Credit to Dick Puddlecote for a genuine old-fashioned scoop.
You can read all about it on Dick's blog here.
It should make uncomfortable reading for Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies and Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, but a lot of people in public health are shameless.
Either that or they operate in such a bubble that they steam on, disregarding the opinions of everyone else, even their peers. They ignore the evidence and contend that anything they don't agree with or doesn't suit their agenda must be false or, worse, a conspiracy.
It would be nice to think the exposure of some remarkable correspondence between McKee and Dame Sally would attract the attention of the mainstream media but I fear it's destined to remain online, poured over and commented upon by obsessives like me but ignored by those in higher office.
Nevertheless I tip my hat to DP and his fellow 'jewel robbers'. The immediate reaction has been impressive. Let's hope others take note too.
Update: Did Martin McKee lie in the BMJ? (Dick Puddlecote).
Dick's Stuff: PHE Hypnotised By Big Tobacco, Claims McKee In Private Emails To The CMO https://t.co/0CqAMm2J3w
— Dick Puddlecote (@Dick_Puddlecote) January 19, 2016Thanks for this - to reiterate the tobacco industry had no input to our analysis and this claim by McKee is a lie https://t.co/lo6uk5qUza
— David Nutt (@ProfDavidNutt) January 19, 2016Disgraceful, desperate, dishonest and negligent of McKee! The ecig-gate is becoming truly ridiculous! @ProfDavidNutt https://t.co/3hYMcG8AB8
— Dr Christian Jessen (@DoctorChristian) January 20, 2016