At the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last year I met a French journalist, Laure Van Ruymbeke.
Laure writes for Le Point, a weekly political news magazine published in Paris.
We spoke again a few weeks ago when I gave her some quotes for an article about the generational smoking ban.
It’s in French but according to Google Translate the headline reads, ‘Tobacco-free generation: the bold bet of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’.
Further use of the app revealed that:
In the United Kingdom, a bill plans to ban smoking for life to everyone who turns 15 this year. A minority opposes it in the name of individual freedoms.
Representatives of smokers – who have little influence in the debate compared to health organizations – are protesting against the interference of a “nanny state” in the private sphere.
Director of Forest, an organization which defends the freedom to smoke, Simon Clark believes that Rishi Sunak, far [behind] in the polls for the next legislative elections, “is seeking to leave a legacy in the little time he has left. Smokers are a very easy target because they are in the minority.”
A few days after the article appeared Laure told me she was working on a similar story for Arte, a French/German public service channel that broadcasts European news stories.
She wanted to speak to a politician opposed to the generational smoking ban so I suggested a few names including Baroness Fox, or ‘Lord Baroness Claire Fox’ as she is dubbed in the report.
Fair play to Le Point and Arte. Their balanced reporting puts many British media outlets to shame. Oh, and the Arte report (below) is in English.