This coming Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the vote by MPs that led to the introduction of the smoking ban in England on July 1 the following year.

I might share some memories of that day later in the week, but on Thursday Five Live presenter Matt Chorley is going to “take a look at 20 years of the ban on smoking in public places”. Unfortunately, if it’s anything like the item he presided over on Times Radio to mark the 50th anniversary of ASH in December 2021, the chances of a balanced discussion are quite small.

Readers will be familiar with one of my favourite hobby horses – how the media reports smoking-related stories.

I’ve been engaged in a running battle with journalists for years, most recently a Daily Mail reporter who requested my response to a series of questions and then ignored every single quote without so much as a by-your-leave. Well, it’s happened again. Almost.

It’s remarkable how many people, journalists especially, seem to have a Peter Mandelson story they’ve kept to themselves for years if not decades.

Mostly it’s allegations of offhand or boorish behaviour. I’ve never met him so I have nothing to add on that score, but I do have a Peter Mandelson story, of sorts.

I’m sorry to hear that novelist and journalist Allan Massie has died.

I only met him once, in 2018, but it was a big occasion (for me if not for him!) because he was our special guest at a private dinner at the National Museum of Scotland.

Good luck to Reem Ibrahim who starts work today at the Reason Foundation in Washington DC.

Her move to Washington DC is well timed because there has been something of a British invasion in recent years.

I watched the launch of Reform UK’s Save Our Pubs campaign yesterday.

Announced by Lee Anderson MP, who ran through the ‘fiscally neutral’ five-point plan as if he had a train to catch, the MP for Ashfield then handed over to party leader Nigel Farage who took questions from journalists in his usual ebullient style.

Yesterday evening I spotted a Facebook post by our old friend Nick Hogan.

Nick is the former pub landlord who was jailed after he allowed customers to smoke in his pub, and today he is attending the launch of Reform’s new ‘save the pub’ campaign.

Sorry to hear that actor Donald Douglas has died, aged 92.

You may not have heard of the former Poldark star but for 18 months in the mid Eighties I was his tenant and he was my landlord.