A welcome guest at The Freedom Dinner on July 7 was Juliette Tworsey, pictured above with a rather glassy-eyed Chris Snowdon.
Born in Chicago, Juliette moved to New Orleans via Los Angeles with her partner Jules Shapiro. Together they play in a band called Firebug.
I invited them largely because of Juliette's principled stand against the smoking ban in New Orleans.
Sticking her head above the parapet when many others wouldn't, she spoke out at two hearings earlier this year. (I posted about it here: A sad day for freedom of choice.)
I was particularly impressed by the fact that she defended smoking despite having quit cigarettes two years ago in favour of tobacco vaporisers. (I wrote about that too: "I witnessed vapers throwing smokers under the bus".)
It takes a principled person to defend without reward something you no longer do, or have never done.
This was Juliette's first visit to the UK for several years and earlier this week she posted some observations on her blog.
They include comments about The Freedom Dinner, graphic health warnings (on smokeless tobacco products) and the absurd consequences of the UK's tobacco display ban.
If you want to know how others see us it's definitely worth a read. See Freedom calls in London.
If you have 15 minutes to spare you can also hear a rough edit of an interview I did with Juliette and Jules prior to The Freedom Dinner. It includes Juliette's heartfelt comment that, "I'm still a smoker in my mind and in my heart." Click here for more.
Firebug's new album, Homeostasis, will be released shortly. In the meantime here's a video featuring the impressive song 'Wine, Water & Bread'.