Further to my report about the plain packaging debate in Bristol, Chris Snowdon has published his own review.
Readers will recall that Chris and I locked horns with Stephen Williams MP and Dr Gabriel Scally, retired regional director of health for the South West.
Chris writes:
Scally portrayed the tobacco control industry as a shoestring operation staffed by selfless volunteers who were prevented from carrying out their essential work by fantastically rich and malevolent industrialists ...
I discovered that Scally very much resents the term 'anti-smoking industry' to describe the multi-billion dollar enterprise that spans the globe employing thousands of petit prohibitionists, so I must remember to use it more often.
This is a man who is so self-righteous that the idea that ordinary people might oppose an idea that - never forget - was not on the radar of the most extreme anti-smoking zealots five years ago has probably never even occurred to him.
I don't think Chris liked him!
Full article: Enough rope (Velvet Glove Iron Fist)
Last word on the debate goes to Jennifer Salisbury-Jones for this amusing and hilariously indiscreet article that appears in Vantage, "Bristol's only truly independent student newspaper".
Update: Plain Packs Protect also has a review of the debate. Reading it you could be forgiven for asking whether the writer was at the same event.
Take this comment:
Overall, the debate was a huge success for all those interested in the Plain Packs Protect campaign, as it brought to light the core reasons why this is such an important issue. There was no hiding from the facts that plain packaging could help stop children smoking - and it was clear to see for everyone who attended.
Yes, of course plain packaging "could" help stop children smoking, but there's no good evidence that it will. It "could" be counter-productive, fuelling illicit trade and cheap counterfeit cigarettes that end up in the hands of children.
(Prosecuting children who smoke "could help stop children smoking" too but that's no reason to introduce such a draconian policy.)
Comments like this do however demonstrate what we're up against - one-eyed fanatics who see only what they want to see.
It reminds me of the "confidence trick" that ASH performed on MPs prior to legislation being passed to introduce the smoking ban.
The tactic seems to be: repeat something often enough - while exuding an air of confidence that you are right - and people will eventually believe it.
Prior to the smoking ban it was "passive smoking kills". Now it's "plain packaging will stop children smoking". If wouldn't surprise me if the tobacco control industry is using the same template all over again.
See Smoke and mirrors (Guardian, July 19, 2006).