Some thoughts on the Reform UK conference that took place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

The fringe programme represented a significant step forward and most of the leading centre right think tanks were represented, together with bodies like the Local Government Association. There was even a business lounge, sponsored by Heathrow.

The party conference season starts this week and 2025 is a first for Forest because we are hosting our first ever event at Reform UK's party conference.

Unfortunately, politics is now so polarised that even hosting a fringe event makes you a supporter of that party in the eyes of some of our former subscribers.

The new issue of Tobacco Asia addresses a curious paradox. ‘The harder governments push bans and taxes, the more alluring cigarettes become.’

‘Prohibition,’ writes associate editor Nattira Medvedeva, ‘historically glamorizes what it attempts to suppress, and today’s regulatory overreach is no different - producing forbidden appeal rather than genuine deterrence.’

I know it’s a competitive industry but undermining other reduced risk products seems a bit odd to me.

By all means highlight the advantages of using pouches where vaping is banned, but there’s no need to give unsolicited ammunition to the anti-vape brigade.

I wonder, sometimes, why I bother defending vaping.

There’s the important principle of choice, of course, but it amazes me how often the vaping lobby shoots itself in the foot.

Tannadice Park, Dundee.

It may not be the most attractive stadium (some might say it’s a bit of an ugly duckling), but there are few places I’d rather be on a Saturday afternoon.

On this day 20 years ago former Labour minister Mo Mowlam died, aged 55.

Three years earlier she featured on the cover of the first issue of The Politico which also published a review of her memoirs, Momentum: The Struggle for Peace, Politics and the People. Read the full review here.

On a recent trip to Scotland I stopped at a service station off the M90 in Fife. I was looking for an ATM because I needed cash.

I found one, inserted my card, entered my PIN number, and asked for a not insubstantial sum of money. What happened next was a first, for me at least.