Bikes take leading role in London's East Festival

Each artist plays three sets, starting at 2pm, 4pm and 6pm, meaning that you can visit the venues in whichever order you please, with guided rides taking cyclists between the concerts.

Today, reinforcements will arrive in the shape of Jimmy Carr, who has been unable to participate in the ride to date as a result of a clash with work commitments, as they head down through Lancashire – they’ve just passed Houghton, near Blackburn, with Patrick Kielty handing over to Russell Howard.

The team is now more than halfway towards its fundraising target of £1,000,000, with £566,000 pledged to date. which also has video diaries, a GPS tracker so you can see check progress, and a Lane of Fame where names of donors appear, assuming they’ve ticked the appropriate box when making their donation.

Cycling is set to take a centre-stage role in London’s Festival, which starts this Friday, with bike polo and a the Cycle East series of concerts, in which people are encouraged to use bikes to hop between venues, among the featured attractions.

Who will protect us from cigarette smoke?

For almost a decade now, there’s supposed to be a smoking ban in effect in all public spaces, yet 240 Filipinos still die every day from smoking-related diseases. As the adult smokers die, cigarette companies entice teenagers to start smoking.

The youth can be scared off by pictures showing the ill effects of smoking, but our lawmakers wouldn’t pass a law to require those kinds of warnings on cigarette packs. Cigarettes can also be made expensive through increased taxes, so teenagers won’t be able to afford them, but Congress sat on sin tax proposals. Manufacturers are prohibited from advertising, but they skirt the ban through other, more personal promo activities.

So who will save us from what the World Health Organization calls an “epidemic”? Do presidential aspirants have clear policy directions or firm commitments when it comes to controlling tobacco use?