 20%-24% for the rest of the tracker. Meanwhile, number of 18-24 year olds who don't believe in god has been steadily around 35% since it fell from 40-50% in Jan 2022.
Except, that's not the most recent data in the Yougov tracker linked in the Independent article right in that paragraph. The most recent update in their biannual data collection was published in late January - a month before this article was published. It shows 27% of that age group are religious.
![YouGov’s bi-annual tracker [LINK] has seen the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds who say they believe in God or gods somewhat mirror this idea. It more than doubled between August 2021 and August 2023, going from 16 to 34 per cent, and had climbed to 39 per cent by August 2024, before dropping to 37 per cent the following year.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:izj7tkt2ygsseqikb63rvnxz/bafkreih2eogp72h275yy3uybgw7vuroevo6x3bzd5kggls6aonwutmnxcy)
YouGov’s bi-annual tracker [LINK] has seen the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds who say they believe in God or gods somewhat mirror this idea. It more than doubled between August 2021 and August 2023, going from 16 to 34 per cent, and had climbed to 39 per cent by August 2024, before dropping to 37 per cent the following year.
A lesson in how to lie by omission, from The Independent's Helen Coffey.
A story published Feb 26 analysed why so many young people are buying Bibles. Is it because there's an influx of young people turning to god? So we are told: 39% of 18-24 year olds were religious in 2024, and 37% in 2025
The scientism of the obscurantists: disguising nonsense as emerging science | Carlos Orsi
For as long as there has been science, there have been fringe figures promising that science will imminently catch up with their personal beliefs.
No body left behind: masculinity, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia | Goh Christopher Emile
While conversations around disordered eating typically focus on young women, men also struggle with unhealthy body image, often masked by masculinity.
You can also support Merseyside Skeptics at www.patreon.com/merseyskeptics