Edinburgh Skeptics Presents...

Every year Edinburgh Skeptics put on a lineup of talks called ‘Skeptics On The Fringe’ (SotF) as part of the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. SotF 2015 features 30 speakers over 22 nights. We've recorded the audio from most of the talks, and interviewed most of the speakers, and we're releasing these over the following year.

To launch our Skeptics On The Fringe podcast series properly (not counting episode zero last week...) David Frank spoke to Ash Pryce, the founder of Edinburgh Skeptics, and co-founder of Skeptics On The Fringe (SotF).

They talked about the early "wild west" days of SotF, some of the stranger things one sees on the high street at the Fringe, and Ash’s blog where he has shared what it’s like as a performer to battle weight-gain and depression.

Ash’s Links: Blog | Website | @PsychicConman

It's been a while since the last podcast, and with good reason. We've all been beavering away throughout August running Skeptics on the Fringe, our contribution to the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 22 nights, 22 separate events, featuring scientific and skeptical talks, some comedy, some music, and even some poetry. And the best bit is that we recorded a bunch of it for you, and we even interviewed some of our speakers and performers as well!

This is episode zero and as well as an overview of what to expect over the coming months, we also have a performance by Peter Buckley Hill as part of our July Fringe Fundraiser event. Peter is the founder of the PBH Free Fringe, one of the many organisations putting on events during the Fringe, and home to Skeptics on the Fringe. Peter very kindly gave his time to help us out for our fundraiser, although we must warn you that he's also very loud and energetic and you may wish to turn your speakers down a bit... :-)

Episode zero seemed like the best name for this episode, given that it's an introduction and also that nobody uses the number zero enough. Is it even a number? Oh well, too late now...

Kitty Johnstone sat down with Jennifer Wallace after her talk on Evidence-Based Public Policy to ask her some more questions about what evidence is and how it should be used, as well as some more questions about her life.

Jennifer Wallace is Head of Policy at the Carnegie UK Trust. She is an experienced manager and public policy researcher and analyst. Her work in the public and voluntary sector has led to positive change in legislation, policy and practice. Based in Scotland, she has experience of working with governments and stakeholders across the UK.

A prolific writer, she has authored more than 30 reports, many of which relating to public service reform. Key areas of interest include community empowerment, user focus in public services and measuring wellbeing. Jennifer holds the degrees of MA (Hons) in Social Policy from the University of Edinburgh and MPhil in Social Science Research from the University of Glasgow. She is a Trustee of Evaluation Support Scotland and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk

@Jen_CarnegieUK

Quick note: Still having radio mic problems. We're working on it. Sorry!

Evidence-based public policy is a holy grail for researchers but somewhere in the 'black box' of policy development other factors are at play.

Drawing on research and personal experiences, this talk will explore key questions such as: to what extent is any policy evidence-based, what types of evidence do decision-makers use and how does evidence interplay with dominant narratives and values systems?

Jennifer Wallace is Head of Policy at the Carnegie UK Trust. She is an experienced manager and public policy researcher and analyst. Her work in the public and voluntary sector has led to positive change in legislation, policy and practice. Based in Scotland, she has experience of working with governments and stakeholders across the UK.

A prolific writer, she has authored more than 30 reports, many of which relating to public service reform. Key areas of interest include community empowerment, user focus in public services and measuring wellbeing. Jennifer holds the degrees of MA (Hons) in Social Policy from the University of Edinburgh and MPhil in Social Science Research from the University of Glasgow. She is a Trustee of Evaluation Support Scotland and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk

@Jen_CarnegieUK

Jon Stewart was guitarist for platinum-selling Britpop band Sleeper, with whom he enjoyed three UK Top 10 albums and eight UK Top 40 singles. He now lectures in cultural history at BIMM Institute in Brighton and is a PhD researcher at University of Southampton. Jon was an enthusiastic and grateful member of AA for fourteen years. He now campaigns for more up-to-date and evidence-based secular treatment options via his blog “Leaving AA & Staying Sober” at http://jonsleeper.wordpress.com.

Jon sat down with our new host Kitty Johnstone to talk about his life, sausage dogs and his love of chocolate. You can also download a recording of Jon's talk in (ironically) our Skeptics In The Pub podcast.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a media endorsed and popularly recognised remedy for problem drinkers. Yet while AA’s social worth is rarely challenged its efficacy rate, estimated by some to be less than 10%, appears comparable to that of spontaneous remission. Can a non-existent "Higher Power" really offer meaningful solutions to the debilitating and potentially fatal condition of alcoholism? If so, what happens to all those atheist and skeptic alcoholics?

AA’s famous 12 step recovery programme, drawn from a long-forgotten 1930s Christian fundamentalist mass movement, has not changed in eighty years. How did such out-dated mental health technology become the primary self help option for what is arguably the great social health scourge of our age? In the second decade of the twenty first century, is this the best we can do?

Jon Stewart was guitarist for platinum-selling Britpop band Sleeper, with whom he enjoyed three UK Top 10 albums and eight UK Top 40 singles. He now lectures in cultural history at BIMM Institute in Brighton and is a PhD researcher at University of Southampton. Jon was an enthusiastic and grateful member of AA for fourteen years. He now campaigns for more up-to-date and evidence-based secular treatment options via his blog “Leaving AA & Staying Sober” at http://jonsleeper.wordpress.com.

Bats: Creepy as heck? Or cute and cuddly? Edinburgh Skeptics regular Tracey Jolliffe gave a talk as part of our Edinburgh Science Festival line up to help us find out.

While we were unable to record Tracey's talk on the night, she sat down (some time after the Science Festival, due to all sorts of reasons) with David Frank to face 10 Questions about her work and about herself.

Note: We've hilariously called this 9 Questions in the audio, but upon further listening it appears that we've definitely asked 10 Questions. Maybe even 11... :-o

The Third Reich was a large, complex, modern state with a thriving mass media, diverse population, and fruitful trade and cultural links with the rest of the world. The ideology behind National Socialism drew upon well-established strands of nationalist and racialist thinking as well as centuries-old anti-Semitism, and the Nazi Party and its government used cutting-edge technology and techniques to give these ideas the broadest possible audience and appeal.

All too often, this baffling web of networks, policies and overlapping interest groups, which changed constantly over the twelve years the Third Reich lasted, gets reduced to the ideas and actions of just one man. From the top of the ivory tower, to the very bottom of the bottom half of the internet, this talk will explore what Adolf Hitler means to all of us, and how our obsession with him is sucking the meaning out one of our most potent historical symbols: the Holocaust.

Victoria Stiles recently completed a PhD in History at the University of Nottingham and is a co-organiser of the Greater Manchester Skeptics Society. Her research encompasses stereotype formation, the manipulation of evidence and attitudes towards imperialism in Nazi Germany, as well as Anglo-German relations. She occasionally blogs about her sources and what it means to "do" history at tattyjackets.blogspot.com.

Here's part 2 of our bumper QED interview special, recorded at QEDCon 2015 in Manchester. Join David Frank and Mark Pentler for some more conversations with the great and good from the world of skepticism.

This episode features interviews with QED volunteer Steve Malone, Alan Henness from the Nightingale Collaboration, Professor Richard Wiseman, and Saturday headliner Matt Dillahunty, as a well as a short conversation with Miguel - one of the Christian protesters/proselytisers outside the QED venue - about what exactly he was doing there.

The QED Theme music used throughout the podcast is by Milton Mermikidies (www.miltonline.com). And if you want to find out more about QEDCon, their website is at www.qedcon.org

Please do leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this 2 part special, as that would be a massive help for us, and we really hope you enjoyed it!

A special podcast for you this week, recorded at QEDCon 2015 in Manchester. QEDCon is one of the best skeptical events on the calendar (Skeptics on the Fringe excepted, of course...) and is always both huge fun and massively interesting.Join David Frank and Mark Pentler for an interview special so massive we've had to split it up into two parts.

This episode features interviews with Rhys Morgan, Professor Chris French, Marcel Dicke, and Mitch Benn, as well as some Aussie blokes we just found floating around the hotel.

The QED Theme music used throughout the podcast is by Milton Mermikidies (www.miltonline.com). And if you want to find out more about QEDCon, their website is at www.qedcon.org

We had a lot of fun making this one (and the next one!), and we hope you enjoy it.