A few months ago I wrote:
It was announced yesterday that more than 215,000 smokers joined Stoptober, the annual taxpayer-funded quit smoking campaign.
Many were inspired, perhaps, by the gentle coaxing of comedians Al Murray, Rhod Gilbert, Shappi Khorsandi and Bill Bailey (above). Or maybe they weren't because the number of people who signed up was 15 per cent fewer than in 2014.
Naturally Public Health England had a ready-made excuse for the relative failure of Stoptober 2015. The drop, they said, reflected the year-on-year decline in smoking rates in England.
Except it didn't because the fall in smoking rates in England in 2014-15 is nowhere near 15 per cent, a fact rightly mentioned in this report, Fewer people joined Stoptober smoking challenge (H/T journalist Peter Russell).
I concluded the post – Stoptober is proof that comedy isn't the new rock 'n' roll (and never was) – by asking, "How much does Stoptober cost the taxpayer?"
Today the Mail reports, Anti-cuts comics accused of hypocrisy for accepting thousands in taxpayer's cash to front 'nanny-state' health and safety adverts.
I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
Update: Several years ago, seeking a speaker for a Forest event, I enquired via an agency about the cost of booking Al Murray for a 20-minute after-dinner speech.
To be fair, his Pub Landlord persona was at the height of its popularity and I don't blame him for making the most of it (market forces and all that), but was I still shocked to be quoted £35,000.
Nice work if you can get it.
Update: Al Murray has tweeted that he was paid the "going rate".
What I love though is PHE's suggestion that Murray and his fellow comedians were paid for their "developing and creating comic content".
Seriously, I can't remember anything funny about Stoptober. Can you?