Top of the class

The fringe meeting we organised with Liberal Vision in Bournemouth was a great success - standing room only. Packed into Old Harry's Bar in the Highcliff Hotel, the majority of the audience demonstrated that real liberals do exist within the Liberal Democrats. They just need some encouragement - and events like this.

Speakers were Malcolm Bruce MP (who voted for the smoking ban), Gavin Webb (Lib Dem councillor suspended by the party earlier this year because of his pro-libertarian views), Dr Richard Wellings (deputy editorial director of the Institute of Economic Affairs who worked on the IEA book Prohibitions), and Mark Littlewood (chairman of Liberal Vision and Lib Dem head of media 2004-2007).

Mark took the opportunity to announce the results of a Liberal Vision survey to find the most liberal Lib Dem MPs on lifestyle issues. Based on eleven recent Early Day Motions and nine parliamentary votes (the latter on the specific subjects of smoking, drinking and gambling), the top ten liberals were:

1. Lembit Opik
2. David Laws
3. Paul Keetch
4. David Howarth
5. John Barrett
6. Jeremy Browne
7. Julia Goldsworthy
8. John Hemming
9. Tom Brake
10. Sir Menzies Campbell

Charles Kennedy came 11th, Nick Clegg 15th.

Bottom of the class were:

61. Vincent Cable
62. Mike Hancock
63. John Leech

According to Mark, "Liberal Vision believes that adults should be allowed to make their own lifestyle choices, even if these decisions cause them serious harm. The other two parties take a controlling, patronising and interfering approach on these issues. We hope to persuade the Liberal Democrats to adopt a more philosophicaly coherent and, indeed, liberal approach in these areas."

Report HERE.

Online, off message

I am delighted to report that the website for The Freedom Zone - a joint initiative involving Forest, The Free Society and The Freedom Association - is now live.

The Freedom Zone is a two-day mini-conference that will run alongside the 2008 Conservative conference in Birmingham.

I've been wanting to do something like this for years. The Health Hotel, funded to a great extent by the pharmaceutical companies, is now a fixture on the party conference circuit, and I am hoping that this project has a similar future.

Between us, Forest and The Free Society are responsible for five events:

• Liberal Paternalism and the Nanny State (discussion)
• Freedom and the Internet (discussion)
• You Can't Do That! The Anti-Social Regulation of Public Space (debate)
• Liberty Live! (political chat show with Claire Fox)
• Cigarettes and Civil Liberties (champagne reception)

Other events include:

• Heffer's Half Hour (with Telegraph columnist Simon Heffer)
• An Audience with David Davis MP presented by Iain Dale
• Tories Got Talent (political talent show)

Full details of all events and speakers are on the website. Note: this is a non-party political event and you don't have to be a party conference delegate to attend because The Freedom Zone is outside the secure area. We'd be delighted to see you.

PS. Join our Campaign for a Free Society Facebook group HERE and see our Facebook event page HERE.

Caged like animals

Designer, photographer, musician ... Dan Donovan writes:

I was at the 2008 punk festival Rebellion, held at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool. The venue had provided a smoking area down the alley that runs next to the venue for the herded smokers to enjoy a beer and a fag hand in hand.

A cage fronted the area so that no one could drift onto the street with their alcohol. The most pertinent moment for me was when the queue had formed inside the bar as the punters restlessly had to wait for the smoking area to clear before they were allowed in, or should I say allowed out.

The designated area must have held up to 300 people and got pretty cosy at times. It’s clear to me that this so called ‘Smoke Free England’ isn’t and however much effort the government makes to curb our freedom and lead us to believe smokers are a thing of the past that they are fooling themselves.

As to be expected there were moments of drama inside. A young shaven haired girl lit up on one of the dance floors. After being pursued by four or five security men she managed to slip away.

The song being played on the jukebox was ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ by The Clash, a fitting song and the iconic smoker, Joe Strummer (Clash front man) would have smiled had he been there. I smiled for him.

Dan's band King Kool is playing the Peterborough Beer Festival on Saturday August 23. Details HERE.

Thanks for the memory

I am staying - for one night only - at the Royal Bath Hotel in Bournemouth. The hotel has good memories for Forest because in 2006, at the Conservative party conference, it was the scene of our biggest event to date. We called it 'Politics & Prohibition' and we hired a local events company to dress the De Vere ballroom in the style of a Chicago speakeasy. 

We also hired - from London - the Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band, plus a troop of amateur thespians whose job was to "raid" the premises in the guise of the police, "arrest" one of our speakers (Boisdale MD Ranald Macdonald, above) on a charge of inciting people to enjoy themselves, and then finish by singing the Monty Python song "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life".

The size of the ballroom was a little daunting, but we gave it our best shot. We were joined by a small team of publicists and for two days we enticed delegates with flyers, postcards, and the offer of free champagne and "politically incorrect canapes".

Come the hour we crossed our fingers - and, lo and behold, despite intense competition from 20 or so events elsewhere, some 400 people turned up. In fact, so many people tried to get in that hotel staff eventually had to turn people away on the grounds of health and safety!

Ranald, as you can see, got himself arrested, and occasionally, when I wake up in the dead of night, I can still hear the sound of 300+ voices bellowing out those famous lyrics. 

Our finest hour? No, but it was great fun.

Dates for your diary

Following Friday's jaunt to Manchester I can report that, for the first time ever, Forest will be hosting meetings at all three main party conferences. 

We start at the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth by joining forces with Progressive Vision to discuss "How liberal are the Liberal Democrats?". 

In Manchester we will be advising Labour "How to win back the smokers' vote". 

And at the Conservative conference in Birmingham we are working with The Freedom Association to create a two-day mini-conference that will cover a whole range of subjects from taxation and climate change to lifestyle and civil liberties. 

Unlike our events in Bournemouth and Manchester, The Freedom Zone is outside the secure area so you don't need a conference pass. Entry is free and is open to all.

Watch THIS space for more details.

Conference call

This year's party conference season is going to be our busiest yet. It certainly seems that way because we have spent the past few days desperately trying to meet deadlines for venues, listings, advertisements and artwork. There's also the small matter of confirming speakers - which isn't easy when everyone is about to go on holiday. And now, for the first time, the police have asked us to answer questions about our events. If we can reach the end of the month without a major hiccup, I'll breathe a little easier.

The Freedom Zone (September 29-30) is a new initiative and our most ambitious conference event ever. Organised in conjunction with The Freedom Association, it's a two-day mini-conference designed to put individual freedom at the top of the political agenda. We're launching it at the Conservative conference in Birmingham but I hope that it will eventually make an appearance at other party conferences too.

We are also presenting (for the first time ever) a fringe event at the LibDem conference. This year's conference is in Bournemouth (my favourite seaside venue) and we are linking up with the new liberal think-tank Progressive Vision to host a discussion entitled "How liberal are the Liberal Democrats?" The event, at the prestigious Highcliff Hotel, is on Tuesday September 16. Details, including speakers, will be announced nearer the time. 

We are still working on plans for the Labour conference in Manchester, but - please note - we need volunteers to promote our campaigns at all three party conferences. If you would like to help please get in touch.

Welcome to The Freedom Zone

Just back from Birmingham where I spent the day with Simon Richards, director of The Freedom Association. This year's Conservative party conference is in Birmingham and with the facilities available to us it seemed a good opportunity to join forces and launch a new venture, The Freedom Zone.

The Freedom Zone will be open for two days from 8.00am to 9.00pm during the conference in September. Venue is Austin Court, a short walk from the International Conference Centre. It has a modern auditorium (the Kingston Theatre, above) that seats 140 people, a comfortable lounge area which we are converting into an all-day coffee bar, and a sheltered courtyard where we intend to host a smoker-friendly reception with a barbecue and live music.

A full programme of events will be announced nearer the time. It's a big undertaking but we hope to attract some top names. If the project is a success, I would like to think we can eventually rival the long-running Health Hotel which is such a feature of the three main party conferences.

For the moment, watch this space.

A day to remember

I didn't expect to be moved by the sight of a statue, but - surprisingly - I was. On Thursday I travelled up to Edinburgh for the unveiling of a magnificent monument to the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith, who lived and died in the city.

To mark the occasion, the Adam Smith Institute had decided to host a series of events (organiser: Brian Monteith). On Thursday evening, therefore, we assembled in The Caves, a collection of dark, atmospheric vaults under the ancient Cowgate, for a debate featuring former Scottish Secretary Lord Forsyth, former Labour Energy minister Brian Wilson, Alex Neil MSP, and the ASI's Dr Madsen Pirie.

Yesterday's programme included lunch at the City Chambers and a gala dinner in the University of Edinburgh's neo-classical Playfair Library Hall. By chance I found myself on table 2 with Madsen on one side and R Emmett Tyrrell, founder and editor-in-chief of the American Spectator (and one of two guest speakers), on the other.

Bob (or "Mr Tyrrell" as I felt obliged to call him) lives and works in Washington. Other guests on table 2 had come from California and New Orleans. The evening flew by and I was one of the last to leave, with my new American friends, shortly before midnight.

Highlight of the two days was of course the unveiling of the 10ft bronze statue in the High Street (aka the Royal Mile) opposite the Exchange Buildings (now the City Chambers) where Smith worked. Commissioned by the ASI, designed by Scotland's leading monumental sculptor Alexander Stoddart, and funded entirely by private subscription, it cost £250,000.

Today, standing on a huge stone plinth emblazoned with the words ‘ADAM SMITH’, the statue is a magnificent addition to the Royal Mile. I'm just delighted I was there to see it.

PS. The Scottish edition of today’s Daily Telegraph has a large picture of the statue on page 9 and I'm in it (at the back). At last, something I can show my grandchildren (should I ever have any)!

Update on Saturday, July 5, 2008 by Simon Clark

The unveiling is reported by, among others, The Times and the Scotsman. Photo above courtesy Madsen Pirie.

Cigarettes and civil liberties

A short video of the Forest reception at the House of Commons can be viewed HERE on Friction TV.

Journalist Pat Nurse has written a report of the event for The Free Society blog HERE.

Statue of economic liberty

How funny. As I write (it's 5.20pm) there are 37 comments on Kerry McCarthy's blog re the smoking ban (see below) - with more to come, I'm sure. (To put this in perspective, most of her posts appear to attract no comments at all. Zero. Zilch.)

Interestingly, this has been achieved not from a grand office in London but by yours truly tapping away on my laptop in the lobby of the Apex International Hotel in Edinburgh.

Why Edinburgh? Well, I'm here for the grand unveiling, tomorrow, of a statue of Adam Smith. It's taken several years for the idea to reach this stage, but it promises to be quite an occasion. As far as I know, people are coming from all over the world to mark the event.

The programme, organised by the Adam Smith Institute, begins tonight with a reception and debate ("This House would prefer to be led by the Invisible Hand") chaired by BBC Scotland's political editor Brian Taylor.

Proposing the motion are my old boss Michael Forsyth (former Scottish Secretary, now Lord Forsyth of Drumlean) and Dr Madsen Pirie (ASI). Opposing the motion are Brian Wilson (former Labour Energy minister) and Alex Neil MSP (Scottish National Party).

The Adam Smith statue will be unveiled (in the High Street, near Parliament Square) tomorrow by Nobel economist Professor Vernon Lomax Smith. In the evening there is a gala Adam Smith dinner to look forward to.

Now, where did I put my Adam Smith cufflinks and tie?

Smoking, food and sex

So, on the hottest day of the year so far, we found ourselves in a small wood-panelled dining room on the lower ground floor of the House of Commons. Dining Room B can hold 45 people (at a squeeze) and having invited 40 guests (plus MPs) I was concerned that everyone might get a little hot (and bothered).

I needn't have worried - it was fine. Our guests (a representative group of smokers, non-smokers, pub and bar owners) included Trevor Baylis (inventor of the clockwork radio and a former Pipesmoker of the Year), journalist (and smoker) Pat Nurse (who wrote THIS marvellous article on The Free Society blog), Ranald Macdonald (MD of Boisdale) Sean Spillane (who runs a working men' club in Luton), Paul Keenan (fined only this week for allowing people to smoke in his live music venue in Braintree, Essex), Nick Hogan (ditto, in his former pub in Bolton), and Ana Knight, whose small London bar was forced to close as a direct result of the smoking ban.

Exceeding our expectations, 17 MPs and five peers turned up. Of the MPs, there were eleven Conservatives, five Labour, and one LibDem. Views ranged from those strongly opposed to the smoking ban to those broadly in favour. (Greg Clark, Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells, told me that constituents often come up and congratulate him for voting for the ban. Hmmm.)

Our host, Philip Davies, gave a short, well-received speech. I announced the launch of our new Amend The Smoking Ban campaign. And Trevor Baylis told a joke involving smoking and sex. A short video of the event will appear on Friction TV in the next few days.

PS. The food - sandwiches, iced cakes, pastries, scones and strawberries - looked delicious. Unfortunately, apart from a few strawberries, I was too busy to even think of food, let alone eat it. Next time, perhaps.

Update on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 by Simon Clark

Ranald Macdonald hurried to the House straight from filming a short interview for Newsnight, which was broadcast last night. The report, about the impact of the smoking ban, also featured an interview with Suzy Dean of The Manifesto Club. Suzy is featured on the video of last week's Forest party at Boisdale. (She's the first person we see talking.) If you haven't seen it yet, click HERE.

Forest - the movie

When I wrote "Final word on the Forest party" (below), what I meant was ... oh, never mind. Click HERE and watch the video on Friction TV.

PS. An earlier Forest video, recorded at our Revolt In Style dinner at The Savoy last summer, has been viewed 18,172 times. It features Antony Worrall Thompson, among others, and you can view it HERE.

Drugs: where do we draw the line?

Another guest at the Forest party on Tuesday was Suzy Dean, a journalist and writer who works for the Manifesto Club and is behind tonight's debate, "Drugs: Where Do We Draw The Line?".

Speakers include consultant psychiatrist Swaran Singh; Marcus Roberts, director of policy at DrugScope; and James Douglass, who has conducted postgraduate research into drug cultures and has written for the Independent, Guardian and Spiked.

To coincide with the debate, James has written THIS article for The Free Society.

For full details of the event click HERE.

PS. I intended to go to tonight's event - until I remembered that I have tickets to see Lou Reed's Berlin at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. I can't be in two places at one time but if anyone wants to go to the Manifesto Club Night and post a report on this blog, please do.

Smoke-free England?

You know it's been a good event when Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, emails to say, "Jolliest party of the year! Thank you so much".

Last night close on 300 people squeezed into Boisdale Bar & Restaurant in London. Pausing only to pick up the first of several complementary complimentary drinks (vodka cocktail, glass of wine or beer), many headed straight for the cigar terrace (capacity: 45) which groaned under the weight of a hundred smokers.

Star guest was an old friend of Forest - David Hockney, Britain's greatest living artist. Just back from Baden Baden, the spa town in Germany which he visits every year, David told me that he came home with 6,000 cigarettes. "I never buy them in this country."

Hockney didn't hang around long - he's a bit deaf, and large, noisy crowds make it difficult for him to hear what people are saying - but while he was there he spoke to a number of people, including the Observer's Lynn Barber, another very welcome guest.

Others included Madsen Pirie and the aforementioned Eamonn Butler of the Adam Smith Institute; Matthew Elliott, director of The Taxpayers Alliance; Simon Richards, director of The Freedom Association; Claire Fox, director the Institute of Ideas and her colleague Tony Gilland; Rob Lyons, deputy editor of Spiked; Tom Utley of the Daily Mail; Telegraph leader writer Alex Singleton; Simon Hills of The Times; and Michael White, political editor of the Guardian.

Less well known (but no less welcome) was Sarah Bland and her husband Darren. Sarah is nine months' pregnant and even though the baby is due on Friday she still wanted to come and support our event. (You couldn't make it up.)

There was a warm welcome too for Dick Engel of the Dutch smokers' group Stichting Rokersbelangen. Dick is a former police officer (vice squad), a good man to have on our side. (His colleague Ton was supposed to come but missed the plane. I won't tell you what Dick said.)

Other long distance travellers included our own Brian Monteith (Edinburgh) and Neil Rafferty (the Borders), and Liz Barber (Stockton-on-Tees).

It was good to see (even briefly) some of the regulars on this blog: Dave Atherton, Joyce Stewart, Rose Whiteley, Dave Hook. (I don't know what happened to Peter Thurgood. If you're reading this, Peter, Joyce was looking for you.)

Friction TV came and filmed a series of "Smoking Breaks" for the Forest website (we will launch our own video player later in the year). I was interviewed by the Guardian and German radio.

Guest speakers were Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley (West Yorkshire); Nigel Farage, a 60-a-day smoker (did he really say that?) and leader of UKIP; and "rebel landlord" Hamish Howitt. Michael White describes their speeches HERE.

Most poignant sight of the evening had to be Ranald Macdonald, MD of Boisdale, gently asking guests in the (enclosed) Garden Restaurant to stub out their fags. "I felt really bad about it," he told me later, "but we could lose our license."

On the cigar terrace and out on the street, at the front of the building, nothing was going to stop guests lighting up. Smoke-free England? I don't think so.

Postscript: the picture above features Forest supporter Bob Loveday with a US duty free packet of cigarettes. Note the absence of any health warning. Bob is a long-serving member of Bob Geldof's band.

First, I need some sleep!

After a late night (following a 4.00am start), I have just got back from London and our Smoke-Free England? party at Boisdale. A report will follow later. For the moment I can record that an estimated 300 people turned up, including David Hockney (photographed, left, with yours truly), and our guest speakers were Philip Davies MP, UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP, and "rebel landlord" Hamish Howitt who is standing in the Haltemprice & Howden by-election. More to follow.

BTW, Michael White, avuncular political editor of the Guardian, has THIS to say about the party. You can comment.