Nick Hogan - "a parable for our times"
Monday, March 15, 2010 
Excellent article by Philip Johnston in today's Daily Telegraph. Prompted by last week's report from the National Audit Office that showed that "nearly two thirds of offenders sentenced to less than 12 months custody re-offend within a year of release", Johnston writes:
We might all be a little more amenable to the arguments against short-term prison sentences for recidivist criminals if they were not handed out to people who patently do not deserve them. Nick Hogan, 43, from Chorley, has just been released after being jailed for six months for failing to pay fines for smoking-ban breaches at his two Bolton pubs. Hogan was the first person imprisoned as a result of the prohibition on smoking in public places in England. He racked up fines and costs of £10,000 for letting people smoke in his two pubs, the Swan and the Barristers, as a final defiant gesture when the smoking ban came into force in 2008.
He could not afford to pay but it never crossed his mind, or occurred to many of us for that matter, that letting smokers light up when everyone in the pub, both customers and staff were happy for them to puff away, might lead to jail.
As his wife, Denise, said: "He's not a smoking campaigner or anything like that. He didn't want to change the law, he just thought if people wanted to smoke it should be their choice. We never expected him to go to jail. He hasn't harmed anybody and he isn't a criminal." Funnily enough, when Hogan was taken to jail the first thing he was issued with was tobacco, matches and rolling paper, because prisons are exempt from the ban on the grounds that inmates cannot go outside to have a smoke.
After 11 days inside, he was released when friends and campaigners raised the cash, which was delivered by a masked man calling himself Old Holborn.
What a parable for our times this is. Where was the anti‑prison lobby as Hogan was being carted off – or is smoking now considered a crime more heinous than theft or assault? Why did the lobby that condemns short custodial terms for common thieves not put their hands in their pockets for Hogan's freedom collection?
Full article HERE.
Reader Comments (4)
"when the smoking ban came into force in 2008."
???
Excellent article but sloppy reporting as the smoking ban came into force in 2007....
Meanwhile, in other news...
A man is murdered by a poor troubled schizophrenic suffering from The Voices. This poor disadvantaged soul was up in court just four months before he butchered Elliot Guy, who he claims was looking at him funny. The first conviction, for an unprovoked attack which left the victim needing reconstructive surgery to his face, resulted in Colin Welsh receiving a fine of £200.
That's right.
£200.
Oh, plus £300 compo to the victim.
Compare and contrast.
Basil ... the difference is that Nick Hogan dared to say no to those who deem themselves our 'masters'.
To them we are little more than mere peasants and why should they care if peasants attack each other?
The severe penaties are administered to anyone who stands up to these self-imposed 'masters'
Spartan, are you talking of those self same people who are in office thanks to public votes? The people who are, in fact, our SERVANTS and are essentially employed by us, the public who are, therefore, THEIR MASTERS!
The big problem here is that these self named 'masters' have totally forgotten or conveniently put aside, what their actual role in government is and that they are only there by what is supposed to be a democratic vote by the public, the people who pay their wages and their expenses - these 2 things alone being a greater privilege than many voters could ever expect for themselves.