GB News: ‘So refreshing!’

I was on GB News last night.

In the wake of weekend reports that Philip Morris wants to stop selling cigarettes in the UK within ten years I was invited to discuss whether smoking should be banned, period.

The presenter was Mark Dolan who has just moved to GB News from TalkRadio, and the other guest was Rebecca Jane from mental health support group RJ8.

If Rebecca’s name was familiar it was because she was on Good Morning Britain last month when she called for a complete ban on smoking in public.

On that occasion she was described merely as a “writer”.

Anyway we were due on at 9.20pm so I assumed we would get eight or nine minutes, as would normally happen on the BBC, LBC or TalkRadio where there would usually be a break for a summary of the news headlines on the half hour.

Instead we were given a generous 15 minutes and although there was a lot more I could have said (about smoking and mental health, for example) neither of us were short-changed.

Mark Dolan was excellent. It was pretty clear (I think) that he was opposed to a ban on smoking but he gave equal weight (and time) to both of us.

Prior to our debate I tried to judge the tone of the programme by listening to the discussion that preceded ours.

It was a fairly sombre review of the week’s politics featuring Mail on Sunday journalist Dan Hodges so I was slightly taken aback when Dolan followed it by announcing that our segment of the programme had been dubbed ‘The Clash’.

“Sparks will fly!” he added cheerfully.

I’m not sure if they did but judge for yourself - ‘The attack on tobacco is class warfare!'.

PS. I don’t know if ASH are declining to appear on GB News or just haven’t been asked but I’ve yet to see anyone from any tobacco control group on the channel, despite the fact that this was the third time smoking has been discussed on GB News in the last two weeks.

Correction: Pat Nurse has just reminded me, via the Comments, that ASH CEO Deborah Arnott was a guest when Pat appeared on GB News discussing smoking during pregnancy. Apologies, I had forgotten about that so it is obviously not true to say that ASH have (a) declined to appear or (b) not been asked.

Either way it’s pleasant not to have to take part in what are often rather sterile and ill-tempered ‘debates’ with organisations whose spokesmen are often more interested in highlighting the (well known) source of Forest’s funding than discussing the actual issues.

How nice too to be interviewed by a host whose default position isn’t anti-smoking. It’s not unique but it is quite rare.

Update: Late last night I received an email that began, ‘I have just watched the discussion on GB News. A very interesting debate done to a high standard.’

It was from an ex-smoker who gave up in 1993 ‘due to having a persistent cough plus my wife telling me that my clothes were stinking of stale tobacco smoke’.

It was quite a long email and it finished with this endorsement of the new channel: ‘I watch GB News often and it is debates like yours tonight that keep me doing so.’

At the same time a friend sent me this message via WhatsApp:

Good interview with a host who gave you time and space. So refreshing!

Couldn’t agree more.

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

If ASH has decided not to appear on GB news it might be because they don't want to debate Forest. Deborah was content to push the armagedden scaremongering about smoking when pregnant on GB News that time I defended pregnant women who smoke from bullying and coercion and gimmicky pay-offs.

Perhaps it depends which presenter is on GB News and their attitude to smokers. For sure Michelle Dewberry is smokerphobic and so far all smoker bashing stories have been on her show so if GBN has balance with a tolerant and open minded presenter like Dolan then we couldn't hope for anything more but it may not suit ASH's agenda where it seems they simply want all people to hate, fear and loathe smokers and perhaps only want to deal with presenters who share their view.

You know ASH does not do balance or fairness. ASH wants exclusion of opposing views and further marginalisation of adults who refuse to do as ASH demands and quit for their brave new political world with no smokers in it.

[Simon]

Thanks, Pat, I had forgotten Deborah was also a guest when you were on. I have added a correction to the post.

Re ASH declining to appear with Forest, I think that’s unlikely because we have done hundreds of interviews with them, including one quite recently, so I doubt they would have a problem with that.

It must be just the way things have worked out. I’m sure we will go head-to-head with them on GB News at some point.

[Misty]

I agree with Pat. I think that although our Debs may not worry too much about taking part in discussions with you personally, I think that she will only do so when she knows that the show host will be firmly on her side so that she can get away with going off on her favourite tangents and resorting to her usual ad-homs (in the form of shoehorning in Forest’s funding, which she does every single time with predictable regularity – yawn!) without the host pulling her back into line or, even better, actively ganging up on you so that it’s two against one. That’s why she’s always so keen to appear on any of the MSM programmes who ask, because she knows that there isn’t a single one of their hosts who isn’t 100% “on-message” and that therefore she’ll get a nice easy ride and lots of time to spout whatever nonsense she wants.

JHB certainly has form as a member of the anti-smoking mafia, and her views have often been disappointingly partial. However, as you say, there are signs that JHB has realised that she’s joined a radio station which is gaining in popularity at an exponential rate precisely because it isn’t afraid to challenge the “accepted wisdom” in so many areas, even that most sacred of cows – smoking – and maybe being around more liberally-minded colleagues than she was at LBC (who, now, could challenge the BBC for wokeness if they wanted to) is starting to rub off on her. IIRC, whilst still at LBC she admitted to being a Europhile-turned-Eurosceptic in the run-up to the referendum (which is probably why she’s no longer with them!), so she’s at least capable of changing her views on things, which seems to be something of a rare commodity amongst so many radio broadcasters these days. So maybe the worm is finally turning. I hope so, because in many other areas I really like the way she presents things and, ironically, she does seem to be someone capable of seeing both sides of most questions and presenting a balanced viewpoint – just not yet on the smoking one, which still seems to be a hurdle too far for her. But who knows? Maybe TalkRadio will make a true libertarian, rather than a “conditional” one, of her yet!

I saw your item on GB News and was really impressed, not just by you (naturally – always very eloquent and polite and, I have to say, very gallant in countering your “opponent.” Because – well, err – let’s be honest, you actually could have gone to town and done a real “Debs-job” on her, if you’d been unchivalrous enough, but you didn’t – what a gent!), but also by Mark Dolan, the presenter. I was heartened by this because, rather like JHB, GB News’s promise to be, like TalkRadio, a station which will stand up and speak up for people who hitherto haven’t basically had a voice has in the past lost quite a lot credibility-points in its pursuit of that ambition when it has covered the issue of smoking. As Pat says, Dewberry is a real anti who seems to have somewhat overdosed on the anti-smoking KoolAid, so it’s rather disappointing that they’ve recruited someone with such staunch MSM-style views on something which, these days, is such a reliable litmus-test for any organisation (or, indeed, individual) presenting themselves as “different” from or an “alternative” to the rest. But hey, they’re new, and she’s young and has much to learn so maybe as time progresses and she has more contact with more experienced (and less partial) presenters like Dolan, she’ll get better!