Help smokers come in from the cold
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 Yesterday I met a smoker who - in the words of Ronan Thomas (HERE) - is down but not out. Mark Harris wants to visit 1000 pubs in 90 days. The aim is to highlight the impact the ban is having on many pubs and clubs and on customers who are forced to stand outside if they want to smoke.
As I have said before, anyone can sit at a computer and bang out a few words on the internet. (I'm not knocking it, but it's not enough. If you are going to write, you must also write to MPs, councillors, local and national newspapers etc.) Unlike most people, Mark is prepared to go that extra mile to get his message across. He is passionate about the issue but his aims are moderate and practical.
One thousand pubs in 90 days is an ambitious plan and he needs help - financial, logistical and moral support. I don't know if Forest can help him. Resources are tight and if we support third party initiatives they have to be part of a short, medium or long-term strategy that is well-planned, well-coordinated and has clear, realistic targets.
Mark's project is called Inn The Cold and he has set up a website HERE. Offers of help (including accommodation, local contacts etc) are welcome. For more information email mark.harris@innthecold.com. And watch this space.
Reader Comments (5)
I wish Mark all the best. Simon I hope you can make a point of meeting him at least at some point, even if the Forest coffers are not deep enough. I am hoping to catch up with him at least once on his crusade
BTW Simon did you get my email, no reply yet?
Good luck Mark and congratulations on your comprehensive website. I hope you get donations. I can offer accommodation in the Dover area. It will be an heroic effort but may not get the full media publicity it would deserve, So I have an additional suggestion:-
Would you consider taking a petition with you to drop into each of the pubs? Hopefully the expertise within the Forest organisation could word it correctly.
Apparently, if we present a petition containing in excess of 100,000 names, parliament would be forced to table it.
The petition should call for debate on an amendment to the smoking law, which would allow freedom of choice to proprietors as to whether they wish to run a smoking or non smoking establishment. In this way, non-smokers who require a smoke-free establishment can be catered for. Smoking establishments would mean that smokers can have their civil rights re-established and be brought in off the streets.
By the way, this government is contravening EU Law by insisting that proprietors police their own establishments against smokers. To fine them for not doing so is illegal.
If Forest would produce the wording for such a petition and keep it on permanent display on the front page of The Free Society web-site, it could be printed out and distributed by all readers to the establishments local to them. This would also draw attention to the site itself.
The procedure and logistics could be as follows:-
1. Signatures are gathered at each venue and a voluntary contribution of 10p requested from each person signing. Each person should only sign once, i.e. don't go from pub to pub. This would ensure that it could not be invalidated.
2. When the proprietor considers they have got as many as they are likely to, [be it 20 or 200], they should put their petition in an envelope clearly marked with "Petition for amendment to the smoking law" and state the number of signatures on it. They should use the money gathered to pay for recorded delivery and send a separate letter [also recorded delivery] to Forest stating the date this has been done, the name of the establishment, and the number of sigatures.
A cheque for the balance of contributions gathered should be enclosed with this letter and made out to Forest to help towards administration costs.
At this point, I am not suggesting that Forest be responsible for receiving the actual petitions, unless they could opt to do so. What I would ask Forest to be good enough to do, is find out exactly which trustworthy department, within the corridors of power, they should be sent. Ascertain, also, whether such a petition could come in piecemeal or whether it would have to be presented all at once.
Hopefully the balance of contributions gathered would be sufficient to fund an illustration of a "barometer" such as they have outside churches when they ask for repair funds. Again, this could remain on the front page of The Free Society site and updated daily as the signature sheets come in. The target could be 100,005 signatures. It would be superb if a separate listing of the establishments whIch have contributed could be kept up to date elsewhere. [i.e."click HERE".
So, Forest, what do you think?
MJ
I think your idea is very sound Margot, and deserves looking more closely at.
Meanwhile however, a large ball of tumbleweed blows across the scene, and the only sound we hear, is the low whistle of the distant wind.
A sweet comment, Peter, but it hasn't quite reached my garden - yet.
I've cross-referenced my Comment to The Free Society website under "After the smoking ban, Britain smoulders on." Let's see what happens next.
Must get back now to what I SHOULD have been doing today.
one sure fire way of reversing the ban is to reduce the amount of tax the government earns from cig sales in UK. since the ban i havent smoked one packet of uk cigs, now i buy abroad for my use. i have also stopped going out as much, i refuse to holiday in UK now and choose to go abroad,to countrys where i can smoke in pubs and clubs also stock up on cheap smokes.the 25.00 aweek i save against uk tax is now put to holidays abroad.and even with credit card charges i save a small fortune buying in bulk abroad for my own use.a pouch of tobacco abroad is around 2.10p where as in uk it nears 10.00 the savings are really good when you add it up even with the cost of a weekend abroad taken in to account. as to going out well my city had the reputation of a party city not anymore the smoking ban killed it. the pubs and clubs are empty most nights and it aint worth going out, plus standing outside has given me flu three times this winter alone.