Nick Hogan - every little helps
Thursday, March 4, 2010 You could be forgiven for thinking that it's gone a bit quiet on the Nick Hogan front - and it's true that donations have temporarily stalled - but behind the scenes a lot has been going on (not all of it welcome, I have to say).
Old Holborn posted THIS update last night. Donations currently total £6,224 and if Nick is to be released early next week we need another £2,500.
If you haven't contributed yet, or if you can afford to make a further donation, however small, please do so TODAY. Every little helps. Click HERE.
This morning we will be sending a second email to Forest subscribers, many of whom have already been very generous (see HERE). We will also be emailing the 2,500 registered supporters of the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign. Fingers crossed, we can reach our target very soon.
PS. I spoke to the prison yesterday on OH's behalf and was told that Nick will be released within two hours of the money being provided in CASH. Seriously. They won't accept any other form of payment. Welcome to 21st century Britain.
Simon Clark
Guido Fawkes is running the story HERE. I'd give the comments a miss, though.
Simon Clark
12:47 ... Great news. A combination of this morning's emails and Guido's support has resulted in a surge of donations. Current total is £7,571, an increase of £1,500 in just three hours ...
Reader Comments (47)
What a Country this is turning into!
If some low life mugs and attacks a member of the Public, they either get 'let off' or get community service sentence's...But if you 'Smoke' in the wrong place, you get a massive fine...and a Prison sentence...as well as the lose of your job...Its about time that the 'Smokers' of this Country stand 'shoulder to shoulder', and Vote out ALL those Political Parties that 'Support', these 'Gestapo' style Laws.
OUR Human Rights are being removed...and we are no longer a 'FREE' Country.
VOTE THEM OUT AND SUPPORT ONLY THOSE POLITICAL PARTIES THAT WILL RETURN OUR 'RIGHTS' TO US, By bringing back, 'Smoking & None Smoking' sections to our public areas....
Hi Simon
I want to donate but I don't use Paypal and don't want to set up an account. Surely we need an online payment facility for Forest?
Or a system to phone in and pay by debit/credit
card? I can imagine that not everyone has or
wants Paypal and I just don't understand why we can't have other options? We may be missing donations which would otherwise come in. Would you be able to say pse.if there are
other options?
Best regards
I have just made a small donation - pensioner;can't afford much. The 'big brother' state we now live in is very worrying for all of us. I have several 'pensioner' friends and we all still smoke, and we feel that our 'human rights' are being violated too. I am also very patriotic and would love to see this lovely country of ours run by a Government with some common sense.
Good for you Nick for sticking by your principles, but so sorry for the consequences and hope we can get you out of prison soon. You wouldn't have received that sentence if you'd mugged an old lady! Such is justice in this country now.
Cheques for the Nick Hogan fund can be made payable to Freedom to Choose (Scotland). Please write 'Nick Hogan Fund' on the reverse side of the cheque.
The address is Freedom to Choose (Scotland), c/o The Dalmeny Bar, 297 Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 8SA.
Contact: Belinda@Justice for Nick hogan page on facebook, ot at Freedom2Choose
why then can our MP's smoke in the commons and why aren't they fined the same, they bring in these laws and make it so that it doesn't apply to them. They are the ones that should be doing time.
Beverly, it's very easy to set up a PayPal account. I didn't have one until Monday when I made a donation to the Nick Hogan fund using my credit card. It took a few minutes to set up, no more.
I am astonished at the selfishness and stupidity of Nick Hogan. If he had paid the fine of £200 he would not now be relying on a donation of £10000. He sounds like one of those egotistical publicans who think they are bigger than the law.
I agree with all the comments so far. Nick has been severely dealt with. As an ex-publican myself, and a smoker I sympathise whole heartedly
.
This is only the first of many, I HOPE!
The fight-back starts here!
Archie
Nick was defending a case against him. Paying the fine would have been counter productive. He had paid part of what was due when he was imprisoned.
Simon,
I have three suggestions:-
1. Perhaps some Forest volunteers can take a collection tin around the smokers outside a few locals this weekend. I'd imagine quite a bit could be raised in short order.
2. Forest could have a few leaflets printed up and placed in the smoking areas of a few pubs around the place, summarizing the situation and giving oldholborn's website address.
3. Once all of this is finished and Nick is free, when the media inevitably call you to ask for comment, don't forget to point out that ASH raised less than £5,000 in the entire 2008/09 year from public donations, whereas the donations for Nick were achieved in short order. Also, please make it clear that, given ASH's total funding for the year was excess of £700,000, they relied almost exclusively upon the government and pharmaceutical-funded charities to demonize smokers - a significant minority of the population.
I have spent the last twenty minutes trying to make a donation to the "free Nick" campaign, with no success. PayPal is, and has always been, a rubbish site for payments. Sorry Nick.
Hello Belinda
Very many thanks indeed; really helpful and I will send donation as suggested.
Onward!
Thank you to Simon as well - I have a Paypal account but had probs. and prefer another way.
Simon,
Are you sure your pay pal link works? It threw an error for me, I went via OH paypal just now went ok, tried your link again and it failed.
Old Holborns link to donate works.
Worked for me.
http://bastardoldholborn.blogspot.com/2010/02/nick-hogan-jailed-over-no-smoking-ban.html
Fredrik, it did that to me too when I clicked more than once on the link on this site. I had the same problem when I tried linking to the Justice for Nick Hogan PayPal account from Dick Puddlecote's site. Best to go direct to Old Holborn and link to PayPal from there.
This landlord is a hero. If he were near enough to be my local I'd be proud to stand by him and go to jail with him if necessary.
FAR TOO FEW people have made a stand or spoken out against this DISCRIMINATORY and ILLEGAL total ban (we never voted for it, nor was it announced in the electorate in the New Labour manifesto).
Every decent person in the country can see that this is a huge injustice. Every child over 6 yrs old understands the concept of tolerance and sharing but not THIS government. Fairness in society? You HYPOCRITES!
We don't ask for 'smoking everywhere, we only ask for a CHOICE of smoking or non-smoking pubs/clubs/cinemas/public events, and DECENT HUMANE well-ventilated indoor smoking rooms in places like Hospitals.
Like all discrimination against minorities, this discrimination against smokers WILL be wiped out, but only when people stand up and complain about it.
Get your friends who are drinkers or overweight on board too, because they are next in the firing line unless these health fascists and their vision of mindless government-imposed conformity are STOPPED. Our grandfathers & great grandfathers fought & died for our freedom from that sort of thing, and it disgraces their memory that we are doing nothing about it now.
I've always been a floating voter but this time, only candidates who are against the ban have any chance of my vote. As for overall parties, Labour and Libdems voted 85% for the total ban and 25% of Tories, so guess unless you've one of the few MPs who went against the flow (full lists in Hansard), the best option is obvious.
Thankyou for the update, I have now made a second donation. Rarely have I been so motivated to donate so quickly but I really think we need to let the government know we cannot be treated like sheep, even if we have been acting like ones thus far, since this, the most cynical and divisive of all the bans has come into force. The government has taken advantage of our well known moderate British temperament, insulted us with these patronising PC rules and whilst they smoke in their palace and congratulate themselves we are poorer, pited against eachother AND paying the price of their arrogance and greed. It is time to fight back. This should be ont he front of all the national newpapers....isnt that what the media is for ?
Rarely have I been so motivated to donate and twice at that! This campaign is inspiring and shows us all what we can do when we pull together. Mutual respect for this landlord and our outrage at his treatment has finally spurred us to action.
Thanks also to Dr Shepherd above. It is very comforting to hear such words after visiting Guido and, against Simon's advice, checking the comments to find that humanity from some contributors over there is dead.
What was encouraging, tho, was that although some said they only decent thing "criminal" Labour has done is to implement the smoking ban, they still wouldn't vote them back in. I sense that this issue is low down when it comes to voting in the election for those that support the ban - but it is high on the voting agenda for those against it. Conservatives take note! Do you want your poll percentage to go up? Come clean on your choice policy and you might just find that it shoots up as fast as Nick Hogan's fund!
I believe 'they' knew very well that a total smoking ban in pubs (remember, a TOTAL ban was not in the manifesto) would impact heavily on the British Inn tradition, and they did it as an important part of marginalising anything uniquely British, especially English, in pursuit of the Europeanisation of our country.
Where are all those non-smokers who claimed they would go to the pub for a drink now there was no smoking? Some of them stay at home to drink because "there is no longer any atmosphere in the pub"!
Add to this those cheap supermarket sales of beer which 'they' do nothing to stop and - hey presto! The local pub can't make a living and disappears!
But it's our own fault! In continental bars if they don't like the no-smoking rule they ignore it and nobody does a thing! Why do we allow the government and PC police to walk all over us?
I had to give up smoking as I now suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). But do I blame the tobacco industry? No, I chose to smoke when I could. Instead, I put the blame on those health fascists of the anti-smoking lobby who seem more keen to stop those who do not want to give up than to help those who do. Their imposition of the smoking ban shows how they have succeeded where Hitler, a known anti-smoker, failed. Let's make some provisions for smokers in the pub!
Rupert Watts
Because administrators like this have too much say.
Because we have to pay for the parasites.
http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/what-do-i-do/business.html
For Beverley and others who prefer to donate by cheque:-
We have another safe avenue for donations for all those of you who would rather send a cheque.
If so, your Cheques for the Nick Hogan fund can be made payable to Freedom to Choose (Scotland).
They will be retained in the Freedom to Choose (Scotland) account until further instructions are available.
The address is Freedom to Choose (Scotland), c/o The Dalmeny Bar, 297 Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 8SA.
For total transparency I will update the 'donations sent' on a daily basis as soon as the Treasurer informs me of such.
This now gives the Nick Hogan fund twice the opportunity to reach our target.
Phil Johnson
Chairman,
Freedom2choose.info
So, we only need another £1092.52?! I've just made another donation.
Can you imagine it - we could trumpet that the engineer of this bloody ban, ASH, was able to raise only £4,975 from donations in an entire year (2008/9 - h/t Chris Snowdon) while more than double was raised in a matter of days by those who loathe them. Joy, oh joy!! The ovewhelming evidence that they're so fond of is on our side, and real!
Pat asked, what now and I agree. We can't waste this opportunity....I still like the idea of making a monthly donation to a 'fighting fund'.
Free Nick Hogan! And what will the Conservatives do? I guess the second word's "all!"
I'm a non-smoker but I support freedom. So £5 from me to the Nick Hogan cause. Please please, get rid of this Labour Govt. I know some of the other mainstream options are a bit iffy, but please relase us from this lot!
I’ve just read the comments on Guido Fawkes. I thought they were really amusing! I was quite surprised by the lack of anti-smoking comments – most of them seem to be by the same few people repeated over and over.
I couldn’t resist leaving a comment. When I’m party leader, I’m going to make all these private websites public and get the bad language stopped. I’ll fine everyone who uses a rude word, and then fine the owner of the site squillions for not stopping them. The law will not apply to me of course.
Love it!
I feel so heartened by the response to Nick Hogan's predicament. So many non-smokers have lent support by putting their money where their mouths are that, as I've been hoping, the 'smoking issue' is beginning to be seen for what it really is. There are people who can see further than the ends of their own noses!
And Rupert Watts: thank you for restoring my faith that there are still people whose sense of personal responsibility triumphs over the bitterness that results in prejudice.
Duh - I've just realised why it has to be cash -it's HMG's Money Laundering Act, isn't it?
(Just as Nick Hogan is expected to act as an unpaid policeman, so am I expected to play my part in enforcing the ML Act and, nope, I don't understand how it works either).
Yes, this is all very heartening, indeed.
But - somewhere - there sits a Big Man, a true Friend of Government, who, between sips of expensive Cognac, advises his hearers (smilingly) that there's nothing to worry about: this Nick Hogan thing will all blow over soon (as such things do), and then it'll be back to Business As Usual.
You know how fickle the People are, Old Boy.
And they all knuckle down in the end.
We must endeavour to prove him wrong this time.
We might also do well to consider adopting perhaps the most famous motto of the 'American' revolutionaries - when they, too, had had enough of pushy, remote government:
"DON'T TREAD ON ME !"
The U.K. has been degraded into a madhouse. Well ventilated pubs pose no risk. It's just Big Brother and P.C.Once we had a great country, but it's been debased and destroyed. Those responsible have been elected to office. I just pray that the forthcoming election will bring back some degree of sanity to our poor, benighted land.
Thanks Belinda. I gave up on paypal but wished to do my bit for one of the few causes that galvanises my natural inertia. Cheque in the post to Freedom to Choose 'Nick Hogan' fund. It is heartening to see so much support for this man. Mr Wells is wrong. You only get bad laws changed by fighting them, not by giving in. Ask the suffragettes. Or the Poll Tax rioters.
Pat Nurse reminded us somewhere of the phrase 'When the law becomes the enemy of man then man becomes the enemy of the law'. We are very close to it with the ever increasing restrictions on smoking. If Nick Hogan has done nothing else he may, just, have raised a small flag of warning against the unedifying march to a smoke free utopia.
Any law that inspires disrespect for other laws-the good laws-is a bad law.
Calvin Coolidge 30th President of the USA History ,they never learn !
Similar situation to the one we see now.
http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/prohibition_and_president_calv.html
skint at the moment cant make a donation. But can i point readers to www.thetruthseeker.co.uk the articles there give a good insight to how we are governed by a load of self serving twats worldwide. Maybe its not all true but it could be! Keep your powder dry and dont drink the water!
I've always beleived people vote against,rather than for.
Happy anti-smokers take it for granted.
Angry smokers will get revenge this election.
Probably a coalition,inc UKIP and BNP.
Mr Hogan could consider a new career as MEP ! Both so-called parliament buildings in Strasbourg and Brussels have large,comfortable smoking areas in their bars.
I am fortunate to live in Berlin where there are many bars for smokers.Unlike in the U.K. we have a Constitutional Court that does not allow the unelected EU commission to trample on our rights and freedoms.
I will make a donation to Nick through paypal.
from little acorns grow big oak trees,I have'nt been in my local since the ban, I do not like to be told how to enjoy myself ,nor do I like standing outside a pub smoking and company being disjointed every time someone wants to smoke.Just hassle when you should be enjoying your self
Had a whip round tonight for Nick - not many in (never is nowadays since the ban), but managed to get £15 in loose change to help.
We're all skint around our way, so to be honest that was good going.
Usually a whip around gains about £8 in loose change - it's almost double the normal amount.
Not much, I know, but every bit helps. I'll give the OH link on paypal a try tomorrow . If it doesn't work, I'll send a cheque to Freedom2Choose.
This law has to be reformed in some way - it is affecting every aspect of life - political, economic, social and family. It isn't even providing better public health as a whole (which it was supposed to do). Just look at the negative health effects that have been caused by the blanket ban, which are totally ignored by HMG.
I'm sorry, but I cannot support any political party that agrees with a blanket smoking ban. It is too extreme and borders on puritanism for me.
Nick is a hero! Why do more of us not stand up against tyranny? Some people would scoff at the very notion of a smoking ban being referred to as being tyrannical, but as I see it, there are no small freedoms. I hope that you guys over in the U.K.vote out the Labour party by the time my band comes to play there this July (it's been so tough to play there since the ban),then I hope that some of that spirit will spill over here into the U.S...
I've given what little that I can and have done my best in trying to contact press over here in the U.S. as well. The world needs to know just how far the anti-smoking crusade has gone. It will continue until we stop it collectively. As citizens of the "free" world who despise oppression, I feel that it's time for us to stand up for ourselves. This is about more than smoking. This is about the freedom to choose, about the pursuit of happiness, and about the loss of culture, property rights, and jobs.
I am with Nick and his family (and all of you here) in spirit. Fight on!
I'm allergic to PayPal - all those passwords and daily spam to follow for weeks afterwards.
Give me the campaign's BACS details and I'll transfer a tenner in quicker than I wrote this comment.
jredheadgirl -
Welcome back - and thanks for everything you're doing Over There, and you kind support for our efforts Over Here.
You ask why more of us do NOT stand up to Tyranny.
The sad answer is that MOST people only begin seriously to think about the loss of their freedoms when it hits them in their pockets.
It was, after all, the ECONOMIC distress caused by King George's government and the Bank of England which provided the primary impulse for Rebellion in 1776 - and not the perceived attack on 'traditional' English liberties.
Arguments as to the latter would only develop at a later stage.
Now the Wheel has turned - and both America and Britain find themselves saddled once again with governmental despotism (modern style), greed, and corruption.
Luckily, however, History is not made by Majorities - but (for good or ill) by Dedicated Minorities..............
Peter
I can give you BACS details for the cheque account where we will be holding donations for Nick, if you email me at belinda345@yahoo.com.
Any new update on yesterday's figure, Belinda?
Don't know on the paypal side. No cheques through but it is only a matter of time as people have said that they are posting them off.
I've donated. The smoking ban made me angry, and I think I've pretty much been angry ever since. This story hasn't helped at all, so today I'm a little angrier.
Freedom for Nick Hogan, and a little bit of freedom for smokers wouldn't go amiss either.
Absolutely Outrageous.
How has this government got away with so much - including taking away our freedom to smoke!
WE DID NOT VOTE FOR THIS!!!
Absolutely fed up with Labour's Nanny State Politics.
OUT! VOTE BNP!
Great to know Nick will be out soon. Cant they hunt any murderers or rapists down instead of pestering us poor smokers. Watch 911 mysteries on youtube and wake up. Mick.