Smoked Out report launch

I'm off to TabExpo today to give a talk on 'Rights and responsibilities — why the consumer must come first'.

What's TabExpo, I hear you ask. It's a tobacco trade exhibition but this is the first time I've gone so it's new to me too. I'll have more to say (probably) when I return.

Meanwhile here are some images from last night's event to mark the publication of the Manifesto Club report Smoked Out: The Hyper-Regulation of Smokers in Outdoor Public Places.

I won't say the room was packed because it wasn't but most of the seats were taken and on a wet rather dismal evening there was a pretty good turnout – I counted around 40 people – who managed to drink their way through 20 bottles of wine and 26 bottles of beer (and that was before we went to the pub)!

The speakers were me, Dolan Cummings (report author), Josie Appleton (Manifesto Club), Alex Wild (TaxPayers Alliance) and Rob Lyons (Action on Consumer Choice).

I was surprised but gratified how involved the audience was. There were no shortage of questions in the Q&A session although most Qs were mini speeches.

If you haven't done so you can download the report here.

Josie has written an excellent article for Spiked – Smoked out of the public square – that is definitely worth reading.

Smoked Out, by Dolan Cummings and Josie Appleton, is published by the Manifesto Club, in association with Forest. Below: Josie addresses the audience at last night's event. Photos by Dan Donovan.