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• Higher drink tax and no smoking at home – beware of the new nanny state 

Higher alcohol taxes, halting 24-hour drinking, banning smoking in people's homes and adding fluoride to water supplies are justified intrusions to improve public health, senior academics said yesterday.

A report by the well-respected Nuffield Council of Bioethics concludes that the Government and industry are not doing enough to prevent binge drinking or obesity and should promote healthy lifestyles through stricter measures and deterrents.

The authors, a group of doctors, lawyers, philosophers and other experts, argue that the much-maligned "nanny state" should be replaced by a new, more sensitive idea of "stewardship". Campaigners described the report as a potential manifesto for a bully state and industry groups bristled at the prospect of tighter regulation.

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