Campaigns update
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 Thanks to everyone who has signed THIS e-petition on the Downing Street website. Since I mentioned it two weeks ago, numbers have risen from 400+ to just over 1,000, putting it among the top 150 petitions. (To put this in perspective, there are currently 5496 petitions on the site.)
Already in the top 50 (with 5072 signatures) is THIS petition which calls on the government to "Amend the smoking ban to allow a limited number of smoking licences to be obtained by owners of pubs, restaurants and clubs from their local council".
One or two people have commented that they don't like the wording of the point of sale petition, and there will be others who don't like the idea of smoking licences (because of the cost etc). I share their concerns but, in my experience, it is very difficult to devise a credible petition that satisfies everyone.
What you have to ask yourself is this: it may not offer the perfect outcome, but if a particular campaign succeeds, will the situation have changed for the better? In other words, don't withhold your support just because you don't agree with every dot and comma.
As it happens, I have similar reservations about the Campaign for Separate Smoking Rooms - an initiative that would allow separate smoking rooms in private members' clubs (including working men's clubs). In a perfect world smoking would be permitted in pubs as well as clubs, but - in the short term - CSSR offers a limited (and therefore realistic) solution to the current impasse. For that reason, we must support it.
Reader Comments (7)
I quite agree, any step forward would be a triumph and, hopefully a stepping stone to more steps forward.
If we can succeed in getting some choice back into some venues, the numbers will speak for themselves, as those venues takings soar and they are filled to capacity, whilst the others will remain near empty and with, at best, mediocre takings.
Perhaps that is exactly what the government and their puppeteers ASH are afraid of?
Simon, you pointed out to me, some months ago, the complete futility of HMGov Petitions.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not think that there has been one of these petitions which the Government have taken notice of or acted upon, and that included one which I believe attracted well over a million signatures some while back.
I used to believe in these petitions, until I realised that our clever little boys in GovUK allow us to think that we are doing something, that we are being rebels, by signing this sort of thing, "keep them at home, busy typing up their signatures, and their letters all day, then we won't get any real trouble on the streets"
I wonder what would have happened if we had all had computers and HMGov websites back in 1937, would some bright spark have started a petition to stop us going to war with Germany?
Sad to say I know, but think about it, it's true.
Peter, I haven't changed my mind about petitions. On their own I think they are a waste of time. However, the point of sale petition is not a stand alone initiative. It's part of a wider campaign, organised by small retailers, to try and persuade the government not to ban the display of tobacco in shops.
The retailers have been lobbying politicians for some time. This is a small element of that campaign. My understanding is that if the petition attracts a reasonable number of signatures it will be included as part of the retailers' submission to the DoH consultation. In other words, it will offer another string to the retailers' bow.
We were asked to promote it and, on this occasion, I felt it would be churlish to ignore the request. However, what persuaded me to help is that there is a clear strategy behind it. Likewise, the Campaign for Separate Smoking Rooms.
In short, anything that is well devised and executed will get our support.
If the point of sale petition is part of a wider campaign, Simon, then I still agree that it is worthwhile and could hopefully influence Government opinion.
It's not that I don't agree with petitions in general, because I do. But, I have come to the conclusion that the HM UKGov site is nothing more than a big con, devised for the sole purpose of keeping the proletariat happy.
But as with most of this Government's plans, laws, ideas, and quick fixes, there comes a time when we eventually all see right through them, and for me, that time has come now.
There is nothing more proactive, than being seen on BBC News, delivering an enormous pile of papers, with thousands of signatures on them, direct to the door of number 10. They cannot hide the fact that they received them can they? They cannot hide the deputation that stand as a group, on number 10s doorstep and deliver them by hand. There they are, as bold as brass, showing their faces on TV for the world to see. These are not anonymous names floating in the ethernet, these are real people, who can gain public support by just being seen.
I think we should use Gordon Brown's "petition forum", against him, as it should be intended. In other words, use the good part of it, which is the part that reaches out to every computer owner in the UK, let HM Gov do the hard graft, but then, instead of relying on the figures reaching the right department, via the internet, we should print them off, many, many copies of them, and deliver them by hand, just as I cited above, that way gaining maximum publicity, which the internet hardly ever does.
The Government does not want choice. I wrote to Hazel Blears regarding members clubs. My request was sent to the Department of Health and I received a reply today, which includes to following:
'Smokefree legislation was introduced to protect employees and the public from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. Members’ clubs have employees who have a right to be protected from secondhand smoke in the same way that employees in other hospitality settings are protected by the new law.
During consideration of the Health Bill, both houses of parliament decided by a significant majority to include both licenced premises and members’ clubs within the new law.
In commercial terms, the inclusion of members’ clubs within the new law creates a level playing field within the hospitality sector'.
Peter -
I completely agree with you about the greater efficacy of 'real' petitions - a point I made not so long ago (response: muted).
Nonetheless, I think we should also support Simon's 'foot-in-the-door' approach: it makes good tactical sense.
Chas -
Your response from Hazel Drears (how she must be missing Tony) was depressingly tired and predictable, and tends to confirm what I and many others have long feared: the Department of Health is now THE chief arbiter on social policy in this country......................
We should never have allowed the phrase 'Doctor's orders' to take root in our language !
Anyone have any GOOD news for a change ?
Everyone -
Talking of the New Medicocracy, I've only just seen that in the States, the House of Representatives recently passed a Bill (again) to place tobacco under the control of the Food and Drug Administration.
We all know what THAT means.
Still, that sort of thing could NEVER happen here....................