Christopher Snowdon

6 days ago | snowdon.substack.com | Christopher Snowdon

Some good news at last. After the European Commission pulled the plug on eco-mentalist groups using taxpayers’ money to lobby EU politicians, it has now done the same with ‘public health’ pressure groups, as Politico sorrowfully reports…The European Commission will stop hard-up health NGOs from accessing funding for lobbying or advocacy work because of the “reputational risk” to the European Union.

1 week ago | thecritic.co.uk | Christopher Snowdon

Public health fanatics are coming for your alcohol, lack of evidence be damned The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was set up by the World Heath Organisation (WHO) in 1965 to research the causes of cancer. Every institution has been hollowed out by activists in the sixty years since and it comes as little surprise that it is now getting involved in policy.

1 week ago | velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com | Christopher Snowdon

I've written about grassroots resistance to the temperance lobby in Victorian Britain. It got quite violent. It was in Worthing that I first heard of the Skeleton Army. Could it really be true that there were organised mobs beating up temperance activists in Victorian Britain? It seemed too good to be true. Yet true it was. The Salvation Army invited trouble from the start.

2 weeks ago | thecritic.co.uk | Christopher Snowdon

This article is taken from the May 2025 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10. It was in Worthing that I first heard of the Skeleton Army. Could it really be true that there were organised mobs beating up temperance activists in Victorian Britain? It seemed too good to be true. Yet true it was. The Salvation Army invited trouble from the start.

2 weeks ago | thecritic.co.uk | Christopher Snowdon

Yesterday saw the 10,000th illegal immigrant reach Britain on a dinghy this year and an announcement from the government that it is going to start taxing milkshakes. The latter was not a response to the former but the juxtaposition of news stories was nevertheless telling. Governments that are unable to carry out their basic functions are always eager to immerse themselves in trivia. Labour, like the Tories, cannot resist the displacement activity of petty prohibition.