Beware the Covid-19 nannies

The first part of this podcast focuses on minimum pricing for alcohol, introduced in Scotland in May 2018. We were told to expect 58 fewer alcohol-related deaths in the first year and 1299 fewer alcohol-related hospital admissions. But does the data tell a different story? A new IEA briefing, authored by the IEA’s Head of Lifestyle Economics, Christopher Snowdon, and entitled ‘Short term impact of minimum pricing of alcohol in Scotland’, publishes data for the first time showing that there is NO evidence that minimum pricing has created a step-change in the rate of alcohol-related harm in Scotland. The second part of this podcast will focus on Public Health bodies that have spent years telling us that drinking, smoking and obesity are the real epidemics. So a potentially fatal virus forcing billions of people into hiding should make them question their priorities, right? Wrong. Single-issue nanny state pressure groups seem to be more active than ever, insisting that their longstanding pet policies just happen to be the solution to a world turned upside down. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean.