Autism is a subject steeped in rumour, mystery, misconceptions and myths.  The talk will look at different definitions and cultural representations of autism and then move on to the good, the bad and the ugly as regards treatment.

'The bad' and 'the ugly' are dealt with first.  Tannice discusses quack-treatments which exploit families who are looking for help.  These treatments may be at best ineffectual and at worst harmful to the children treated.  The question 'what's the harm?' is an important one to ask before embarking on a course of treatment.

Tannice then moves on the 'the good' and looks at ABA or Applied Behavioural Analysis; the gold standard in autism treatment and will give a concise overview of what it is, how it's used and the evidence behind it.
 

Tannice is experienced in working with autistic children using ABA and uses this to mitigate some of the extreme behaviour patterns associated with autism.  In 2013 she delivered this talk for 'Skeptics at the Fringe', part of the Edinburgh Festival.
 

The Alpha Course runs in 162 countries and has been attended, according to their website, by 20 Million people. Over a 9 week period, students are guided through Christian theology ostensibly to “Explore the meaning of Life”.

Simon Clare, an unabashed atheist, signed up to his local course in Brighton, wondering if his faithlessness would be challenged. Spoiler: He wasn’t converted but he was surprised at what he learnt about faith.

The new Archbishop Of Canterbury, Justin Welby, found his faith at the home of the Alpha Course and his election suggests that the Alpha model of spreading the word is now at the heart of Christianity's struggle for survival. As well as giving an overview of the course from biblical history to singing in tongues, Simon will discuss what atheists can learn from the Alpha Course.

Simon Clare runs Horsham Skeptics in the Pub and is a founder member of the South East Skeptics Society.

In this time of 'Big Data' it is important to be prepared to look closely at information in order to make informed decisions about its validity.  This can be a challenging task.

This talk outlines an example of this when Christopher Snowdon, author of "The Spirit Level Delusion"  will be challenging the theory asserted in the best-selling book "The Spirit Level" that 'more equal societies almost always do better'.  It is not necessary to have read the book to follow Chris's arguments but here's a link to the Wikipedia entry that gives some background tinyurl.com/2w2n3vb.

By fact-checking the book's statistics and reviewing the scientific literature, he will argue that there is no correlation between income inequality and a country's health, happiness and well-being.  The hypothesis in "The Spirit Level" is, he says, based on selective evidence and flawed reasoning.

What do you think?  Everyone is very welcome to come along and join the debate.

David Nutt is currently the Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology in the Division of Brain Sciences, Dept of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London.

He broadcasts widely to the general public both on radio and television; highlights include being a subject for The Life Scientific on BBC radio 4, several BBC Horizon programs and the Channel 4 documentary Ecstasy-live.  Additionally he is much in demand for public affairs programmes on therapeutic as well as illicit drugs, their harms and their classification.  His also lecturers widely to the public as well as to the scientific and medical communities; for instance has presented three time at the Cheltenham Science Festival and several times for Café Scientifiques.  In 2010 The Times Eureka science magazine voted him one of the 100 most important figures in British Science, and the only psychiatrist in the list.

It was during his chairmanship of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) that his refusal to fudge the issue of perceived drug harm brought him into the public spotlight.