Morning after the night before

Feeling a bit groggy this morning.

Not sure if it was the port (very nice), the cheap plonk (not so nice) or the pints in the pub that followed last night's debate at University College London.

All I know is I got home just past midnight after falling asleep on the train and very nearly missing my station.

To recap: Chris Snowdon and I been invited to take part in a debate about smoking in cars with children.

The motion supported a ban but our hosts, UCL Conservative Society, had struggled to find anyone to propose it.

ASH, Cancer Research, the British Lung Foundation and Conservative MP Bob Blackman had been asked and they all said no.

Nevertheless they managed to find six speakers, three on either side. Chris and I were joined by Kevin, from UCL. Our opponents were also students.

In my experience this is not always a good thing because undergraduates are often much funnier than 'professional' tobacco control advocates and this tends to go down much better with a student audience, many of whom they already know.

Sometimes they are simply better at debating. I still have the scars from my first debate as director of Forest.

Our late chairman, Lord Harris of High Cross, and I were invited to speak at the English Speaking Union in Mayfair on the subject of smoking in public places.

I was feeling rather pleased with myself - new job, a peer at my side, speaking at a rather swish London address - and our opponents were no more than a couple of spotty students.

It turned out they were a world champion debating team and our arguments in defence of smoking in public places were torn apart and we were comprehensively defeated. Our humiliation was compounded when our opponents later confided that they were both smokers and they actually agreed with us!

Since then I've taken part in several debates with students, most recently at Durham, but also at Birmingham, Leeds, Dublin (UCD) and even Oxford where Antony Worrall Thomson and I fought another losing battle in a debate about the smoking ban.

This was especially disappointing because six months earlier (this was in 2006) the Oxford Union had reversed its decision to ban smoking in the Union bar because so many students had decamped to the local pub (where they could smoke) the Union found itself losing money.

Sadly, on the night Antony and I were speaking most of our potential supporters must have been in the pub. They certainly weren't in the chamber.

It wasn't all bad, though. We were treated to a very nice dinner before the debate. We were also shown photographs of the many famous people, including presidents, prime ministers and A-list Hollywood stars, who have addressed the Oxford Union over the years.

I like to think that in some musky corner of the historic Union building, there's a picture of Antony and me, smiling nervously, as we await our fate.

But back to last night. I have tweeted that it was the most enjoyable student debate I have been involved in. And it was.

It was enjoyable not just because we won (by a landslide) but because there so were so many laughs. Convivial doesn't do it justice.

Whoever decided that alcohol should be freely available before and during the event is a genius. Port in a plastic cup? Perfect.

I even developed a fondness for our opponents who were struggling, it must be said, to throw off the shackles of their innate libertarianism.

The vote was a formality.

ASH, Cancer Research, British Lung Foundation, Bob Blackman – your side took a hell of a beating. So sorry you weren't there.

PS. Good to see Oliver Cooper, chairman of Conservative Future, and James Lawson, co-founder of the UK Liberty League, at last night's event.

Speaking to them and people like Louisa Townson, who chaired the debate and is president of UCL Conservatives, gives me hope for the future.

Naturally we'll be inviting them and other young libertarians to Smoke On The Water, the Forest boat party, in July.

I hope you'll join us.