A message for politicians and public health professionals

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Virtual Christmas Drinks event on Zoom on Thursday evening.

Speakers included Chris Snowdon (IEA), former MEP Brian Monteith (above), and Elise Rasmussen, founder and president of the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum.

From Ireland we were joined by journalist Ian O'Doherty and Forest’s John Mallon. And from Washington DC we welcomed Patrick Basham, founder and director of the Democracy Institute.

As well as discussing a number of Covid-related issues (including the imminent “death of the pub”, as Ian O’Doherty put it), there were plenty of other talking points.

Patrick Basham, for example, questioned the outcome of the US election while the target of Brian Monteith’s ire was Scotland’s “disgraceful” first minister.

We greatly over-ran our scheduled time but as another guest later commented, "Managing time when people have a glass in their hand is extra challenging!"

As ever with these events the most poignant moment was provided by a member of our supporting cast - in this case a lady I won’t identify by name.

After explaining that this was her first Forest meeting, she told us that her husband had died earlier this year.

She wasn’t looking for sympathy, she said. It was what it was, or words to that effect.

She added that she liked a glass of wine and the occasional cigarette and my understanding was that she just wanted to be left in peace to enjoy those two small pleasures.

Sadly there are far too many politicians who are unable to grasp the fact that what many people really, really want is to be able to eat, drink and smoke without harassment or rebuke.

We’re big boys and girls. We can make our own choices and there are times when smoking and drinking (or eating the ‘wrong’ sort of food) is not just a pleasure but a comfort.

Why can’t politicians and public health campaigners understand this? One reason, perhaps, is because the only consumers they engage with are those who want to quit.

Anyway it was good to welcome new as well as old friends to the Forest family. I’d be lying if I said a virtual drinks party is as good as the real thing but that’s 2020 for you. We’ve just got to make the best of it.

Thanks, btw, to Rob Lyons for handling all the technical stuff. We’d be lost without him!

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

Public Health is an industry dependant on bullying people to change their lives to become perfect physical human specimens who think the correct way.

They will never listen to us because they know we can't be persuaded to abandon something we know suits us fine. Therefore they dismiss us as trolls, industry stooges, and pathetic addicts.

The hate campaign to encourage ordinary members of the public to abuse us and insult in the same terms is the public health industry's and it's pet lobbyists and politician's way of trying to force us into compliance.

They have forced us instead to dig our heels in because we know we are on the right moral side and we are waiting for this nasty and revolting health fascism to end.

The good guys had empathy with that lady who just wanted a drink and a smoke to toast her loved one who couldn't be with her. That public healthists sneer and turn up their nose and probably blame her loved one for his own demise, if he also liked a drink and a smoke, is barbaric.

Hopefully politicians who claim to care about the public will one day wake from the spell of the public health lifestyle scam.