More musings from Medway

More on the ciggie busters school video that provoked such fury on the Internet this week. The latest blogger to pitch in with his thoughts is Tristan Osborne who writes a left-of-centre blog called Musings From Medway. Tristan kindly linked to my post on the subject so I will link to his.

He writes:

Individual bloggers have been writing letters to the Police and Council to attack school pupils for trying to highlight a real and remaining health problem which blights parts of Medway.

It should not be for this left-of-centre blog to highlight the health impact of smoking and the progressive policies introduced by the previous Labour Government to ban smoking from public places.

The impact of these policies will and have seen improved health outcomes for people. Put simply, less people are dying and more people can go out without having to put up with the secondary affects of smoke.

And so it carries on in a fairly traditional anti-smoking sort of way until Tristan feels sufficiently confident to add the following:

The Libertarian argument that someone has the right to smoke in a confined public space, where it can harm others is mad, just as the argument that someone has the right to rape, hit or harm someone else by violence.

Did I read that correctly?!!

Tristan concludes his observations with ten words that will no doubt be music to the ears of the beleaguered headmistress at Hundred of Hoo Comprehensive School:

Smoking Kills. Passive Smoking Kills. Well done our young people.

You can comment on Tristan's blog HERE. Be nice.

3D and all that

Took the family to see Toy Story 3 yesterday. Inevitably it didn't have the same impact as the first Toy Story - which was a joy from start to finish - but it was enjoyable and, at the end, very touching.

We had intended to watch the 2D version but the cinema didn't give us a choice, so 3D it was. This was the first movie I have seen in 3D and, we were all agreed, it added nothing to the film at all.

Before it started we were treated to some ads and trailers that were more overt in their use of 3D but the only thing I can remember is a golf ball coming straight for my head before the screen went blank.

It wasn't a hardship having to wear 3D glasses but it was a little uncomfortable because I had to wear them over my own glasses. I won't be rushing back to watch more films in 3D and I don't anticipate buying a 3D TV any time soon.

What's the point?

Update on Saturday, August 28, 2010 by Simon Clark

While I was at the cinema I saw a poster advertising the return to the big screen of Back To The Future. From October 1, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the film will be shown in UK cinemas for two weeks only.

Back To The Future II and III were a disappointment but I will never forget watching the first one. I saw it with a full house at the Odeon Leicester Square and it was genuinely thrilling. Unfortunately it has been shown so many times on TV (a format that doesn't suit it at all) that people are now rather bored by it.

I'm going to take my children and I hope that they enjoy it as much as I did that first time.

News bulletin

Forest's August 2010 newsletter has just been sent out. I guess the items will be familiar to regular readers - click HERE if you want to find out.

Irish prime minister seen smoking in no-smoking area

14:00 ... Irish prime minister Brian Cowen - allegedly "the most unpopular Taoiseach since the foundation of the Republic" but also "among the top 10 world leaders" according to Newsweek magazine - was spotted smoking in a no smoking area in Croke Park on Sunday.

Our man in Ireland reports:

Croke Park is our national stadium. It hosted the All Ireland football semi-final last Sunday in front of 82,000 and the Taoisheach was there. The GAA made it a non-smoking stadium and if you want to smoke you have to get a smoker's wristband and then leave the ground. Outside there are two designated smoking areas. Our great leader however, was inside the ground in a public area when he was spotted by a smoker.

Apparently the report has provoked a "war" on RTE Radio 1, Ireland's favourite radio station. Click HERE to listen live.

14:15 ... PM's office says the Taoisheach made a mistake and put out his cigarette when asked to.

14:45 ... Croke Park official confirms that Cowen was smoking in no-smoking area but says it was "legal"!!

14:50 ... John Mallon, spokesman for Forest Eireann, tells RTE that this incident highlights the need for smoking areas in stadiums such as Croke Park.

Update on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by Simon Clark

The Irish Independent reports: Cowen smoked out by fan after lighting up at Croker.

Update on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by Simon Clark

John Mallon of Forest Éireann writes:

So, Brian Cowen lit a cigarette in Croke Park and it's front page news? Anyone would think that we had very little to worry about in Ireland these days. Indeed, if I were Brian, my next move would be to light a fag in a public bar on Budget Day. He could halve the old age pension, double the VAT and raise income tax to 82% and the lead story next morning would be "Smoker spotted in boozer".

Full post HERE. Comments welcome.

More on those 'gutsy' ciggie busters

Confusion surrounds last week's report that pupils at a school in Medway, Kent, have been running up to smokers in the street, shouting "ciggy busters", and snatching their cigarettes from them, while filming themselves doing it.

Having sent a letter of complaint to the local police, Dave Atherton today received the following response from Detective Chief Inspector Michael Morgan of Medway police station:

The school contacted Medway police prior to the event and discussed it with our events manager. We were advised that actors would play the role of the 'smokers' with students approaching them, before taking the cigarette from them and 'advising them' about the health issues.

In addition to this Medway NHS were to also be involved as well as the council.

We did advise the school that to approach non-actors could cause problems and to our knowledge no non-actors were approached. No one has made any allegations of crime regarding this matter, (in so far as no one who was approached has made any complaints).

The school involved police and other agencies in their planning and I believe took on board all our advice and comments. The filming and actions were part of a project the students were under taking and I am told the cameras were clearly visible to all in attendance. This was a deliberate part of the planning as overt cameras and the use of actors would hopefully prevent the people being approached being offended in any way.

If a person who was not an actor was approached and their property taken etc. we would consider their complaint. However, as no one appears to have been approached in this manner, we shall not at this time be taking this matter further.

I am sorry you feel offended by this incident, but I can assure you that it was meant to be a light hearted educational project, with no harm intended.

The fact that the school was using actors makes a slight difference, but it doesn't make it right. After all, what sort of message does it send to children - that it's alright to accost and steal from strangers? Cigarettes are legal, for God's sake!

Anyway, when I told Big Brother Watch's Alex Deane (who picked up the story last week), that actors had been used, he was suitably bullish: "Yes - to START with. They make it clear ... that they moved on to members of the public after doing their 'plants' first."

Interestingly, there is nothing in the local paper to suggest that actors were used. Far from it. According to the Medway Messenger:

Gutsy students from Medway have been snatching shoppers’ cigarettes, in an effort to persuade them to kick the habit. Far from it:

The sixth formers from The Hundred of Hoo Comprehensive School are taking direct action against smokers on high streets around the area, to produce material for a short anti-smoking film.

"Gutsy students"?! Full story HERE.

Meanwhile, if you try to access the "Ciggie Busters" video via the ASI blog (which posted it HERE on Friday), it appears to have been removed "by the user".

Nor can it be viewed on the Medway Messenger website which posted it HERE.

What's going on?

Pubs need smokers - new poster

Thanks to Dan Donovan for this new ad which will appear in this week's Morning Advertiser. It is also available as a campaign poster.

Feel free to download the image to your own blog or website with a link to the Save Our Pubs & Clubs website.

You can download an A4 poster or an A3 poster by clicking on the links. You might like to send a copy to your MP or take one along to your local pub.

This morning on Radio Ulster

I'm on The Nolan Show (BBC Radio Ulster) sometime between 9.45 and 10.15 this morning. We'll be discussing smoking in cars. Joel Taggart is deputising while Stephen Nolan does the morning show on Five Live. Not sure if that's a good thing!

Update on Monday, August 23, 2010 by Simon Clark

Enjoyed a bit of a spat with a Dr Joe Kidney who repeated the claim, made by one of his colleagues in the medical profession, that smoking in cars while children are present is a form of "child abuse".

His main argument, however (apart from the usual stats about the health risk to young children, which I queried), was the fact that in a recent You Gov poll 74 per cent of people supported such a ban.

Hardly surprising when 74 per cent of the population equates, roughly, to the percentage of non-smokers in Britain!

Meanwhile, as many people have already made clear on this blog, relatively few people light up in a car when small children are present, so why the need for oppressive legislation?

Update on Monday, August 23, 2010 by Simon Clark

You can listen to the programme HERE. The item begins about one hour 12 minutes in.

Support the Oldbury One!

Last week the Sunday Mercury reported that an elderly widow had been handed a fixed penalty of £75 for dropping cigarette ash on the pavement and threatened with a fine of £2,500 if she doesn't pay. Several newspapers, including the Telegraph, picked up the story, as I reported HERE.

Blogger Anna Raccoon, who initiated the campaign that got Nick Hogan released from jail, has vowed to help Sheila Martin, 70, in any way she can. Sheila, she says, will go to prison (if she fails to pay the fine) "over my dead body".

Anna has more to say HERE. For the record, this is what I told the Mercury when I spoke to their reporter on Thursday:

“What is happening to [Sheila] is just another example of the bully state.

“Smokers are easy targets and while we do not condone littering, this case is just a complete overreaction by Sandwell Council.

“We will not allow this old lady to be bullied and we will do everything we can to help her.”

Another smokin' festival

I am pleased to report that for the second year in a row Forest and the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign will be represented at the annual music festival at the Jolly Brewer pub in Lincoln (August Bank Holiday Weekend, August 27-30).

A supporter of our campaign to amend the smoking ban, landlady Emma Chapman has once again decided to dedicate one evening of the festival to "all the smokers who got chucked out in the cold back in 2007".

On Saturday August 28 the attraction is Bob's Smokin' Gig featuring the "legendary" Bob Cairns ("His fingers moved so fast on the guitar, the camera couldn't keep up!"), Dan Hickin, Sandfly and Treehouse.

The Jolly Brewer is in Broadgate, five minutes' walk from the bus station and seven minutes from the train station. Pat Nurse will be there and, hopefully, lots of other people.

Update on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 by Simon Clark

Emma writes: "The acts that are playing are all singer/songwriters playing original music. On Saturday [28th] the musicians will be in the garden so they can smoke on stage!

"Bob Cairns, who is playing and hosting the event, is an extremely talented singer/songwriter who also hosts our open mic evenings. He found it really difficult after the ban because he's a musician who smoked and played so it's a subject close to his heart!

"The Jolly Brewer," she adds, "is an established live music pub so people will be here for the music rather than the campaign ... Bob will drop little snippets in about the smoking ban but nothing too heavy. It's not a political rally!"

Civilisation

I was supposed to drive to Scotland yesterday. Instead I spent the afternoon at the Emergency Care Centre at my local hospital where I was treated by a charming doctor who spoke with a strong Teutonic accent and reassured me that I was not about to die.

When I explained that I was still hoping to drive to Scotland and she laughed and said:

"Schottland? Ist zat a civilised country?"

There's no answer to that.

Smoke and nonsense

On Thursday BBC News asked me to comment on the results of new research from the United States. According to "physician-scientists" in New York, "Cigarette smoke causes harmful changes in the lungs even at the lowest levels".

The press release issued by New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center continued:

Casual smokers may think that smoking a few cigarettes a week is "no big deal." But according to new research from physician-scientists at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, having an infrequent smoke, or being exposed to secondhand smoke, may be doing more harm than people may think. The findings may further support public smoking bans, say the authors.

According to a new study published today in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, being exposed to even low-levels of cigarette smoke may put people at risk for future lung disease, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

To make their findings, Dr Ronald Crystal, senior author of the study, and his collaborators tested 121 people from three different categories: "nonsmokers," "active smokers" and "low exposure smokers."

Dr Crystal says that this is further evidence supporting the banning of smoking in public places, where non-smokers, and employees of businesses that allow smoking, are put at risk for future lung disease.

In the event, the BBC didn't run the story. Google it, however, and you'll find it quite easily elsewhere. Science Daily, for example, has it HERE.

For the record, my response was as follows:

"This research is based on a very small sample, 121 people, and the report is peppered with phrases suggesting that secondhand smoke "may be doing more harm" and "may put more people at risk".

"The results are clearly inconclusive and in no way justify the sort of comprehensive smoking bans the authors appear to support.

"Unless you are severely asthmatic, it is nonsense to say that no level of exposure to secondhand smoke is safe. You might as well say that there is is no safe level of exposure to any form of pollutant when we all know that in most cases the dose is the poison.

"Modern air filtration systems can remove over 90 per cent of the gasses and particles generated by tobacco smoke. That's how we should deal with the issue of tobacco smoke, not banning smoking in all public places."

Off to The Oval

No blogging for the rest of the day. I'm off to The Oval for the England-Pakistan Test match. According to the invitation, "Morning tea and coffee from 10.00am in our hospitality area ... Play starts at 11.00am and drinks will be served prior to lunch at 1.00pm ...

"Refreshments will be available throughout the day with afternonn tea at 3.40pm ... Play closes around 6.00pm."

Don't think it matters if it rains!

The view from Ireland

Interesting discussion over on Twenty Major, an Irish blog with the promising strapline, "Still smoking in Dublin bars". It turns out however that Twenty Major prefers smokefree pubs. Worth reading but best not to comment, I think. I'm not sure they would take kindly to people from the UK piling in, unless you're Irish perhaps. Rather more supportive of the new Forest Eireann campaign is Head Rambles.

More smokers kicking the habit. Allegedly.

"NHS helps more smokers than ever before to kick the habit," screams the press release. "NHS Stop Smoking Services helped more smokers than ever before to quit during 2009/10, says a report out today from the NHS Information Centre.

"At the four-week follow-up stage, 373,954 people reported that they had successfully kicked the habit during the year – 49 per cent of the 757,537 people who used the services during the year. This was an 11 per cent increase on 2008/09 when 337,054 successfully quit and the highest number ever recorded in a year for the service."

The BBC has the story HERE. I am quoted at the end. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to say. Eventually, mindful of the cost to taxpayer, I said: "Total expenditure on NHS Stop Smoking Services during 2009/10 was more than £83 million, £10 million more than the previous year. People choose to smoke so I'm not sure that the taxpayer should pick up the bill when they choose to quit."

The line they didn't use was: "The most important factor by far when giving up smoking is willpower, and willpower costs nothing."

The new militant tendency

Big Brother Watch reports that "Students at the Hundred of Hoo Comprehensive School in Medway have been running up to smokers in the street, shouting "ciggy busters" and snatching their cigarettes from them. And filming themselves doing it."

All this is with the "encouragement of the school and the cooperation of the police". Full story HERE. Makes you proud to be British.

H/T Big Brother Watch