The following articles, essays, books, and reports provide a useful introduction to the smoking debate and current issues. Where appropriate, we have also included some official government advice.
Recent articles of interest
- Smoking as a symbol of freedom – a unique lobby group fights for smokers in England
Tobacco magazine (October 2025) - Unfinished Business – interview with Forest director Simon Clark
Tobacco Reporter (October 2024) - Dogmatism, Data, and Public Health
Geoffrey Kabat, Quillette (September 2023)
Forest reports and publications
- Public Attitudes to Tackling Smoking and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill
(October 2025) - Price of Prohibition
Rob Lyons (October 2025) - Smokefree Ideology: How local authorities are waging war on choice and personal freedom
Josie Appleton (September 2020) - Prohibition: A bad idea that won’t go away
Rob Lyons (May 2020) - Nicotine Wars: The fight for choice
Rob Lyons (October 2019) - 40 Years of Hurt: The hyper-regulation of smokers 1979-2019
Josie Appleton (August 2019) - Prejudice and Prohibition: Results of a study of smoking and vaping policies in NHS hospital trusts in England
Mark Tovey (March 2019) - TheMcNannyState: How Scotland is becoming a puritan’s playpen
Brian Monteith, foreword by Allan Massie (June 2018) - Road To Ruin: The impact of the smoking ban on pubs and personal choice
Rob Lyons (June 2017) - Prejudice & Propaganda: The Truth About Passive Smoking
Gian Turci (2005) - The Smoking Issue
Joe Jackson, foreword by Lord Harris of High Cross (2004)
Third party reports funded by Forest
- The Pleasure of Smoking: The views of confirmed smokers
Centre for Substance Use Research (December 2016) - Smoked Out: The hyper-regulation of smokers in outdoor public places
Dolan Cummings and Josie Appleton, Manifesto Club (October 2015) - Civil Liberties: Up In Smoke
Simon Davies, foreword by Joe Jackson (June 2011)
Essays
- Letters on Liberty: Freedom Up In Smoke?
Simon Clark, Academy of Ideas (June 2023) - Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State
Joe Jackson, updated version of The Smoking Issue (April 2007) - Smoking Out The Truth: A Challenge to the Chief Medical Officer
Ralph Harris, foreword to Prejudice and Propaganda: The truth about passive smoking (2005) - The Smoking Issue
Joe Jackson (2004)
Briefing papers
- Government lobbying government: The case of the UK tobacco control industry
CR Consulting (October 2010) - Smoking gun: is the smoking ban a major cause of the decline of the British pub?
CR Consulting (September 2010)
Books
- Velvet Glove Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking
Christopher Snowdon (2009) - Hyping Health Risks: Environmental Hazards in Daily Life and the Science of Epidemiology
Geoffrey Kabat (2008) - Scared To Death: From BSE to Global Warming
Christopher Booker and Richard North (Continuum, 2007) - La Diva Nicotina: How Tobacco Seduced The World
Iain Gateley (Simon & Schuster, 2001) - The Faber Book of Smoking
James Walton (Faber, 2001)
Tobacco display bans
- Displaying Their Ignorance on Smoking (Cato Institute via Spiked)
Patrick Basham and John Luik (Democracy Institute, 2009)
Public smoking bans
- The Bauld Truth: The Impact of Smokefree Legislation in England
A critique of the evidence review using publicly available information
Imperial Tobacco (June 2011) - The Impact of Smokefree Legislation in England: Evidence Review
Professor Linda Bauld, University of Bath (March 2011) - Smoke and mirrors
Deborah Arnott and Ian Willmore (Guardian, July 2006)
Smoking and healthcare
- Why smokers must have equal rights to health care
Professor John Dormandy (Daily Mail, November 2006)
Smoking and mental health
- I smoke for my mental health
David Hockney, Guardian (May 2007) - The unfair smoking ban will mean fuming on wards
Clare Allen, Guardian (February 2007)
Articles about Forest
- Unfinished Business
Tobacco Reporter (October 2024) - What’s the point of a pro-smoking group in 2021?
Ralph Jones (May 2021) - Rebel with a Cause
Tobacco Reporter (December 2017)
Articles by Forest
- The creeping prohibition of smoking
Simon Clark, Spiked Online (June 2022) - The pros and cons of a total smoking ban
The Week (June 2022) - How local authorities are waging war on personal freedom
Simon Clark, ConservativeHome (September 2020) - If May really wants a fairer Britain, she should end the war on smokers
Simon Clark, ConservativeHome (October 2016) - Plain speaking on plain packaging
Simon Clark, ConservativeHome (March 2015) - Bob Blackman is wrong. We don’t need a smoking ban in cars to protect children
Simon Clark, ConservativeHome (April 2013) - Scotland’s goal of a ‘smoke-free’ society is conformist and illiberal
Simon Clark, Politics.co.uk (November 2012) - Whatever happened to the party of business, de-regulation and personal responsibility?
Simon Clark, ConservativeHome (March, 2011) - The state should stop giving anti-smoking groups public money to lobby the Government
Simon Clark, ConservativeHome (October 2010) - The tobacco industry has every right and every reason to lobby government
Simon Clark, ConservativeHome (May, 2010)
