I have just read an article by Martin Dockrell of Action on Smoking and Health.
It's entitled Is Big Tobacco blowing smoke in Cameron’s eyes? and it appears on the "number one left-wing blog" Left Foot Forward.
I haven't got time to give it a proper fisking but I thought you'd like to know what ASH and Left Foot Forward have in common.
As you know, I don't like debates that feature only one side of an argument so we make it our business to embrace, if possible, all sides.
Sadly it's not always possible because the left, with few exceptions, refuse (or decline) to debate with us.
Last year I invited Will Straw, son of Jack Straw and the founder of Left Foot Forward, to take part in our 2010 Voices of Freedom series. To be fair he did reply but he wanted to be paid (he was the only person to raise the issue) and we didn't have a budget to pay speakers.
Will has since moved on to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), an influential left-wing think tank, so a couple of weeks ago I invited his successor to speak in the 2011 series.
I sent the invitation to two email addresses but no reply. Not a dicky bird.
What has this got to do with ASH? Well, a few weeks ago I invited to Deborah Arnott to speak alongside Peter Hitchens in our debate 'Civil liberties up in smoke: what are smokers' rights in a free society?'. I emailed Debs (who I have no personal animosity towards at all) and, like the editor of Left Foot Forward, she didn't even bother to reply.
This week, taking a different tack, I telephoned ASH with a view to inviting her colleague Martin Dockrell to speak in our next debate 'Risk and the pursuit of happiness: is smoking, drinking, gambling good for you?'
The person who answered the phone sounded like Deborah but wasn't. (They must be cloning little Deborahs.)
"This is Simon Clark from Forest," I said. "Can I speak to Martin Dockrell?"
Pause. Ten seconds later:
"He's in a meeting."
I left my number. "Can he call me back?"
Four days later I'm still waiting for that call. (Perhaps he was too busy writing for Left Foot Forward.)
PS. ASH and Left Foot Forward aren't the only lefties to decline our regular invitations to speak. The list is endless. But at least the likes of Polly Toynbee took the trouble to reply and decline gracefully.
As far as Debs and Dockrell are concerned, it's not just the refusal to debate I find depressing. It's the lack of class.