Ahh, Watchdog. It’s good to have Anne back in a good, long show. Not sure about the results though – Rogue Traders forced messily into its schedule. And I won’t even begin on how condescending Anne was towards those PS3 owners… but I digest.

The highlight last night was the Rogue Traders spot. It targeted Adrian Pengelly, man who alleges that he can heal terminal cancer with his hands.

And, having read Ben Goldacre’s excellent book, Bad Science, I knew Matt Allwright was pointing out all the right things – the lack of clinical evidence and, in particular, that those saying they had been “healed” by Pengelly were also taking “traditional” treatments. It’s amazing how wrapped up his “patients” get in his mysticism, as they were seen defending him, saying that, yes, they had also had Chemotherapy, but it was his hands that had actually cured them. Amazing.

It was pointed out during the show that he was breaking the law by advertising his cancer healing abilities on his website, but I was disappointed that they didn’t pursue this further. I was going to check if this was still the case but his website appears to have disappeared.

Anyway, the Watchdog blog on the BBC site is a site to behold, as lots of angry Reiki Healers get very, very wound up. I won’t go through them all, but this is my personal favourite…

I think, your portrayl is utterly apauling, and as a Reiki Healer, I understand, that Spiritual Healing is not understood by people, who are shallow minded, and simply have no understanding, faith, or beleif.

So, nice one. If people don’t understand your particular brand of “alternative medicine” then they must be shallow minded. Good argument.

I hope, however, for the sake of their profession that most have a better grasp of English and, in particular, spelling, because otherwise it doesn’t say much for those Reiki Healers telling the rest of us how simple we are but struggle with a word such as “belief”.