In the absence of counter-arguments, we can’t really be sure what the public thinks about state action on unhealthy lifestyles.
The underlying motive for this tradition, though now often dressed up in quasi-medical language, is as much aesthetic as sanitary.
My Campaign for Fairer Gambling will continue to press for stakes to be capped at £2.
By compelling us to extend our lives, the public health lobby is priming the real time bomb beneath the NHS: our ageing population.
J P Floru is a Westminster councillor and Head of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. Follow J P on Twitter. “They call it austerity. I call it balancing the budget”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a book launch a few days ago. The principle of living within one’s means is familiar to many […]
Christopher Snowdon is a Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute and co-author of a new report on minimum alcohol pricing. Follow Christopher on Twitter. The concept of evidence-based policy-making is appealing. It certainly beats prejudice-based policy-making or bribery-based policy-making. But while the general idea is to be applauded, political decisions can only be as good as the evidence […]
Christopher Snowdon is a Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs. Follow Christopher on Twitter. In the traditional model of a liberal democracy, civil society comes together to put pressure on the government to take action on issues of public concern. A new paper from the Institute of Economic Affairs Sock Puppets: How the government […]
Christopher is the author of a new Adam Smith Institute report entitled "Plain Packaging: Commercial expression, anti-smoking extremism and the risks of hyper-regulation" (PDF). He is also the author of books such as 'Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: The History of Anti-Smoking' and 'The Art of Suppression: Pleasure, panic and prohibition since 1800'. The coalition of […]
Only ten years ago we’d have been mid-table, but since 2007 single-issue campaigners have struck a string of blows against lifestyle freedom.