It's customary, at this time of year, to pay homage to the Battle of Ideas.

It's a magnificently organised event, a wonderful networking opportunity, and for many participants it has that priceless feel good factor.

Why, then, did I feel so deflated on Sunday?

Perhaps it was because an important smoking-related issue was sidelined, added to the programme as an afterthought (ie not included in the main brochure), given a lunchtime slot (when everyone was, er, having lunch), and allocated an alcove that was not so much off piste as 'out of sight, out of mind'.

How ironic, I thought, as I counted the handful of people who bothered to attend 'Hot off the press: outdoor smoking bans', that even at an event like this the war on tobacco has been marginalised to the outermost fringe.

It's not the first time either. I did a similar session in the same space two or three years ago.

Curiously, on the one occasion I was invited to speak as part of the main programme I was asked to talk about food not tobacco.

And the time we were asked to support a wrap party we were invited to do so as The Free Society not Forest.

If this sounds a bit curmudgeonly, even ungrateful, I should add that I have never wavered in my support for this impressive annual event. The year I spoke I even discharged myself from hospital to be there! (See That was the weekend that was.)

So at risk of alienating certain people, I think I'm justified in being a bit disappointed that smoking prohibition and the important issues it raises about government intervention and personal liberty has not been given the prominence it deserves.