New Scientist mystery solved: It's James Le Fanu

April 24, 12:48 AMSkepticism ExaminerDylan Otto Krider

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James Le Fanu

There's been quite a bit of speculation about who got New Scientist to pull "How to Spot a Religious Agenda." I've just spoken with James Le Fanu, and he's confirmed he has complained to the magazine about what he sees as an unfair portrayal as a pseudo-scientist and part of a coordinated religious agenda, when he has "fought against pseudoscience my whole life."

What' s more, it looks like Le Fanu has sued the magazine before, resulting in the posting of this apology:

In New Scientist (29 April 1989) we published a reference to James Le Fanu the author of 'Eat Your Heart Out - The Fallacy Of The Healthy Diet' which could be read to mean that the thesis of the book was 'high-fat diets are good for you'. The reference to Dr Le Fanu was defamatory in that it suggested that the book was not one of scholarship but was misleading and had been published solely with a view to trading on the controversy it would generate.

We accept that there is no truth in any of these allegations and we apologize unreservedly to him for any distress which publication may have caused.

He says these are the only two times he has used libel laws to remove articles, and that there is no feud between him and the magazine. (See why UK libel law sucks.)

There's much, much more, but I wanted to let my readers know as soon as I did who had brought the suit.

Here's another review of Why Us.