Taking Liberties

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty, has been advising David Davis (allegedly). This week government minister Andy Burnham expressed surprise that a man "who was, and still is, I believe, an exponent of capital punishment" could be having "late-night, hand-wringing, heart-melting phone calls with Shami Chakrabarti".

Some people, including it seems Chakrabarti herself, have leapt to the conclusion that these comments were designed to set tongues wagging. Today's papers report that she has written to Burnham and Gordon Brown accusing Burnham of "debasing" his office.

Hmmm. In the cut and thrust of politics, Burnham's comments are pretty tame stuff. It's a mildly amusing line which suggests that Burnham has a sense of humour. Had Boris Johnson said it I'm pretty sure we'd all be laughing with him, not talking about smears or the threat of legal action.

I'm a fan of Chakrabarti in the sense that I admire her intellect, her drive, and the fact that she has put herself very firmly on the political map. (I'm less of a fan of Liberty, but that's another matter.) If however she has a genuine interest in helping Davies, she should let this matter drop. DD's campaign is not about Shami Chakrabarti. It's about civil liberties: 42-day detention, compulsory ID cards, record numbers of surveillance cameras etc.

Now that she is a "celebrity" in her own right (she recently appeared on Have I Got News For You) I wonder if she is taking herself a little too seriously. We've never spoken, or been introduced, but our paths do occasionally cross, usually in some anonymous BBC corridor.

Two years ago we were guests on The Late Edition with comedian Marcus Brigstocke (same programme, different slots) and last year I attended a dinner in London where Shami was the guest speaker. Humour, it has to be said, isn't her forte. Gravitas is her thing, and she should stick to it.

That, perhaps, is why she wants to nip any innuendo in the bud. Ditto David Davis. My advice? Keep the campaign focussed on the issues. The government wants the by-election to become a farce. Ministers and their lapdogs in the media will inevitably want to mock the candidates and their advisers. It's to be expected.

Don't play their game. Rise above it. But if you are attacked personally, laugh, dismiss it - and let people draw their own conclusions about why you are being targetted.

Joe Jackson is back in the UK this week for concerts in Wolverhampton, Gateshead, Manchester, Edinburgh and London. His current world tour - which began in February and has taken him to Canada, America, Australia, South Africa and Israel - will finally wind up at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam in July after further gigs in Germany, France and Belgium.

In addition to his two-part Smoker's Guide to Europe, published HERE and HERE, Joe has now written a smoker's eye view of Australia. It doesn't make pretty reading. Describing Brisbane as "the place where bad smokers go when they die" he notes:

In Brisbane it's illegal to smoke anywhere food or drink is served or consumed, including at outside tables. Sometimes there's a dismal area 15 feet away where you can go and have a fag but it's illegal to take your drink.

Most disturbing was the email Joe received from a journalist from the Melbourne paper The Age, with whom he'd done a telephone interview a couple of weeks earlier.

He'd been sympathetic to my views on smoking, and wanted to tell me that his article had been 'butchered' by his editor on instructions from their legal department. It seems there are now laws governing what can and can't be printed about tobacco, and it's actually illegal to say anything which might be construed as positive.

He adds:

I was starting to feel numbed by all this by the time we arrived in Perth, our last stop. This was where the bus driver who was to take us from the airport to our hotel announced that no food or drink was allowed on board. Not just no eating or drinking; we were forbidden to have any food or drink in our possession.

The full article will be published on The Free Society blog next week.

"I have an important announcement," said the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow. "If Ken doesn't stand (for mayor of London in 2012), I will. You heard it here first."

As important announcements go, it fell a bit flat. After all, you don't go to a tobacco trade lunch at Lords Cricket Ground to talk about the mayor of London (even if Boris was the speaker last year). And didn't I read, earlier this week, that Ken Livingstone has already announced his intention to run in 2012?

That apart, George Galloway didn't disappoint. He was outspoken (as we knew he would be) and he made us laugh. Here are my notes of some of what he said:

"It's a long way from the mean streets of Dundee to Lords ... never smoked cigarettes ... started smoking cigars at 16 ... regular visitor to Cuba ... close friend of Fidel Castro ... Castro gave up smoking a long time ago and ordered me to give up ("we need you as an activist more than a customer") ...

"I am one of you ... strongly opposed to disproportionality of government's response to tobacco ... (smokers) have a right not to be hunted ... it's a witchhunt and like all witchhunts, illogical ... alcohol far more harmful to family life, society and the person who consumes it ...

"I don't drink, I don't gamble, I don't go with women any more ... (but) I have to smoke two Monte Christo No 2 a day ... psychologically I want to ... it's not some obscure fetish like those practised by some members of parliament ...

"(Smoking ban) cannot be consistent with principle of liberty ... (need to exert) maximum pressure on parliamentarians ... MPs live in a bubble ... five letters or emails on the same subject will prompt a meeting of staff to plan a response ... 25 letters or emails will lead to a meeting of staff and me ..."

"There are two windows: the current (DoH) consultation ... and the 2010 review (of the smoking ban) ... we need to seek relief in certain specific areas ... I'll be with you in that argument."

Warm applause but only a handful of people (I counted five) gave him a standing ovation. Truth is, George Galloway is an entertaining speaker and there should always be a place for mavericks like him in our political system. But a useful political ally? Sorry, there's just too much baggage.

Still, no harm calling him on TalkSport at the weekend. As he says, "One million people listen to my radio show". That's one million potential voters - so make that call!

Later this morning I shall be at Lords Cricket Ground - not to watch cricket but to attend the annual AITS & Tobacco Trade Lunch. (AITS stands for Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists.)

This is the event that Boris Johnson spoke at last year - a fact seized upon by his opponents in the mayoral election as evidence that Boris was somehow in cahoots with the tobacco industry.

This year's speaker - for reasons known only to the organisers - is George Galloway. Heaven knows what the MP for Bethnal Green & Bow will talk about, but whatever it is I'll let you know.

The fun starts with a champagne reception on The Pavilion Roof Terrace, followed by lunch in the Thomas Lord Suite. It's a tough life etc.

Yesterday I spoke to a journalist and broadcaster for whom I have enormous respect. In fact, it was quite a thrill when I heard those clipped, crystal clear vowels on voicemail, asking me to call her back. Joan Bakewell is a generation older than me but she represents the kind of tolerant, liberal England I believe is worth fighting for.

The last time she wrote about smoking, she told me, she received a volley of abuse from anti-smokers. Undaunted, she has once again stuck her head above the parapet to write THIS column in today's Independent.

Postscript: Joan recently introduced an archive evening on BBC Parliament called Permissive Night. According to her Wikipedia entry, "The programme examined the liberalising legislation passed by Parliament in the late 1960s which made Britain a more tolerant and permissive place to live." I would love to know how a similar programme, broadcast in 2040, will review the present era.

Always good to see David Hockney in the news. Last night he was interviewed on Newsnight and today he is featured in the Independent. As ever, he managed - in both interviews - to take a swipe at the smoking ban. Click HERE for the Independent interview. The reference to Hockney turning up at Labour's annual conference "to lead a protest funded by the tobacco companies" concerns an occasion I first wrote about HERE. Days like that don't come round very often and you appreciate it even more when they do. Thinking about it still makes me laugh.

I am sorry to report the death of Eric Layman. I don't suppose any of you will have heard of Eric. Born in New Westminster, British Columbia, in 1943, he was a poet and writer who lived in Toronto from 1957. In 2001 he wrote "The Smoke Police" which was subsequently set to music by fellow Canadian Matt Finlayson whose band, The Intended, featured it on their excellent CD Route 101.

Three years ago, when I was in Toronto, I met up with Matt who proved extraordinarily generous with his time. Not only did he give me a guided tour of the city, he also took me to see Niagara Falls and invited me for dinner at his home where I met his family and, I'm delighted to say, Eric Layman. We had a lovely evening and I enjoyed their company enormously.

Eric died last month, aged 64, and a memorial service took place on Sunday. Matt, who was MC, was one of many friends and colleagues who paid their respects and his spirits were raised, he tells me, when he read THIS obituary in the (national) Globe and Mail.

To this Matt adds, "My good friend Eric Layman, poet and writer, was one of Canada’s best kept secrets. He was as good as any poet that has come out of Canada. I saw Eric at many poetry readings over the last 25 years and he never failed to impress. He has left a very substantial body of high quality work. I will continue to champion his work. There will be a number of poems which I will use in a recording session in June for a new album."

To view some of Eric's poems click HERE. The lyrics to "The Smoke Police" - with comments by Eric himself - can be found HERE.

You can purchase and download "The Smoke Police" HERE. Warmly recommended.

I am assured by a very reliable source that the following story is true. "Call me Dave" recently visited the offices of a leading national newspaper. What, he was asked, is the first thing you will do if and when you become prime minister? Reverse the ban on fox hunting, he replied, without hesitation.

What about the smoking ban, someone else enquired. I don't smoke, said Dave. So that's alright. For him.

So, Boris did it. If, like me, you stayed up for the result to be announced, and then kept awake a little longer for the post-match interviews and analysis ... and, if, like me, you consumed an entire bottle of champagne during that time ... you may be feeling a little worse for wear. Still, it was worth it to see Livingstone de-throned (even if he did give a surprisingly statesmanlike speech).

I can now reveal the less-than-earth-shattering news that, last year, Forest invited Boris to speak at our Revolt In Style dinner at The Savoy. We were quoted £10,000 for a 15-minute speech and the agency warned us that he could be a little, er, "eccentric" - by which they meant he had a tendency to turn up at the very last moment (missing the meal), give his speech, and then leave as quickly as he had arrived.

Hmmm. Ten grand for that?!

As it happens, Boris wasn't available on the night in question and, in his place, we got his old Spectator boss Andrew Neil who joined us for three, maybe four, hours, gave an excellent speech, and was worth every penny of his fee.

A year on, the "eccentric" Boris Johnson is mayor of London. Who would have thought?! (Let's just hope he hangs around for more than 15 minutes.)

Message from Brian Monteith, policy director of The Free Society, who earlier today was at Frankfurt Airport waiting for a connecting flight to Nigeria. Apparently, he's still there:

"My Apple Mac's internet clock showed Central European Standard Time as the same as Nigeria - but Germany is in fact an hour ahead and so I missed my flight!!!! Now I'm staying in Frankfurt for two nights waiting on my next flight on Thursday!! What a PLONKER!"

I couldn't possibly comment.

Our old friend Bob Shields reports that the war on tobacco has claimed another victim - the Casino Bar at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. "Many a Daily Record adventure or Tartan Army trip began and ended with a beer and smoke at this friendly wee watering hole. But not any more," he writes HERE.

A few weeks ago I described how Bob once joined a Forest jaunt to Paris. It was No Smoking Day and we had decided that the best response was to escape to what was then the European capital of smoking. Bob agreed, and wrote a very funny piece about the trip.

The next year we gave him our prestigious (!) Smoker-Friendly Journalist of the Year Award. The awards were presented at a party - attended by 300 people - at Little Havana, just off Leicester Square. (The party is described, very eloquently, HERE.)

Bob turned up in person to collect his prize - a substantial cigar lighter that looked just like a World War II hand grenade. Unfortunately, when he arrived at Heathrow to fly back to Glasgow, his "award" was confiscated by eagle-eyed officials who gave him a good dressing down and demanded to know what he was doing with such a thing in his hand luggage!

PS. I have just Googled the words "cigar lighter, hand grenade" and discovered THIS story from 2003, three years after Bob's little incident.

Talk of Europe (below) reminds me that Forest used to belong to an association of European smokers' rights groups. Founded in 1992, it was called Smokepeace and members eventually included groups from Germany, Italy, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Greece.

In 1995 a "secretariat" was set up in Brussels. Apco, a worldwide public affairs company, was recruited to run it facilitate meetings. Representatives of each national group would meet several times a year and international conferences were organised in Amsterdam and Seville.

I joined Forest shortly before the Seville conference in 1999. The organising team, led by Apco's Mark Dober, did a great job. Seville was a fantastic location, the  food and wine were magnificent, the company was terrific, and I have never inhaled so much smoke in all my life. Socially, it could not have been better.

Two years later Smokepeace was quietly wound up. Starved of funding, it had neither the means nor the resources to have any serious political clout. Over the next few years most of the individual member groups bit the dust too.

Today - out of curiosity - I visited Apco's website to see what became of Mark Dober. This is what I found:

[His] main area of expertise is in health care and he has represented numerous influential companies and associations in the sector. He is a regular conference speaker on health care issues, recently chairing the European Pharma Marketing Congress, and speaking at the Drug Industry Association Congress.

You've got to laugh.

Tom Utley, a former winner of Forest's Smoker-Friendly Journalist of the Year Award, has written an interesting piece about his friend Boris Johnson in today's Daily Mail. Like many people (including, I suspect, Tom Utley), I cling to the hope that Boris will eventually have the courage of his convictions to say - consistently - what he really believes without backtracking, hours later, into Cameron-speak.

The truth is, Boris Johnson faces a very tricky balancing act. Even people like me - who love his quirky, amiable persona - have been praying that he would abandon the "buffoon" act and become a "serious" politician. This he is clearly attempting to do. The danger is he goes from one extreme to the other and becomes yet another boring, identikit politician with nothing interesting to say and no reason to vote for him.

Anyway, read the full Tom Utley article HERE. My advice, for what it's worth, is "Vote Boris". His heart's in the right place even if, on occasion, his mouth isn't. There's nothing to lose if Boris becomes Mayor of London. In the long run, there may be something to gain.

I've re-read the last few posts and they're a bit depressing. So here's something to cheer you up. I have just bought the May issue of The Oldie - featuring The Oldie of the Year Awards - and there, beaming out from the cover, is the great David Hockney (2008 Oldie Gasper of the Year) whose citation reads:

"One of the country's greatest living smokers, he has campaigned courageously for the right to have his cigarette and smoke it where he likes".

Hockney, I should add, was Forest's Smokers' Rights Champion of 2006, an award he collected in person at The Groucho Club in London. I won't repeat a story I have told (several times) before, but if you haven't heard it you can read about it HERE.

People are querying why it should have cost the taxpayer £7 million to find out what (most of us) already knew - that Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed were not murdered by MI6 on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh.

When the inquest began I was one of those who thought it was a complete waste of time and (taxpayers') money. Today, I believe it was the right thing to do, if only because it puts to rest Mohamed Fayed's absurd conspiracy theories.

The Times reports HERE that "after hearing more than 250 witnesses, [the coroner] Lord Justice Scott Baker said that the Harrods owner’s claims were so manifestly without foundation that even his lawyer was no longer pursuing them".

As you read the judge's comments, spare a thought for Neil Hamilton, the former Conservative MP whose political career was destroyed by Fayed (see HERE and HERE).

I should declare an interest because the late Lord Harris of High Cross, who was chairman and later president of Forest from 1987-2006, was Neil Hamilton's appeal fund organiser. I therefore know something of the strain - which included the threat of jail if he didn't reveal the names of Hamilton's financial backers - that Ralph experienced in the defence of his friend.

You may argue (and you may be right) that the two cases are quite separate and one has no bearing on the other, but I wonder what Neil and his wife Christine are thinking today?

Photo: www.christinehamilton.co.uk