Factchecking

Welcome to the new year! Obviously we start with some reflections on 2025 and we also give a shout-out to Haley Stevens and her article about Wikipedia in the Skeptic UK. In TWISH we learn that the practice of New Year’s resolutions is ancient although each resolution seldom lasts longer than a week or two. Then we look into the news for this week:

• INTERNATIONAL: Five lessons from fact checking in 2025
• ITALY: Lega only party refusing to agree not to use deepfake to attack political opponents
• SWEDEN: Fact check: How Sweden uses imported trash to produce electricity and heat homes
• INTERNATIONAL: Review of Autism Therapies finds they don’t hold up
• UK: Robin Ince quits The Infinite Monkey Cage
• UK: Use of AI for emotional support alarmingly widespread

The EU Chat Control 2.0 regulation is meant to prevent the spread of child abuse material but gets the Really Wrong Award for being ineffective and because it would have very serious effects on integrity. It’s a well meaning by bad idea.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Outtakes
 
0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:51 GREETINGS

• Happy New Year!
• A few reflections on 2025
  • CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/good-news-you-may-have-missed-in-2025/
• Hayley Stevens’ article in support of Wikipedia
  • Skeptic UK: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2025/12/in-the-face-of-ai-driven-encyclopedias-cherish-wikipedia-and-original-sources/

0:22:32 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 1 January: New Year’s Resolutions – A Tradition of Hope, Not Success
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/what-to-do-if-you-fail-at-your-new-year-resolution-271050

0:27:56 NEWS

• INTERNATIONAL: Five lessons from fact checking in 2025
  • Full Fact: https://fullfact.org/politics/five-lessons-from-our-fact-checking-2025/
• ITALY: Lega only party refusing to agree not to use deepfake to attack political opponents
  • Pagella Politica: https://pagellapolitica.it/articoli/accordo-partiti-deepfake-avversari
• SWEDEN: Fact check: How Sweden uses imported trash to produce electricity and heat homes
  • Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sweden-import-trash/
• INTERNATIONAL: Review of Autism Therapies finds they don’t hold up
  • Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251227082722.htm
• UK: Robin Ince quits The Infinite Monkey Cage
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/13/comedian-robin-ince-quits-as-host-of-bbcs-infinite-monkey-cage
• UK: Use of AI for emotional support alarmingly widespread
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/18/artificial-intelligence-uk-emotional-support-research

0:59:16 REALLY WRONG

• Really Wrong: EU’s Chat Control 2.0 as a protection against child abuse material may sound like a good idea, but it’s really not

1:02:39 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“I wonder how it can be considered that science disenchants the world. The power of the spells of physics to make the empty solid — and nothing, something — seem greater than anything I have ever read in folk tales.”
/ Robin Ince (20 February 1969 – ), English comedian, actor and writer. Among other things he is known for presenting the BBC Radio 4 show The Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Brian Cox /

1:05:02 OUTRO

1:06:25 OUT-TAKES