J M Barrie would have approved

The Edinburgh Evening News reports that "A little girl got a shock when she went to see Peter Pan – the little boy who supposedly never grew up – at the Capital's Lyceum Theatre during the festive period.

"The three-year-old's mum took her outside during the interval while she had a cigarette. To avoid the wintry wind, they stepped round the side of the building into Cornwall Street, where the girl spotted Peter Pan, Wendy and Captain Hook – in full costume, hats and all – having their own fag break."

By coincidence, Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, sent me a note the other week pointing out that this year is the 150th anniversary of the birth of J M Barrie (1860-1937). "I am sure the newspapers will be concentrating on Peter Pan," said Eamonn, "but of course he also wrote another book, a peon of praise to tobacco, My Lady Nicotine."

Chapters include 'Matrimony and smoking compared', 'My first cigar', 'The romance of a pipe cleaner', 'How heroes smoke', 'The perils of not smoking' and, finally, 'When my wife is asleep and all the house is still'.

Oddly, one edition of the book has My Lady Nicotine paired with a mystery novel that Barrie wrote in 1888. Title: Better Dead.

Brian Monteith: in his own words

Following the publication of The Bully State: The End of Tolerance by Brian Monteith in October, The Free Society has now published a collection of Brian's articles from the Edinburgh Evening News, The Scotsman, Times Educational Supplement Scotland and websites such as ThinkScotland.org and Conservative Home.

The Full Monty 2009 reflects what Brian calls an "impatient year". In his introduction he explains that:

Many of us are impatient for the coming general election that will finally give us the chance to show Gordon Brown what we think of his management of the country's affairs ...

It was an impatient year waiting to see if the Conservatives might have a strategy to deal with the recession ...

It was an impatient year waiting and hoping that Ireland would not vote for the Lisbon Treaty or that we in Britain would get our own chance to show what we think of it ...

Needless to say Brian reserves his own impatience for those who support the smoking ban and are impatient to ban smoking in our homes and other private spaces. "They can wait a lot longer as far as I am concerned."

He also expresses impatience with the Tory party (on both sides of the border):

I'm naturally a Conservative at heart, but I cannot drum up a great deal of enthusiasm for the current mob and could still be tempted by another party once I know exactly what they stand for. I suppose I'm impatient for a party to actually represent my views - and I suspect the views of many others.

In the words of John McLellan, editor-in-chief of The Scotsman Publications, who has written the foreword: "The best way to enjoy Brian's writing is with a fine malt and a Partagas 'P Series' Number 2 ..."

You read it here first.

Note: The Full Monty 2009 is available from Amazon HERE.

The truth about tobacco?

This week sees the launch of another book about smoking. (I know, I know, you wait years for one and then three or four come along at once.)

Smoke Screens: The Truth About Tobacco is the work of Rich White, a graduate of Canterbury Christ Church University. According to the blurb:

"The book explores all aspects of tobacco smoking including smoking trends among social classes and detection bias and its impact on diagnosis.

"It examines in depth the evidence linking smoking to specific diseases, how attitudes towards smoking have changed over time, and how and why tobacco smoking has the negative status it does today."

Actually, that makes it sound a bit dull. Truth is, this book has the word "contentious" written all over it and it is certain to generate strong opinions.

Smoke Screens will appeal to those who are dubious about the alleged risks of smoking and believe - rightly or wrongly - that the benefits outweigh those risks. Whether it will convert anyone who takes a rather different view of tobacco remains to be seen.

Some of the chapters are available online HERE and you can purchase the complete book HERE.

The Bully State book tour

Brian Monteith (above) with copies of his new book, The Bully State: The End of Tolerance, which was launched last night in Edinburgh. Publication of the book was marked with a drinks party at the New Club in Princes Street.

Over 50 guests, including journalists and politicians attended the event in the Ramsay Room overlooking Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately, due to the biting wind and rain, the balcony was less smoker-friendly than usual - but that didn't deter some people from lighting up!

The evening featured live music, a brief speech by Brian and an even shorter introduction from me. Plenty of laughs and lots of friendly faces. I hadn't seen one guest (an old university friend) for 26 years, another for ten, so the evening was quite nostalgic too.

Delighted too to see the great Scottish historian Michael Fry. Michael and I once shared a room in Washington (for two weeks!) and I have never heard a man snore so loudly although, oddly, I am told that I have developed a similar habit in old age.

After the party, which went on well past its intended time, a small group of us - including BBC Scotland political editor Brian Taylor (a fellow Dundee United supporter) - retired to The Living Room, a lively restaurant in George Street.

Good company, great evening. Next stop: London.

Brian Monteith and The Bully State

Tonight, in Edinburgh, we are launching The Bully State: The End of Tolerance, a new book by Brian Monteith that is being published by The Free Society. Brian joined us at the Conservative conference in Manchester (he spoke at The Free Society meeting reported HERE by the BBC) and the subject of the book has already caught the attention of the Scotsman and the Times Educational Supplement which commissioned him to write the following articles:

100 years is too long to put up with the bully state (Scotsman)
From nanny to the bully state (Times Educational Supplement)

Note: the Scotsman article is only available to subscribers. To read it in full without charge click HERE.

Tonight's event also marks Forest's 30th anniversary. I know we've already had a party to "celebrate" this milestone but that was in London and we were keen to do something in Scotland as well.

I am driving to Edinburgh this morning with a car full of books and Forest paraphernalia and I expect to arrive shortly after lunch. The event starts at 5.30 and features the traditional Forest jazz band plus speeches by both Brian and myself.

We expect between 50 and 60 guests at The New Club which has a smoker-friendly balcony overlooking Edinburgh Castle and Princes Street Gardens. I'm looking forward to it.

I'll post some photographs over the weekend.

Note: to mark the publication of The Bully State we are also organising a small drinks party in London on Wednesday 14th October. We have booked the upstairs bar at the Westminster Arms, 9 Storey's Gate, London SW1. Numbers are limited but readers of this blog are among those invited. RSVP events@thefreesociety.org.

Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: first review

Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Antismoking, which is officially published next week, has received its first review - in the Economist, no less. And it's a good review too: "In this solidly researched, interesting and only occasionally strident book, Christopher Snowdon, an independent researcher, documents the cigarette’s journey from patriotic necessity to pariah status."

Full review HERE. So far the comments (4) are all from anti-smokers. For example, "Once again, in its crusade for the liberal society, the Economist is blind to the tyranny of forcing others to inhale the poisonous stench of tobacco smoke." You might like to respond.

Christopher Snowdon will be signing copies of Velvet Glove, Iron Fist at Forest's 30th anniversary reception in London next Monday. Entry is free. If you would like to attend telephone 01223 270156 (office hours) or email events@forestonline.org.

Philip Morris and the "unholy alliance"

Patrick Basham, director of the Democracy Institute and co-author of a series of reports including The Obese and Other Victims of Denormalisation, talks about his new book - Butt Out! How Philip Morris Burned Ted Kennedy, the FDA & the Anti-Tobacco Movement - HERE.

The book investigates what Basham calls the "unholy alliance" between Philip Morris USA and tobacco control groups in America that looks certain to result in legislation favourable to PM and detrimental to rival manufacturers.

Michael Siegal reviews Butt Out! HERE.

Update: Patrick Basham is attending Forest's 30th anniversary reception in London on 22 June. See previous post.

Anti-smokers brought to book

It's half-term so yesterday we visited my parents in Derbyshire. They live in a small hamlet in the Peak District. It was a beautiful day so I sat in the garden and read Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking by Chris Snowdon which is published next month.

I can't speak highly enough of this extraordinary labour of love. I've read many books on smoking and this is best by far. It's a superb read. To use that old cliche, it's a page-turner, which is some achievement. It's packed with information but it's also very readable - serious yet hugely entertaining.

Better still, this is no fire-breathing polemic. The amount of research that has gone into it is staggering. And the tone is moderate throughout which is important because it will appeal to a far wider readership.

Velvet Glove, Iron Fist is published on 22 June. Forest is hosting the book launch at Boisdale where Chris will be signing copies and saying a few words. You can also pre-order your copy HERE.

In the meantime I will wet whet (!) your appetite by publishing the occasional snippet on this blog.

Forest reception and book launch

I am pleased to announce that Forest supporter Ranald Macdonald will be hosting a very special reception on Monday 22 June.

The event, at Boisdale of Belgravia, is to mark Forest's 30th anniversary and the publication of Christopher Snowdon's impressive new book Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking.

Expect cocktails, canapes and live music. Chris will be signing copies of his long-awaited book and I imagine there will be one or two (short!) speeches.

Entry by invitation only. If you have attended Forest events in the past you will be on our guest list. If you haven't and would like to attend please send your full name and address to Nicky (events@forestonline.org).

Note: Ranald was featured in the Independent on Sunday yesterday. See HERE. See also Chris's website HERE.

Update on Monday, May 18, 2009 by Simon Clark

The Devil has THIS to say about our little soiree.

Raising a glass to the TaxPayers' Alliance

Just off to attend a champagne reception to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the TaxPayers' Alliance. I can't think of many pressure groups that have enjoyed so much publicity in recent years.

Perhaps their biggest coup was to provoke THIS attack by the Guardian's Polly Toynbee. You know you've arrived when New Labour's "fairy godmother" writes:

Day after day an insidious poison is fed into the nation's veins, spreading anger and cynicism about everything in the public sector. Nothing works, billions are wasted, public servants of every kind are pointless jobsworths feathering their nests and twiddling their thumbs. Behind this campaign is the Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA), which claims an average of 13 hits a day in the national media.

Tonight's event also features the launch of The Great European Rip-Off, a new book by David Craig and Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TPA (available on Amazon HERE). I can't imagine what that's about ...

Update on Friday, March 6, 2009 by Simon Clark

Great event, fabulous location - a stunning 18th floor flat (bigger than many people's houses) with spectacular views of London and the Thames. The last time I experienced a view like this I was interviewing Jeffrey Archer in his famous riverside apartment overlooking the Houses of Parliament. (The subject of the interview was, would you believe, money.)

There must have been 100 or more guests. The speeches may have been a little self-congratulatory, but Matthew Elliott, co-founder and chief exec of the TPA, deserves enormous credit for developing an organisation that currently has 20,000 supporters, 2,500 donors and 1,500 activists. In terms of media hits, the TaxPayers' Alliance is second only to the Heritage Foundation among think tanks and pressure groups - not bad for such a young organisation.

Ironically, as Matthew himself admitted, the tax burden has actually gone up since 2004 so there is a long battle ahead. The good news is, the TPA is flourishing and is in good hands.

The rotten state of Britain

Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute and an old friend of Forest, has a new book - The Rotten State of Britain - out today.

"Back in 1995," says Eamonn, "Will Hutton created a sensation with his The State We're In, which shredded the record of the Thatcher-Major years. But everything he objected to – sleaze, spin, centralisation, a politicised civil service, a weak Parliament, police and services that chase targets rather the helping the public – is now very much worse.

"My book produces a battery of examples that expose how rotten things have become. Politics, the economy, public services, society, values – I cover the lot. I show how and why power has become centralised and no longer accountable. How our rights and democratic institutions have been swept away, leaving us defenceless against our leaders. And why they think that spying on us and bullying us is not merely acceptable, but a moral imperative."

Eamonn has also written an article for The Free Society in which he argues:

I don’t think the problem is that our leaders want to control our every move. I think they believe they need wide powers to combat terrorism, and that they are good people who will use those powers responsibly. But give politicians and officials unlimited powers, and they will use them – or abuse them. That is precisely why the power of our leaders must be limited.

Full article HERE.

See also: A Labour-made crisis (Guardian, March 5, 2009) and The Rotten Police State of Britain (ConservativeHome, March 1, 2009).

The Rotten State of Britain (Gibson Square Books) is available HERE on Amazon and from Waterstone's.

I say, Jeeves, damn fine book

Talking about books (see below), Dave Atherton has alerted me to Hyping Health Risks: Environmental Hazards in Daily Life and the Science of Epidemiology by Geoffrey Kabat.

Kabat is a cancer epidemiologist who is currently senior epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City (ie he's no fool). He is best known, perhaps, for the Enstrom/Kabat study into passive smoking which was peer reviewed and published in May 2003 by the British Medical Journal.

According to the study (the largest ever of its kind), the link between ETS and coronary heart disease and lung cancer may be considerably weaker than is generally believed. Together with James Enstrom (University of California), Kabat found that exposure to ETS, as estimated by smoking in spouses, was not significantly associated with death from coronary heart disease or lung cancer at any time or at any level of exposure.

These findings, said the authors, suggest that environmental tobacco smoke could not plausibly cause a 30% increased risk of coronary heart disease, as was generally believed, although a small effect cannot be ruled out.

Kabat's new book would seem to complement this report. "The media constantly bombard us with news of health hazards lurking in our everyday lives," says the blurb. "But many of these alleged hazards turn out to have been greatly overblown."

Hyping Health Risks is available HERE, price £10.89. Amazon customers who bought the book also bought What Risk? by Roger Bate, and The Road to Serfdom by Hayek. Curiously, they also bought Jeeves And Wooster: Complete ITV Series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. What ho!

Reading matters

I don't read as many books as I'd like. Come the end of each day I'd rather read a magazine or watch an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm on DVD. (If I die during the night, at least I'll have died laughing.) Even on train journeys I spend most of my time on my laptop or reading the papers.

For me, the best time to read books is on holiday, and Christmas is no exception which is why I always ask for books, socks, hankerchiefs and more books. (A Sony Reader would be nice too.)

This year, if I get two or three of the following, I'll be happy: Grub Street Irregular: Scenes from Literary Life by Jeremy Lewis (Harper Press), The Austerity Olympics: When the Games Came to London in 1948 by Janie Hampton (Yellow Jersey Press), Frank Skinner on the Road: Love, Stand-up Comedy and The Queen Of The Night (Century), FA Confidential: Sex, Drugs and Penalties. The Inside Story of English Football by David Davies (Simon & Schuster), Killing My Own Snakes: A Memoir by Ann Leslie (Macmillan), and Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics by Jonathan Wilson (Orion Books)

There's one other book I shall be reading over Christmas. It's called The Bully State and it's by my old friend Brian Monteith. Brian has spent much of the last year abroad - in Africa and America - and in his free time he's managed to write a 45,000 word manuscript that highlights the state of Britain today.

It's currently going through the editing process but we intend to publish it - with a suitable fanfare - in February or March. Watch this space.

Reading matters

The Free Society will be giving away ONE THOUSAND copies of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four to people attending The Freedom Zone.

The publisher, Penguin, says: "Nineteen Eighty-Four is George Orwell’s terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime."

According to its Wikipedia entry, "The book has major significance for its vision of an all-knowing government which uses pervasive and constant surveillance of the populace, insidious and blatant propaganda, and brutal control over its citizens."

The Freedom Zone and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Spot the connection?

Madsen, the ASI and The Next Generation

It has been interesting to read some of the comments that followed my post about Margaret Thatcher HERE. One of the prime movers behind Maggie's successful policy of privatisation was Dr Madsen Pirie (left), co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute.

Madsen and I go back a long way. The first time we met I had just left university and was in London for a job interview. We were in a pub when a mutual friend introduced us. There followed what I can only describe as a chain reaction.

After a brief chat Madsen introduced me to the person sitting next to him. This turned out to be Michael Forsyth, later Secretary of State for Scotland and now Lord Forsyth of Drumlean. Back in 1980 Michael was director of a London-based PR company. The following day he offered me my first job (initial salary £4.5k a year) which I accepted, even though I really wanted to be a journalist. Or I thought I did.

I think I was seduced by the prospect of living and working in London so soon after graduating. Truth is, I didn't really enjoy PR but I kept in touch with Madsen and a few years later he came to my rescue - again - engineering a job (editing a magazine for a high profile membership organisation in which he was a leading member) that lasted 14 years.

Madsen, meanwhile, went from strength to strength. With the help of Dr Eamonn Butler, the ASI became Europe's most famous political think tank. In the Eighties the launch of an ASI policy document was often headline news. Government ministers jostled to attend ASI receptions.

Today, the ASI keeps the flame of economic liberty alive through events, publications, a thriving blog and, most important, The Next Generation which takes the free market message into schools and colleges. If The Free Society could achieve, on social issues, a fraction of the success of the ASI, I would be thrilled.

All this is a preamble to say that Madsen has written his first article for The Free Society blog. I'll forgive the shameless plug for his new book, Freedom 101, on the grounds that I am genuinely looking forward to reading it when it is published by the ASI next month. For the full article, click HERE.