Taking Liberties

The new Forest website is up and running HERE. It's a slimmed down version of the old one which was originally envisaged as an online magazine for smokers - but that proved a bit too ambitious.

Design-wise, the new site is not a major departure, but we've cleaned it up, improved the navigation, and removed a lot of the stale, older copy.

The new site is a work in progress (ie it's not finished!). We will add features - including, later in the year, a video player and library. We will continue to upload information - without overwhelming you - on a variety of smoking-related issues.

A new feature, which we are still working on, will help and advise you how to take action. We've also added a news archive that will complement the newsfeed that appears on the home page.

There's even a message from me, HERE. All feedback, including constructive criticism, welcome.

The new Forest website will go live in a couple of weeks. It's not a radical departure from the current site, but we've stripped it down, "refreshed" the design, updated much of the information, and introduced new features.

Some features will be introduced gradually. For example, we have already designed and developed a video player and library but we are holding that back until we are ready to make and upload our own videos in the autumn.

The present site currently attracts around 5,000 visitors a day. Hopefully, the new site will encourage more people to play an active (as opposed to passive) role in the smoking debate. For the moment, watch this space.

Look out for our new animated ad banner which will appear on the following blogs - Guido Fawkes, Iain Dale's Diary, Political Betting and Labour Home - over the next couple of weeks.

It's four days since we launched The Free Society website and if you Google the words "free society" you get 49.5 million results and TFS is ranked number one. 

Apart from the UK, the site has attracted visitors from the United States, Canada, Spain, France, Australia, South Africa, Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Germany, Ireland, Hungary and more.

For the time being we intend to stay focussed on the UK, but - if you're reading this in another country - stick with us and join in the debate.

By the time you read this the new Free Society blog will be up and running. The first thing you will notice is that there are very few articles on the site and there are a number of sections that are entirely blank. This is deliberate.

I'm told that best practise is to begin modestly and build the site gradually. If you're too ambitious at the start you end up with a site that is difficult to maintain and quickly goes stale. Each day, therefore, there will something new - a news item, opinion piece or feature article - but we're not going to overwhelm you with stuff. In due course there will be plenty of material on the site and - we hope - lots of lively debate, but this is a long-term project and we want to avoid running out of steam.

If you have arrived here via The Free Society blog, a very warm welcome. Taking Liberties was launched in March 2007 and taking my cue from master blogger Iain Dale (a supporter of The Free Society) I have tried to post every day. (I haven't always succeeded.)

Early on I attracted criticism from some visitors who - encouraged by my role with Forest - got quite cross when I dared to comment on issues other than smoking. When I had the audacity to write about iMacs, iPhones and coffee machines, one or two almost self-combusted.

Frankly, single issue politics can get quite boring and repetitive and, anyway, there's more to life than politics, single issue or otherwise. At Forest we've always had an eye on the bigger picture - hence The Free Society campaign which, as Brian Monteith notes on the blog, is long overdue. Individual freedom comes in many shapes and forms and we want Taking Liberties and The Free Society blog to reflect that.

There's an important role for you too. In order to create a lively, interactive forum, we need your help. Don't be a passive observer. If you have something to say, don't hesitate to post a comment here or on The Free Society blog. And invite your friends and colleagues to join the debate too.

I don't expect or want everyone to agree with us. I have no interest in preaching exclusively to the converted so if you disagree with anything that appears here or on The Free Society site, write and say so. In the words of the irrepressible Mrs Merton, "Let's have a heated debate!"

NB. Please forward this URL - www.thefreesociety.org - to family, friends and colleagues, today.

January and August are usually the quietest months for websites, at least in terms of visitors. Nevertheless the Forest website still attracted 107,837 unique visitors in January (13.3 million hits). The largest number of visitors in a single day was 5,800 on Monday January 21.

The most popular download in January was Joe Jackson's The Smoking Issue. It was downloaded 2,632 times. We estimate that since it was first published in 2004 The Smoking Issue has been downloaded from the Forest site over 50,000 times.

With the exception of MySpace,  the most common referring sites were search engines - namely Google (UK), Google (USA), Google (Canada) and Yahoo.

Smokers Welcome is a website that allows you to search for pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants that have outdoor areas that can accommodate smokers. I was going to add "in reasonable comfort" but this isn't always the case. Sometimes the "outdoor area" turns out to be a car park. The better ones offer seating, heating and some cover from the elements.

Established by Imperial, Gallaher and British American Tobacco last year, the site features over 8,000 venues and is adding to that database all the time. Now, instead of relying exclusively on proprietors to post information about their business, the site has a section that allows customers to recommend a particular venue.

There are also plans for a section on hotels. I am delighted to hear this because Forest gets regular calls and correspondence from people who want information about hotels that offer a choice of smoking and no-smoking rooms and we were about to commission some research in this area.

It's a time-consuming job so if you have recent experience of smoker-friendly hotels (especially hotel groups) please let us know.

When The Free Society website is launched on February 4 it will feature a combination of news, comment and articles. Initial contributors will include old friends such as Joe Jackson, Claire Fox (director of the Institute of Ideas), Oscar-winning playwright Ronald Harwood, Times journalist Simon Hills and former MSP Brian Monteith.

As the site develops we intend to commission articles from a variety journalists, bloggers and political campaigners. We also hope to feature two or three regular columnists whose writing will become synonymous with the site. The site will be edited like a magazine (apart from readers' comments, which - hopefully - can remain unmoderated).

Unsolicited articles are welcome but publication is not guaranteed and articles may be edited. If you would like to contribute an article email me HERE and we will send you a style sheet.

After lunch (see below) I walked across Hungerford Bridge, past the refurbished Festival Hall (where a jazz band was entertaining scores of foreign tourists), along the South Bank to the National Theatre, and on to the Oxo Tower.

Behind Oxo Tower Wharf, now home to design studios, galleries and restaurants, I had another meeting - this time with an entrepreneur and IT company who are developing an ambitious, community driven project for pub-going smokers. I can't say more than that but if it comes off it could be a useful tool to combat the "denormalisation" of smoking.

It took four hours to get home from London on Tuesday, a journey that normally takes 60 minutes. A signal failure near Kings Cross meant that no trains could enter or leave the station. When eventually we did get on a moving train, it was so crowded it made a cattle truck seem like first class accommodation.

Anyway, it didn't spoil the day which began with a meeting - and lunch - to discuss our forthcoming Facebook group. I won't kid you. Facebook, MySpace - even Friends Reunited (remember that?) - have all passed me by. Other people however have convinced me that what The Free Society needs is a Facebook group that links to lots of other Facebook groups. I am told that it will help drive traffic to our website and encourage more people aged 25-45 to play an active role in our campaign, either online or by attending our events.

The group will be launched next month, following the launch of The Free Society website on February 4. This in turn will be followed by one or more Free Society events when we will test the water to see if publicising events on Facebook actually works. Details to follow.

Our new Free Society website will be launched on Monday February 4. The campaign is non-party political and the website will feature articles from both sides of the political spectrum. Most contributors will share our support for laissez faire politics and the belief that less government is better government, but we won't reject articles that offer a contrary point of view. Far from it. 
 
The Free Society website will include news, features and opinion on a range of issues. Visitors will be encouraged to comment on articles in order to create a lively, interactive forum. The site will also feature links to other campaigns, websites and blogs that share our libertarian principles.
 
Although this is a soft launch, we will be writing to over 1000 opinion formers and decision-makers including MPs, MSPs, AMs, MEPs, journalists, broadcasters and political commentators, drawing the site to their attention. We will also be buying advertising space on some of the UK's leading political blogs - including Iain Dale's Diary and Guido Fawkes.

Watch this space.

The Forest/Boisdale CD, You Can't Do That (Songs For Swinging Smokers), has been a great success. Recorded earlier this year, it was released in advance of the smoking ban on July 1. Copies were duly dispatched to the usual suspects - MPs, peers, journalists and broadcasters.

Prior to Christmas, a handful of copies were sent - as gifts - to some of our favourite columnists. They included Philip Hensher who writes in today's Independent:

A charming CD arrives from Forest, the pro-choice in smoking organization. The Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band play a number of fag-related standards and new numbers, including "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", "I'm Going Outside" and "Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette". If only the anti-smoking fanatics showed a tenth as much good humour. Anyway, it's all wasted on me, since I gave up in February, thinking that I'd probably smoked long enough.

I anticipated an immense increase in my personal well-being and health. I should have listened more to David Hockney, who points out that the decline of smoking has been accompanied by an immense rise in the consumption of anti-stress medication. I stopped having any craving for cigarettes within days of giving up, but my stress levels, previously under quiet control, just kept on rising.

Is it merely coincidence that Britain is getting shorter-tempered, dependent on anti-depressants and stressed out now that nobody's allowed to smoke?

The 2007 Forest Christmas card (left) has just arrived from the printers. The greeting reads 'Happy Christmas ... and a smoker-friendly New Year'. Recipients will include MPs, peers, journalists and other opinion formers. Oh, and we may even send some to our "friends" in the anti-smoking industry (BMA, ASH et al).

The card is not for sale but is part of our 'Smoker Awareness' campaign. Friends of Forest will also receive one. To become a Friend please send a donation (minimum £15 per annum, £10 students/OAPs) to Forest, Sheraton House, Castle Park, Cambridge CB3 0AX. We need your full name and address, your email address, plus confirmation that you are aged 18 or above.

We're working hard to complete the revised Forest website. Although the new site is a slimmed down version of the current one, the project has taken longer than anticipated. The customised CMS (content management system) is new and there have been one or two technical faults to iron out during the development stage, but we're getting there.

We've appointed a new website manager and the revised site will go live early in the new year. It will coincide with the launch of the all new Free Society site (left), which I'm equally excited about. TFS is designed to be interactive, so we will be encouraging your comments on a wide range of issues, from smoking, eating and drinking to speeding, global warming, CCTV cameras and more.

This blog, too, will be re-launched. All three sites will be advertised on the Internet with a view to attracting more traffic. The Forest website currently averages 4,000 visitors a day. We intend to increase that number and encourage people to engage not only with Forest but also with our Free Society campaign and, via that, Taking Liberties. Watch this space.

Work has started (again) on the new Free Society website. We've had some technical problems but the site is scheduled to go live next month, coinciding with party conference events in Bournemouth (September 25) and Blackpool (September 30).