Saturday 1 October 2011

Out and about in October

Should you be in or around Manchester or London in the next few weeks, you might feel inclined to pop along to one of the events I'll be speaking at.

The first is a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference in Manchester this very Sunday. Hosted by the Adam Smith Institute:

The Individual v The State - The battle for lifestyle freedom

Other panelists:

Philip Davies MP
Daniel Hamilton, Director – Big Brother Watch
Alex Massie, freelance journalist – Spectator blogger

Date: 2nd October 2011
Time: 5.00pm to 7.00pm
Location: Radisson Edwardian, Stanley / Livingstone Suite, 38-40 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 5GP (outside the security zone)

RSVP: sally@adamsmith.org
Food and drinks will be provided

The second is also a fringe event in Manchester and will be something of a rematch of this summer's Voices of Freedom debate in which Peter Hitchens defended the authoritarian argument against smokers (and drinkers, and motorists, and...). Should be lively.

Civil Liberties Up in Smoke: what rights do smokers have in a free society?

Venue: Barbirolli Room, Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street

Other participants:

Mark Littlewood, Institute of Economic Affairs
Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
Dan Hamilton, Big Brother Watch

Monday 3 October, 4.30-5.30pm

Towards the end of the month I will be back in London for the Battle of Ideas for 'Seduced by Stats?', a discussion of how statistics are misused and misrepresented by special interest groups. Or, at least, that's what I'll be discussing.

Speakers:

Timandra Harkness
—journalist and writer; co-writer and performer, Edinburgh Festival Fringe smash hit Your Days Are Numbered: the maths of death

Bryan Joseph
—actuarial partner, London, PwC

Chris Snowdon
—author, Velvet Glove, Iron Fist and The Spirit Level Delusion: fact-checking the Left's new theory of everything

Chair:
Hilary Salt
—founder, First Actuarial plc; chair, Manchester Salon

Saturday 29 October, 12.15pm until 1.15pm, Lecture Theatre 2, Royal College of Arts

Full blurb here.


4 comments:

WitteringsfromWitney said...

Chris, Unfortunately can't make Manchester but would be extremely interested in 29th meeting in London. Availability of tickets?

Christopher Snowdon said...

Available as far as I know. http://www.instituteofideas.com/tickets/index.html

ftumch said...

The London event sounds interesting, but way too far for me right now. I'll just have to settle for reading The Art of Suppression. Thanks btw, arrived Wednesday.

In the meantime...

"Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world's first fat tax - a surcharge on foods that are high in saturated fat.

Butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed food are now subject to the tax if they contain more than 2.3% saturated fat.

Some consumers began hoarding to beat the price rise, while some producers call the tax a bureaucratic nightmare.

Others suggest that many Danes will simply start shopping abroad.

Danish officials say they hope the new tax will help limit the population's intake of fatty foods.

However, some scientists think saturated fat may be the wrong target.

They say salt, sugar and refined carbohydrates are more detrimental to health and should be tackled instead."

Oh, boy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15137948

Anonymous said...

Once again a great posting; my only regret is that you continue to give a link on your blogs of note to Left Foot Forward, which is hardly likely to support any of the thoughts that you expouse on this topic or any others. But then again maybe that's the reason you do to add balance. Even so, left drivel is left wing drivel, no matter how it is dressed up.