Smoking and walking, that GMB 'debate' in full

I was in Dublin this week so I had to turn down an invitation to appear on Good Morning Britain.

I was asked to take part in a debate about the proposal to ban smoking while walking in New York City.

The prospect of smokers having to stand still every time they smoked a cigarette would be funny if it wasn't so absurd.

Unfortunately, policies brewed in the madhouse of New York have a worrying habit of being picked up by politicians and campaigners in other jurisdictions.

Anyway, unable to appear on the programme, I suggested some like-minded people who I thought would oppose the idea.

One of them was Ella Whelan, assistant editor of Spiked and winner of a 'Voices of Freedom' award at last year's Forest Freedom Dinner.

Unknown to me Ella had been on GMB a few days earlier so she nominated her colleague Fraser Myers.

And that's how Fraser ended up sitting alongside Big Brother contestant Rebecca Jane, 'mum of two and an entrepreneur who thinks smoking is vile and should be banned entirely'.

To watch the 'debate' in full click on the video below. According to GMB it 'lit up a huge debate on our social channels'.