The problem is not this researcher doing his research. The scientific process can deal with several opinions on a topic, since the better theory will eventually

The problem is not this researcher doing his research. The scientific process can deal with several opinions on a topic, since the better theory will eventually yield better results, more publications and more acceptance in the global scientific community. Everything should be fine. But he's not just a part of the global scientific community, but also a researcher at a prestigeous university in the UK, where the poltical climate of the last few years has happily called everything off mainstream antisocial. The UK is a country where there was a serious discussion about not calling obese people obese anymore, because it is not insulting enough, but that one should call them fat. In such an environment, a theory among many, stating that CFS is caused by mental illness, can easily be spun into CFS sufferers just being lazy folks who don't want to work, because science says so. (Ignoring that mental illnes, like a physical illness, is actual illness and not a bad character trait) This is a problem with the UK, not with this researcher.