IEA Communications Officer Harrison Griffiths has written for The Critic arguing that government crackdowns on vaping and the planned prohibition of tobacco are inevitable consequences of the UK’s slow embrace of paternalistic principles.

Harrison wrote:

“‘This is not a freedom issue. It is no stride on the long march to serfdom’, wrote The Guardian’s Simon Hoggart of the 2007 indoor smoking ban. This line should be given pride of place in the gag reel of history next to the likes of ‘Peace for our time’, ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’, and ‘Devolution will kill nationalism stone dead’.

“17 years on, it is government policy to outlaw disposable e-cigarettes and pursue tobacco prohibition. Clearly it is time to extinguish the term ‘Slippery Slope Fallacy’ from our vernacular.

“Simon Hoggart penned the quote at the top of the article in a debate on the indoor smoking ban against the late, great Christopher Hitchens. In his argument, Hitch wrote, ‘It is no longer ‘about’ the protection of non-smokers. It is ‘about’ state-enforced behaviour-modification. Another and more old-fashioned name for it is prohibition.’ Prophetic words indeed.”

Read Harrison’s full piece here.