From Hayek to Edgar Wallace

Thanks to the LSE Hayek Society for organising ‘Nicotine Wars: The Fight for Choice’ on Wednesday.

Special thanks to Reem Ibrahim for chairing the discussion with me and the IEA’s Chris Snowdon.

Reem, 20, is a fearless force of nature who in a remarkably short time has become a familiar face on GB News and TalkTV.

She’s still in her final year at the London School of Economics but has already been snapped up by the IEA as their new communications officer.

After the event we headed off to The Edgar Wallace, an old London pub that dates back to the 18th century.

It got its current name in 1975, the centenary of the birth of the British crime writer credited with inventing the modern thriller.

The Edgar was an appropriate choice because the walls of the small downstairs bar are covered with posters and ads for cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Forest is hosting our own discussion at the IEA on March 23 when our panel of guests will include Chris, Reem, and Kara Kennedy, staff writer at The Spectator World, which is the US edition of the magazine.

I’ll post details over the weekend but if you can’t wait you can read about it here.

Yesterday’s news, which I’ll write about later, will make it even more topical and relevant.

PS. Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992) was a pipe smoker for most of his life, while the most famous portrait of Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) shows him smoking a cigarette (with a holder).

Hayek lived to 92. Wallace is reported to have died of diabetes, aged 56, shortly after writing the original screenplay for the 1933 film King Kong.

Below: Chris, Reem, and me at The Edgar Wallace