They'll be back

I have just done an interview with BBC Radio Leicester. A councillor in Coalville wants to ban smoking in the centre of town. Nothing new there - councillors in Barnsley and Birmingham have proposed similar measures. In each case there was an outcry, their ideas were made to look preposterous, and they were quietly dropped.

Expect similar stories in future, though. Although there is no immediate threat that smoking could be banned in town and city centres, that's because the anti-smoking industry has yet to adopt and get behind the idea. What we're seeing is the advance guard testing public opinion. To paraphrase Arnie, "They'll be back."

PS. We invited the councillor who proposed a smoking ban in Birmingham city centre to speak in a debate at The Freedom Zone next week. He declined.

How to win back the smokers' vote

I have just arrived in Manchester, having set off for the Labour conference at 6.00 this morning. Fortunately my pass arrived on Saturday. My colleague Brian Monteith has not been so lucky, so he will no doubt spend a couple of hours in a queue at the Premier Travel Inn (!) waiting for a replacement.

Tomorrow's Forest/Free Society meeting promises to be an intimate affair. In previous years, even with the likes of David Hockney, Joe Jackson and Mirror columnist Sue Carroll as guest speakers, we have always struggled to attract large numbers of Labour delegates. Last year we pulled in about a hundred (including some building workers from across the road), but that was only by offering gallons of free champagne. (In my experience, champagne socialists live up to their name.)

This year's meeting is going to be a model of sobriety. It's called "Labour: how to win back the smokers' vote". I have my own ideas, but if you have any suggestions I'll see if I can include some of them in my speech.

Taking the fight to Labour

If Labour MPs won't come to the Forest/Free Society event in Manchester on Tuesday, we'll go to them. The advertisement above appears in the current issue of the New Statesman. The NS is hosting two parties at the Labour conference in Manchester and we have been told that copies of the magazine will be widely available.

If you can't quite make it out, the copy is a quote from an article on The Free Society website by Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute. It reads:

"I don't smoke and I don't care much for smoking, but I'm outraged that the UK government plans to ban the display of tobacco products in shops. Which other of our 'unhealthy' pleasures will be driven under the counter next? Sweets? Crisps? Fizzy drinks? When you give political zealots so much power, you never know quite where it will end up."

Full article HERE.

More songs for swinging smokers

The Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band will provide the live music for the Forest/Free Spirits reception Cigarettes and Civil Liberties on Tuesday 30th September. Weather permitting, the band will join the smokers outside and play in the attractive open air courtyard.

This is not the first time the band has supported Forest at party conference. They played at Politics and Prohibition, a themed reception at the Conservative conference in Bournemouth in 2006. Since then they have played at a number of Forest events, including Revolt In Style at the Savoy Hotel in London in June 2007.

Last year the band also recorded a Forest/Boisdale CD, You Can't Do That! Songs For Swinging Smokers.

Volunteers wanted

We need help to promote The Freedom Zone at the Conservative party conference (see below). If you are coming to Birmingham and are available to hand out flyers etc please contact the office on 01223 370091 or email Sarah at contact@forestonline.org.

The Freedom Zone

The Freedom Zone, the two-day mini-conference being organised by Forest, The Free Society and The Freedom Association at the Conservative conference in Birmingham, is just ten days away, and yesterday I met up with Simon Richards, director of The Freedom Association, at Austin Court (the venue, above) to check that everything is going to plan.

The programme has been approved. Speakers and special guests are largely in place, so yesterday was mostly about the detail. Hand-held or lapel mikes? Folding seats or comfortable armchairs? Live or recorded music? Canapes or sandwiches? Champagne or sparkling wine?

The Freedom Zone is a big challenge - 16 meetings in two days. Five of them are Forest/Free Society events, and I'm responsible for two more - An Audience with David Davis MP (presented by Iain Dale), and Tories Got Talent (a political talent show that could be a work of genius or a complete disaster!).

Apart from the former shadow home secretary, the 40+ speakers include a mixture of MPs, MEPs, think tank and other political campaigners, plus leading commentators such as Michael White (assistant editor, the Guardian) and Simon Heffer (Daily Telegraph).

The Freedom Zone is outside the secure area and is open to everyone, regardless of whether you are attending the main conference. We are providing complimentary tea and coffee, all day, and there will be a cash bar from 6.00pm. All this plus complementary newspapers and widescreen TV in the canal-side coffee lounge.

If you are a member of Facebook you can join our Campaign for a Free Society group HERE. This in turn links to our Freedom Zone page HERE.

For the latest news come back here or check The Freedom Zone website which we will update every day next week.

Top of the class

The fringe meeting we organised with Liberal Vision in Bournemouth was a great success - standing room only. Packed into Old Harry's Bar in the Highcliff Hotel, the majority of the audience demonstrated that real liberals do exist within the Liberal Democrats. They just need some encouragement - and events like this.

Speakers were Malcolm Bruce MP (who voted for the smoking ban), Gavin Webb (Lib Dem councillor suspended by the party earlier this year because of his pro-libertarian views), Dr Richard Wellings (deputy editorial director of the Institute of Economic Affairs who worked on the IEA book Prohibitions), and Mark Littlewood (chairman of Liberal Vision and Lib Dem head of media 2004-2007).

Mark took the opportunity to announce the results of a Liberal Vision survey to find the most liberal Lib Dem MPs on lifestyle issues. Based on eleven recent Early Day Motions and nine parliamentary votes (the latter on the specific subjects of smoking, drinking and gambling), the top ten liberals were:

1. Lembit Opik
2. David Laws
3. Paul Keetch
4. David Howarth
5. John Barrett
6. Jeremy Browne
7. Julia Goldsworthy
8. John Hemming
9. Tom Brake
10. Sir Menzies Campbell

Charles Kennedy came 11th, Nick Clegg 15th.

Bottom of the class were:

61. Vincent Cable
62. Mike Hancock
63. John Leech

According to Mark, "Liberal Vision believes that adults should be allowed to make their own lifestyle choices, even if these decisions cause them serious harm. The other two parties take a controlling, patronising and interfering approach on these issues. We hope to persuade the Liberal Democrats to adopt a more philosophicaly coherent and, indeed, liberal approach in these areas."

Report HERE.

Quite interesting

Just back from the LibDem conference in Bournemouth and, blow me, I rather enjoyed it. It helped that Progressive Vision's Mark Littlewood - with whom I was working - was busy making the news. In fact I got the inside story hours before it appeared on the Internet and a good 12 hours before it was published in the papers.

And what a hilarious story it was. Essentially it boiled down to the fact that Progressive Vision - operating here as Liberal Vision - had published a report suggesting that up to 31 Lib Dem seats are at risk thanks to the resurgence of David Cameron's Conservatives.

Not exactly rock science, but politicians - as we know - only want to hear what they want to hear. So what does Adrian Sanders (one of the "at risk" MPs) do? He spies Littlewood, marches over to him, and (allegedly) gives him an almighty shove that causes Littlewood to fall over a low wall and into a bush!

Bizarre - especially when the "victim" is the party's former communications director who knows how to spin a good story. The Sun, as ever, had the best take on it: "Stop press: interesting event at Lib Dem conference". Full story HERE. And HERE. And HERE ...

That apart, what I really loved about the Lib Dem conference was the complete absence of any visible security. I was given a visitor pass but no-one asked to see it. Not once was I forced to stand in a long queue before emptying my pockets prior to a thorough frisking. Come to think of it, I don't recall even seeing a policeman - unlike the Labour and Tory conferences which are swarming with armed policemen with bullet-proof vests.

I even liked most of the people I met - young, affable, largely libertarian. They wore suits not sandals, and I only spotted a single beard.

As for yesterday's Liberal Vision/Free Society event - it was standing room only. But more of that later.

How liberal are the Liberal Democrats?

Off to the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth. We're co-hosting a fringe event tomorrow with the liberal think tank Progressive Vision. Title of the meeting: "How liberal are the Liberal Democrats?".

Funnily enough, John Redwood has just blogged on this very subject. According to the former secretary of state for Wales (and much else), "The problem with the Lib Dems is they are neither liberal nor true democrats." Full post HERE.

Where were you when ...?

It was the seventh anniversary of 9/11 on Thursday. I was going to do a piece about where I was at the time (and ask you to say where you were too), but I forgot. Funny how quickly we forget, isn't it?

As it happens, I was in Forest's old office in Palace Street, London, close to Victoria Station. There were four of us - me, Juliette, Ben and Jo. I think it was Ben who alerted us. He was online, looking at the BBC website.

The World Trade Center in New York has been hit by an aeroplane, he said. We ignored him. It didn't sound too serious. Probably one of those small light aircraft. Bad luck for the pilot, but accidents happen.

"Wow," said Ben a few minutes later. "One of the towers has collapsed."

We rushed over to switch on the TV. It was a small 14" portable. The reception, as ever, was terrible. The images were fuzzy and in black and white - like the pictures of the Apollo moon landing. None of that mattered. We were glued to the screen for the entire afternoon and well into the evening.

Other "where were you?" moments:

• 7/7 London bombing (July 2005): That's easy. I was in Harrogate to address a meeting at the LGA (Local Government Authority) annual conference. My opponent was Deborah Arnott of ASH but although the meeting went ahead many delegates understandably preferred to watch the TV monitors in the foyer. Others were busy checking out of hotels to rush back to London where they had family and friends. (The mobile phone system was down so no-one could get through.) One acquaintance, thinking I was in London, emailed to ask if I was alright. She wasn't the only one. Funnily enough, had I not been in Harrogate I would have passed through Kings Cross - where one of the bombs went off - an hour before the explosion.

• Murder of John Lennon (December 1980): I was in the offices of KH Publicity in Fleet Lane - my first job and my first year in London - when the news came through. I was genuinely shocked. I grew up with The Beatles. Later that day I had to deliver something to an address in Battersea. I took a cab. We got stuck in traffic on the Embankment and it cost £40 return (a large sum in those days). Unusually the driver didn't say anything but the radio played one Beatles track after another without interruption. I shall never forget it. Or the price of the journey.

• Brighton bomb (October 1984): I was in London, asleep in bed, when the bomb went off, destroying a substantial part of the Grand Hotel where the prime minister and many of her Cabinet colleagues were staying. I heard about it when I woke up - which felt strange because, at midnight (three hours before the explosion) I was actually in the Grand Hotel enjoying a drink in the main bar. The attack occurred during the 1984 Conservative party conference and Margaret Thatcher was due to speak later that day. Needless to say, she didn't disappoint. And we wouldn't have missed it for the world. We jumped in the car and drove back to Brighton, arriving just in time to join in the standing ovation she received as she walked into the packed hall and on to the platform.

Just fancy that!

I'm sure we did submit an entry to the 2008 Labour Conference brochure, but an interested observer has just emailed to say: "Simon, did you know your meeting isn’t listed in the Labour Party official fringe list? Now why would that be …."

In the unlikely event that any Labour MPs are reading this, the Forest/Free Society meeting is at the Radisson Hotel, Manchester, on Tuesday September 23, 6.00-7.00pm. Title: "Labour: how to win back the smokers' vote".

I'll be speaking. So too will my colleague Brian Monteith. Everyone welcome, but you'll need a pass because we're inside the secure area.

Update on Friday, September 12, 2008 by Simon Clark

To get a pass for this year's Labour conference Brian and I had to provide the following: passport number, National Insurance number, driving licence number and, regardless of whether we are driving to Manchester, our car registration numbers plus make and model. By comparison the LibDems have given us five visitor passes for our fringe event in Bournemouth on Tuesday without a single question being asked. They didn't even want a photograph. Just like the old days!

Protest and survive

There are some good comments on Iain Dale's blog after Iain mentioned the Forest e-card yesterday (see below). It's a bit long-winded (he must be one of us!), but the following from 'Dick Puddlecote' is worth reading:

"I sent my e-card a few days ago but it won't do any good seeing as Cancer Research UK have probably done what they did before the Smoking Ban Experiment ... instructed their 3,600 staff to contribute by writing letters and Christmas Cards (ASH boasted about it in their document "How Advocacy Forced a Government Committed to a Partial Ban ..." or words to that effect.

"Google it, it's very enlightening. It's an object lesson into how to circumvent democracy when John Reid was trying to uphold the 2005 Manifesto Commitments of his own party against outside pressures.) This time the CRUK staff were only required to click a few buttons on their computer to agree with their employers. Easy peasy in comparison.



"It's also no surprise that the massive majority of e-cards are supporting these proposals as it's simply a case of the Labour Government supporting itself and patting itself on the back for its wonderfulness.

The e-cards to reply to the DoH have been available on Smokefree sites for months now and guess who funds them ... yep, the DoH. Forest are a bit of a fly in the ointment and an endorsement by Iain Dale is even more unwelcome (well done Iain). 



"Here's how it works:

 (1) The DoH think up some looney proposal and have to pretend to ask the public in order to exhibit some semblance of democracy.
 (2) The public aren't actually told about it unless they are avid watchers of smokefree sites so therefore will have formed an opinion one way only anyway.
 (3) The smokefree sites are told of course seeing as they are paid for by the Labour Government (see below)
. (4) Labour pass the measures and can say in front of the cameras that x% of stakeholders are fully in agreement with them about this. No fiddling at all. Not in the slightest. Perfectly above board.
 (5) Labour receive congratulations from the pharmaceutical industry and NO MONEY WHATSOEVER IN DONATIONS TO AID THEIR LACK OF PARTY FUNDS (I want to make that absolutely clear)

.

"Re point (3), this was the response received from Vicky Mills of Smokefree NorthWest in answer to how they were funded.

 "We are part funded by the Department of Health and part funded by all thePCTs in the NW."

... so that will be the Labour Government then.

 Labour pat Labour on the back for a job well done.

 How low has this country sunk when these morally bankrupt people are actually passing laws on how we live our lives without transparently asking anyone for permission but themselves?"

I agree with much of the above, but I still think it was worth sending the e-card - and any other form of response. (A big thank you to everyone who took the time and trouble to do so.) I think we all know what the outcome of the "consultation" is likely to be, but that's no reason to roll over and play dead.

It's important that we voice opposition to what this government is doing. (And not just this government. Politicians of all parties support some of these measures.) We are up against a well-funded, well-organised opponent and that makes our task very difficult, but it shouldn't deter us.

Whatever the result of the consultation, the government is in desperate trouble. In this situation, nothing is certain. After all, who is to say that Labour will still be in power to implement the proposals?

The fight goes on. To register your support for our work, please click HERE.

Update on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 by Simon Clark

We believe the Department of Health has received in excess of 20,000 submissions; a submissions summary report will be published on December 8.

The final countdown

Today is the closing date for submissions to the public consultation on the future of tobacco control in the UK. Top Tory blogger Iain Dale draws attention to the Forest e-card HERE.

Online, off message

I am delighted to report that the website for The Freedom Zone - a joint initiative involving Forest, The Free Society and The Freedom Association - is now live.

The Freedom Zone is a two-day mini-conference that will run alongside the 2008 Conservative conference in Birmingham.

I've been wanting to do something like this for years. The Health Hotel, funded to a great extent by the pharmaceutical companies, is now a fixture on the party conference circuit, and I am hoping that this project has a similar future.

Between us, Forest and The Free Society are responsible for five events:

• Liberal Paternalism and the Nanny State (discussion)
• Freedom and the Internet (discussion)
• You Can't Do That! The Anti-Social Regulation of Public Space (debate)
• Liberty Live! (political chat show with Claire Fox)
• Cigarettes and Civil Liberties (champagne reception)

Other events include:

• Heffer's Half Hour (with Telegraph columnist Simon Heffer)
• An Audience with David Davis MP presented by Iain Dale
• Tories Got Talent (political talent show)

Full details of all events and speakers are on the website. Note: this is a non-party political event and you don't have to be a party conference delegate to attend because The Freedom Zone is outside the secure area. We'd be delighted to see you.

PS. Join our Campaign for a Free Society Facebook group HERE and see our Facebook event page HERE.

Just say NO, now

Just putting the finishing touches to the Forest submission to the government consultation on future tobacco control in the UK. If anyone is in any doubt about the extent to which this government will consider harassing and targeting smokers, read page 45 of the consultation document:

"Question 12: Do you believe that more should be done by the Government to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke within private dwellings or in vehicles used primarily for private purposes? If so, what do you think could be done?"

As you can see, it's not just cars that are on the agenda, but "private dwellings" as well.

If you haven't yet responded to the consultation, please do so NOW. The easiest option is to send the Forest e-card which you find HERE.

Since we launched this facility a couple of weeks ago, over 1300 e-cards have been sent to the Department of Health. In addition, we have sent out more than 2000 printed cards. How many have been signed and posted to the DH I can't say, but I do know that we are delivering, by hand, several hundred to the DH on Monday morning.

Meanwhile please sign The Free Society petition HERE. We aim to keep the petition running until Christmas at least and if the numbers are large enough we will present it as evidence to the DH while they consider their options.