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1 week ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
Freedom under fire Friday, June 20, 2025 at 16:35 Further to my previous post, the TaxPayers Alliance has posted its latest podcast online. Hosted by broadcaster Duncan Barkes, it also features the TPA's Benjamin Elkes and me. No guesses for what we talked about. The War on Smokers: Freedom Under Fire is available on YouTube (audio only) and Spotify.
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1 week ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
Great to speak to Duncan Barkes and Benjamin Elkes of the TaxPayers Alliance for the TPA podcast, A Nation of Taxpayers, yesterday. Duncan's Wikipedia entry describes him as a 'journalist, political commentator and radio presenter' and his CV includes LBC, talkSPORT, BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Radio London. He's interviewed me several times over the years but, until yesterday, we had never met.
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1 week ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
I've witnessed some car crash interviews in my time but rarely one as bad as this. Interviewed by Nick Ferrari on LBC this morning, Treasury minister Emma Reynolds was asked about the new Lower Thames crossing that has just been granted £590 million by Chancellor Rachel Reeves and will eventually cost an estimated £10 billion. Clearly unprepared, she couldn't say where crossing is going to be, or what it is going to cost.
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2 weeks ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
Movies make memories Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 11:15 When was the last time you watched a film at a cinema? I still go, but only occasionally. I do think most films have more of an impact on a big screen, but I’m not a huge fan of modern multiplexes. Also, the idea of a ‘big’ screen is relative these days unless you go to an IMAX cinema, which we very rarely do.
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2 weeks ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
Deliver us from evil Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 18:45 David Seymour, leader of the ‘neoliberal’ ACT Party in New Zealand, is currently on a private visit to the UK. Last night, at an ‘Enlightenment Evening’ event hosted by the Adam Smith Institute at the National Liberal Club in London, Seymour was asked about the generational tobacco ban which he helped repeal in his own country.
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2 weeks ago | 
blogs.egu.eu | Simon Clark |organisational development. Simon
Imagine this: you are at work, casually discussing your weekend plans with colleagues. One is planning a hike with her husband. Another jokes about meeting his girlfriend’s parents for dinner, nerves barely concealed. Then you mention a date night with your partner. The conversation halts. The atmosphere becomes taut. One of your colleagues makes a swift exit. Later that day, your boss calls you into their office. You’ve been reported for sexual harassment. Confused, you ask why.
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2 weeks ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
According to the BBC, opposition to the assisted dying bill is growing. This then seems a good moment to mention that my son was one of six finalists in the 2025 Times Law Awards Essay Competition which invited entrants to submit a 1,000-word essay on … assisted dying. Sponsored by One Essex Court, a leading set of barristers' chambers in London, the competition was open to ‘all students registered with UK higher education institutes, pupil barristers and trainee solicitors’.
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3 weeks ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
Meet a real world freedom fighter Saturday, June 7, 2025 at 13:50 “Once our right to smoke and vape is taken away they’re going to take away a lot of our other freedoms,” campaigner Venice Allan told Reform MP Lee Anderson on GB News yesterday. I say ‘yesterday’ but the programme, Lee Anderson’s Real World, was recorded on Thursday morning, then broadcast ‘as live’ on Friday evening - hence the faux pub vibe, including glasses of beer that sat largely untouched.
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3 weeks ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
Kan Irland sluta röka som Sverige? Saturday, June 7, 2025 at 10:05 Can Ireland quit smoking (sic) like Sweden? According to an article in the Irish Medical Times this week:Ireland became a world leader when we introduced the smoking ban in 2004, but since then, we have been surpassed by other countries in the fight against deadly tobacco.
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3 weeks ago | 
taking-liberties.squarespace.com | Simon Clark
I had to go to hospital yesterday to collect a sleep monitor. As I’ve got older I’ve started snoring - very loudly, according to my wife - so when I mentioned it to my doctor a few months ago I did so thinking he might be able to suggest a simple solution, short of actual surgery. Instead the conversation turned to sleep apnea, which is described as a ‘condition where breathing stops or becomes shallow during sleep, disrupting sleep and potentially leading to serious health problems’.
