Dr Vernon Coleman A study of Wiki gone wrong.

RogerGLewis (talk) 06:55, 4 April 2021 (UTC)

The Vernon Coleman Article before Un Personing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vernon_Coleman&action=edit&oldid=930284315

Vernon Coleman (born 18 May 1946) is a former general practitioner, and the author of over 100 books in 25 languages, including non-fiction works about human health, politics, cricket, and animal issues, and a range of novels. His books have appeared on several bestseller lists, including the Sunday Times. Life Without Tranquillisers reached the Top Ten of the Sunday Times in March 1985. His book Bodypower reached several bestseller lists in the UK.

Coleman is a militant vegetarian and antivivisectionist.

One of his novels, Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War, has been turned into a movie with the same name.

Coleman complains that his campaigning has made him many enemies and he has been regularly attacked by large corporations and their spokesmen. According to his website (www.vernoncoleman.com) the book which inspired both complaints (‘Food for Thought’) listed 26 scientific papers proving that meat causes cancer. When the meat industry complained about an article based on the book, and an advertisement for it, both the PCC and the advertising watchdog refused to look at the scientific papers but upheld the complaints.

According to The Independent: "Vernon Coleman is many things and he has written books about most of them." "He's frank, fearless and prolific. He's outrageous, outspoken and iconoclastic. A Vernon Coleman book will change your life...and may even save your life."

In 1983 Coleman prepared the text for a series of home doctor programmes for computers.

Coleman was a CSV volunteer in Liverpool in 1964 and 1965. In "How to stop your doctor killing you" (1996) he argued that it is the breakdown of the immune system which contributes to the development of cancer. In 1981 he resigned from the NHS after refusing to put diagnoses on sick notes. In 2003 Coleman resigned from The People newspaper after the editor refused to print a column criticising the Iraq War.

Early life
Coleman was born in 1946, the son of an electrical engineer. He grew up an only child, in Walsall, West Midlands, England, where he attended Queen Mary's Grammar School.

As a child he was unsure what he wanted to do, but then, according to The Independent in 2008, he "met a friend of the family when I was about 12 who said, if you're a lawyer you spend your life making people unhappy, and if you're a doctor you spend your life trying to make people happy."

Before going to medical school, Coleman worked for a year as a volunteer in Kirkby, Liverpool, getting children to paint old people's houses and doing their shopping. According to Coleman, "The unions threatened to strike, as they were taking away work, but...work that they weren't doing anyway..."

Career
Coleman qualified as a doctor in 1970 and worked both in hospitals and as a GP. He is no longer registered and licensed to practise as a GP principal having relinquished registration. He has founded and organised many campaigns concerning iatrogenesis, drug addictions and the abuse of animals and has given evidence to committees at the House of Commons and the House of Lords on vivisection.

For example, after a 15-year campaign (which started in 1973), he eventually persuaded the British government to introduce stricter controls governing the prescribing of benzodiazepine tranquillisers. 'Dr Vernon Coleman's articles, to which I refer with approval, raised concern about these important matters,' said Edwina Currie, Parliamentary Secretary for health in the House of Commons in 1988.

Coleman has been a strong critic of the European Union as well as former Prime Minister Theresa May, and applauds the British withdrawal. He is also a supporter of English nationalism. Coleman calls for the European Union to be destroyed, claiming that the Union was founded and is controlled by Nazi-sympathisers and that "we need to defeat the Germans for a third time." Coleman sees all voters who want the UK to be a part of the European Union as neo-Nazis. He also criticised voters in northern Ireland, Gibraltar, and Scotland: "I suspect there would also be considerable support for the suggestion that Britain hand Northern Ireland over to Ireland and donate Gibraltar to the Spanish. Neither Northern Ireland nor Gibraltar proved loyal to Britain. Indeed, both have proved themselves to be distinctly disloyal."

Writing and media appearances
His first books included The Medicine Men (1975), and Paper Doctors (1976). Bodypower came in 1983, and has been reprinted a number of times. Alice's Diary (1989) and Alice's Adventures (1992) concern Alice (1983–1992) and her half sister Thomasina (1983–2000), real cats who shared their lives with Vernon Coleman. How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You came out in 1996, and then again in 2003. Coleman's UK paperback publishers include Pan, Penguin, Corgi and Arrow. Hardback books have been published by Macmillan, Century, Sidgwick and Jackson and Thames and Hudson.

After publishers refused to publish Alice's Diary and certain other of his books, he decided to begin self-publishing.

He has also written under the pen name Edward Vernon. In the late 70s, he wrote 3 novels about life as a GP: Practice makes Perfect, Practise What you Preach and Getting into Practice. Coleman (who uses a number of other pen names) says that the books are novels and not autobiographical and that the pen name was used on the advice of his literary agent for purely practical reasons.

He has worked as a columnist for numerous national newspapers including The Sun, The Daily Star, The Sunday Express and The Sunday People and has written columns for over 50 regional newspapers. His columns and articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world. He has contributed articles to hundreds of other publications including The Sunday Times, Observer, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, Punch, Woman, Woman's Own, The Lady, The Spectator and the British Medical Journal. He was the founding editor of the British Clinical Journal.

He has presented numerous programmes on television and radio and was the original breakfast television doctor. He was television's first agony uncle (on The Afternoon Show). He has presented three TV series based on his best-selling book Bodypower.

Though controversial Coleman has received several media plaudits.

The British Medical Journal explained "His advice to sufferers is optimistic and enthuiastic".

Writing in Punch, Peter Tinniswood explained, "I would much rather spend an evening in his company than be trapped for five minutes in a radio commentary box with Mr Geoffrey Boycott."

The Observer claimed, "Dr Coleman is one of our most enlightened, trenchant and sensible dispensers of medical advice," whilst the Guardian said, "His trademark is that he doesn't mince his words. Far funnier than the usual tone of soupy piety you get from his colleagues."

The Ecologist issue of November 1998 proclaimed, "No thinking person can ignore him. This is why he has been for over 20 years one of the world's leading advocates on human and animal rights in relation to health. Long may it continue."

He has also been described as "a very funny writer",, "gentle, kind and caring" and "King of the media docs".

Personal life
Vernon Coleman is married to Donna Antoinette Coleman (born 1972). She is co-author with him of How To Conquer Health Problems Between Ages 50 and 120 (2003), and Health Secrets Doctors Share With Their Families (2005).

Major publications

 * The Medicine Men (1975)
 * Paper Doctors (1976)
 * Stress Control (1978)
 * Tunnel (1980)
 * The Good Medicine Guide (1982)
 * Bodypower (1983)
 * Thomas Winsden's Cricketing Almanac (1983)
 * Bodysense (1984)
 * Life Without Tranquillisers (1985)
 * Mindpower (1986)
 * Know Yourself (1988)
 * Alice's Diary (1989)
 * Village Cricket Tour (1990)
 * Eat Green Lose Weight (1990)
 * Why Animal Experiments Must Stop (1991)
 * Alice's Adventures(1992)
 * Bilbury Chronicles (1992)
 * Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War (1993)
 * Betrayal of Trust (1994)
 * Food for Thought (1994, 2000)
 * The Man Who Inherited a Golf Course (1995)
 * How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You (1996, new edn 2003)
 * Paris in My Springtime (2002)


 * How To Conquer Health Problems Between Ages 50 and 120 (2003, with Donna Antoinette Coleman)
 * Rogue Nation (2003)
 * Confronting The Global Bully (2004)
 * Health Secrets Doctors Share With Their Families (2005, with Donna Antoinette Coleman)
 * Too Many Clubs and Not Enough Balls (2005)
 * Animal Experiments Simple Truths (2006)
 * How to Protect and Preserve Your Freedom, Identity and Privacy (2006)
 * Gordon is a Moron: the Definitive and Objective Analysis of Gordon Brown's Decade as Chancellor of the Exchequer (2007)
 * Coleman's Laws (2007)
 * Oil Apocalypse (2007)
 * Mr Henry Mulligan (2007)
 * The OFPIS File (2008)
 * Cat Tales (2008)
 * What Happens Next? (2009)
 * Moneypower (2009)
 * Bloodless Revolution (2009)
 * 101 Things I Have Learned (2010)
 * 100 Greatest Englishmen and Englishwomen (#2010)
 * 2020 (2010)
 * Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe And Effective Is Lying. Here's The Proof.  (2011)
 * Diary of a Disgruntled Man (2011)
 * Do Doctors And Nurses Kill More People Than Cancer? (2011)
 * Stuffed (2012)
 * The Truth Kills (2014)
 * Is this what really happened (2014)
 * Just another bloody year (2014)
 * Bugger off and leave me alone (2015)
 * Doctor in Paris (2015)
 * Balancing the Books (2015)
 * Stories with a Twist (2015)
 * One thing after Another (2015)
 * Psychiatry (2015)
 * Are You Living with a Psychopath?: The 39 simple ways you can diagnose a psychopath (2015)
 * Cheese rolling (2015)
 * Bilbury Tonic (2016)
 * Return of the Disgruntled man (2016)
 * Millions of Alzheimer Patients (2016)
 * Bilbury Relish (2016)
 * Life on the Edge (2017)
 * Bilbury Mixture (2017)
 * Bilbury Delights (2017
 * Bilbury Joys (2017)
 * Climbing Trees at 112 (2017)
 * Is Your Health Written in the Stars? (2017)
 * Kick-Ass A-Z for Over 60s (2017)
 * The Game's Afoot (2018)
 * Mrs Caldicot's Oyster Parade (2018)
 * Briefs Encounter (2018)
 * Bilbury Tales (2018)
 * Bilbury Days (2018)
 * Mrs Caldicot's Turkish Delight (2018)
 * Bilbury Memories (2018)
 * Tickety Tonk (2019)
 * The Benzos Story (2019)
 * The Shocking History of the EU (2019)
 * Dementia Myth (2019)

[|Covid 19 and room 101, How not to Wiki]
& otherwise known as NPOV19. We have not put up much discussion of Covid 19 and the forthcoming May local and Mayorial elections The Draconian measures instituted to varying degrees by the regional assemblies and Westminster Government certainly give liberty minded and Human Rights minded Folk pause for thought. I have been looking at Wikipedia and the Vernon Coleman Article seemed a good place to appply a lens to Wikipedia policy and standards with respect to skeptical and contrarian views. John Ward has set up a special web site for Covid 19 analytic and Critical thought. The most recent posts can be viewed at the following links:

https://therealslog.com/2021/01/24/3d-picture-post/

https://therealslog.com/2021/01/17/great-reset-as-the-sheeple-fall-into-line-central-banks-get-their-ducks-in-a-row/

https://therealslog.com/2021/01/15/the-piano-wire-hanging-of-toby-young/

https://therealslog.com/2021/01/16/bending-reality-out-of-shape-until-it-spells-lie-tray/

https://therealslog.com/2021/01/08/public-health-england-under-the-microscope-a-massive-sprawling-mess-that-signals-a-much-bigger-problem/

https://therealslog.com/2020/12/30/the-cognitive-dissonance-in-the-covid-narrative-is-simply-ridiculous/

https://therealslog.com/2020/12/19/at-the-end-of-the-day-988/

https://therealslog.com/2020/12/16/pfizer-covid-sensation-us-fda-blows-lid-off-the-vaccine-rationale/

https://therealslog.com/2020/12/18/at-the-end-of-the-day-987/

https://therealslog.com/2020/12/13/ivermectin-the-evil-empire-fights-back/

https://therealslog.com/2020/12/11/analysis-covid19-the-democratic-party-big-pharma-cure-repression-the-invented-need-for-a-vaccine/

https://therealslog.com/2021/02/02/virusecrecy-the-answers-we-arent-being-given/

Slogposts from March 2020 up to December 11th can be found at this link here.

Vernon Coleman
Vernon Coleman This article has been the subject of a deletion discussion in april 2020 and there are several archives of Talk page discussion. I have proposed a rewrite of the lead (Lede), the main body of the article also requires attention to return it to an encyclopedic standard. I have added a proposed new Lede on the talk page, and I am seeking assistance from the wider editor community to address the current problems in the entry. RogerGLewis (talk) 08:21, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Please note that the above user has previously been banned for continuously attempting to push for edits to paint Vernon Coleman in a favorable light. His suggested 'encyclopedic standard' involves removing large amounts of criticism of the subject. MrEarlGray (talk) 20:57, 2 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Vernon Coleman is a disgraced former doctor whose books include titles such as "Vaccines Are Dangerous - And Don't Work", and "Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe And Effective Is Lying". A news story titled "Warning issued as 'dangerous anti-vax' leaflets posted through doors in Luton" notes that [t]he leaflets claim to tell the "truth about vaccines" using information from Dr Vernon Coleman, a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccination activist. Dundee Evening Telegraph also mentions a similar incident: "The leaflets appeared through doors and letterboxes in Perth earlier this week and were titled “19 truths your government won’t tell you about Covid-19”, quoting Dr Vernon Coleman, a discredited former doctor and conspiracy theorist.". The Daily Record calls him "a conspiracy theorist, anti-vaccination activist and AIDS denialist".
 * The OP appears to seriously argue that the author and self-publisher of "Vaccines Are Dangerous - And Don't Work", and "Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe And Effective Is Lying" is not anti-vaccine. That dog don't hunt. The OP is one of a succession of accounts with little or no other history on Wikipedia, who have chosen to come here and advance Coleman's off-wiki campaign to whitewash this article. The problem is not with the article, it is with the real world, which fails to reflect the reality Coleman holds inside his mind. And as far as I can tell, reading around, his biggest problem is that people read the Wikipedia article and then don't buy his books.
 * Good. That is Wikipedia doing what it should do. A reader of one of our articles should be able to tell the difference between a Brave Maverick&trade; and a crank. And let's be in no doubt that anyone who writes a book called "Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe And Effective Is Lying", is a crank. And a dangerous one at that. Guy (help! - typo?) 16:22, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * ScottishFinnishRadish proposed a very reasonable rewrite that maintains the critical assessment while improving readability (and WP:NPOV). Reading through the talk page, it seems the anti-vaccination statement was removed because it's not mentioned in the article body. It could be restored immediatly after being added to the body. It seems like a good solution is within reach. - Wikmoz (talk) 19:00, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * A solution does indeed seem in reach thank you Wikmoz.Tonefreqhz1 (talk) 05:59, 4 April 2021 (BST)

Proposed New Lede.
Here is a re draft of the lede. with some citations as to suggested good practice in Lede writing.

Vernon Coleman (born 18 May 1946) is an English blogger and novelist who writes on topics related to human health, politics and animal issues.He was formerly a newspaper columnist, and general practitioner (GP)( British Medical Doctor). Originally coming to prominence as the original TV doctor in the UK. . Dr Coleman again came to prominence during the 2020 Pandemic after publishing a video on youtube which provoked criticism that he was a conspiracy theorist (DIF =>), anti-vaccination activist, and AIDS denialist.

New proposed lede ends.


 * I realise that this page is contentious and have read the Archives and studied the difs, The article needs a comprehensive re-write although a good start would be to replace the Lead(Lede) with a properly sourced encyclopedic Lede according to Wikipedia Lede writing guidance.

.The last discussion for article deletion did not result in a consensus, but some cogent points were made pertinent to the current stale mate. .I am a casual editor of Wikipedia but have taken the time to study this process on this page in depth as I am currently coding a collaborative design application which uses semantic and ontological algorithms to mine data and offer consensus solutions to affordable housing community design, as such: I have as much time as is needed to do the grunt work on this. RogerGLewis (talk) 06:51, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * As the lead is supposed to be a short summary of the salient points in the body text, dont you think you should look at the body first? You should also put refs in the body, rather than your reference bombed lead, which is normally not acceptable. I think that the main point for you to consider is that the need for a change to the lead has certainly not been established. -Roxy the sycamore . wooF 07:08, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Vernon Coleman This article has been the subject of a deletion discussion in april 2020 and there are several archives of Talk page discussion. I have proposed a rewrite of the lead (Lede), the main body of the article also requires attention to return it to an encyclopedic standard. I have added a proposed new Lede on the talk page, and I am seeking assistance from the wider editor community to address the current problems in the entry. RogerGLewis (talk) 08:25, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Thank you Roxy the dog. 1. don't you think you should look at the body first? I have looked at the body of the article and yes it needs attention 2. The referencing approach I have adopted is an attempt to encompass what is a sprawling array of diffs across several archived talk pages and also the deletion discussion. As I am not competent in citing diffs ( I am looking at how to do it properly later) I felt that the Reference magazines I have made for my own use, and which i have published and linked to,allow me to add in the references properly in due course, without duplicating my own efforts or increasing the required effort of editors interested in the improvement of the article. 3. Is the argument for the Lede to be re-written established?. There was no consensus in the deletion discussion, (User:bibliomaniac1515 April 2020 (UTC)) that was some time ago. A properly sourced consensus process would answer that question, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that there is sufficient doubt as to the standard of the Article and of the Lede to approach the matter, as potentially controversial.RogerGLewis (talk) 08:10, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I have posted this notice to the Biography of Living persons Talk page (Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard)

I don't really know where to post because this talk page is a mess, so I guess I'll just go to the end of the last section. I do see that he's labeled an anti-vaccine activist with no mention of that in the article body, and while it seems pretty likely that is true it should be supported by the body text. I'm not terribly fond of how the lead is written now because it splits up the "conspiracy theorist, activist" stuff from the "His medical claims are widely considered to be crap" line. Maybe something along the lines of Vernon Coleman is an English writer and blogger who writes on topics related to human health, animal welfare and politics. He was formerly a general practitioner and newspaper columnist. He is most notable for his AIDS denialism, pseudoscientific medicine and COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Coleman's medical claims have been widely discredited and described as pseudoscientific. That groups the "He is a this that did that" together and then groups the "General consensus is he makes very bad medical claims" together. I think we need to stipulate the COVID-19 conspiracy theories, since that is how the sources we're citing frame it. I changed the verbiage on the anti-vaccination to pseudoscientific medicine because there's no mention of vaccines in the body, and there is plenty of mention of pseudoscience. Obviously this is just a rough hack at it, but hopefully it can lead towards getting something everyone can agree on. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:26, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * That would be a massive improvement in my opinion (ScottishFinnishRadish) I would vote for your amendments set out in green. Regarding the larger re-write, with a more balanced lede as per your suggestion, and that Draft, I think it would be somewhat less critical. RogerGLewis (talk) 13:31, 1 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Support text proposed by ScottishFinnishRadish. Definitely seems like a huge improvement though "discredited and described as pseudoscientific" sounds redundant. I might pick one or the other for the lead. It looks like he authored Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe and Effective Is Lying and was fact checked on the subject in PolitiFact so the anti-vaccination part would appear accurate though this needs to be developed in the body with supporting citations before making it to the lead. - Wikmoz (talk) 22:17, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I think discredited and pseudoscience are fine together since they speak to different, although related, things. There is plenty of regular science that is discredited, and plenty of pseudoscience that isn't discredited because no one bothers to discredit non-scientific theories. That said I'm not terribly bothered if consensus is to use one or the other, but I think using discredited addresses him having been an actual doctor and pseudoscience addresses his current beliefs and statements. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:04, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Disagree with all text proposed by RogerGLewis due to clear malicious intent. A consensus on the lede was reached until RogerGLewis suggested a highly redacted suggestion from an very old edition of the page (which was favorable to Coleman) which referenced only the "true" information in praise of Coleman's works. I also have evidence here which shows RogerGLewis is purposefully suggesting sources which are in no-way impartial. I say this because the "Yumpu" is a copy-paste of Wikipedia articles, "Vetapedia" (a blog) claims Wikipedia is trying to "disfame (Colemans) reputation" and finally "NotTheGrubStreetJournal" is (according to the about me page) RogerGLewis's personal blog where RogerGLewis has written favorably on Coleman's view that "Wikipedia is a prophylactic (weapon) against thought crime" ". All these sites claim Wikipedia and its editors are malicious actors and then link to a video of Coleman criticizing Wikipedia. Third; Coleman did not come to prominence in 2020, because sources going back to the 1980's demonstrate his notoriety. I instead suspect what may have come to prominence was RogerGLewis's knowledge of Coleman in 2020 and a then Roger himself desired to have Wikipedia align with Coleman's biased views. Suddenly linking to Coleman's 'BrandNewTube' after he was banned from YouTube is effectively free advertising for Coleman, something which he has instructed his viewers to do via his videos, multiple times. In short, changing the lede this significantly strikes me as attempting to push a particular POV which is not the purpose of Wikipedia, RogerGLewis is not acting impartially, however I am however in favour of adding a category outlining how Coleman's works have been criticised by independent bodies regarding his spread of COVID-19 misinformation MrEarlGray (talk) 00:13, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Is the consensus version that you refer to the currently live version or something else? - Wikmoz (talk) 01:32, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The consensus version I refer to is the current live version. MrEarlGray (talk) 01:47, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The text proposed by ScottishFinnishRadish is very similar to the current live version. It just omits the critical elements from the first sentence. Dives head first into them in the third sentence. Your objection is that the criticism doesn't appear until the third sentence? - Wikmoz (talk) 03:13, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The only reason I moved the critical elements is for readability. I think it flows better in my version without losing the valid criticism. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:04, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * MrEarlGray, can you clarify your objection to the proposed text? - Wikmoz (talk) 17:22, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Phew, I thought it was what I wrote! ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 00:20, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I support The text proposed by ScottishFinnishRadish, this Draft in "green" the ordering of the sentence is much more balanced in my opinion.
 * , You are aware that Coleman wrote a book called "Vaccines Are Dangerous - And Don't Work", aren't you? And another called "Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe And Effective Is Lying"?
 * Also "Warning issued as 'dangerous anti-vax' leaflets posted through doors in Luton notes that [t]he leaflets claim to tell the "truth about vaccines" using information from Dr Vernon Coleman, a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccination activist.
 * Dundee Evening Telegraph: "The leaflets appeared through doors and letterboxes in Perth earlier this week and were titled “19 truths your government won’t tell you about Covid-19”, quoting Dr Vernon Coleman, a discredited former doctor and conspiracy theorist.". The Daily Record calls him "a conspiracy theorist, anti-vaccination activist and AIDS denialist".
 * Vernon Coleman is a rabid antivaccinationist and anti-medicine conspiracy theorist. This is obvious from media coverage, from his books, and from the crap he writes in What Doctors Don't Tell You, a magazine thankfully no longer sold in shops due to the endless litany of complaints about the terrible advice and misleading advertisements it contained.
 * Coleman disputes all of this. But then he would, wouldn't he? He makes a nice living preying on the fears of the gullible, and doubtless joins the many other charlatans in considering Wikipedia's reality-based coverage of his noxious outpourings as some kind of restraint of trade. But we're not here to present the world as conspiracy theorists believe it to be, we're here to present objective facts. Even when that might stop some random dude from selling anti-vaccine propaganda. Guy (help! - typo?) 16:10, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I saw that after writing that first lead, which I think I mentioned elsewhere on this page. I'm fine with changing psuedoscientific medicine to anti-vaccine activism. When I wrote my first rough draft I had only reviewed the sources in the lead. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:18, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

"Vernon Coleman is an English writer and blogger who writes on topics related to human health, animal welfare and politics. He was formerly a general practitioner and newspaper columnist. He is most notable for his AIDS denialism, pseudoscientific medicine and COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Coleman's medical claims have been widely discredited and described as pseudoscientific". ScottishFinnishRadish, Wikmoz & RogerGLewis all agree it seems. Regarding consensus the current lead does not have consensus, the last discussion was truncated as I was blocked from editing and the request I made for posting the discussion to appropriate notice boards was ignored.I posted a notice at (Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard)Vernon Coleman which seems to have attracted some interest. I believe that a number of archived discussion participants would cetainly disagree that a proper consensus had been reached on the article as it currently stands and other notices should be posted to relevant editor Boards, I do not wish to canvas and must for the record reject MrEarlGray's allegations of COVID-19 misinformation I am editing in good faith and have no fealty to or with Dr Vernon Coleman. RogerGLewis (talk) 09:35, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Roger, you claim "I am editing in good faith and have no fealty to or with Dr Vernon Coleman." - Yet, you have written on your blog, which you have linked here, in an entry titled "Taking the Lead in a ship of April Fools. Amending the Lede, No greater passion “Than the Passion to Alter Someone Else's Draft”" and wrote "Dr Coleman correctly diagnosed the use of Wikipedia as a prophylactic (weapon) against thought crime, and the coordinated banning of the Drs You tube video, and substantial re-writing of his wikipedia entry on the date that it went viral after being put on line are all borne out by the Wikipedia articles Page view statistics.". MrEarlGray (talk) 11:41, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Mr EarlGray, The Page view statistics bear out that the interest in Dr Coleman's Wikipedia Entry coincided with his Viral Youtube video and the nature of the article changed dramatically after the traffic increased, that is clear for anyone to see and I have merely pointed it out. Wikipedia is characterised by factional ingroup editing, I do not take part in any factions , I do observe ingroup biases and infighting between Editorial teams, one such group has been suggested to be operating on this page, if you read the Archived discussion comment by Excalibur talk|) . My interest in Wiki's and the work of Ted Nelson on Hyper text as I have said is currently being put to use in development of a collaborative community design project hence why this article with its many layers is of more interest from a coding semantics perspective for me. I am an enthusiastic advocate for Wikipedia but, also critical ((as is Larry Sanger ( Co Founder) )), of the poor management protocols as applied to Rogue Editing by Editors with administrator privileges and the abuse by some editors of those same privileges.I will continue to engage in the substantive issue in question on this page. Again for the avoidance of doubt, I repeat my support for Scottish Finnish Radishes proposed amendment, see Green Bold Above.) which reads better and adds much needed balance to some of the excessively partisan aspects of the rest of the entry.I do not see that your side bar regarding my bone-fides is of any assistance on the support for and need of the suggested change by ScottishFinnishRadish , Wikmoz & RogerGLewis  RogerGLewis (talk) 12:50, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I support the current lead. There is still no demonstration by Coleman puppets of the need for a change to the lead, other than as a sop to the subject, who doesn't like what the facts say about him. -Roxy the sycamore . wooF 18:34, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Just responding to the WP:BLP/N request regarding the lead. Never heard of Coleman before that. The proposed revision seems to improve WP:NPOV. The criticism is preserved, just excluded from the first sentence. - Wikmoz (talk) 19:10, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Also here from WP:BLP/N. I think the WP:NPOV stays the same since all of the same information is in the lead. I just think it reads better in that order, but I'm pretty ambivalent about it. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 19:39, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I do not support making any changes to the existing lede. MrEarlGray (talk) 20:58, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Whilst the current discussion sees a majority for the change to be made, there clearly is no consensus either to keep the Lede or to change the lede. To reach such a consensus I think some notices to other appropriate message boards might be in order, whilst a consensus is still unlikely, a clearer majority might be achieved by widening out the discussion. User:RogerGLewis:NPOVN-notice,regarding WP:NPOV & WP:COI, I think we need a NPOV and COI review and post a notice to Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Noticeboard & Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard  Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard Wikipedia:Discussions for discussion, if there are set procedures for this process I have not been able to find them and would be grateful for assistance on how to widen the discussion. RogerGLewis (talk) 12:41, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Roger, we do things by consensus here, not majority vote. The Discussions for discussions noticeboard may just be able to help too. -Roxy the sycamore . wooF 13:43, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I think it's quite obvious that Roger isn't going to stop spamming until he gets his POV added to the article.MrEarlGray (talk) 14:20, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

Good thing there are plenty of eyes on the article. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 14:34, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The version in green (ScottishFFinnishRadis) is fine, Roger's is a laughable whitewash. Coleman is a crank, and it's really not our job to fix that. I mean, he even appears in WDDTY. How obvious does it have to get? Guy (help! - typo?) 15:53, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I repeat my support for Scottish Finnish Radishes proposed amendment, see Green Bold Above.RogerGLewis (talk) 19:28, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * If Roger can repeat his support for something, then I repeat my support for the current version. I urge others to repeat their support too!!! -Roxy the sycamore . wooF 20:00, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

I'd suggest running with ScottishFinnishRadish's version. Move the second sentence to the end of the paragraph. Roxy, EarlGray, would this help? I'd still remove one instance of the twice-stated "pseudoscience". The anti-vaccination statement can also be restored if anyone endeavors to actually edit the body content to reflect this. - Wikmoz (talk) 20:41, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

Current Version, Lede discussion ongoing
Vernon Coleman (born 18 May 1946) is an English conspiracy theorist, anti-vaccination activist, AIDS denialist, blogger and novelist who writes on topics related to human health, politics and animal issues. Coleman's medical claims have been widely discredited and described as pseudoscientific. He was formerly a newspaper columnist and general practitioner (GP).

Early life
Coleman was born in 1946, the son and only child of an electrical engineer. He was raised in Walsall, Staffordshire, in the West Midlands of England, where he attended Queen Mary's Grammar School. As a young child, Coleman was undecided on a career, deciding to become a doctor at 12 on a family friend's advice. Before attending medical school at Birmingham, he volunteered between 1964 and 1965 in Liverpool, getting children to aid and assist the elderly by painting their houses and doing their shopping.

Career
Coleman qualified as a doctor in 1970 and worked as a GP. In 1981, the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) fined him for refusing to write the diagnoses on sick notes, which he considered a breach of patient confidentiality. He is no longer registered or licensed to practise as a GP principal, having relinquished his medical licence in March 2016. An anti-vivisectionist, Coleman has been a witness at the House of Lords on vivisection, calling himself 'Professor'. He has been made an honorary professor by the International Open University based in Sri Lanka.

Writing and media appearances
Coleman is a much-criticised self-published author of a range of books and blogger of conspiracy theories and pseudoscientific claims. After publishing his first book, The Medicine Men, which accused the National Health Service of being controlled by pharmaceutical companies, Coleman left the NHS to focus on his writing.

Several of Coleman's books have appeared on best-seller lists, including The Sunday Times. Life Without Tranquillisers reached the Top Ten of The Sunday Times in March 1985. Bodypower reached several best-seller lists in the UK.

A 1989 editorial in the British Medical Journal criticised his comments on leprosy following the announcement that Diana, Princess of Wales was to shake hands with a person with leprosy. The incident was covered on Channel 4's Hard News, with Coleman declining to appear without a fee covering travel costs.

In 1994, a High Court judge granted a temporary injunction preventing Coleman from publishing the home address or telephone number of Colin Blakemore, who had been targeted by anti-vivisection activists. He also agreed not to publish anything about Blakemore that might jeopardise his safety, and to give solicitors the names of anyone to whom he might already have given the information.

In 1996, Coleman published the book How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You, which the Advertising Standards Authority later subjected to an advertisement ban. In 2004, he began to self-publish his books after Alice's Diary, a book about his cat, was turned down. Coleman has also written under multiple pen names; in the late 1970s, he published three novels about life as a GP under the name Edward Vernon.

Coleman's 1993 novel Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War was turned into a film in 2002 with the same name.

Coleman resigned from The People newspaper, where he had been agony uncle, in 2003. During his time at the paper, he had been censured by the Press Complaints Commission.

Through his personal blog, Coleman is a regular critic of the European Union and former Prime Minister Theresa May, and a supporter of English nationalism and Brexit. He has called for the European Union to be dissolved, claiming it is controlled by Nazi sympathisers. Coleman has also claimed Britons who support membership in the EU are Neo-Nazis.

AIDS denial
Writing for The Sun newspaper in the 1980s, Coleman denied that AIDS was a significant risk to the heterosexual community. He later claimed AIDS is a hoax, writing, "it is now my considered view that the disease we know as AIDS probably doesn't exist and has never existed". Such claims have been rejected by the medical community.

On 3 November 1988 in The Sun, Coleman wrote, "those who still claim that AIDS is a major threat to those who enjoy straight sex are either illiterate or irresponsible". On 3 August 1989, he wrote a letter to the editor of The Independent claiming that "your article [in defence of AIDS awareness] has simply helped to perpetuate a long-standing myth—that AIDS is a threat to heterosexuals". On 10 August 1989, Coleman’s Health Matters column demanded that an AIDS awareness campaign be abandoned. On 17 November 1989, The Sun published an article under the headline "STRAIGHT SEX CANNOT GIVE YOU AIDS—OFFICIAL", claiming "the killer disease AIDS can only be caught by homosexuals, bisexuals, junkies or anyone who has received a tainted blood transfusion". The following day, Coleman supported The Sun 's claims with an article under the headline "AIDS—THE HOAX OF THE CENTURY", similarly claiming AIDS was not a significant risk to heterosexuals, that medical companies, doctors and condom manufacturers were conspiring to scare the public and had vested interests in profiteering from public service announcements, and that moral campaigners were attempting to frighten young people into celibacy to establish traditional family values. Coleman also claimed gay activists were "worried that once it was widely known that AIDS was not a major threat to heterosexuals, then funds for AIDS research would fall".

Advertising Standards Authority rulings
In 2005, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned an advertisement for a book published by Coleman entitled How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You which claimed doctors were "the person most likely to kill you". The ASA upheld complaints that the advert was misleading, offensive and denigrated the medical profession. The ASA found Coleman's claims were lacking evidence, "irresponsible" and "likely to discourage vulnerable people from seeking essential medical treatment". In response to the ruling, Coleman called for the ASA to be banned and later made a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading, claiming "the ASA's action(s) are in breach of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act". The Office of Fair trading did not pursue Coleman's complaint.

In 2007, the ASA again found Coleman had made misleading claims in an advertisement promoting a supposed link between eating meat and contracting cancer. Coleman failed to respond to the ASA's enquiries. He was subsequently found to have again breached the organisation's code of conduct, with the ASA deeming Coleman's advert was again lacking evidence and likely to cause undue fear and distress. Coleman was instructed not to further run the advertisement and informed to respond to future ASA investigations.

Personal life
Coleman is married to Donna Antoinette Coleman (born 1972), who co-authored the books How To Conquer Health Problems Between Ages 50 and 120 (2003), and Health Secrets Doctors Share With Their Families (2005) with him.