Why Forest lost interest in Labour

A very small part of me would like to be in Manchester for the Labour party conference. A friend reports that the place is "buzzing" following the election of Ed Miliband as party leader. And this evening I could have attended one of the best parties in town (see above).

The truth is, though, I have grown disillusioned with Labour conferences. For groups such as Forest it really is a case of banging your head against a brick wall. But it wasn't always like that.

In Brighton in 2004 Joe Jackson was invited, via Forest, to share a platform with Health Secretary John Reid and we actually dared to think that we were influencing Government policy. Reid clearly listened to what we were saying because a few weeks later he gave some weight to smokers' rights when he announced plans for a partial smoking ban.

Back in Brighton the following year we enjoyed what I can only describe as the most satisfying day of my professional career. I won't bore you with the story again because I've written about it ad nauseum, but thinking it about it still makes me laugh.

Despite our "success" at the 2005 Brighton conference, it was becoming increasingly difficult to engage with Labour on any level. In 2006 in Manchester we employed an ad van but to little effect.

In Bournemouth in 2007, a few months after the introduction of the smoking ban, we organised a drinks reception at the Royal Bath Hotel (scene of our famous Prohibition party at the 2006 Conservative conference). The event attracted a hundred or so delegates but none of them were MPs and I suspect that many were there only for the "free" champagne.

In any case I was already highly cynical about Labour and champagne receptions. In 2003 in Bournemouth I remember very clearly a Cabinet minister telling me, with a straight face whilst holding (another) glass of champagne that he was a libertarian and was opposed to a smoking ban. Three years later the same man (a close ally of Gordon Brown) voted in favour of a comprehensive ban on smoking in pubs and clubs. Libertarian? My arse.

In 2008, the last time Labour was in Manchester, we arranged a fringe meeting but the party failed to publish details of the event in the conference brochure. The same fate befell a Tobacco Retailers Alliance event. Coincidence? I think not.

Last year in Brighton we hired another ad van and handed out Save Our Pubs & Clubs beer mats but our efforts were wasted on what I can only describe as a dispirited rabble. Labour was past caring about social and civil liberties. And Forest was past caring about Labour.

Whether Ed Miliband's election will make any difference I don't know. I do know that Forest will never give up trying to engage with any mainstream political party, and that includes Labour. To paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger, "We'll be back."

Update on Sunday, September 26, 2010 by Simon Clark

Actually, we haven't completely neglected Labour this year. The conference issue of the New Statesman, available to delegates, features the new Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign poster (below right). However hard they try to ignore us, we just won't go away.

Mum and Dad, 80 not out

I shall be spending the weekend with various members of my family at Hassop Hall near Bakewell in Derbyshire (left). My father was 80 in July and my mother will be 80 in December so we wanted to celebrate by organising a small party in their honour.

Apart from my parents, who live near Ashbourne, a 30-minute drive from Bakewell, guests include my sister, my aunt Dorothy who has flown in from Switzerland where she has lived since 1948, and my uncle Roy, a retired GP and former racing driver. Including children, there will be 13 of us.

When we visited Hassop Hall a few months ago we liked it immediately. It has 14 rooms and the main house is cosy if a little old-fashioned. The grounds are lovely and I particularly like the ballroom and banqueting house in the old brewery.

Anyway, if it all goes to plan, guests will have arrived and checked in by mid afternoon (Saturday). Rather in the manner of an Agatha Christie novel, we have invited everyone to assemble for afternoon tea at four (when I shall reveal who the murderer is), followed by drinks in the bar at six and dinner in the main restaurant at 7.30pm.

Earlier this week I ordered a cake (actually, two cakes in the shape of an '8' and an '0') from a local cake maker, and I have also arranged for a photographer to take pictures after breakfast on Sunday.

To be honest, I was beginning to think this weekend might not happen. Neither of my parents is in particularly good health, my father especially. In his late fifties, having been fitter and far more physically active than I ever was, he developed serious angina.

Since then he's had two heart by-pass operations and, ten years ago, a heart transplant. Unfortunately, the side effects of all the drugs he has to take to stop his body rejecting the replacement heart have taken their toll and last year his kidneys finally failed, which now means a thrice-weekly trip to Derby where he spends 4-5 hours hooked up to a dialysis machine.

Recently he has developed angina again and this week I had to ask the hotel if they have a wheelchair on the premises. This is a far cry from the man who used to leap over fences and ditches in pursuit of some bird, rare or otherwise (he is a keen ornithologist). Meanwhile, such was the speed he used to drive, he could turn even the shortest of car journeys into a white knuckle ride. An old school friend still talks about it with awe, bordering on fear.

One thing my father has never lost is his fighting spirit. His will to live is extraordinary. I remember my mother telling me, the night he had his first heart by-pass 22 years ago, that the surgeon gave him five years at most, even if the operation was a success.

I shall say a few words when the opportunity presents itself and thinking about it the other day I surprised myself by feeling a bit tearful. (This is something that usually only happens towards the end of It's A Wonderful Life.) I love my parents to bits but it's not the sort of thing I tend to say, publicly or even privately.

No doubt I'll wing it as usual, but it would be nice to find the right words to express what we all feel.

The Pleasure is all ours

Delighted to report that we have just booked a great band to play at our fringe event at the Conservative party conference (see previous post). Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce ... King Pleasure and The Biscuit Boys.

Forest and The Free Society at the Conservative party conference

Join us on Monday 4 October from 1.00pm for a lively lunchtime discussion:

VOICES OF FREEDOM LIVE AND UNLEASHED!

Panellists:
Philip Davies MP
Simon Clark (director, Forest)
Alex Deane (director, Big Brother Watch)
Claire Fox (director, Institute of Ideas)
Paul Staines (aka blogger Guido Fawkes)

Venue: Kingston Theatre, Austin Court, 80 Cambridge Street, Birmingham, close to the International Conference Centre. This is outside the security zone so you do not need a conference pass.

----------------------------

From 6.00-8.30pm join us for:

SAVE THE GREAT BRITISH PUB DRINKS PARTY

Happy hour with free beer and wine from 6.00pm.
Cash bar thereafter plus live music featuring ...

KING PLEASURE AND THE BISCUIT BOYS

Speakers:
Brian Binley MP
David Nuttall MP

Venue: The Malt House, 75 King Edwards Road, Birmingham (next to Austin Court, above), again outside the security zone.

SMOKERS WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!

Life after Forest

Good news - there is life after Forest!!

At the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool I bumped into my former colleague Martin Ball. Martin joined Forest in, I think, 1996 and later became campaigns director. As well as being a fearsome interviewee, he was a tireless writer of letters to the local press and wrote articles like Fag ends of freedom (Times Higher Education Supplement).

Martin's lasting achievement however was to expose a growing trend by which companies were placing recruitment ads for "non-smokers only". In 2000 we published a report entitled The New Apartheid. It was based on a close examination of recruitment ads in the Guardian and elsewhere and created a bit of a stir. In my view it was responsible for the problem not escalating, at least for a few years.

Anyway, contrary to what I was warned before joining Forest, Martin's subsequent career demonstrates that there is life after tobacco. First he worked as head of public affairs at a mental health charity. Now he is news and public affairs manager at a leading housing association.

Nor is he alone.

My immediate predecessor Marjorie Nicholson has enjoyed a long and successful career as group communications manager for the Fenchurch Environmental Group which provides filtration solutions for air quality problems. Marjorie became something of an expert on this while she was at Forest, advising the likes of Heathrow and Gatwick airports on how to provide well-ventilated smoking areas.

Another ex-colleague Jo Gaffikin joined Forest from university in 2001. She edited Health Wars, The Phantom Menace: An Audit of Health Scares and did a great job at a very difficult time. (We also worked together on The Freedom Association magazine Freedom Today until we were unceremoniously sacked for being too, er, liberal. But that's another story.)

Since leaving Forest six years ago Jo has worked for the National Gallery, the Crafts Council, and she is now communications manager at the Design Museum in London where she is responsible for the museum's website and marketing. (See also Here comes the bride.)

Oh, and I mustn't forget our former secretary Jenny Sharkey who left Forest for her "dream job", working for Teresa May in the House of Commons. Nine years later Jenny is still working for the MP for Maidenhead except that her boss is now Home Secretary!!

Thirteen days to Bangalore

In two weeks' time I will be in Bangalore attending the Global Tobacco Networking Forum. Or perhaps not. I had my inoculations last week but getting a visa is taking a little longer. The good news is I that have just received an email that reads, "Your visa application is at the embassy being processed".

Only when my visa is confirmed can I arrange flights and I'm a little concerned that all direct flights will be fully booked.

Thankfully I'm not the only one sweating on the result of a visa application. At the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool this week I met a fellow speaker and he's in a similar boat. The stories he told me about his own application were hilarious.

At least our applications are being processed. Apparently one or two speakers may have to drop out because of red tape and other issues. Seriously, this is something that India has to address. My visa application has cost me £180 (and it doesn't guarantee me a visa) so sceptics are entitled to question the process.

In the meantime the news from Delhi (Fears increase over Commonwealth Games) hardly inspires confidence but my friend Gary, who has spent a lot of time in India in the last year or two, assures me that it is the most marvellous country and we will get a very warm welcome.

Bangalore seems to offer an interesting combination of old and new so I'm looking forward to it, if I get there.

Adult smokers offer added value to Britain's pubs

We have tweaked our new campaign advertisement to include an interesting fact:

38% of British pub goers are smokers and account for 49% of an average pub’s income

This figure comes from Harris International Marketing and is based, I believe, on a sample of 4038 pubs.

The advertisement (above) will appear in the Labour conference edition of the New Statesman, out later this week.

Click here to download it as an A4 poster and an A3 poster for your local pub.

Update on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 by Simon Clark

The research conducted recently by Harris International Marketing also found that:

• adult smokers visit the on-trade more often than non-smokers
• an average adult smoker spends more on drinks per visit
• an average adult smoker spends more on food per week
• an average adult smoker spends over £10 more through the on-trade than an adult non-smoker per week

An industry source tells me: "What is remarkable is the difference in the spending of adult smokers versus adult non-smokers. Adult smokers account for 49 per cent of the income of an average on-trade business, despite the fact that only 26.1 per cent of the UK adult population choose to smoke (BMRB/TGI 2009)."

Update on Thursday, September 23, 2010 by Simon Clark

Very good article by Pete Robinson on The Publican website:
Pub closures? All in your imagination says ASH.

Freedom rooms not smoking rooms

Our man in Ireland has had a busy couple of days. Following his appearance on Newstalk Radio last Thursday, John Mallon (left) has also been interviewed on Clare FM, Cork 96FM, Spin 101 in Dublin, Highland Radio in Donegal and, this morning, Radio Kerry.

In Ireland hardly anyone is talking about amending the smoking ban, so John has focussed on relaxing the regulations so that "smoking rooms" can be as welcoming and as comfortable as possible.

Today, writing on the Forest Eireann blog, he says:

The words "smoking room" conjures up the old dirty, smelly, smoky image ... So instead of smoking rooms I'd like to see the regulations changed to allow 'freedom rooms'.

A freedom room, by definition, would be a cosy enclosed space, far from the non-smokers, where you could take your chosen tipple and relax with a smoke ...

It should be properly ventilated for the smokers' comfort but the biggest freedom of all would be to chat happily without intrusion ...

A few questions arise, though. Should mobile phones be switched off before entering the freedom room? Should live music be allowed?

John asks: "Do you like the concept of a freedom room in your local pub and what else would you add to it?"

Full post HERE. Comments welcome.

Liverpool by night

I'm rather enjoying being in Liverpool for the Lib Dem conference. I took this picture at midnight last night after a rather pleasant dinner with friends.

This morning, with the sun beating down, the view looked even better.

Anyway, I'm just off for another meal, this time with colleagues, at a restaurant called Panoramic.

Let's hope it lives up to the name.

Update on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 by Simon Clark

It did.

In fact, the restaurant was so exclusive that we were (almost) the only people there. The honourable exception (albeit hidden behind a screen) were the editor and political editor of the Daily Telegraph and, er, Vince Cable.

You read it here first, folks.

Smokers the butt of a Welsh double whammy

I shall be on the lunchtime phone-in on Radio Wales. ASH Wales is calling for a ban on smoking in parks and children's play areas. Oh, and there's an anti-litter campaign being launched too, targeting smokers, naturally.

Update on Monday, September 20, 2010 by Simon Clark

What a waste of time! I went briefly head-to-head with, I think, Dr Dai Lloyd, a GP and Plaid Cymru member of the Welsh Assembly who I suspect won't be happy until the state has "helped" every smoker in the country give up.

After Dai departed I had to listen at length to someone from ASH Wales called Carol who sounded like Stacey from Gavin and Stacey.

Stacey Carol banged on and on and on about why smoking should be banned in parks and play areas and I waited and waited and waited (in vain, as it turned out) to be given an opportunity to respond to her witterings.

To be fair, the presenter was clearly sceptical about the suggestion that children are in mortal danger if they breathe the merest hint of tobacco smoke in the open air, and she truly shot herself in the foot with her inability to produce any evidence that smoking outdoors is harmful to other people's health. Instead, she kept referring to the "evidence" on the impact of smoking in an enclosed space.

It really was desperate stuff. Thankfully Maureen from Fishguard rang in and told Carol to "back off". I couldn't have put it better myself.

Soundbites ... Brian Binley MP

Light blogging today because I am travelling to Liverpool for the Lib Dem conference. I'll leave you with this short video which we shot at the Great British Pub Awards in London.

Together with Philip Davies MP, Brian Binley (above) was our special guest and he later presented the Best Creative Outdoor Area Award (see HERE).

To watch the video click HERE or on the image above.

Update on Monday, September 20, 2010 by Simon Clark

You may also like to add a comment over on the Forest Eireann site where my colleague John Mallon writes:

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office tell us that the population now stands at 4.6 million. At the same time, Eurostat claims the prevalence of smoking in Ireland has grown to 31%. That indicates that there are now 1,426,000 smokers here and the number appears to be growing.

That's almost another half million people who took up smoking in three short years. And yet, we constantly hear that this hideous ban is a resounding success.

Click HERE.

Forest Eireann: headline news

Forest Eireann has generated its first headline: "Smokers' group urges Government to relax ban as 1,000 pubs forced to close". The Dublin-based Sunday Independent reports that "Forest Eireann (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco), a group representing beleaguered smokers, has claimed that the smoking ban has been the main cause of the downfall of Irish pubs." Story HERE.

PS. The same report has appeared in the Belfast Telegraph.

Update on Monday, September 20, 2010 by Simon Clark

At risk of sounding nerdy, the stats tell me that this is the 1600th post to appear on this blog since its launch in March 2007. To date there have been 18,009 comments, an average of 11.25 comments per post.

Best creative outdoor area?

A friend sent me this photo from her local in a town on the south coast of England. Well, it made me laugh.

Pub closures hit village life, says report

The BBC reports that village life in Britain is "dying out" because rural pubs are closing at a record rate. We told them that a year ago but they didn't listen, probably because we argued that the smoking ban was one of the main causes.

A couple of weeks we produced evidence to show that the smoking ban was the main cause of pub closures in recent years. The report was picked up in Scotland but in England the BBC and the rest of the mainstream media didn't want to know.

According to this latest report, co-authored by the National Housing Federation and the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), there are "too few new homes" and affordable local housing is the key to saving traditional village life. Not being cynical, but the National Housing Federation would say that, wouldn't they?

The BBPA meanwhile have nothing to say other than the blindingly obvious. According to my old friend, chief executive Brigid Simmonds, "Along with local shops, post offices and schools, village pubs are pivotal to the life of local communities across Britain.

"Pubs act as much more than a social venue. They are a focal point for sports teams, local groups and meetings. In addition they provide a range of community services like post offices and shops. We need a climate that allows these community businesses to thrive."

What sort of climate would that be, Brigid? A warm, Mediterranean climate where smokers can stand outside without feeling cold and miserable?

Look, there are plenty of reasons why rural pubs (and shops) are suffering and it won't take a quick fix like new housing or even an amendment to the smoking ban to dramatically reverse a trend that has been happening for decades.

Television and the car are the biggest factors in the decline of village life and they can't be uninvented. Television - and more recently the computer - has encouraged people to stay at home for much of their entertainment, while the car has made it easy to shop in supermarkets five miles away or to socialise further afield.

Amending the smoking ban isn't going to change that but it will, I think, help many pubs that are on the brink of closure and will help make pubs a more sociable place to be.

As my colleague Oliver Griffiths of CR Consulting pointed out last week, "“With smokers being moved outside, the price of drinking in pubs can no longer be justified by many so more people drink at home. This has a cumulative effect. As fewer people use the pub it becomes less of a social draw.”

Update on Saturday, September 18, 2010 by Simon Clark

There is no evidence that the smoking ban in Scotland has led to the closure of pubs says, er, ASH.

ASH Scotland refuted claims from the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign, which argued that the 2005 change had sounded a death knell for bars across the Lothians and the rest of the country. ASH's chief executive Sheila Duffy said there was no proof to back this up, and a number of other factors were, in fact, to blame.

If you say so, dear.

Full story, Edinburgh Evening News, September 17.

MP tables motion on smoking in pubs and clubs

I am pleased to report that David Nuttall, Conservative MP for Bury North - one of several MPs who attended Smoke On The Water (the Forest boat party) in July - has tabled the following Ten Minute Rule Motion in the House of Commons:

Public Houses and Private Members’ Clubs (Smoking)
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to exempt public houses and private members’ clubs from the requirements of Part 1 of the Health Act 2006 relating to smoke-free premises; and for connected purposes.

A supporter of the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign, David will give a speech to the House in support of the motion on October 13.

Update: David has just agreed to speak at Forest's fringe meeting at the Conservative conference on Monday October 4. See below.