Re: End of an era
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 5:21 pm
OK. This may be no more clear after you've read it than before, but let's see.
First thing is, Professor Michael Crawford is a long-term Keene crony / member of the Buzan-Keene circle, involved in nonsenses like this. He's quite old (89) but not actually officially retired, and appears to be a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London.
Second thing is, the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition certainly used to be a bona fide research organisation, and you can find it referenced in sundry media pieces in the decade preceding this one.
Third thing is, I can find no evidence at all that it presently has any physical, organisational or financial existence: it's not located anywhere, it appears to have no board, no trustees and to submit no accounts. Its website makes a claim about being located at the Chelsea and Westminster which I have checked (email exchange with a representative of the Trust) and which is not true. The Manahel Thabet listed as a contact is part of the Buzan organisation.
Fourth, I looked into this as a by-product of researching the Brain Trust, the curious charity with board members who are also trustees, all of whom are family members or close associates of Ray Keene, and which seems to make all its payments to board members, their friends or organisations controlled by them. Professor Crawford and his Institute are among the beneficiaries.
Fifth, I did eventually in the course of this research manage to speak to Professor Crawford at his home, a very strange conversation although not entirely enlightening (it was one of those experiences where you feel you know less afterwards than you did before). Anyway, he insisted that there was such a thing as the Institute and that it did carry out work, though he was unable to account for the lack of anything like trustees or annual reports or accounts. I got the impression that he didn't feel he needed to bother with such things, for whatever reason.
Anyway, the only conclusion I could come to was that he identified the Institute with himself in some sense, even if I couldn't exactly pin down what that sense was, and maybe he couldn't either.
First thing is, Professor Michael Crawford is a long-term Keene crony / member of the Buzan-Keene circle, involved in nonsenses like this. He's quite old (89) but not actually officially retired, and appears to be a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London.
Second thing is, the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition certainly used to be a bona fide research organisation, and you can find it referenced in sundry media pieces in the decade preceding this one.
Third thing is, I can find no evidence at all that it presently has any physical, organisational or financial existence: it's not located anywhere, it appears to have no board, no trustees and to submit no accounts. Its website makes a claim about being located at the Chelsea and Westminster which I have checked (email exchange with a representative of the Trust) and which is not true. The Manahel Thabet listed as a contact is part of the Buzan organisation.
Fourth, I looked into this as a by-product of researching the Brain Trust, the curious charity with board members who are also trustees, all of whom are family members or close associates of Ray Keene, and which seems to make all its payments to board members, their friends or organisations controlled by them. Professor Crawford and his Institute are among the beneficiaries.
Fifth, I did eventually in the course of this research manage to speak to Professor Crawford at his home, a very strange conversation although not entirely enlightening (it was one of those experiences where you feel you know less afterwards than you did before). Anyway, he insisted that there was such a thing as the Institute and that it did carry out work, though he was unable to account for the lack of anything like trustees or annual reports or accounts. I got the impression that he didn't feel he needed to bother with such things, for whatever reason.
Anyway, the only conclusion I could come to was that he identified the Institute with himself in some sense, even if I couldn't exactly pin down what that sense was, and maybe he couldn't either.