It was a close fight. Both sides at Tuesday night’s debate at IET London seemed to accept that trust in official health guidelines was running low. And, among the 200 or so members of the audience, that was certainly the case: a show of hands requested by the evening’s chair Andrew Neil at the start suggested most were ‘wary or distrustful’ about advice.
The sceptics not only had the audience already on their side, but were offered a gift earlier in the day, when NICE showed how badly judged official advice can be — by choosing sun-starved February to stipulate that we should apply six to eight teaspoons of cream for every 30 minutes in the sunshine.
Dr Ellie Cannon, The Mail on Sunday columnist, stepped up first, offering a compelling defence of health guidelines, not by sticking up for NICE or Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer, but by championing a seagull named Sid, the mascot for a skin cancer awareness campaign in Australia.
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