Blog

Harry’s blog 109: The myth of the vaping controversy

Jan. 18, 2021

Beyond that, is mask wearing an effective barrier? If so, what kind and where should they be worn? Do you render the vaccine less effective by extending the time between each dose? How long is the...

Harry’s Blog 108: If something doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense

Dec. 15, 2020

Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations became regarded as the template for capitalism. But while Smith was a free marketeer, his work had moral underpinnings; after all, he was also the author of The Theo...

Harry’s Blog 107: Tobacco ‘out of’ Control

Dec. 7, 2020

“There seems to be no study too fragmented, no hypothesis too trivial, no literature citation too biased or too egotistical, no design too warped, no methodology too bungled, no presentation of re...

Harry’s blog 106: Back to front

Nov. 16, 2020

Pro-THR consumer groups and other bodies are often accused of being front organisations for the tobacco industry. Historically, the industry did establish at least one front organisation, the Toba...

Vaping nicotine facing a crisis in Australia

Oct. 15, 2020

Under proposed customs changes, vapers will no longer be able to import nicotine liquid into Australia for personal use from 1 January 2021. A fine of $220,000 will apply for attempts to do so. Fu...

Hope on the Fringe

Oct. 7, 2020

So, with hope rather than expectation I dipped into the virtual New Statesman fringe event being run alongside the Labour Party Conference.  The session on How Does England go smoke-free by 2030? ...

Harry’s Blog 105: Sheer Heart Attack

Oct. 2, 2020

Next year, the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) is up for review. Politicians will have to decide if the TPD needs amending. An important part of that process will be consideration of the...

Harry’s Blog 104: Baptists and Bootleggers

Sept. 7, 2020

Hang on though. It was noticeable last year that when flavour bans were mooted in the USA alongside an outright ban in India, tobacco company share prices in those countries rose. You don’t need t...

Harry’s Blog 103: Tobacco Harm Reduction from A to A

Aug. 19, 2020

First, here’s what we cannot do – legislate cigarettes out of existence. Some rosy prohibitionist vision of the future won’t wash. There is too much money at stake, not just for multi-national tob...

Harry's Blog #102: How to Make a Public Health Disaster Worse: a 5-Point Guide

July 24, 2020

Moreover, a BMJ article suggested that the 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) has done little to accelerate declines in smoking in those countries which had been seeing declines w...