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:
</p><p>(function() { var po = document.createElement("script"); po.type = "text/javascript"; po.async = true; po.src = "http://d15mj6e6qmt1na.cloudfront.net/assets/embed.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();</p><p></p><p>Matthew Sinclair from the Taxpayers' Alliance also joins to discuss <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8859161/the-empty-budget/" target="_blank">Fraser Nelson's cover feature</a> 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. Which rules would Matthew and Fraser bend if they were Chancellor for a day to find some growth? Listen in to find out — plus the Spectator's take on the death of Hugo Chavez and <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/politics/8859021/where-thatcher-had-a-fixer-cameron-has-a-rival/" target="_blank">James Forsyth on Willie Whitelaw</a> (28:15).</p><p></p><p>You can subscribe through iTunes to have it delivered to your iOS device every week, or listen now with the embedded player below:</p><p><h4>The View from 22 — 7 March 2013. Length: 39:22</h4></p><p>http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07032013.m4a</p><p><img style="padding-right: 5px;" alt="" src="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/files/2013/02/download-graphic.png" align="middle" /><a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07032013.m4a" target="_blank">Download</a> | <img style="padding-right: 5px;" alt="" src="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/files/2013/02/itunes-graphic.png" align="middle" /><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-view-from-22/id518474150" target="_blank">iTunes</a> | <img style="padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;" alt="" src="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/files/2013/02/RSS-graphic.png" align="middle" /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/tvf22" target="_blank">RSS</a></p><p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: <a href="http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2013/03/further-reflections-upon-the-addiction-fiction.html" target="_blank">Peter Hitchens has blogged about his appearance</a> on the View from 22 and his discussions with Damian.