Kerry McCarthy replies
Monday, July 7, 2008 
Kerry McCarthy has now replied HERE to the comments (207 at the last count) that appeared on her blog after I drew attention to her post praising the smoking ban and her chippy, class-inspired response to Forest's events at Boisdale and the House of Commons.
To her credit, at least she's read them and taken the time to reply. There is no meeting of minds, but I didn't think there would be. She has responded as any canny politician would - by remaining calm and riding out the storm without giving much away.
Don't be disheartened, or frustrated. The nature of the response will have been noted (even if she isn't saying as much). One, no other post on her blog has received a fraction of the comments that this one generated. Two, having implied that Forest (and by association our supporters) are a bunch of toffs with a taste for champagne, the response she got refuted that completely.
In fact, many of the comments supported what we have noted for 12 months - the overwhelming majority of comments, emails and telephone calls that Forest has received in the wake of the ban have come from "lifelong Labour voters" who insist that they "will never vote Labour again".
Finally, the anger and the resentment expressed by many people is clearly genuine. I don't doubt that Kerry McCarthy has met smokers who support the ban. But she will find it very difficult to argue that the ban is overwhelmingly popular with smokers and Labour's core vote. Our job is to make sure that she doesn't keep this information to herself but shares it with her colleagues.
As it happens, Kerry (and every other MP) will today receive copies of our documents (available on the Forest website) that highlight the economic and social impact of the smoking ban. They will also receive a Forest card with the message, "Labour isn't listening".
Kerry McCarthy and her fellow Labour MPs can stick their heads in the sand if they want. But this issue isn't going to go away. We'll see to that.
PS. As requested, most people kept their comments on the right side of civil. Thanks for that. Politeness costs nothing and - remember - we're trying to influence not alienate people.
Reader Comments (16)
Simon. We can never change the mind of an anti-smoker. Kerry is a Vegan and believes in a very healthy life stye. 'Tofu' is a popular among Vegans and is now viewed as a danger to their health.
Simon
Kerry writes
I'm not saying people should be prevented from smoking.
Now is it me, or is this a lie? Mental health patients even (self admitted) have been FORCED to stop smoking.
Kerry McCarthy has been given in no uncertain terms the hard facts (economic, health and social) about the smoking ban from smokers and cannot claim to be out-of-touch anymore at least. A stark contrast to her closseted ignorant and arrogant existence previous to this point.
She clearly despises smoking and has a chip on her shoulder as she assues its taken both her Dad and Mums life earlier than her non-smoking Aunties. It demostrates the knee-jerk relationship between death and smoking.
One day she may find the cause but until then I can't see her turning her views. Point is that's not her job. As an MP her job is to make decisions on an almost a dispassionate basis based on science, health, respect for public opinion and and civil liberties.
There's also the question, is the ban the best way forward? Does it work in either helping health or reducing smoking?
For that reason I am encouraged we got the message to her. The pressure to overturn the ban is overwhelming as it is a failure.
To her credit, at least she's read them and taken the time to reply.
No she didn't. She just says she did. She doesn't reply to any of the substantive issues raised in the comments she received. She instead draws up her own list of topics, and writes about them. The irony is that she complains that, while she was doing so, she was trying to watch the British Grand Prix!
This is a sport that health freaks like her should - if they were consistent - want banned, because driving at high speed around a race track is considerably more dangerous for its participant drivers and for the watching public than passive smoking ever was. There is, after all, a long litany of deaths among racing car drivers (Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark). And indeed part of the thrill of watching a Grand Prix race is the attendant possibility that there might be such a fatality.
Kerry McCarthy, however, is a hypocrite. She will not be voting to reduce the top speed of Formula 1 cars from 200 mph to 10 mph. She will not be demanding that there be a forest of speed limits and no overtaking signs and sleeping policemen around F1 race tracks. She restricts her concern for health and safety purely to smoking, and then sits back and enjoys watching the high risk sport of motor racing.
The only thing that is to her credit is that she did respond, in some manner, and at some length, even if she did not address the issues raised in the comments.
I had personally not heard of Kerry McCarthy until a few days ago. What's interesting is while things were on my mind I had a word with some aqaintances, guess what, not heard of Forest. Now the reason for telling you this is simple, if Kerry's blog can attract such attention from a miniscule amount of people that know about it, what would happen if everyone knew about it. This means the Govt are in very serious trouble, more than they know.
Well Boris, I have sent info on it, to The Bristol News, which is the paper local to Ms McCarthy. As yet I have had no reply, but if anyone else wishes to contact other papers, it might be a good idea?
I did not mention Forest by the way.
Idlex. You didn't mention the spectators that get killed watching motor racing. For example in 1955, a racing accident at the 24 Hours of Le Mans killed more than 80 spectators.
A totally predictable response from Kerry. However, it's always amusing to read it when someone says the "evidence is compelling", particularly when they have no idea how to dissect it.
Excellent point Blad. Perhaps someone who is an expert in such matters should ask her to do precisely that on her blog for all to see.
Perhaps all MPs who voted for the ban should be asked to explain exactly what was so 'compelling' about the 'evidence' they 'studied' before choosing how to vote.
Perhaps we should learn, once and for all, just how competent (or otherwise) our 'servants' actually are when it comes to 'working for us'.
Kerry McCarthy (not to be confused with JFK cousin) on the web. Devil's Kitchen hasn't even noticed the smoking fracas, it's so hooked on other news about her. B7 did notice. She's a Famous Vegan. McCarthy on the smoking ban in Western Eye 2006:
The Government has essentially capitulated to labour MP demands for a total ban on smoking. Will you be supporting this?
Well I would actually be in serious difficulty if a free vote hadn't been allowed as I signed an Early Day Motion back in June supporting a full ban and I've been involved in this issue for sometime and think a partial ban would be completely unworkable. We would probably have found a ban in all the upmarket Wine bars in Clifton and in the more "working class' areas smoking would have been permitted. There was also a lot of opposition in the Hospitality sector as those affected by the partial ban may have found their clientele might well go to the places that weren't affected by the partial ban. If we look at Southern Ireland the ban on smoking has actually increased trade. From a personal point of view I think it will be much more pleasant to sit in a pub with a ban on smoking. There will be free vote and I think I'm right in saying that all Bristol MPs will vote for a full ban.
Do you not think that smokers have a right to smoke in a pub with a pint of lager and packet of crisps, as I'm sure many students enjoy doing?
Civil liberties are always a very difficult issue. One person's freedom can be an imposition on other people. A lot of students work as bar staff and there must be concerns for their health as they may be stuck in a smoky bar. Also, encouraging students to smoke is certainly not something I want to do and a ban may help many smokers kick the habit, as evidence from the Southern Ireland ban has shown.
But do you think it would be better to bring in "smart' legislation that would introduce effective smoking areas, in which proper ventilation would stop smoke travelling and no smoking at the bar, which is a policy a lot of establishments already adhere to?
The concern is that smoking areas don't really work and you also have the issue of bar staff having to go into those areas to collect glasses, so again it comes down to plausibility. If you look at places that have gone down the Smoking ban route, such as New York and Dublin the evidence showed that partial bans don't really work. If standing outside on a cold winter night puts people off smoking then I think that's a good thing!
Kerry McCarthy on manifesto pledges:
As a general rule, I believe that political parties should stick to the promises they make to the voters at a General Election, and that MPs should not vote against the Government on manifesto commitments, unless things have changed drastically since the election was held.
Kerry forgot to mention, while protecting bar staff, she won't be protecting prison warders.
I wish she'd make her mind up. In the article referenced above she assumes that upper class wine bars will be smoke free and the 'working class' bars will not - and yet when people complain she can only imagine that the complainants are 'toffs' from 'private members clubs'.
She also thinks that being kicked out in the cold will put people off smoking. She's failed to realise that it merely puts people off the government.
Far from quitting smoking, smokers appear to be quitting Labour in their droves.
Kerry McCarthy is talking through her hat, she either doesent read the papers or more likely her PR gofer is not worth the salary she's paying them. Ireland never had a partial smoking ban, it was total from 29/3/04 when all smokers were kicked out on the street. The southern ireland ban has increased smokers by 2% in the last two years.
With people like Kerry McCarthy in govt either telling blatent lies or else not being up to the job they're being paid to do by shoddy research, disinterest or just spewing words to fill in their parliamentary time, is it any wonder that the electorate are misinformed and brainwashed into being fearful by matters that are not true, this leads to people getting disenchanted and loosing trust in their so called leaders and such an example was the recent local elections when labour got a taste of it.
Kerry McCarthy is talking through her hat, she either doesent read the papers or more likely her PR gofer is not worth the salary she's paying them. Ireland never had a partial smoking ban, it was total a total ban from 29/3/04 when all smokers were kicked out on to the street. The southern ireland ban has increased smokers by 2% in the last two years. She also states that the ban has increased trade in southern ireland, well Kerry might be interested to hear that apart from the over 4000 pubs that have closed in ireland since the ban, the majority of pubs in rural areas dont open until 7pm and a lot more just open at the weekend. Yes I'm sure its very pleasant for non smokers to sit in pubs in rural ireland but they're mostly sitting on their own these days.
With people like Kerry McCarthy in govt either telling blatent lies or else not being up to the job they're being paid to do by shoddy research, disinterest or just spewing words to fill in their parliamentary time, is it any wonder that the electorate are misinformed and brainwashed into being fearful by matters that are not true, this leads to people getting disenchanted and loosing trust in their so called leaders and such an example was the recent local elections when labour got a taste of it.
Kerry McCarthy's 'response' was utterly predictable, I fear - full of fluffy ideology, foot-stamping assertion, and wilful misinterpretation of other people's views - and totally unmoved by any of the masses of statistical data which severely undermine her position.
In short - a 'politician's' reply.
Were we perhaps rather naive in expecting anything else ?
And - whether she likes it or not - her MENTALITY is PRECISELY that of the Nazi ideologues she so dislikes being compared with: the ineradicable desire to CONTROL others in pursuit of some imagined HIGHER GOOD.
Whom, after all, among their opponents did the Nazis ever seek to PERSUADE ?
Sieg Heil !
The misinformed toff wants voting out at the next election. The only thing that the smoking ban has achieved is loyal labour voters are quitting the party in their droves they arnt quitting the fags.I am sick to my teeth that these do gooders Ash the pharmecutical companies and this poxy government is forever trying to tell me how to live my life. I enjoy a cigarette i know the risk to myself and i am not about to give up. These politicians can go to hell they want to get on with the job of solving the real problems of this miserable country instead of persecuting smokers all the time. Its about time smokers stood together and say enough is enough. They sell them they take the revenue from them and then have the bloody cheek to dictate to us that we shouldnt smoke the hypocritical morons. I urge everyone to find out in your constituency who voted for the smoking ban and vote them all out at the next election.