Free CD? You can't do that!

Readers of "Britain's favourite think tank blog" are currently being offered the opportunity to get their hands on a free copy of the Forest/Boisdale CD You Can't Do That! (Songs for Swinging Smokers). See HERE. Dr Eamonn Butler, co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute, describes it as "delightfully politically-incorrect". Eamonn is seldom wrong.

I suppose we ought to make a similar offer to friends of Forest and The Free Society. The CD normally costs £10 from the Boisdale Shop, but we will send a free CD (postage paid) to the first 50 UK and Irish readers who email their full name and address to us at contact@forestonline.org. One per household. The offer closes on Friday December 14.

Update on Friday, December 7, 2007 by Simon Clark

STOP!!!! We have been inundated with requests. No more, please!

A non-smoker writes

Prior to and after the introduction of the smoking ban in Ireland, I made several trips to Dublin. I also embarked on what can best be described as an extended pub crawl from Waterford to Galway and beyond. One of the things that struck me was how, post-ban, previously tolerant non-smokers developed an extraordinary sensitivity to even a whiff of smoke.

The same, I believe, is true in the UK. This is bad news because it suggests that most non-smokers (the majority) are unlikely to welcome even a small amendment to the smoking ban. On the other hand, the following email offers hope that some can see how foolhardy (and counter-productive) the current legislation is:

I am a non smoker, but I have looked up your website for a strange reason. I feel that the recent legislation may bring two sides of the smoking debate together to a certain degree.

As a non smoker, I have been very irritated by the emergence of large numbers of smokers from areas where they previously smoked, to the front of shops, cinemas, cafes etc as a result of the new anti-smoking legislation. This makes it an unpleasant experience for me to go to any of these places.

I am sure that the smokers themselves would rather not have to stand outside of these places, but would rather return to wherever they smoked before. I cannot understand the COMPLETE ban on indoor smoking which prevents the use of smokers rooms, so that both smokers and non smokers can enjoy their rights without interfering with each other.

In fact, looking through the legislation, it would appear that even if a factory went to the trouble of providing a shed, outside in a yard, for smokers, that shed would be an enclosed area on work premesis, and therefore it would be illegal to smoke inside it. This is clearly a poorly thought out piece of legislation.

Fat's life

According to a new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it's not how fat but how fit you are that most determines how long you will live. According to the Telegraph, "Scientists have found that elderly people who are physically fit despite being obese suffer half the death rate of lean but unfit people." Story HERE.

Interestingly, our old friend Dr Ken Denson had a similar take on smoking. Until his death in August last year, Ken ran the Thame Thrombosis and Haemostosis Research Foundation in Oxford. In 1999 he concluded that the real problem isn't smoking (in moderation), but the poor diet of smokers. "Smokers," he said, "should be told to improve their diet to protect themselves but the medical establishment has a mental block about smoking. Smokers with the right diet can have an 80 per cent lower risk of cancer than the smoker on a bad diet." Story HERE.

Ken lived to the ripe old age of (I think) 82. He had smoked since he was a teenager. Shortly before his death he emailed me to say:

"I don't even believe that an otherwise healthy smoker loses five years. My non-smoking peers have been dropping like ninepins for the last ten years. Until I started looking at passive smoking ten years ago I also believed that smoking was a killer, but now I realise that much of the fabrication and lies attached to passive smoking can be extended to active smoking. The only strong association is for lung cancer, but there is a strong dose-response relationship. Chain smokers of three packs or more a day haven't a hope, but smokers of ten a day have only a small risk."

Ken believed that if you smoke less than ten cigarettes a day but keep physically fit and enjoy a healthy diet, there is little evidence to suggest you are at serious risk. The bad news (for me) is that I'm fat AND unfit. If I continue as I am I fully expect to be outlived by millions of fit smokers. Fat's life.

Anti-smoking - it's a growth industry

A little bird tells me that ASH Scotland is currently the subject of an independent review – standard practice, apparently, for voluntary organisations receiving more than £100k pa of taxpayers' money from the Scottish Executive Government.

As it happens, ASH Scotland receive far more than £100k a year from the public purse. Total funds (from the Executive) for the six years from 1999-2005 came to £1,720,000. During this time, funding rose from £188k to £384k per annum.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. In August 2007, announcing the forthcoming retirement of chief executive Maureen Moore, a press release boasted that Moore "has built ASH Scotland from a small organisation of six to a professional organisation with a full-time staff of 27".

Twenty-seven! How the hell can they afford 27 full-time staff? Further investigation reveals an organisation with more job titles than is strictly decent. They include:

Alliances Administrator, Alliances Manager, Training & Development Administrator, Training & Development Manager, Director of Projects & Services Development, Director of Business, Director of Information & Communications, Projects Officer, Youth Development Officer, Strategy Development Manager (Inequalities), Development Officer (Inequalities), Senior Policy & Research Officer, Information Officer, Research & Evaluation Officer, Communications Officer, Senior Training & Development Officer (x2), Regional Training Officer (x4).

What, precisely, do these people do all day?! If I was an MSP I would want to be told. Needless to say, I'm not holding my breath. Full organisational chart HERE.

Smoke and Mirror

A reader (Tigger) calls to draw our attention to the Daily Mirror forums where there is currently a lively thread about the smoking ban. 'Tigger' (a qualified nurse from St Austell, Cornwall) thought you might like to have your say too. Click HERE, then click on 'What are you talking about?' and scroll down to 'Wintertime: now what do you think of the UK smoking ban!!??'. You may have to register.

Smoke free England?

The photos of last week's Boisdale bash (which can be viewed HERE) were taken by Forest supporter Dan Donovan. Dan is a professional photographer. He's also a musician and graphic designer. Earlier in the year, Dan embarked on a project to highlight England's smoking culture prior to the introduction of the public smoking ban on July 1.

The results of his photographic journal are now available online. Many of the subjects are Forest supporters and/or readers of this blog. Explaining the nature of the project, Dan writes:

"The act of smoking has been increasingly demonised and these portraits take in individuals from all over England, from every walk of life, who were prepared to make a visual statement of their objection to being represented in this negative way. The people here are law-abiding citizens who would be committing a criminal offence if they posed for a photograph in the same location today."

Any one of the 90 images - which include Men Behaving Badly actor Neil Morrissey - can be purchased online. To view them all, click HERE.

Meanwhile we are discussing a sequel that will demonstrate how smokers are alive and well and defiantly lighting up in all manner of locations. If you would like to be considered as a subject for Smoke Free England? (One Year On), email Dan at dan@battenburg.biz.

Sunday night live

I am on Five Live at 8.20 9.10 tonight discussing the government's proposal to ban cigarette vending machines. If I miss Top Gear (or Cranford) I shall be very cross.

With Friends like these, who needs enemies?

"Smoking ban poses new climate threat" screams a headline in today's Sunday Telegraph. Hardly a news story, it's been doing the rounds for months. Pubs, we are told, are likely to pump hundreds of thousands of tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result of the smoking ban.

The solution, one would think, is obvious. Amend the legislation to allow pubs to have well-ventilated, designated smoking rooms indoors. But no, in today's prohibition culture, that's too easy, or sensible. According to the Telegraph, "Environmentalists say the heaters must now be banned if Britain is to meet carbon dioxide emission targets."

According to those lovely people at Friends of the Earth: "The impacts of the smoking ban are positive, but this should not cause more problems for the environment. Either smokers will have to give up smoking or simply put on a jumper."

Charming.

Overrun by the nanny state

A welcome guest at Boisdale on Tuesday was Simon Hills, associate editor of The Times Magazine. Simon has been a friend of Forest for many years and is enthusiastic about our embryonic Free Society campaign. Last year he wrote a thoughtful yet entertaining book called Strictly No!: How We're Being Overrun by the Nanny State. Unfortunately bookshops saw fit to file it under 'Humour' rather than 'Politics' where it really belonged.

Simon now has his own blog which features articles he has written for publications such as The Oldie, Compass and Esquire magazines. Exasperated by what he calls "a world gone mad", he asks:

Did you know? Blackpool Council have given donkeys Fridays off and a guaranteed lunchbreak • Britain’s prettiest village pub in Somerset was ordered to take down its hanging baskets because the council deemed them too dangerous. • In Norwich the City Council decided to fell a row of horse chestnut trees because of the dangers posed by falling conkers • And to play conkers, school children are now being forced to wear goggles • Yet 200,000 seven-year-olds cannot read • 90 per cent of crimes go unsolved • More motorists than burglars are jailed • You work 170 days of the year just paying tax • A quarter of the quarter of the population is employed by the state • In 2004 alone 260,000 people were hired in newly created state jobs? And they all want to boss you around!

Simon Hills' blog is HERE.

Tale of two letters

To outsiders, the smoking debate can appear to be an ideological struggle between, on the one hand, puritannical zealots spouting dubious statistics, and, on the other, indignant libertarians more interested in politics than health. Truth is, the smoking issue is far more than a battle of ideas - it concerns real people.

A few weeks ago I received a letter from the daughter of a Forest supporter who died earlier this year. Writing with barely suppressed anger, she told us:

Sadly, my father died of lung cancer after at least 55 years of smoking. I know he made the choice to smoke but I am sure organisations such as yours encouraged him to continue with his disgusting habit.

I really don't want to share with you how painful and distressing his passing was. My comfort is that I was there at the end. I know you will have plenty of "lies, damn lies and statistics" to back up your theories regarding smoking so I will not bother to encourage them.

I am proud to be a non smoker. Proud my breath does not smell, my skin does not look old, my house is not covered in sticky tar and that my lungs are not struggling for breath. I am in favour of the smoking ban in all public places and enjoy the fresh air.

Yeterday's post brought a very different letter. The writer, a long-term Forest supporter, recently moved with his wife into a retirement flat:

We have both settled in comfortably and quite enjoy it. I'm still smoking ten a day (ish), and despite having smoked since about 1938, am keeping pretty fit. Perhaps the "scotch" and red wine have offset any detrimental effect of  "ciggies" and helped me to notch up nearly 85 (in January).

Whenever I have lunch out and finish with a coffee, my hand still automatically goes to my pocket for a "fag", until the awful truth hits me that it's not allowed. Whilst waiting for a bus home I usually have a ciggie sitting in the open air bus shelter. Only a few days ago I did this and had to suffer filthy looks and quiet mutterings which of course strengthen my resolve to carry on smoking.

I'm not going to comment on either letter other than to say that, as ever, there are two sides to every coin - and smoking is no different. John Reid, when he was Health Secretary, understood this. What a pity that more politicians are unable (or unwilling) to appreciate that smoking is not the black and white issue they would like it to be - and legislate accordingly (ie with a degree of common sense and moderation).

Booker's prize party

Twenty-four hours after the event I'm still feeling the effects of last night's Forest party. Over 150 guests turned up, and many were still there come midnight. Wine flowed and Boisdale MD Ranald Macdonald was as generous as ever with whisky and cigars.

Christopher Booker and Richard North, co-authors of Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, travelled from Somerset and Yorkshire to sign copies of the book which quickly sold out.

Christopher gave a short speech - to cheers and applause - and proposed a toast, at which point everyone raised their glasses and cheered (again). The message was clear: people are sick and tired of having their freedoms restricted by politicians and campaigners, especially when it involves scaremongering and the consistent abuse of science and statistics.

Guests came in all shapes and sizes. Politicians rubbed shoulders with journalists, lobbyists, publishers and publicists. In one corner Christopher Chope MP, in another UKIP leader (and MEP) Nigel Farage. Madsen Pirie and Eamonn Butler (founders of the influential Adam Smith Institute) were there. So too Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers Alliance, and many more. Others, like the very senior "captain of industry" - a famous face in the City - who was attending in a personal capacity, shall remain nameless!

The real star, however, was Boisdale's new smoker-friendly roof terrace which got rave reviews (it was hotter than the Caribbean) and was packed throughout. Warmly (!) recommended.

For more photos, click HERE.

Tonight's the night

Tonight we celebrate the publication of an important new book by Christopher Booker and Richard North. To quote the blurb, "Scared to Death examines the role played by scientists who have consistently misread or manipulated the evidence; by the media and lobbyists who eagerly promote the scare without regard to the facts; and by the politicians and officials who come up with an absurdly disproportionate response, leaving us all to pay a colossal price through the financial cost of misplaced and often completely ill-conceived legislation."

At risk of repeating myself, there are chapters on BSE, the Millennium Bug, bird flu, salmonella in eggs, global warming and passive smoking, to name a few. The book complements perfectly Forest's new Free Society campaign, which is why we decided to organise tonight's party at Boisdale in Belgravia. The event is now fully booked - but check back here tomorrow for a full report.

Rights and wrongs of free speech

I woke up this morning to the Today programme and the sound of two MPs - Julian Lewis (Conservative) and Evan Harris (Liberal) - heatedly discussing the pros and cons of tonight's debate at the Oxford Union where BNP leader Nick Griffin and discredited historian David Irving have been invited to speak.

First, I should declare an interest. Julian Lewis and I go back a long way. From 1983-85 he helped raise funds to support a national student magazine that I founded and edited. (One of our goals was to strike a blow against the closed shop system whereby undergraduates had to be members of the National Union of Students.) For five years thereafter I worked for him as director of the Media Monitoring Unit which he founded in 1985 with former Labour minister Lord Chalfont to combat unrestrained political bias on television news and current affairs.

Yesterday, Julian announced that he was resigning "with great sadness" his life membership of the Oxford Union, arguing that the right to free speech should not guarantee access to "privileged platforms". In his letter to the union's officers, he wrote:

"Nothing which happens in Monday's debate can possibly offset the boost you are giving to a couple of scoundrels who can put up with anything except being ignored. It is sheer vanity on your part to imagine that any argument you deploy, or any vote you carry will succeed in causing them damage. They have been exposed and discredited time and again by people vastly more qualified than you in arenas hugely more suited to the task than an undergraduate talking-shop, however venerable."

I know how carefully Julian chooses his words and, to be fair, he isn't arguing that people shouldn't have the right to say (within the law) what they think. His principal grievance is with the Oxford Union for offering Irving and Griffin a prestigious arena for their views.

There's no direct comparison but there are echoes of the argument we had with the BBC and other broadcasters in the Eighties - namely, if our democratic political system is to be defended, is it reasonable to give equal weight and prominence to the opinions of extremists who wish to undermine the system?

Politics has changed since then, of course. Back then there were clear battles between right and left, capitalism and socialism, democracy and dictatorship (aka the Cold War). Indeed, one of the sad things about Britain today is that those of us who fought so hard to defend our democratic institutions have been badly let down by the "democrats" in power (and in opposition).

But the arguments about free speech haven't changed. Then again, Julian's point is not about freedom of speech. It concerns "privileged platforms". The danger is, if we accept this concept, it could so easily be abused by those wishing to stifle debate on all manner of subjects.

Like Julian, I abhor the BNP and what little I know of David Irving's views. But where do we draw the line? Who decides when (and where) a certain point of view can be expressed? I'm not sure I know the answer but it's an important issue because the definition of a truly free society depends on it.

Resignation story HERE. Update HERE.

Wogan's world

Nice line in today's Sunday Telegraph: "The man on the Clapham Omnibus wonders why we're worried about personal information falling into the hands of untrustworthy people, who may use it to extract money from us. Since the Government had it in the first place, it's happened already." The writer? Step forward - Terry Wogan.

Coming soon - new and revised websites

We're working hard to complete the revised Forest website. Although the new site is a slimmed down version of the current one, the project has taken longer than anticipated. The customised CMS (content management system) is new and there have been one or two technical faults to iron out during the development stage, but we're getting there.

We've appointed a new website manager and the revised site will go live early in the new year. It will coincide with the launch of the all new Free Society site (left), which I'm equally excited about. TFS is designed to be interactive, so we will be encouraging your comments on a wide range of issues, from smoking, eating and drinking to speeding, global warming, CCTV cameras and more.

This blog, too, will be re-launched. All three sites will be advertised on the Internet with a view to attracting more traffic. The Forest website currently averages 4,000 visitors a day. We intend to increase that number and encourage people to engage not only with Forest but also with our Free Society campaign and, via that, Taking Liberties. Watch this space.