Controlling influence
Friday, September 14, 2007 
My Forest colleague Neil Rafferty (left) - who formerly worked for the Press Association, Business AM and the Sunday Times and is co-founder of the satirical Daily Mash - has written an excellent article for the party conference issue of Freedom Today, the in-house magazine of the Freedom Association. Here's a taster:
During a recent on-air joust with the good people at ASH, the government-sponsored anti-smoking group, I uttered a 21st century heresy. I declared that I and thousands of others across the UK enjoy tobacco. And I really do. I have particular fondness for compact, tightly rolled and ever so smooth Dominican cigars. Of course, I expected to be scolded by my adversary, but instead the ASH foot soldier went further and informed me that what I was experiencing was not in fact enjoyment, but simply a chemical response to the noxious ingredients of my delightful Vega Finas. At Forest we have become conditioned to ASH's more spurious positions, but this was uncharted territory. Now, it seems, they are able to define and then decree what is and is not enjoyable.
If ASH was just a rag-bag collection of wide-eyed zealots confined to the fringe it would almost be amusing. But instead they are an ever-growing, highly organised and professional lobby group backed by millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money with a direct line to the Department of Health. ASH and other self-appointed public health guardians like the British Medical Association are enjoying greater influence over the direction of public policy, and the distribution of public funds, than at any time in their history.
As well as appearing in Freedom Today, the full article will be available as a downloadable pdf on the new Forest website, to be launched next month.
Reader Comments (5)
Quite what business it is of theirs to try to take away our freedom to smoke I don't know. They must think that we all hate a fag when we actually, I don't know, LIKE smoking.
We're being persecuted like no other minority group in this country, all for the freedom which my grandfather (and confirmed smoker himself) fought for in World War II.
Uptight and self-centered Body Nazis the lot of them!
They ARE Nazis.They may not know it themselves. But they are. And NO-ONE is looking.
I nave just returned from a holiday in North Wales and have noticed the change in attitude to the Smoking Ban. Last year, whenever there was a major football match shown on large screens you couldn't get near the bar for smokers. This year, pubs were offering happy hours to try and get customers. Perhaps, ASH could explain this during the wet summer we had but September which was even drier than last - I don't think so.
Blackpool as pointed out in a recent article in The Mirroe has become Bleakpool. Over 100 businesses are up for sale. Pubs, clubs, hotels and holiday flats are in this position. When will the clowns responsible start using their brains - assuming they have any.
I said in the late 90s when the anti smoking campaign was gaining momentum that once they had banned smoking they would be left with nothing to do so they would look for something else to interfere with and they would be telling us what to eat next! I did not have to wait long as we had the ban on beef on the bone because of the CJD scare. Also for some reason (could he have shares in Monsanto?) Tony Blair started singing the praises of GM crops and tried to persuade the British public that they were safe (although that one has gone quiet - which is worrying). We then had the foot and mouth epidemic which sent the cost of meat up and more recently Jamie Oliver's crusade (interference) in schools trying to dictate to parents and children what they should eat! So I was right. I believe there is a real concerted effort now to stop us eating meat hence the reason why they were trying to sell us the idea of GM crops. If this dreadful government were really concerned about our health they would listen to our concerns about GM crops. There is an old saying - You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink! I believe the reason why the nanny state has got so bad is that there have been too many spiteful, stubburn women given positions of power. They are not particularly intelligent but it looked good for Blair to be surrounded by his so called "babes". Four decades ago these people would not have been taken seriously and would have been shouted down at PM's question time but unfortunaetly now they have been given credence. They sound oh so reasonable when you listen to them on TV but they do not think their proposals through to the consequences and the knock-on effects that things like the smoking ban bring with them like if you ban smoking okay it makes bars more pleasant for the non-smokers but by definition non-smokers are obviously more health conscious than us smokers so are less likely to stay in a pub for hours and spend money behind the bar. So that publican loses trade, does not need as many bar staff so that in turn creates unemployment in the hospitality trade, which in turn means people are drinking less which will eventually lead to share prices dropping so there will be less money to spend all around as people who own shares will have less income so what happens next? It is anybody's guess.
These same people in government now have their eyes focused on so called "global warming" so even more draconian laws concerning recycling etc. (I am surprised that smokers have not ben blamed for the hole in the ozone layer and the ice caps melting - watch this space!). No, I am sure these people will not be happy until they see us living in mud huts and going back to the horse and cart.
Ah Sylvia, they already have started blaming us for fueling "climate change" [Global Warming rebranded]. It's those patio-heaters pubs have been forced to deploy in an attempt to keep some winter trade post 1/7. The smoker-haters wanna ban them too. Strip away our dignity a bit further. They're just struggling a tad with the wording. Y'see, in true Orwellian style, bans mustn't be referred to as "bans" anymore, but as "freedoms", i.e. "smoking ban" became "smokefree". This one will probably come in under the buzzphrase "carbon-neutral".