My life in a day
Sunday, June 1, 2008 I thought you might like to know how I spent World No Tobacco Day (aka May 31). It began at 5.00am when I got up, got dressed, checked Forest's online press review, and discovered that our response to the DoH announcement (see below) had been widely quoted in the media. Sixty minutes later I was out of the house and driving down the A1 to London.
8.15 Arrive at BBC Television Centre in west London. A parking space has been reserved for me at the Stage Door entrance. In reception, I spy Celia Walden whose scantily-clad picture often appears above the masthead on the Daily Telegraph. Celia is not only a leading feature writer at the Telegraph, she is also Piers Morgan's girlfriend. She is here to talk about Britain's Got Talent which features, er, Piers Morgan. (I should add that Celia is VERY tall but when she appears on BBC News she is, miraculously, no taller than either the presenters or her fellow guest who, moments earlier, she had towered over in the corridor. I think they must have lowered her chair.)
8.45 A producer arrives to take me to the BBC News green room. It's no bigger than a broom cupboard and is littered with newspapers, dirty teacups, discarded water bottles - and guests.
9.00 Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, arrives and we exchange pleasantries. Some people find it hard to believe, but I don't dislike Deborah at all. Why should I? At worst, she's civil. At best, she can be quite friendly. She's also good at her job, which I respect. I liked her predecessor, Clive Bates, too. I invited him to lunch once but he declined. He did however accept my invitation to contribute to a "What's My Vice?" feature in the Forest magazine Free Choice. (His vice, it turned out, was Belgian beer.) When Clive left ASH, we sent him flowers. And a farewell card. But I don't like everyone at ASH. Take Ian Willmore, who left a year or so ago. I don't think Willmore ever said "Hello", shook my hand or even caught my eye if he could help it. I hate that sort of behaviour. What a plonker!
9.10 The make-up girl offers to do what she can to make my head look less "shiny". I hate seeing myself on television. I'm fat, I know, but I'm not THAT fat! On TV I'm just a blob - a sweaty blob with no neck. They say that high definition television will highlight every imperfection. Perhaps I should retire now.
9.15 Deborah and I are on air, answering questions about the proposed tobacco control measures. Breaking news that two young children have been stabbed and killed has cut into our allotted time and the "discussion" is over before it's even begun.
9.30 Drive to our office in central London, still wearing my BBC make-up (which I have forgotten about). I rarely take the car into London but when I do it is almost always expensive. The underground car park in Cavendish Square, close to the office, costs £5 an hour, or £50 for 24 hours. There's no congestion charge at the weekend, which is just as well. Two weeks ago I drove into London on Thursday, stayed overnight, and drove home the following day. Not for the first time I forgot to pay the congestion charge. I have now received two penalty notices (one for each day), a total of £120 (if I pay within 14 days, £240 if I don't).
10.00 ITN has left a message on voicemail. They want an interview, and they need it now, for their lunchtime news bulletin. I jump in a cab and race over to the studios in Gray's Inn Road. In fact, the interview is filmed outside, round the back of the building to escape the noise of passing traffic. The reporter is sympathetic to my views. As we walk back she tells me that although she gave up smoking nine months ago, she agrees that a point of sale ban is a step too far.
11.50 Back at the office, another car arrives, courtesy of Sky News, to take me to the Millbank studios. Millbank is close to the Palace of Westminster and Sky, the BBC and ITV all have facilities there. Westminster Council seems to be digging up half the roads in central London. After several detours we arrive with five minutes to spare. Catch sight of my BBC make-up - which is showing signs of wear and tear - but it's too late to do anything about it. Anyway, it's Saturday and the Sky make-up girl is nowhere to be seen.
12.30 Live on Sky News. Sky presenters can be quite feisty (ie aggressive) on the subject of smoking, but today I am given a relatively easy ride. The presenters allow me to say my piece without (much) interruption. This must be some sort of record. Afterwards I am whisked into another studio for a recorded interview with a distinguished grey-haired correspondent who confesses that he is a hardened smoker. He looks and sounds a bit like Peter O'Toole. (I swear he called me "Dear boy".) I don't like to ask him his name because I feel I should know who he is. I must find out.
1.05 Still at Millbank, but now I'm on BBC News (again) and this time I'm on my own. Peter Sissons is the presenter and I am interviewed for what seems like ten minutes. It's probably much less but in TV news terms it's still a long interview. I like Sissons. He's not aggressive (like Paxman or Humphrys) but drop your guard and he is quick to pounce.
1.20 Still at Millbank and still at the BBC, but now I'm in a radio studio (smaller than a broom cupboard) being interviewed live on the World Service. They ask me, in advance, to mention countries other than the UK, so I throw in some stuff about Iceland, Ireland and Canada. I also refer to dollars instead of pounds and it's all going rather well until I suggest that, thanks to the anti-smoking movement, smoking could become cool again. I hear a sharp intake of breath in my headphones and the interview is brought to an abrupt end, the presenter reminding listeners worldwide that Forest is funded by the tobacco industry. C'est la vie, as they say in France (and England).
Postscript: my final interview yesterday was on Five Live's News Hour (8.00-9.00pm), presented by John Pienaar and Lesley Ashmall. By now I was at home, dying for a drink (and considerably more than the government's recommended 3-4 units). The last time I was on News Hour, a few weeks ago, there was a dodgy line and I couldn't hear properly so I just kept talking - and talking. Eventually Pienaar gave up trying to gain my attention ("Simon, Simon, Simon") and simply cut me off. I don't blame him. I would have done the same. Last night Ashmall asked the questions and I was so tired I can't remember a single one. I do hope it went well.
Reader Comments (14)
Well done Simon for all the good work that you are doing for us smokers. I hope that you enjoyed your bit of 'binge' drinking and that you had a good relaxing day, yesterday.
Thankyou, Simon, on behalf of all of us. You must have been absolutely exhausted. A day very well spent and you should treat yourself to a bit of rest now. A bit of battery recharging for what lies ahead.
Good on you Simon for keeping up smokers interests in the media, it must feel like an uphill battle some of the time with all these stupid bans being conjured up at such a fast pace, they've banned the 10 pack of fags in ireland but I can still see the cigs on display, to be honest I cant keep up any more with the bans as I mostly buy mine abroad. What horifies me is the overnight parking charge in London and now I shiver to think what our copycat irish govt are planning next because our useless transport minister has suggested bringing in a congestion charge too -this in a city with no proper transport and infrastructure. Lately I'm beginning to feel that I'm already living in the hibernian region of the eu.
You are already living in the EU Hibernian Region, Ann, in all but name. Full attention of the EU is now upon Ireland leading up to your precious Referendum vote. As you know, I have been living in the EU Trans Manche Region since October 2006. And it shows! The film "Taking Liberties" was shown on Channel Four on 6th May all over the U.K. When I switched on eagerly, it had been replaced in the South East by a documentary on the life of Amy Whitehouse.
You will be pleased to know that the petition to the Irish people asking them to vote No to the Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, has now been signed by 13,520 citizens from 26 EU Member States. The numbers continue to rise daily.
http://www.irish-friends-vote-no-for-me.org/index.php?set_language=en&cccpage=home
Meanwhile, the UKIP MEP's have joined with the other independant MEP'S and sent a mailshot to every single household in Ireland. What a colossal achievement! They are up against the might of the EU propoganda machine, though, which has unlimited taxpayers' money to use against them.
All this smoking ban upheaval, together with the alcohol and food restrictions gathering force, could be stopped if we could only get a change of government and out from under the tyranny of the EU.
Apparently the EU have gone very quiet at the moment with no new restrictive laws being passed so that they do not upset the Irish people.
I believe that this wave of new smoking/drinking/eating restrictions being put forward for the UK is just a "smokescreen" to divert people's attention away from the true dangers of the Lisbon Treaty. I'm sure that single-issue zealots like the seemingly intelligent Deborah Arnott are unaware of the true part she is playing towards complete EU dictatorship. It is ironic, really, because she is working herself out of a job, There is a clause in the Treaty which allows the EU to stop paying benefits and pensions to anyone caught breaking an EU Law. When fully in control, it would be very easy for them to make smoking illegal.
9.00 Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, arrives and we exchange pleasantries. Some people find it hard to believe, but I don't dislike Deborah at all. Why should I? At worst, she's civil. At best, she can be quite friendly. She's also good at her job, which I respect.
Sorry. Can't swallow that. No more than I could, for example, swallow this:
9.00 Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe, arrives and we exchange pleasantries. Some people find it hard to believe, but I don't dislike Hermann at all. Why should I? At worst, he's civil. At best, he can be quite friendly. He's also good at his job, which I respect.
Frank I think you are a bit harsh on Simon here, no point in antagonising people when here is no need to. Saying that I may struggle to keep a civil tongue in my head and vent my splein, should I bump into her.
no point in antagonising people when here is no need to.
I think that, from time to time, people have to wearily recognise when they are confronted with a mortal enemy. As far as I'm concerned, Deborah Arnott and Tobacco Control are such enemies, and we are fast approaching - if we have not already arrived at - a state of war.
I don't see any point in debating anything with such people. And they don't see any point in debating anything with us. After all, they don't ever consult us as they set about shackling us with rules and regulations. Indeed we already know that they have made up their minds about the display and packaging of tobacco. These people don't do debate. For them, the debate was over a long time ago.
In my view, all that matters now is to consider how best to halt their advance, and to then destroy them. They are, after all, trying to destroy us. The smoking ban has been a frontal assault upon an entire culture, the traditional culture of English pubs and clubs, and upon everything associated with that culture. When they're finished, it will all be gone, as certainly as if it had been bombed into oblivion by Hermann Goering and his Luftwaffe.
I very much doubt that Simon Clark will agree with me. I don't think he sees things as having got quite that bad. He can't have. And maybe he's right. Maybe, after further careful consideration, Deborah Arnott and her ilk will say that they have gone too far. For myself, I don't believe these bigots are remotely capable of any such thing.
I agree with Frank. If I met Deborah Arnott, I would say a civil Hello, but how can you respect somebody who takes money off taxpayers to fund lies and propaganda? I think Arnott, and people like her are dangerous. Will Simon be having the same sort of civilised conversations when employers have sacked people who,through blood tests,have been found to be smoking at home? When you can't walk down the street smoking? Sure as night follows day, this will happen
I'm not even sure how well ASH is meeting its aims and objectives. If it really wanted to cut down the harm caused by smoking, it would campaign for the legalisation of Snus, just as Clive Bates has recently been doing. To paraphrase Michael Siegel,"It's not the dying they are bothered about,it's the tobacco."
Michael Siegel might actually be said to undermine my case. Here, after all, there seems to be a guru of Tobacco Control who does think things have gone too far. If he can do it, why can't Deborah Arnott? Perhaps a few more meetings with Simon Clark, and she'll have her own epiphany?
But Michael Siegel still favours smoking bans. He still seems to believe that health considerations trump all other concerns - such as trivial and unimportant things like freedom, choice, tolerance, community, conviviality, compassion. He's like one of those torturers who thinks that enough information has already been beaten out of the prisoner, and that nothing further will be gained by the application of red hot tongs.
So I'd say of Michael Siegel that he only looks good by comparison with the rest of them. In absolute terms, he's actually just as bad. And my case remains.
..."Sorry. Can't swallow that. No more than I could, for example, swallow this:..."
Well put Frank
The idea that Deborah Arnott is seemingly inteligent is about as false as the claimed dangers of second hand smoke. We hear from the government about the millions of pounds from taxpayers wasted on the welfare state. People like her are the biggest scrongers on taxpayers money. We have politicians who likewise scronge of us and yet do exactly the same. What we should have in this country is the democratic right to support any charity we like and not be dictated to by this government. Remember, Gordon Brown gets up on his pedestal and criticises other regimes for doing exactly what he is doing.
Intelligence is about responding appropriately to a given stimulus.
If draconian measures cause smoking rates to rise, the intelligent response would be to stand back, consider carefully, and be prepared to correct an error of judgement - a wrong turn in the road.
An unintelligent response would be to propose 'more of the same with knobs on'.
The anti-smoking movement is not based on intelligence, it is based on a 'crusade' mentality. I don't believe that self-questioning is part of the make-up of 'crusader' types. That's why they think they're unstoppable.
Anyone know any 'reformed crusaders'? They might hold the key to the solution. It's the psyche that's the problem, IMHO.
Ash and all the wankers in it getting big salaries including that Deborah Arnott should be put under scrunity for all the money they're wasting on disgusting ads and spiel and the money poured into the front line of the health service instead. I too think its all a smokescreen to divert us until the eu is up and running, by that time they wont need the likes of deborah or Ash anyway as they'll have an eastern european to do their job for half the price.
8 days to go before the Lisbon vote and it aint lookin too good. Our new irish leader has hitched his political star to the Yes vote and is prepared to do anything to achieve it. He has already made his first big mistake by caving in to the farmers lobby of 85,000 after they warned him that they would urge their members to vote No if the govt did not use its veto to block the Mandelson deal. This is nothing short of blackmail and should not even come into the equation in a democratic vote on such a serious issue for the future of our country and other countries that are relying on us for a NO vote. And now the govt will come under more pressure from the largest union in the country who have recommended a conditional No vote to their members. Not to worry tho as the govt will be packing up for their summer hols in a few weeks time and will be back refreshed next October. I can see mr brussels rubbing his hands already.
Many thanks for all the effort Simon.
I read all the comments on forest, it's a relief to know i'm not alone.
I agree,there is a standard of good maners, to always be used, and still stick to my views. I was reading the headlines on bbc news site, The Gazette (montreal) "regarding the Quebec Lung Association's campaign to ban smoking in cars, we believe that caving into e..."
Alas it was cut off from there and "page expired" came up when I tried to follow the link. This happens too often to news (against smoking ban) from other countries.
Isolation, seems to be the aim.