Recommended reading

The following books, articles and essays provide a useful introduction to the smoking debate. Where appropriate, we have also included some official government advice. 

Forest reports

• Smokefree Ideology: How local authorities are waging war on choice and individual 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)
   
• The McNanny State: 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)
   
• Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State
  Joe Jackson (April 2007)

• Prejudice & Propaganda: The Truth About Passive Smoking
  Gian Turci (2005)
  
  
• Smoking Out The Truth: A Challenge to the Chief Medical Officer
  Ralph Harris (2005)
  
  
• The Smoking Issue
  Joe Jackson (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

• Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State
  Joe Jackson (April 2007), updated version of The Smoking Issue (below)
   
• Smoking Out The Truth: A Challenge to the Chief Medical Officer (out of print)
  Ralph Harris (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

• The Bully State: The End of Tolerance (out of print)
  Brian Monteith (The Free Society, 2009) 

• Velvet Glove Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking
  Christopher Snowdon (2009)

• 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)

Passive smoking

Smoking and health

Smoking at work

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)

Submissions to government

• Children and Families Bill
  Forest submission opposing proposed amendment (banning smoking in cars with children) to the Children and Families Bill (2012/13)

Articles

• 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)

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"Tobacco is not an illegal substance yet the government is persecuting a minority. I think that's a disgrace in a social democracy."

Sir Ronald Harwood,
Playwright and screenwriter