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.

October's talk is suitable for people of any faith or none as Simon Woodman discusses why what most people think they know about the book of Revelation is wrong.  The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Armageddon, the number 666 and the vivid depictions of disaster and suffering are well known.  Many ideas as to their meaning have been put forward.  Simon has studied the text and its historical background in detail and offers his own ideas.  Come and find out if you agree with him.

Simon Woodman is a co-minister at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church.  As well as being a minister he is an author, reviewer, public speaker and lecturer.  His PhD involved study of the Book of Revelation.