University Strips German Defence Minister of his PhD for plaigarism

From Feb 2011

German defence minister resigns in PhD plagiarism row - The Guardian

He was voted Germany's most popular politician, a chisel-jawed, gelled-haired aristocrat who held such rock-star status that his party used to play an AC/DC track every time he took to the stage. But Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has resigned as defence minister after being engulfed by a plagiarism scandal, leaving the ruling coalition with a serious charisma vacuum.

His departure is a huge blow for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union party (CDU). Already weakened after defeats in recent regional elections, she is facing the prospect of implosion at six other local polls this year.

The 39-year-old baron, often tipped to be a future chancellor, has handed in his notice to Merkel after almost two weeks of frontpage stories about the authenticity of his PhD thesis. He is now expected to retreat to his castle in Bavaria to plot his next move. "It is the most painful step I've ever had to take," Guttenberg said at a press conference in Berlin. "I was always prepared to fight but I have reached the limits of my powers."

Heather Mills 'clarifies' her qualifications

(From July 2009)

From Lady Mucca.... to Mrs Whippy - Observer

"So a few years ago I [Heather Mills] took a degree in nutrition and had to learn about biology and chemistry and all that stuff."

In March 2007, while appearing on the Larry King show in the US, Heather Mills told King that she was studying for "my exams in July, for my nutrition degree", at London's BNCH, the UK College of Nutrition and Health.

When I [Polly Vernon] ring the principal of the college to confirm this, she tells me that Mills completed a science foundation course in 2008, but that she did not receive a degree in nutrition from the college. I contact Mills' PR for clarification, they spend a couple of days trying to nail the details with Mills herself, then finally explain that while she hasn't secured her degree quite yet, she's working on it.

Karol Sikora accused over honorary professorship claim

(From May 2009)

Cancer expert Karol Sikora accused over honorary professorship claim - Guardian

From NHS Blog Doctor:

Karol Sikora, a practicing oncologist, is professor of cancer medicine at Imperial College School of Medicine, London

If you look at the Imperial College Department of Oncolocy website, here, there is no mention of Karol Sikora...Imperial College is of the greatest Universities in the world. Why is Sikora allowed to trade on its good name to promote his outspoken views about the NHS?

Read the full blogpost at NHS Blog Doctor.

Dr Joseph Chikelue Obi maverickly helps to launch new blog - DoctoredCV.org.uk

Doctored CV (www.DoctoredCV.org.uk) is a new blog created to pull together reports from around the blogosphere which expose the falsehoods and aggrandised CVs of self-proclaimed experts in the public eye.

It seemed more than suitable to publicise this new blog in the same week that Dr Joseph Chikelue Obi (for past history of litigious and absurd behaviour see here, here, here and newspaper report here)claims he has been

formally elevated to the Hereditary Scottish Gentry. Professor Obi is to henceforth be formally styled as : The Rt Hon Laird Obi of Kincavel.

And many congratulations indeed to him for that. If you too would like to be formally elevated to the Hereditary Scottish Gentry, so you too can live in a dreamworld and get people to refer to you as Laird Of Kincavel, then please send £26.74 to these people, who will send you all the bumf and legal documents to allow you to do so. You can join the ranks of Dr Obi, lose any vestige of credibility you once had, and perhaps if you're lucky, get yourself onto www.DoctoredCV.org.uk!

If you have any blogposts that fit the bill for Doctored CV, leave a comment with a link and I'll take it from there. Please also add the link to your blogroll, if you have a blog.

Taken from Thinking is Dangerous

Jayney Goddard - How to become a daytime TV expert.

(From May 2008)

We are told that Jayney was "recently awarded a Professorship from Mahendra Sanskrit University in Kathmandu, Kingdom of Nepal". The university was set up to promote the Sanskrit language in Nepal. However, when I tried to contact the University to find out more about Jayney's Professorship, I found their website is permanently down. Unfortunately, it would appear that in 2002, a hoard of women Nepalese Maoist rebels reduced the University 'to cinder' and destroyed all the ancient Sanskrit texts, University buildings, furniture, and all university records. The rebels had previously planted a 'crude but powerful bomb' there too.

It is not clear if Jayney Goddard makes frequent visits to fulfil her Professorial duties.

Read the complete post at The Quackometer.

Derek Draper - quack in a spin

(From Feb 2009)

You may remember that the BBC disgracefully employed the services of a quack psychoanalyst who, overcome with delusions of competence, blurted out inappropriate, unfounded and irresponsible comments on the mental health of the prime minister, Gordon Brown.

Now it turns out that the Labour Party are employing the services of a quack psychoanalyst of their own, former spin doctor Derek Draper, with all the problems that come with quacks. Such as honesty over qualifications.

Derek Draper in a recent Guardian profile claimed to have a MA in Clinical Psychology from Berkeley, University of California. Guido Fawkes has been doing some digging and found out that Mr Draper has not been entirely honest. It turns out that Berkeley have no record of Derek Draper and, as The Guardian report today, he actually received his degree from a private institution, the Wright Institute, which does not offer full time degrees, which no longer runs a full time MA, and has no affiliation with Berkeley, merely sharing a neighbourhood.

Derek Draper admits that while the Wright Institute have no academic connection with Berkeley “I did have the use of the facilities at the Berkeley campus.”, but his use of the gents at Berkeley has not prevented him from implying that he studied there on his website.

Read the complete post at Gimpy's Blog.

Ms Gillian McKeith - Banned From Calling Herself A Doctor!

Monday February 12, 2007
The Guardian - Ben Goldacre

Call her the Awful Poo Lady, call her Dr Gillian McKeith PhD: she is an empire, a multi-millionaire, a phenomenon, a prime-time TV celebrity, a bestselling author. She has her own range of foods and mysterious powders, she has pills to give you an erection, and her face is in every health food store in the country. Scottish Conservative politicians want her to advise the government. The Soil Association gave her a prize for educating the public. And yet, to anyone who knows the slightest bit about science, this woman is a joke.

One of those angry nerds took her down this week. A regular from my website badscience.net - I can barely contain my pride - took McKeith to the Advertising Standards Authority, complaining about her using the title “doctor” on the basis of a qualification gained by correspondence course from a non-accredited American college. He won. She may have sidestepped the publication of a damning ASA draft adjudication at the last minute by accepting - “voluntarily” - not to call herself “doctor” in her advertising any more. But would you know it, a copy of that draft adjudication has fallen into our laps, and it concludes that “the claim ‘Dr’ was likely to mislead”. The advert allegedly breached two clauses of the Committee of Advertising Practice code: “substantiation” and “truthfulness”.

Read the complete post at Badscience.net.