Smokers are revolting

A gentle reminder: in just 14 days Forest will host Revolt In Style: A Freedom Dinner at The Savoy Hotel, London. Tickets have been on sale for ten working days and we already have 200 guests (our initial target), including several MPs and the chief of staff to a very senior Government minister.

This is not just a good excuse for a really good party. As with all Forest events, there is a serious underlying message which we shall be communicating to every MP, every national and local newspaper editor, plus hundreds of journalists and broadcasters. 

Nor, on the night itself, will we be holding back. I'll have a few things to say, and so will our after dinner speakers.  They include Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas and a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze. It was Claire who came up with the line that, thanks to this government's anti-smoking policies, an increasing number of smokers are "reaching for their fags in defiance". We also intend to have a roving microphone so that other guests can have their say.

Tickets cost £95 (£750 for a table of ten). However, in order to meet our new target, we are extending our reduced price offer (£75/£650) for a further week. To book telephone Forest HQ on 01223 370156.

Revolt in style? You can't do that!

After several weeks of planning, tickets are now available for Forest's 'freedom dinner' at the Savoy Hotel, London, on Monday 25th June. This could be your last opportunity to eat, drink and smoke at a major indoor public event anywhere in the UK, so it promises to be an historic occasion.

Forest events (described as "among the best in diary land" by Pandora, the Independent diarist) are known for their humour and elan, but Revolt In Style: A Freedom Dinner will convey a serious message about the smoking ban, the war on smokers, and the government's increasing intrusion into areas of our lives where politicians do not belong. 

Invited guests will include politicians and journalists but, most important, we need the public (you!) to support the event to make sure that our message is heard, loud and clear. Family, friends and tolerant non-smokers very welcome. For full details, including cost and how to book, click HERE.

Exclusive: Andrew Neil to speak out

I am delighted to report that broadcaster and publisher Andrew Neil (above) has been confirmed as the principal guest speaker at a special event to mark the introduction of the public smoking ban. ‘Revolt In Style: A Freedom Dinner’, is being organised by Forest in association with Boisdale.

An "enthusiastic" cigar smoker, Andrew Neil has been UK editor of the Economist, editor of the Sunday Times, executive chairman of Sky Television and executive editor of Fox Television News of America. He is currently chief executive of the Spectator and presents both The Daily Politics on BBC Two and This Week on BBC One.

This historic occasion – possibly the last opportunity for you to eat, drink and smoke at a major indoor public event anywhere in the UK – takes place at The Savoy Hotel in London on Monday 25th June. Full details, including how to book tickets, will be published on the Forest website later this week. For advance information (exclusive to readers of this blog!) email revolt@forestonline.org.

Assessing Conservative values

On Wednesday I attended a rather swish reception hosted by Fleishman Hillard, a leading public affairs and PR consultancy. Other guests included MPs, lobbyists, political chiefs of staff and researchers. This week the company published a document called The Cameron Environment: Assessing Conservative Values. The report is predictably vague in many areas, but here are some of the policies they think a Tory government might adopt:

• Adjust balance between the state and the public
• More aggressive green agenda
• Lighter touch taxation
• Abolish ID card project
• Introduction of a Bill of Rights

If you're hoping that Cameron might, just might, relax the smoking ban - don't hold your breath. Fleishman Hillard report that new policies will focus on "trusting the professionals". (The British Medical Association will be pleased!) Specifically, under health, they suggest that the Tories are "likely" to establish a Chief Medical Officer's Department within the Department of Health. (The CMO was a leading figure behind the smoking ban.) There may also be a "stronger role" for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. (Remember them? They recently called for smokers to be given time off work to attend smoking cessation courses.)

Then again, on fox-hunting, Fleishman Hillard believe the Tories "will call for another free vote on a revised version of the Act, which we would expect to be far more palatable for rural communities". If they can do that for hunting with hounds, why not smoking in (some) enclosed public places? You can download the entire document HERE.

Update on Friday, May 18, 2007 by Simon Clark

10.00am - I had literally just published the above post when an email fell into into my lap(top) from our public affairs monitors. The following Early Day Motion has just been tabled in the House of Commons: "That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying [my italics] that the Smoke-free (Signs) Regulations 2007 (S.I., 2007, No. 923), dated 19th March 2007, a copy of which was laid before this House on 23rd March, be annulled." The signatories are Mr David Cameron, Mr Andrew Lansley, Mr Alan Duncan, Dr Andrew Murrison, Mr Stephen O'Brien, Mr Patrick McLoughlin. Praying? How appropriate (see HERE)!

Dinner with destiny

I spent yesterday morning at the Savoy Hotel in London. Together with Ranald Macdonald of Boisdale we were negotiating the terms of what, sadly, will be an historic occasion - possibly the last major public event in England where guests can smoke indoors while they are eating, drinking and enjoying the finest entertainment! Organised by Boisdale, Forest and The Free Society, 'You Can't Do That!' will be advertised as a 'freedom dinner' with guest speakers, live music and other attractions. Provisional date: Tuesday 19th June from 7.30pm. Tickets available from 1st May. Watch this space for more details.