David Atherton

Articles by David Atherton

As Australia Shows, Plain Packaging For Cigarettes Does Not Work

Plain packaging of cigarettes, heralded as the “next giant leap” to reduce smoking, is more of a euphemism. Critics describe it as more “medical pornography”, with sometimes grotesque images of gangrenous feet, rotting teeth, and cancer-riddled lungs. But it also has unintended consequences for law and order, with the poorest and most vulnerable paying the highest price.

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WHO: Questionable Science And Conflicts Of Interest‏

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently added Britain’s breakfast favourites such as bacon, sausages and other red meat to the list of the ‘encyclopaedia of carcinogens’. All processed red meat is to join the premier league of cancer causing agents such as smoking,

Flickr/cookbookman17

UK Enacts Draconian Anti-Social Behavioural Laws

This week seemingly, like Banquo’s Ghost in Macbeth, a new law has appeared to haunt us and disappeared at the final curtain, unnoticed. This week the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (ABCP) came into force. It is to

UK Enacts Draconian Anti-Social Behavioural Laws

World Health Organization Calls for Tough New Regulations on Smoking

I reported very recently on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) sixth Conference of the Parties (COP6) meeting. The meeting was heavily criticised, not only on the veil of secrecy that surrounded the meetings, where only certain people were admitted, but

World Health Organization Calls for Tough New Regulations on Smoking

Conservative MP Restates Desire for Tory-UKIP Pact

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has once more called for a pact between the Conservative Party and UKIP. Speaking at a meeting of the Eurosceptic Bruges Group on the fringe of the Conservative Party Conference, the MP for North East Somerset

Conservative MP Restates Desire for Tory-UKIP Pact

Sin Tax and Spend: Labour Goes Back to Its Old Ways

Today at the Labour Party Conference, Ed Miliband is due to give the main speech. It is based on a ten-year plan to support the NHS with a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2 million and a windfall

Sin Tax and Spend: Labour Goes Back to Its Old Ways

Danish Wind Farm Company Sued for Spoiling View

Europe’s troubled wind turbine industry has a new predicament, with a householder in Denmark successfully suing Vestas, a Danish wind turbine manufacturer. Vestas was sued by the householder with the help of International Law Office and awarded 500,000 Danish kroner

Danish Wind Farm Company Sued for Spoiling View

Another Left Wing UN Quango Tries to Interfere in Britain

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses of Britain’s disabled people. Hungarian Physicist Professor Gabor Gombos a former member of CRPD and now its adviser said

Another Left Wing UN Quango Tries to Interfere in Britain

Australian Teenagers Rebel Over Plain Cigarette Packaging

It has been recently reported in New South Wales (NSW), Australia that cigarette plain packaging, along with the hike in taxes has seen a resurgence in illegal tobacco. Some of the biggest buyers are teenagers. The illegal smokes are sold

Australian Teenagers Rebel Over Plain Cigarette Packaging

150,000 People Oppose Plain Packaging for Cigarettes in UK

At midnight last night, the Department of Health finished its final six-week consultation on whether to implement plain packaging for cigarettes. In response, Simon Clark of the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (FOREST) personally delivered 53,196

150,000 People Oppose Plain Packaging for Cigarettes in UK

Labour MEP: White People are Racist

This week in the European Parliament, the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) met to discuss the EU’s budget for the next year. What at first looked like a dull meeting of MEPs, became a more exciting after a Labour

Labour MEP: White People are Racist

No, Dr Wollaston, More Spending Will Not Help the NHS

The National Health Service (NHS) – the “envy of the world” or a study in neo Marxism, depending on your point of view – continues to please and disappoint in equal measures. Paid for out of taxation and free at

No, Dr Wollaston, More Spending Will Not Help the NHS

One Step Closer to UK Tobacco Illegalisation

The British Medical Association (BMA) has voted by a large majority for the illegalisation of tobacco for people born after the year 2000. Dr. Tim Crocker-Buque, who is a Specialist Registrar in Public Health, said “Smoking is not a rational

One Step Closer to UK Tobacco Illegalisation

Environmental Charity Slams Plans for Huge Wind Farm

Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which is usually pro-wind power, has criticised plans to build 47 wind turbines in Flow Country in the Scottish Highlands, home to the rare Wood Sandpiper (Tringa Glareola), which has only

Environmental Charity Slams Plans for Huge Wind Farm

Government Forgets to Put Plain Cigarette Packaging in Queen's Speech

One of the biggest omissions in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech was plans for plain packaging for cigarettes. Although Westminster insiders told me Labour were keen for its inclusion, a more circumspect Coalition may have chosen to avoid the issue. Both the

Government Forgets to Put Plain Cigarette Packaging in Queen's Speech

Clegg's Lies on Europe: 'Wilful' and Knowing

Readers may have seen both debates that Nick Clegg had with Nigel Farage on the future the UK’s relationship with Europe. In the second debate on the 2nd April, the Deputy Prime Minister cited government research stating that 7 percent

Clegg's Lies on Europe: 'Wilful' and Knowing

Wind Farms Severely Harmful to Wildlife, New Study Finds

A new study from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, combining an impressive six hundred other studies, describes the severe effects wind turbines can have on wildlife. Not only are the disturbances and noise of the building of turbines an

Wind Farms Severely Harmful to Wildlife, New Study Finds

Setback for Scottish Government on Minimum Pricing for Alcohol

Yesterday, the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) desire to introduce minimum unit price (MUP) alcohol in Scotland temporarily failed. The Scottish Whisky Association (SWA) and other European drinks manufacturers have won their appeal at the Court of Session under Lord Ronald

Setback for Scottish Government on Minimum Pricing for Alcohol

Study: Jogging is Bad for Your Health

A new study has found that people with a sedentary lifestyle live longer than marathon runners. The study by Dr. Martin Matsumura, co-director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Leigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA, confounds expectations, with

Study: Jogging is Bad for Your Health

Study: Vegetarians Less Healthy than Meat Eaters

Vegetarians are less healthy and have a worse quality of life than meat eaters, according to a study by the University of Graz, Austria. According to the study, those who abstain from meat are “less healthy (in terms of cancer,

Study: Vegetarians Less Healthy than Meat Eaters

Has Putin Ended the Green Movement in Europe?

The European Union (EU) – obsessed with climate change, cutting carbon emissions and saving polar bears – may have been hoist by its own foreign policy petard. Vladimir Putin’s threat to cut off natural gas supplies which supply 30 percent

Has Putin Ended the Green Movement in Europe?

Marijuana: Your Chance to Get Stoned

A blue-gray hue of gyrating marijuana smoke may become a more common sight in next door’s backyard or in a private club near you. President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971, but forty-three years of attempted drug prohibition maybe

Marijuana: Your Chance to Get Stoned