Does addiction exist? Peter Hitchens vs Damian Thompson in our new View from 22 podcast

Should we be doing more or less to help to tackle drug addiction? And does addiction even exist? Are addicts just selfish people? In this week’s View from 22 podcast, the Mail on Sunday’s Peter Hitchens and the Daily Telegraph’s Damian Thompson enter into a riveting and lively debate on this very matter (1:06). Prompted by Russell Brand’s article in this week’s Spectator magazine, the pair find some common ground but disagree wholly on the very nature of addiction. It gets heated, with Thompson calling Hitchens’ ‘sanctimony’ ‘suffocating’. Here’s a snippet:

Matthew Sinclair from the Taxpayers' Alliance also joins to discuss Fraser Nelson's cover feature on George Osborne's 2013 empty budget (18:15). What bold new measures will the Chancellor introduce to kick start our economy in two weeks' time? Nothing, just the usual whale spray of measures which won't amount to anything significant, says Fraser.