ASH: tobacco lobby hijacks website

Desperate stuff! The Chartered Institute for Environmental Health has just issued the following press release:

Tobacco lobby 'hijacks' website
16th July 2010

Pro-health campaign ASH has accused the tobacco industry of orchestrating pro-smoking comments on a website launched by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in a move to get ‘unnecessary’ laws and regulations scrapped.

Mr Clegg said the Your Freedom site would allow ‘raucous, unscripted debates’. Once a proposition is put forward, the public can make comments and vote on opinions by giving them a score out of five stars.

The government says it will take notice of the views expressed, before drafting a Freedom Bill intended to cut down on bureaucracy and improve civil liberties.

On the first day the site went live at least 18 people called for less restrictive laws on smoking in pubs, tobacco advertising or signage, making it one of the most popular topics.

But a survey released the same day by YouGov on behalf of ASH to mark the third anniversary of the introduction of smoke-free legislation found growing support for the ban.

Overall, 81 per cent of adults in England back the prohibition on smoking in workplaces, pubs and restaurants, compared with just over 70 per cent three years ago.

An ASH spokesperson said: ‘No politician in their right mind would consider advocating overturning the smoke-free legislation.

‘I think this surge of suggestions has probably been put up by the tobacco industry and campaigners, but it is probably a bit of a fad and will all die down.’

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said although the Cabinet Office needed to ensure debates were not hijacked by lobbyist groups, there was ‘no major concern or alarm’ over the process.

She added: ‘We are constantly arguing against excessive top-down bureaucracy that ties people to paperwork and unnecessary regulation.

‘We are all for people being able to have a say and hopeful that councils will also get involved and expose areas where they think centralised bureaucracy is slowing them down or wasting their resources.’

The YouGov research also uncovered public support for extending prohibition on smoking to cars and outdoor areas such as children’s playgrounds.

Ian Gray, CIEH policy officer, said: ‘Smokers are increasingly aware of the danger to themselves and others from second-hand smoke.’

Hmmm. Do you think the tobacco control lobby is getting just a teensy bit concerned? They must have hoped any opposition to the smoking ban would have disappeared long before now. Instead, it's stronger than ever.

Fancy that!

PS. There have been a hell of a lot more than 18 comments on ConHome in favour of changes to the smoking ban. If 18 comments can rattle them enough to provoke this reaction, they must be in a real tizz now!! Hilarious.

Update on Thursday, July 15, 2010 by Simon Clark

Ha ha! Another reason for ASH to be nervous ... Cut all Public Funding to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). (Update: see comments.)

Nick Clegg's denial of our freedom

Peter Thurgood, who regularly comments here, has provoked a further storm of protest about the smoking ban over on ConservativeHome.

Earlier this week Peter wrote to Jonathan Isaby, co-editor of ConservativeHome, with some observations about the Nick Clegg video (above) which I wrote about HERE, following a tip-off from Peter, on Monday.

Jonathan agreed to write about it, incorporating some of Peter's comments, and you can see the result (and all the comments) HERE.

Here is the full text of what Peter sent ConservativeHome:

Nick Clegg’s denial of our freedom

On the Your Freedom website, where the public have been invited to add their views to exactly which laws, rules, regulations, they think need amending or overturning, Nick Clegg has suddenly decided to add a new video of himself, telling the public how well the site is doing and how the Government are looking at “all” the ideas and views that are being put forward.

Mr Clegg then adds that there are exceptions however, such as repealing the death penalty, and looking at the smoking ban.

What sort of hypocritical double-talk is this? The amendment of the smoking ban has been one of the most popular ideas to have been put forward on the Your Freedom website. The general consensus has been not to overturn the ban completely, but to amend it, allowing separate venues for smoking as well as non-smoking.

A significant 25% of the population smoke, and feel quite rightly that their rights have been taken away from them by this very unpopular law. They have the backing of many MPs and with the Your Freedom website promising to look at their views, thought that here they had the voice of fairness at least willing to look at what they were asking for. But now Nick Clegg has taken away, in one minute sentence, and hope they had of fairness.

The Your Freedom website is therefore nothing more than a complete falsehood. It allows people to believe that their views on the smoking ban were to be read and possibly looked into. The website even has a section clearly marked “Smoking”. Why is this section there if Mr Clegg has no intentions of even looking at it?

In making such a statement, Mr Clegg has now clearly misled the public on this issue.

The deputy prime minister may like to think this issue is dead and buried but the strength of feeling and the number of comments it has generated on ConservativeHome alone in the past week suggests that it is far from that.

Keep those comments coming. I suggest that you also send a letter (not an email) to Nick Clegg at the House of Commons.

Messing about on the river

I feared the worst when the heavens opened mid afternoon and it rained so hard that the puddles on the South Bank were threatening to become ponds. Thankfully the downpour ceased and in typically British fashion the sun came out just in time for the start of last night's boat party on the Thames.

The ship's capacity is 235 and in the event there were over 200 guests on board The Elizabethan, a Mississippi-style paddle steamer (above), including six MPs - Greg Knight, Philip Davies, Christopher Chope, David Nuttall, Dr Dan Poulter and Mike Weatherley.

Philip and Greg gave short speeches and it was gratifying to hear that the fight to amend the ban will continue with their support. (Are you listening, Nick Clegg?)

Delighted too to see so many friendly and familiar faces including a large number of people who attended the Voices of Freedom series of debates. (We seem to have acquired a cult following!)

Ditto Dave Atherton, Martin Cullip, Liz Barber, Peter Thurgood and other occasional readers of this blog. Thanks for coming.

Celebrities may have been thin on the ground (we did invite Simon Cowell but I guess he was busy) but we had our very own VIPs: Madsen Pirie (director, Adam Smith Institute), Phil Booth (national coordinator, NO2ID), Alex Deane (director, Big Brother Watch, who also said a few words), Simon Richards (director, The Freedom Association), Mark Wallace (campaign director, Taxpayers Alliance), Donal Blaney (Young Britons Foundation), Chris Snowdon (author, Velvet Glove Iron Fist) and of course Ranald Macdonald (MD, Boisdale of Belgravia) to whom I proposed a toast for all his help and support.

Finally, I am tempted to identify the guests below but on reflection .... I have to work with these people!

Update on Thursday, July 15, 2010 by Simon Clark

Thanks to Peter Thurgood for the photo below. The chap on the right is David Nuttall, Conservative MP for Bury North. I wonder if he's phoning emergency services - "I'm an MP, get me out of here!"

Antony cooks up a storm

Today's Daily Telegraph features a review of the Royal Academy of Arts' Sargent and the Sea exhibition. John Singer Sargent was an American portrait and landscape painter who, early in his career in the 19th century, devoted much of his work to maritime subjects.

The reason I mention this is because last week I was invited to a private dinner and viewing of the exhibition (which opened at the weekend). Somewhat bizarrely, the evening included the "opportunity to participate in a culinary masterclass alongside award-winning celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson".

According to the invitation:

Antony, one of only seven chefs in the world to have merited the lifelong title of Meilleur Ouvrier de Grande Bretegne (the chefs' Oscar) will guide us in creating some mouth-watering recipes, inspired by the coastal regions of France and the Mediterranean, much loved by John Sargent.

After Antony's demonstration guests were split into teams and we had to recreate his dishes or, if we were unable to do that, improvise. I was a team leader and because I hadn't been paying full attention I decided we should improvise.

It was a bit like the Generation Game but with very sharp knives. Antony, I need hardly say, was stone cold sober when he showed us what to do. The same could not be said of every guest. In fact, by the time my team began chopping everything in sight we must have been on our third or fourth glass of champagne. I felt more like Keith Floyd than AWT.

No surprise, then, when at least two people suffered cuts to their fingers. (Was that tomato purée or something else on the plate? It was very hard to tell.)

Anyway it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The exhibition wasn't bad either.

Sargent and the Sea at the Royal Academy. Until September 26.

Your freedom, his choice

Thanks to Peter Thurgood for drawing my attention to Nick Clegg's latest contribution to the Your Freedom project.

Nice to know there are some freedoms that have already been ruled out by the new Coalition Government - including the freedom to smoke in well-ventilated smoking rooms.

Amusing too that the deputy prime minister has chosen to utter the words "death penalty" and "smoking ban" in the same sentence, as if the two are inextricably linked.

What a plonker.

PS. Although the video above can also be found on YouTube HERE, comments have been disabled. I wonder why?

Update on Monday, July 12, 2010 by Simon Clark

Just seen the front page headline in today's Times: 'Clegg the executioner'. What is it with Nick Clegg and the death penalty? The death of the great British pub, perhaps?

Update on Monday, July 12, 2010 by Simon Clark

Great post by Dick Puddlecote: The Great Repeal Swindle. Must read. Ditto Leg-iron HERE.

Just fancy that!

Click on the image above and it will take you to a post on the Government's new Your Freedom website. Someone has quite rightly pointed out that:

There is a major flaw on how this site is being operated.

For example, if you search for a specific idea, lets say 'smoking', you currently come up with 82 different headings about smoking, which contain 1000's of comments and votes between them.

But the moderators have blocked the majority of the postings to these threads, referring people to one particular thread. "To try and keep the subject in one place and under one thread."

By doing this the website now only counts the votes and comments on that one particular thread (say 107 comments and 200 votes), when in actual fact there are 1000's more comments and votes on the same subject, within the blocked threads!

It would be nice to think that this could be rectified but don't hold your breath. Click HERE if you want to comment.

Stop paying for the smoke police

On Friday the Treasury launched a new initiative designed to "re-think government to deliver more for less".

The Spending Challenge is your chance to help shape the way government works. We need to reduce the deficit by cutting public spending in a way that is fair and responsible - and you can help.

Among the first ideas to be posted was the eminently sensible suggestion that government should:

Stop paying for the smoke police

The Department of Health handed over £29.5 million to councils in 2007 to help train and recruit officers to police the streets, pubs and bars specifically in relation to the smoking ban. A Government-funded course trained 1,200 council employees in the first few months of the ban, with more coming later. This is a complete and utter waste of money when we have a largely compliant population.

How the idea could be implemented

Withdraw funding for councils for this nonsense. Amend the smoking law to allow at least some separately ventilated, segretated rooms in pubs and clubs and you won't need any policing at all.

Click HERE to comment.

Note: you have to register but it takes less than 30 seconds.

Rod Liddle on the smoking ban EDM

Here I am being interviewed by Rod Liddle for the Sunday Times - well, the new online version - which I wrote about HERE on Thursday.

The video also features interviews with Brian Binley MP, whose EDM calling for a review of the smoking ban sparked some debate this week, and Stephen Williams, the dull but worthy Lib Dem MP who recently tabled his own EDM "to recognize the success of this year's St Paul's Carnival in Bristol, which he attended alongside thousands of Bristolians".

Rod's video is seven minutes long but it fairly races along. To view it however you have to register and then pay a subscription. I opted for the 24 hour pass which costs £1.

Having negotiated Rupert Murdoch's paywall (an initiative I rather applaud) you'll find the video HERE. It's worth doing if only to add your own comment.

Travel sickness

Can't wait to go on holiday at the end of the month. I am cream crackered - and the heat isn't helping (which is why I'm taking my family to Iceland and Norway!).

In the last week alone I've been to Cork, Dublin, London, Birmingham and Bristol. I went to Birmingham (above) on Wednesday to confirm plans for the Conservative conference in October but it was all done in a mad rush after I discovered (on Tuesday) that the deadline for Fringe listings in the conference brochure was midnight on Friday.

I was in London all day Thursday. (I got home at 2.30 on Friday morning following dinner with Antony Worrall Thompson and 60 or so other people at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly.) And I was in Bristol yesterday so I had very little time to complete the online registration form. Eventually I beat the deadline for Fringe listings by just one hour.

We'll announce details of our conference events shortly. In the meantime I can report that we'll be hosting two events at the 2010 Conservative conference: a speaker meeting at 1.00pm on Monday October 4, and a reception/party from 6.00-9.00pm the same day. Make a note in your diary now!

Next week - following our boat party in London on Wednesday - I'm off to Liverpool to check out venues for the Lib Dem conference in September. Thankfully I don't have to go to Manchester as well - we're giving the Labour conference a miss this year.

Going, going ... gone

Next week's Smoke On The Water boat party hosted by Forest and The Free Society is now fully subscribed with no fewer than 235 registered guests. If you haven't booked a ticket I'm afraid you've, er, missed the boat.

Rod Liddle, (Brian Binley) and me

Just enjoyed a rollicking couple of hours with Sunday Times columnist and Spectator blogger Rod Liddle. The hair may be a little greyer than in this photo but Rod has lost none of his sharpness or charm.

He is currently filming a weekly video for the new Sunday Times website (paywall and all) and this week - prompted by Brian Binley's EDM - he has decided to cover the smoking ban.

At 11.30 this morning Brian and I duly reported for duty on College Green, opposite the Houses of Parliament, where Rod wanted to interview the pair of us and a representative of ASH.

In the event - and after a lot of waiting - an ASH spokesman failed to show. Instead they put forward Stephen Williams, a youthful-looking Lib Dem MP, who declared that the reason he couldn't support the use of extraction fans (and therefore an amendment to the smoking ban) is because - wait for it - they are too noisy and drown out conversation!!!

Well, that's what Rod said he said. I was out of earshot at the time but it reminded me of what a BBC presenter once said on a Five Live discussion programme. Why would we want better ventilation in pubs, she asked. Surely that would encourage people to smoke more?

Doh!

After Brian and Stephen had left and it was my turn to be interviewed we decided it would be more interesting to do it outside a pub with a drink in my hand and a fag in Rod's. So off we staggered - Rod, the cameraman and me - to the Marquis of Granby, a pub familiar to those who attended the Voices of Freedom debates in June.

A couple of pints later (Rod was drinking dry white wine) we finished filming and continued chatting. Here's a little of what I can remember:

• Rod smokes 30 cigarettes a day
• He plays five-a-side football for the Smoking Monkeys at Millwall Football Club
• Several members of the team smoke, but not as much as Rod
• Last time out Rod was top scorer
• The Smoking Monkeys are better than most 19-year-olds

Confidentially, Rod also told me that his wife Alicia bought him a running machine for Christmas because, in her words, he was "fat as fuck".

After she caught him smoking - while running - on the machine she declared the whole thing to be "pointless".

PS. Rod's video will appear on the Sunday Times website from Sunday. For the benefit of those who don't want to subscribe I am hoping that the ST will allow me to post it on this blog later next week. Watch this space.

Ten reasons why the smoking ban stinks

Guest post by JOE JACKSON

Ten reasons why the smoking ban stinks:

(1) It disregards property rights. The air in a pub ‘belongs’ neither to smokers nor nonsmokers, and certainly not to politicians, but to the publican, and it is the publican who should decide the smoking policy on his or her own premises.

(2) It sets a terrible precedent by blurring the boundary between public and private. A law court is a ‘public place’ – a nightclub is not, and neither politicians nor doctors have the right to legislate what people do in it. If we concede to them that right, they will inevitably extend it to our cars (as they are now trying to do) and then to our homes (which has already happened in parts of the US).

(3) It removes freedom of choice – not only the smoker’s freedom to enjoy a legal habit, but everyone’s freedom to work out their own compromises and solutions.

(4) It is anti-democratic. The government’s own Office for National Statistics found 68% opposed to a total ban, but like every other smoking ban in the world, it was imposed regardless. The only opinions which have been heard are those of medical authorities and lobby groups, and directly or indirectly, the pharmaceutical companies which fund them.

(5) It is socially divisive and encourages intolerance. Government is blatantly stigmatising a particular group, who must change their behaviour or be excluded from ‘correct’ society (a recent NHS campaign used the slogan ‘If you smoke, you stink’). Well-intentioned or not, antismoking authorities have created tremendous animosity between friends, neighbours and family members. They have also encouraged people to think that government can, or should, intervene to stop other people doing whatever they personally don’t approve of.

(6) It is hypocritical, since tobacco remains legal and the Treasury makes around £10 billion per year from taxing it. And, incidentally, there is a smoker-friendly bar in the House of Commons.

(7) Despite ever more frantic and contrived efforts to ‘prove’ otherwise, it is bad for business. Pubs and clubs are dying, and although the ban may not be the only factor, few people in the trade would deny that it’s a significant one.

(8) It is technologically backward, since it is not difficult, with decent modern air filtration, to make smoke virtually unnoticeable, and certainly harmless.

(9) It does not stop people smoking. Even if we find it appropriate in the first place to ban smoking in pubs in order to pressure people into quitting, it doesn’t work. In many countries smoking rates have risen since bans have been imposed.

(10) Finally, and most importantly, the government claims to be setting aside all these considerations in order to tackle a deadly health threat: 
‘secondhand smoke’. But there is no actual proof that even one person has died from this phantom menace. After 40 years of studies, antismokers can still only produce computer projections based on dubious statistics, and ‘relative risk ratios’ which sound scary but mean nothing in the real world. That’s why we see, for instance, posters telling us that tobacco smoke contains various nasty-sounding chemicals, without mentioning that they are present only at infinitesimal, harmless levels.

If we accept that such feeble evidence justifies a smoking ban, we are setting the level of acceptable risk so low as to justify banning just about everything else, too: cooking (which produces carcinogens), candles, incense, open fires, perfume, etc. Thousands of products, from household cleaners to cosmetics, contain higher levels of toxic chemicals than tobacco – and are still harmless.

Ultimately, the problem here goes way beyond ‘to smoke or not to smoke’. There is a worrying general trend towards more and more intrusive legislation, justified by more and more dishonest and misleading junk science and fearmongering. (Typical of this are recent claims that the continuation of a long-term decline in heart attacks is ‘caused by’ smoking bans, and the invention of a new threat, ‘thirdhand smoke,’ on the basis of no scientific evidence whatsoever).

What’s needed is not just the repeal of the smoking ban and other petty, oppressive laws, but a return to healthy scepticism, fairness, and common sense.

www.joejackson.com

EDM 406 - how you can help

You can check the level of support for Brian Binley's Early Day Motion on smoking in pubs and clubs HERE and compare it with other EDMs HERE.

Between now and the summer recess MPs will be encouraged to sign the EDM. To have any impact an EDM needs at least 50 signatures.

Don't be discouraged if there are only a few signatures on the EDM. It takes time to attract support. It would help enormously however if you were to write to your own MP, at the House of Commons or the constituency office, urging them to support EDM 406 (Review of smoking ban in pubs and clubs).

If your MP is a Conservative you might wish to draw their attention to the response on ConservativeHome HERE. But the EDM needs the support of Labour and LibDem MPs too so don't be put off if your MP isn't a Conservative.

Note: MPs receive hundreds of emails every day/week. I know some MPs who as a matter of policy NEVER read emails sent to their parliamentary address. They leave it to a member of staff and anything that is not constituency-orientated will probably be ignored.

It takes more time but it is better by far to write a letter to your MP, stressing that you are a constituent and (politely) requesting a reply.

MP wants smoking ban review

This afternoon Conservative MP Brian Binley issued the following press release:

Brian Binley, MP for Northampton South, has tabled an Early Day Motion calling for a review of the smoking ban to stop the closure of so many pubs and clubs.

Over 2,000 pubs and clubs have gone to the wall in the last year and seven pubs a day are going out of business. They are under massive pressure to keep afloat and the smoking ban has further impacted on their plight.

When the bill was implemented on 1st July 2007 the Government said it would review the ban in three years' time, a review which now does not appear to be forthcoming.

Brian said: "Many pubs and clubs are finding it difficult dealing with the economic situation. The smoking ban has further impacted on many businesses and the trade is really struggling.

"I want to consider a balanced and proportionate amendment to the legislation which allows for segregated smoking rooms or areas within pubs, bars and clubs, provided that effective smoke extraction systems of an authorised standard are installed."

The EDM calls on the Government to conduct a thorough review, supported by consultation with all parties and affected business sectors on the impact the smoking ban has had on public houses and private members clubs.

Brian said: "I understand that the Government has no plans to review the smoking ban at the present time and that makes me angry. The then Health Minister promised that a review would be held three years after the implementation of the ban but the Government is now saying that it has no plans to do so. That denial is simply unacceptable.

"I have tabled this EDM to put pressure on the Government to look into the impact the ban is having on the pubs and clubs trade and to conduct an urgent review.

"The EDM also calls for any changes to the smoking ban legislation to be made on the basis of evidence, fairness and proportionality whilst recognising the importance of pubs and clubs to the nation's social life and community wellbeing."

ConservativeHome has the story HERE. Very important that you comment.

Update on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 by Simon Clark

I am delighted to report that Brian has also declared his support for the Save Our Pubs and Clubs: Amend The Smoking Ban campaign. More information to follow.

See also: Time to review the smoking ban, says MP (sent to 2,500 supporters of the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign).

Update on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 by Simon Clark

Excellent response on ConHome to the news of Brian Binley's EDM. I recognise a lot of Save Our Pubs and Clubs supporters and there is a long comment by musician (and Forest supporter) Joe Jackson who has offered 'Ten reasons why the smoking ban stinks'. Joe has agreed to let us publish it on The Free Society website in the morning. I'll link to it from here.

Effect of tobacco display bans

I know readers of this blog are sceptical about the value of public or stakeholder consultations. I am too, but we still have to fight the good fight. And so this afternoon I submitted Forest's response to (deep breath) the Welsh Assembly government's 'Consultation on the draft tobacco control regulations for Wales under the Health Act 2009'.

Actually, it didn't take long to write because it was very similar to our response to the Department of Health's 'Consultation on proposed tobacco control regulations in England (under the Heath Bill 2009)' which we submitted in January.

The only significant difference was the addition of a section that drew attention to a new report by Patrick Basham of the Democracy Institute entitled Canada’s Ruinous Tobacco Display Ban: Economic and Public Health Lessons.

I doubt if any of this information will persuade politicians or officials in the Welsh Assembly to reverse their plans to prohibit tobacco displays and cigarette vending machines, but I hope they read it and feel rather less smug about regulations that the evidence suggests is not only counter-productive but treats adult smokers with such contempt.