More and more people are turning to alternative therapies instead of conventional medicine. I've done it myself. Alternative therapists provide us with somewhere to go when there is nothing really wrong with us but we still feel in need of, well . . . something. When we are a bit run down and need someone to tell us that we are dreadfully stressed and marvellous to be standing up at all.

A trip to the GP is usually fairly unpleasant, with a waiting room full of infectious children and coughing pensioners, and, unless you are really very ill, can often result in at best a snappy "there's nothing wrong with you" and at worst, a tablet you don't need.

An alternative practioner, on the other hand, will always take you seriously and tell you you have some terrible deficiency/allergy/condition/ that they will, eventually, be able to get to the root of.

They will be there to listen to you warble about your minor aches and pains and, 'naturally', take your money.

Of course if there is something really wrong with you, you should go straight to your GP.

Otherwise you might die like that tragic case a couple of years ago when a man with cancer was solely treated by a bonkers "healing practioner".

Homeopathic remedies are actually made entirely of water . . . even the homeopaths can't argue with that and the treatments they offer have no basis in science whatsoever.

Homeopathy works in a "mysterious way" which even its practioners don't understand . . . although the mystery could be why these people are allowed to made spurious claims and charge money for placebos, which are often effective on minor symptoms, by the way, which is why so many alterative therapies seem to 'work'.

However most of us are still attracted by the promise of a 'qualified' person (albeit someone who was not scientifically curious enough to study medicine for six years) indulging our modern malaise.

The reality is that the likes of irridology, reiki, reflexology and homeopathy have at best spurious and at worst absolutely no scientific basis to them whatsoever. They are largely faithbased, which is a belief system as offensive to the scientific thought process as religion. Don't get me wrong, personally I think 'faith' in itself is a wonderful thing and can make all the difference between a happy and a miserable life. I believe in God and ghosts and all sorts of unscientific stuff.

But because I've booked to see Derek Acorah live in concert in Castlebar in October . . . that does not mean that I think Trinity should start running courses in 'Spirit Guides' and 'Ghostbusting'.

Universities should operate on a higher intellectual plane than the real world . . . setting our standards, not reflecting them. Popularity should not be enough to validate a subject as important as a university course. Otherwise they might as well give degrees in shopping; first module . . . handbag appreciation.

Alternative medicine should be kept in its place, which is the hypochondriac's alternative to a pampering facial, and something to keep them away from the GP's office so they can get on with curing people who are really sick.