Ep 274: Christopher Snowdon on how moderate drinking is still good for you and why wine is NOT the new tobacco

Christopher Snowdon is the head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs. His research focuses on social freedoms, prohibition and policy-based evidence. He is a regular columnist for the Spectator Health blog, where his article on March 28, 2019 “The campaign to make alcohol ‘the new tobacco’” caught my eye.  Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the IEA In this show, Chris and I discuss the new narratives that the UK Chief Medical Officers and others in positions of power in public health are pushing out to the public. We dig into the problems with these studies, namely that the claims are relatively baseless and the research is skewed, and we talk about possible trajectories for Neo-temperance and the importance of vigilance and questioning the claims and the motives of these claims.   The show notes are simple this week: his two articles -- “The campaign to make alcohol ‘the new tobacco’” March 28, 2019 "A glass of wine won't shorten your life -- moderate drinking is still good for you" April 17, 2018   More on Chris: Snowdon is author of five books: 'Polemics' (2020) 'Killjoys' (2017), 'Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism' (2015), 'The Art of Suppression' (2011), 'The Spirit Level Delusion' (2010) and 'Velvet Glove, Iron Fist' (2009). He has also written more than a dozen reports for the Institute of Economic Affairs including ‘Drinking, Fast and Slow’, ‘and ‘Closing Time: Who’s killing the British pub?’. He blogs at Velvet Glove, Iron Fist. I made reference to the podcast we did about my experience drinking while pregnant. Here's the link! _____________________________________________________________ Thanks to our sponsors this week:  YOU! The podcast supporters on Patreon, who are helping us to make the podcast possible and who we give goodies in return for their help! Check it out today: https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople    Last Bottle I love this service!! Last Bottle Wines finds great wines and offers them at a one time discount. Last Bottle Wines: Is a fun way to discover the best wines at the lowest prices Maintains relationships with producers in the most prestigious wine regions around the world and traveling to Europe several times each year to eat with, stay with, drink with, walk the vineyards with the people who make the wines. Offer a range of prices from low end to high end $9 to $99 and the wines range from the lesser known kinds like Albariño and Bläufrankish to Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay. Visit: http://lastbottlewines.com/normal and join to get a $10 instant credit to use toward your first order. Invite your wine drinking pals and they’ll get $10 instantly and you get $30 when they make their first buy. Get the back catalog on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.