My Tobacco Control Movie

On Saturday I saw Louis Theroux's My Scientology Movie at the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge.

It's my favourite local cinema with a good class of clientele. (The last time I was there Richard Osman was just a few seats from me.)

It's also got a nice bar/restaurant where I sometimes go even if I'm not watching a film.

But I digress.

Reviews have been mixed but I really enjoyed My Scientology Movie. In typical Louis Theroux style it has a lightness of touch that belies the subject matter.

There were several laugh out loud moments but there were also some darker episodes that gave the film an edge, not unlike a thriller.

Theroux was at pains to point out that both the Church and individual Scientologists do many good things and this was not an attack on their religion.

Instead the film was intended to put a spotlight on its current leader with the help of a well-placed whistleblower whose accusations were strenuously denied by the Church.

What was undeniable was the level of paranoia.

Theroux and his film crew found themselves being followed and subsequently filmed by people who repeatedly refused to give their names.

It got to the point where Theroux was filming them filming him. Funny but absurd.

Paranoia and lack of transparency are rife at COP7 in Delhi too.

The media and the public are denied access by the World Health Organisation because, according to officials, they may have been infiltrated by the tobacco industry.

As a result taxpayer-funded delegates from 175+ countries will be able to endorse policies without scrutiny or, possibly, debate. We'll never know.

It would make a good movie though. I can imagine Theroux gliding around the conference hall with a hint of a smile (or bewilderment) on his face.

I can certainly envisage him being filmed by WHO officials because that is exactly what Dick Puddlecote describes here.

I can also see him outside braving the extraordinary smog. To 'protect' themselves from the pollution (that had nothing to do with the 500 tobacco farmers - now removed - who were protesting against WHO policies) some delegates were actually wearing face masks.

The Louis Theroux irony meter would be off the scale.

Instead of ramming conspiracy theories down our throats he would allow viewers to laugh at the pomposity and opaqueness of WHO and their gauleiters in government and NGOs worldwide.

But beneath the humour My Tobacco Control Movie would convey a serious message.

Tobacco control is the new religion and the World Health Organisation - the shadowy body behind it - deserves far greater scrutiny than it currently receives.

Update: Chris Snowdon has also commented on the WHO. See E-cigarettes above Ebola? How the WHO lost the plot (Spectator Health).

I definitely think there's scope for a screenplay here.

Louis? Anyone?