A study was published in PLoS One last year titled ‘Economic Instruments for Population Diet and Physical Activity Behaviour Change: … Continue reading “Food and soft drink taxes: the whole story”

Sin and consumption taxes, including taxes on tobacco and alcohol, cost low income people more than 37% of their income … Continue reading “Sin Taxes”

The rise in obesity amongst the UK population has been primarily caused by a decline in physical activity. Using government … Continue reading “Inactivity, not calorie consumption, behind rising obesity in the UK”

Summary: The rise in obesity in recent decades is popularly believed to be the result of increased consumption of calories … Continue reading “The Fat Lie”

Obesity prevalence has increased sharply in Britain since the 1970s. Many public health campaigners portray Britain’s obesity ‘epidemic’ as being … Continue reading “The Fat Lie – the real cause of the rise in obesity”

The Deaprtment of Health recently ran its second public consultation on plain (or ‘standardised’) packaging. This is my response on … Continue reading “IEA response to plain packaging consultation”

A few years ago, a Civitas report estimated that around 73 per cent of the population have ‘protected’ status, in … Continue reading “Should the obese have protected status?”

The e-cigarette market in Britain has the closest thing to perfect competition that you will see in the real world. … Continue reading “Why every e-cigarette user should be a free market libertarian”

Commenting on the publication of draft regulations for the plain packaging of tobacco, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute … Continue reading “Evidence is not on the side of plain packaging”