Quick! Blow More Tax On TV Ads!

Considering today's breathless horror - led by Chief Medical Adviser Professor Dame Sally Davies - at the thought of a cigarette being smoked near a child, we can surely expect a government-funded advertising campaign soon condemning people who allow kids to attend barbecues. Yes?

A study by the French environmental campaigning group Robin des Bois found that a typical two-hour barbecue can release the same level of dioxins as up to 220,000 cigarettes.

Dioxins are a group of chemicals known to increase the likelihood of cancer.

The figures were based on grilling four large steaks, four turkey cuts and eight large sausages.

If a few cigarettes deserve several hours of furrow-browed BBC coverage, 220,000 of them must require commandeering of the entire BBC network for best part of a week, I should imagine. Plus another afternoon to lecture on the dangers of red meat.

For the love of all that's holy! Get to it, Dame Sally, before another summer of slaughter is upon us!