An 'interesting' aside to the story of Chris Exley (https://miriaf.co.uk/science-sold-out/) and the general scandal and corruption ravaging the University of Keele, is the story of the Caudwell International Children's Centre (CICC), also informally known as the Caudwell autism centre.

I remember in 2015, reading the news in the local Stoke paper that local billionaire, John Caudwell, who was already active as a children's charity patron, intended to build a purpose-built facility in Keele's science park in order to help children with autism. When this announcement was made, and when Keele was under the leadership of Vice Chancellor, Nick Foskett (mentioned in my Exley article, since it was his abrupt and early 'retirement' that heralded the beginning of the end for Chris Exley), it was intended that the autism centre and Keele would have a close and collaborative relationship.

Nick Foskett was quoted in the local paper as saying: “Not only are we delighted that Caudwell Children are developing a facility at the Keele University Science & Innovation Park, we are also excited to be working in partnership to develop further understanding of particular conditions in children. We hope that through these types of innovative partnerships, our research impact can be maximised, alongside providing the local area with a fantastic provider."

That quote has since been completely scrubbed from the internet and all articles that referenced it, removed. But, of course, nothing ever really disappears from the internet, so you can still see it, via the Wayback Machine, here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20150914025602/http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/8203-Autism-centre-Keele-University-Staffordshire/story-27715738-detail/story.html#PVhoOzwkA3v7GAEK.99

It is clear - and I have had this confirmed from several sources inside the university - that in its initial inception, the autism centre was intended by the Caudwell team to be innovative and pioneering in its mission to genuinely seek to understand and treat autism, including exploring alternative and unconventional approaches. Caudwell discussed the possibility of funding a post for a neurologist at the university who would focus on furthering understanding the neurological basis of autism - which would very likely have meant working closely with Chris Exley and exploring the aluminium connection - and there had also been talks with the Psychology department about how they could be involved.

Very suddenly and abruptly, this all stopped, which coincided with Nick Foskett's unexpected and early 'retirement' (which came almost immediately after his delivering the aforementioned quote to the press), and all talks of collaboration between the autism centre and the university were completely shut down. Quotes were literally scrubbed from the internet to erase any evidence such discussions had ever taken place.

The centre was then beset by all sorts of difficulties and delays, with staff suddenly leaving under mysterious circumstances and the official launch date being pushed back and back. I eventually called Keele in 2017 to find out what was going on, and in this conversation, they denied that they had ever had any kind of working relationship with Caudwell - that the centre were "just tenants" and if I wanted to find out what was going on, I would have to contact them directly.

Well, I did indeed find out what was going on when, in June 2017, that well-established vehicle of ruthless smear campaigns against those who challenge the pharmaceutical industry's profit margin, The Sunday Times, orchestrated a malicious hit piece against John Caudwell, entitled 'Caudwell Children autism charity ‘a magnet for quack therapies’.

The article goes on to state: 

"One of Britain’s largest children’s charities has been directing families towards alternative medicine practitioners who claim that vaccines are toxic and have prescribed autistic children unproven treatments such as £2,600 foot baths.

"Caudwell Children, which was founded by the Phones4U billionaire John Caudwell, plans to open an £18 million autism research centre on the campus of Keele University in Staffordshire this autumn.

"Its celebrity ambassadors include Sir Bruce Forsyth and Elizabeth Hurley. Last month the pop singers Peter Andre and Paloma Faith entertained the guests at its annual Butterfly ball in a Park Lane hotel, following in the steps of Elton John, Lionel Richie and Kylie Minogue. Yet beneath the glitz lurks what critics say is a “magnet” for pseudoscience."

The rest of the article is behind a paywall, but you get the gist. Let us remember that the Sunday Times specialises in these kinds of malicious hit pieces, having given the same treatment to Andrew Wakefield and Chris Exley.

After this, Caudwell - who had, as the article suggests, previously been very open to exploring alternative and unconventional therapies - completely changed the approach and ethos of the autism centre, and when the centre did eventually launch (years later than had been originally scheduled), it did so as just another establishment processing centre, following "NHS guidelines".

There's obviously a lot more to this story, many details of which have been lost in the passage of time (this is mostly going back six years), but it is yet more evidence that our most trusted and respected institutions are rotten to the core. We can quite easily imagine what might have been said to Nick Foskett to make him abruptly 'retire' (he unretired himself shortly afterwards and got a new position elsewhere) and to John Caudwell and Keele University to make them sever their relationship to the extent they now deny they ever had one. 

Real research into autism must always be stymied and blocked at all costs, because the establishment knows all too well what it would find: That autism is not 'genetic', but environmental: it is caused by man-made poisons in the environment - including, but not limited to, vaccines. These poisons can certainly enter a baby prior to birth, so yes, it is possible to be 'born that way' - but that doesn't therefore suggest genes are the cause. 

I am sure that Caudwell was given the same ultimatum routinely delivered by the establishment whenever the mainstream narrative on autism is challenged by someone with clout - 'get with the programme' or be destroyed - the Sunday Times piece giving Caudwell a little taster of what he could expect if he continued down the 'alternative' (e.g. effective) route. 

The Caudwell autism centre in its current incarnation may do reasonable work in supporting families dealing with autism and for that it should be commended - but it could have done so much more had it not fallen under the dark spell of conformity at all costs. 

Unfortunately, Keele University is in no way unique or unrepresentative in the scale of corruption that mires it: this is typical of all universities and has been going on for many decades. By strange 'coincidence', an illustrative TV series was filmed at Keele in the 1980s, called 'A Very Peculiar Practice', written by a disenchanted former academic seeking to expose the extent of money-driven corruption ravaging universities. 

This hugely popular series, featuring future Doctor Who stars Peter Davison and David Troughton (as well as a cameo from a very young Hugh Grant as an evangelical student preacher), exposed the ruthless machinations of universities who will stop at nothing - including framing, persecuting, and 'disappearing' inconvenient academic staff - to protect their bottom line of enriching the coffers of fat-cat university chancellors and other investors. 

The series ran from 1986-1988 and it shows how little has changed in four decades. 

To bring an end to the dark veil of corruption that shrouds so much of academia, medicine, and science, we need to keep shining a light on it and encouraging people to step up and speak out. If you are involved in education, academia, healthcare, or any related field and you know that something’s going very wrong, the time to speak out is now. Please use your voice – we need it. 

PROFESSOR CHRIS EXLEY ADDS: "I can add a little to this story. Shortly before building work began on Caudwell's impressive centre I was contacted by Caudwell Children's charity to ask for help in establishing a science laboratory in the building. My initial contact was the head of the charity though I was visited by two others involved with the future of the building. Of course, I helped as much as I could. Within a couple of months of their visit to my labs all communication seemed to be severed. The charity head did eventually respond to my enquiring emails and assured me that my help was much appreciated and that they would be in touch. Well, the next time I heard from them was when I received an official invitation to the opening of the centre, celebrity guests and all. I attended where I was introduced to John Caudwell's daughter Rebekah. She showed a great deal of interest in my research at Keele though she informed me that she had little to do directly with the charity and so couldn't promise anything. While Rebekah did remain in touch I heard nothing else from the charity.

I might add that prior to the opening of the autism centre I did recommend John Caudwell to be elected a fellow of the University. Rebekah informed me that this invitation to John was never forthcoming.

The opening of the centre was a grand affair and the centre is an impressive building. I seemed to be the only representative from Keele at the opening until shortly before the end McMillan (Keele's VC) arrived with a small entourage. To my knowledge there was no greeting from any of the Caudwell family.