Big tobacco: still winning friends and influencing people

The lobbying power of big tobacco is impressive to be sure.

And nowhere is this more evident than in Britain, where a troubling BMJ investigation highlights the ongoing influence of this mighty sector on the country’s politicians.

According to the report, 38 MPs have accepted £60,000  ($AU117,760) of industry hospitality since 2010. This, in itself, is bad enough until we discover that more than half of them are from constituencies in which the number of smoking-related deaths exceeds the national average.