Michael Fitzpatrick

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Michael Fitzpatrick in 2008

Dr Michael Fitzpatrick is a GP in Stoke Newington, London. He trained at Oxford and the Middlesex Fitzpatrick was a leading member of the now defunct Revolutionary Communist Party and is an associate of the libertarian anti-environmental LM network. He has a regular column in The Lancet.

Michael Fitzpatrick, like his brother John, was a leading member of the RCP. He frequently contributed to its monthly review Living Marxism under the alias Mike Freeman. Living Marxism later became LM, in which Fitzpatrick had a regular column. Fitzpatrick has since contributed regularly to Spiked and has spoken at events organised by both Spiked and the Institute of Ideas (IoI), such as its Genes & Society Festival, organised in association with Pfizer. Spiked and IoI both developed out of LM. Fitzpatrick has also contributed to the work of the Progress Educational Trust, another body with links to the LM network.

As of May 2010 he is a Trustee of the controversial lobby group Sense About Science. Sense About Science shares its telephone number with an organisation called Global Futures of which Fitzpatrick is also a Trustee and to which Sense about Science's director, Tracey Brown, and its assistant director, Ellen Raphael, also belong.

SAS contact page showing phone no., web archive version of Oct 29 2003

Global Futures contact page showing phone no., web archive version of 2002

Tracey Brown and Ellen Raphael both contributed to the magazine LM, which developed out of the monthly review of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), Living Marxism. Global Futures appears to be one of a series of front groups generated by the political network of individuals involved with LM and the RCP to forward their political agenda.

He was a member of the the joint Forum of the Social Issues Research Centre and the Royal Institution which drew up the Guidelines on Science and Health to try and 'improve' the reporting of controversial scientific issues like GM foods by the media. Other members of the Forum included Professor Sir John Krebs FRS, the chairman of the Food Standards Agency, Lord Dick Taverne QC, the Co-Directors of The Social Issues Research Centre, and Baroness Susan Greenfield, former Director of The Royal Institution.

MMR

Fitzpatrick led the Medical Research Council team that concluded in 1998 that there was no risk from the MMR vaccine after Dr Andrew Wakefield claimed that patients had suffered adverse reactions from it.

Affiliations

The Progress Club (Company number 04331329, created 29 November 2001) Directors along with: Geoff Kidder and Para Mullan

Publications

As Michael Fitzpatrick

2002

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Doctoring domestic violence', Spiked, 7 February 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Debating the disease', Spiked, 14 February 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Immune to the evidence', Spiked, 14 February 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Myths of immunity', Spiked, 18 February 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Screening wars', Spiked, 26 February 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'An overdose of medical ethics', Spiked, 15 March 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Making a spectacle of ourselves', Spiked, 26 March 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Medicalising everyday life', Spiked, 17 April 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Catholicism in crisis', Spiked, 1 May 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Return of the babysnatchers?', Spiked, 8 May 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Andrew Wakefield: misguided maverick', Spiked, 20 May 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Body politics', Spiked, 5 June 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'MMR: the making of junk science', Spiked, 5 July 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Drugs debate: high on myths', Spiked, 11 July 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'AIDS in Britain: why complacency is justified', Spiked, 17 July 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Put alternative medicine back in its box', Spiked, 26 July 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Leaving the left behind', Spiked, 30 July 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, The 'Death of the Subject', Spiked, 2 August 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Training doctors as therapists', Spiked, 19 September 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Targeting doctors', Spiked, 30 September 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'A Poxy Panic', Spiked, 11 October 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Infected by panic', Spiked, 1 November 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The therapeutic society', Spiked, 19 November 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Mumps vaccine: swollen concerns', Spiked, 21 November 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Rabid warnings', Spiked, 26 November 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The rehab don't work', Spiked, 19 December 2002.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Making everything hard work', Spiked, 23 December 2002.

2003

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Breaking psychiatry's chains', Spiked, 3 January 2003.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Apocalypse from now on', Spiked, 25 April 2003.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Immune to the facts', Spiked, 27 May 2003.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Signing away the NHS', Spiked, 4 June 2003.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Hear the Silence', Spiked, 4 December 2003.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'MMR: Fact and fiction', Spiked, 11 December 2003.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Medicine on trial', Spiked, 15 December 2003.

2004

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'A New Year prescription', Spiked, 5 January 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'After Shipman', Spiked, 16 January 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The cot death controversy', Spiked, 10 February 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'MMR: Investigating the interests', Spiked, 23 February 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'MMR: the controversy continues', Spiked, 15 March 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Demonising Drink', Spiked, 10 May 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Straw nanny', Spiked, 19 July 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Anti-vaccination nation?', Spiked, 9 September 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, MMR: ‘A reparation, of sorts’, Spiked, 22 September 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The sickness at the heart of modern healthcare', Spiked, 27 September 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'We have ways of making you stop smoking', Spiked, 15 November 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'How did the doctor get away with it?', Spiked, 19 November 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Why the drugs don’t work', Spiked, 8 December 2004.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The ghost of Harold Shipman', Spiked, 10 December 2004.

2005

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Fearing flu', Spiked, 27 January 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'David Widgery: did he lose faith?', Spiked, 1 February 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, ‘Agents of persuasion’? Just say no, Spiked, 10 March 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'After John Paul II', Spiked, 8 April 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Mercury and autism: a damaging delusion', Spiked, 13 May 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Society’s unhealthy obsession with abuse', Spiked, 27 June 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The price of multiculturalism', Spiked, 5 August 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Patient power can harm your health', Spiked, 7 October 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'When quackery kills', Spiked, 4 November 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The death agony of the anti-MMR campaign', Spiked, 11 November 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The absurdity of a ‘patient-led’ NHS', Spiked, 21 November 2005.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Pandemic flu: turning a drama into a crisis', Spiked, 25 November 2005.

2006

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Why do we carry on screening?', Spiked, 16 January 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The dangers of the crusade against cancer', Spiked, 27 January 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'A sickening White Paper', Spiked, 6 February 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The stigma of smoking', Spiked, 21 February 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'After Northwick Park: we need more research, not less', Spiked, 21 March 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'McDonald’s: why the parents of autistic kids are lovin’ it', Spiked, 2 May 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'MMR is safe - so why are many still scared of it?', Spiked, 9 May 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Stop bullying fat kids', Spiked, 24 May 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Doctors cannot stop domestic violence', Spiked, 15 June 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Stop witch-hunting Wakefield', Spiked, 19 June 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Big Pharma: a paper tiger?', Spiked, 3 July 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The trouble with autism-lit', Spiked, 21 July 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, Capital: ‘There’s nothing remotely like it’, Spiked, 22 August 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Autism: lack of services is the cruel joke', Spiked, 8 October 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The new priesthood of the kitchen', Spiked, 18 October 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Children: they aren’t what you feed them', Spiked, 26 October 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Get off the couch!', Spiked, 14 November 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'A green bill of health?', Spiked, 21 November 2006.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The Dawkins delusion', Spiked, 17 December 2006.

2007

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The anti-MMR gravy train derailed', Spiked, 12 January 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'You’re so vain, Nick, you think this war is about you', Spiked, 2 February 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Just Say No to this ‘radical rethink’ on drugs', Spiked, 12 March 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'What’s behind the ‘autism epidemic’?', Spiked, 20 April 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Empowering patients: New Labour’s unhealthiest idea?', Spiked, 11 May 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Dumbing down doctors', Spiked, 18 May 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Baiting the devout', Spiked, 21 June 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, ‘The MMR-autism theory? There’s nothing in it’, Spiked, 4 July 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Baiting the devout', Spiked, 13 July 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The dark art of the MMR-autism panic', Spiked, 17 July 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Why did communism survive for so long?', Spiked, 31 August 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Measles: the bitter results of a rash panic', Spiked, 3 September 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The Doublespeak of the Darzi review', Spiked, 8 October 2007.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Was Jesus a revolutionary?', Spiked, 21 December 2007.

2008

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Healthy in mind and body… what about spirit?', Spiked, 9 January 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Anti-MMR mania: diagnosis and cure', Spiked, 25 January 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The rise and fall of anti-MMR mania', Spiked, 1 February 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'I’m backing Boris for London mayor', Spiked, 31 March 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'How the British left betrayed Ireland’s 1968', Spiked, 25 April 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, ‘Healthy living’ zaps the fun from life, Spiked, 30 April 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, Derry 1968: Ireland’s ‘moment of truth’, Spiked, 9 May 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Taking a political placebo', Spiked, 13 June 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The real choice: public or private squalor', Spiked, 1 July 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The authorities have lied, and I am not glad', Spiked, 29 August 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, AIDS epidemic? It was a ‘glorious myth’, Spiked, 5 September 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, Tackling the epidemic of ‘bad science’, Spiked, 22 September 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Childhood obesity is not a form of child abuse', Spiked, 8 October 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, Tackling the epidemic of ‘bad science’, Spiked, 24 October 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, ‘Crusade against autism’: doing more harm than good, Spiked, 29 October 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'A Salvation Army without the brass band', Spiked, 11 November 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, The ghost of the ‘refrigerator mother’, Spiked, 24 November 2008.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, False prophets in the ‘crusade against autism’, Spiked, 4 December 2008.

2009

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The MMR scare: from foolishness to fraud?', Spiked, 10 February 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'MMR-autism scare: the truth is out at last', Spiked, 23 February 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Jade and the dangers of smear testing', Spiked, 23 March 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'It’s time to stop this ‘miracle cure’ madness', Spiked, 6 April 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'An open letter to Gordon Brown', Spiked, 14 April 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Asking questions is not an ‘Inquisition’, Spiked, 11 May 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Neither Leveller nor statist', Spiked, 29 May 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'An unlimited appetite for past obscenities', Spiked, 3 June 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'In praise of Engels', Spiked, 19 June 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'When public health becomes a public nuisance', Spiked, 6 July 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Childish jibes are no substitute for serious debate', Spiked, 25 September 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, Stop this witch hunt against ‘evil deniers’, Spiked, 9 October 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Making a pig’s ear of the vaccination debate', Spiked, 27 October 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The anti-smoking ‘truth regime’ that cannot be questioned', Spiked, 30 October 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Autism: moving beyond the quest for a cure', Spiked, 5 November 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The ‘McCarthyism’ of the anti-smoking lobby', Spiked, 13 November 2009.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The drift towards professional parenting must be resisted', Community Care, 25 November 200
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'A pandemic of fantasy flu', Spiked, 22 December 2009.

2010

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The war on Dr Wakefield: only 12 years too late', Spiked, 2 February 2010.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Turning a blind Eye to the truth', Spiked, 1 March 2010.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Public health and the obsession with behaviour', Spiked, 5 May 2010.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Censorship is not the answer to health scares', Spiked, 25 May 2010.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Apocalypse looms – again', Spiked, 16 August 2010.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'A futile intervention into our drinking habits', Spiked, 15 November 2010.

2011

• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The real lessons of the MMR debacle', Spiked, 25 January 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'The rise and rise of anti‑vaccine agitators', Spiked, 25 February 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Meet the new breed of anti‑vaccine agitator', Spiked, 4 March 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, ‘There's never been a better time to be autistic’, Spiked, 25 March 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Save our National Health Service? Why, exactly?', Spiked, 7 April 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Don’t tinker with the NHS. Completely rethink it', Spiked, 20 June 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Note to NHS: stop treating the public with contempt', Spiked, 18 October 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Our society is hooked on harm reduction', Spiked, 10 November 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Social democracy is dead. Now let’s move on', Spiked, 14 November 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'From revolutionary student to Byronic celebrity', Spiked, 20 December 2011.
• Michael Fitzpatrick, 'Saving medical practice from the tyranny of health', Spiked, 23 December 2011.

As Mike Freeman

• Mike Freeman, Malvinas are Argentina’s Revolutionary Communist Party, Junius Publications, 1982.
• Mike Freeman, The Empire Strikes Back: Why We Need A New Anti-Imperialist Movement, Revolutionary Communist Party, Junius Publications, 1993.