Disciples of Hayek, assemble!

The Hayek Society at the London School of Economics is marking No Smoking Day with a special event this evening.

'Nicotine Wars: Fight For Choice' is an 'in conversation' style event featuring me, Chris Snowdon, and Reem Ibrahim, a final year student at the LSE who was recently appointed communications officer at the IEA.

Non-students are welcome so if you live or work in London and would like to come along, click here to register.

After the main event we shall be heading to a local pub for free drinks so do join us.

This is the first student event I've spoken at for a while. (The last time was on Zoom in 2020 when I spoke to the Students for Liberty group in Cardiff.)

I have happy memories of speaking to the Durham Union Society (Libertarians 1-0 Prohibitionists) but that was ten years ago.

Likewise it's nine years since I was invited to take part in a debate organised by University College London (UCL) Conservative Association. (See 'Morning after the night before'.)

I enjoyed the theatre of taking part in two debates at the Oxford Union (most recently in 2015) but I was on the losing side each time so the experience was bittersweet.

I was also on the losing side in a debate at University College Dublin (UCD) prior to the introduction of the smoking ban in Ireland in 2004, but I should be on friendlier territory this evening.

Actually, it won't be the first time I've spoken at a Hayek Society meeting. In January 2008 I wrote:

I have just accepted an invitation to address the Oxford Hayek Society. The OHS is a libertarian society at Oxford University, committed to the advancement of individual liberty ...

The late Lord Harris (former chairman of Forest) was himself a disciple of Hayek. According to Ralph's obituary in The Times:

'A frank apologist for free markets, Harris was among a group of post-war economists inspired by Friedrich Hayek who, at a time when it was deeply unfashionable, opposed the legacy of government planning left by John Maynard Keynes and proposed an unbound capitalist society.'

The funny thing is, I discovered very quickly that, compared to the bright young things of the Oxford Hayek Society, any pretence that I was a true libertarian ran hollow.

While they were sympathetic to my arguments about smoking, what they really wanted to discuss was the legalisation of all drugs, from cannabis to heroin.

I can't remember what happened after the meeting but I suspect I made my excuses and hurried back to my hotel!

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

If you get the chance, could you also make clear that tobacco harm reduction isn't just about quitting or switching to ecigs.

THR can also be about smoking much less, especially for those smokers who do not like snus, ecigs or vaping which tend to dominate any discussion on THR.

There should be much more mention of cutting down and ways in which smokers can do that rather than taking the quit, switch or be doomed approach.

Just because smoking is not trendy and so many see vaping as the salvation and cure for smoking, there must be some recognition that smokers smoke and choose to do so knowing the risks because they enjoy it.