You can be a tub-thumping activist/campaigner or you can be an independent academic 'expert'.
It's difficult if not impossible to be both but that hasn't stopped Simon Chapman, Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney, from trying.
And, boy, is he trying.
In recent weeks – encouraged, perhaps, by the fawning welcome he got when he visited the UK in January – Chapman's comments have become ever more strident and weird.
He may live in Australia but his ego is clearly visible 12,000 miles away.
In February he even tried to belittle David Hockney. Result? He sounded like a boorish oaf.
If you fancy a laugh follow Chapman on Twitter. His tweets are to academia what Sir Les Patterson is to diplomacy. (Are they by any chance related?)
He doesn't agree with Labour MP Tom Harris either but instead of engaging in an adult debate with a former government minister he tweets:
That last one says it all, really. Then again:
But the tweet that really caused me to question Chapman's sanity was posted a couple of days ago and it read:
He then links to .... a Hands Off Our Packs video!!
High cost? What planet does this bozo inhabit? Anyone can see that Welcome to Nanny Town is not expensively filmed or produced (but thanks for the compliment, you moron!). In fact, it cost exactly £1260 including filming, editing and uploading.
Needless to say, facts like that don't suit Chapman's agenda. My advice? Think twice before you believe a word this idiotic man says.
PS. Talking of money, I wonder how much this pro-plain pack video – The Truth from Big Tobacco - cost? Or this six-minute (yawn) video: Plain Packs Protect launch. Or this smoking and plain packaging video which I described in January as "very slick"? I think we should be told.
Note: the three videos above have been viewed 3,747, 81 and 1,532 times respectively. That's a combined total of 5,360 views. By comparison, Welcome to Nanny Town has been viewed 11,786 times.
Good to know that the plain pack campaign is offering such great value for money!!