COUNTER-FACT: This is a plot by airlines so they can save fuel by turning down the air- conditioning reducing the

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COUNTER-FACT: This is a plot by airlines so they can save fuel by turning down the air- conditioning, reducing the quality of air for everyone.FACT: official statistics show 120,000 people die every year through smoking. Recently, he was interviewed by a 13-year-old on the subject for Channel 4 Afterwards, the boy's classmates wrote to him "They were angry letters," he recalled What did they say? "Oh, that your industry kills people That if tobacco was discovered today it would be banned. COUNTER-FACT: But 53,000 are over-75 and have passed average life expectancy anyway.So, I ask, does that mean it is OK for the other 67,000 who die from smoking. Ah well, Mr Carlisle does not necessarily accept that they do.. You can go on for ever. Which is what John Carlisle is paid to do.But is the basis of this mode of debate honest? "It injects some balance," he replies. His technique is not to deny what is said in attacks on the industry but to offer counter-facts They vary from the apposite to the diversionary Thus:FACT: Smoking costs the NHS pounds 1.3bn a year.

COUNTER-FACT: But it brings the Exchequer pounds 10.5bn a year in tobacco taxes.FACT: Most airline passengers want a smoke-free journey. "It takes the sting out of the other side's argument." But it can end with the reductio ad absurdum of a recent study by the World Health Organisation, which showed a 16 per cent higher risk of lung cancer from passive smoking, but which the industry interpreted as meaning that the WHO calculated smoking could actually protect someone from lung cancer."Those who use our product have the responsibility of making up their own minds," said Mr Carlisle "I don't think that's evasive. I have a natural inclination to rock the boat and rattle the cage."He is also a master of the political stratagem of discovering convenient excuses for what you want to do anyway. That much was evident from his appearance later that night on Newsnight to defend the move by Benson & Hedges to launch a coffee which it would then advertise under the same name to bypass the forthcoming ban on ads.

"I was taken on because I have the reputation as a streetfighter," he admitted "My political career was abrasive. Sometimes Bonneval would say, apparently in a confidential tone, "the General is always pleased to see you". The individual to whom this remark was addressed felt encouraged to meet the General again but still had no idea what the General thought. This was what de Gaulle wanted.Historians now believe that during the final days of May 1958, when civil war seemed imminent, the role of Rene Coty, President of the Republic, was vital. In the concluding negotiation between de Gaulle and Coty it was Bonneval who acted as intermediary. His devotion and discretion were invaluable.Thus in 1958 Bonneval worked for the General in Matignon, when he was Prime Minister, and with the rank of Colonel, he served de Gaulle, President of the Fifth Republic, in the Elysee. His first task was to help organise the General's visit to Algiers in June 1958 and to accompany him on that particularly difficult journey, when two ministers had their movements blocked by hostile French settlers.For the next seven years he collected information for the General.