Friday, October 3, 2008 I did an interview with CNN (about graphic health warnings) earlier this week. A friend has just emailed to say: "I'm in Hong Kong at the moment. Was watching CNN and whose angry face should pop on the screen in front of me? No matter how far away I go I just can't seem to get away from it!!"
Friday, September 26, 2008 Tomorrow morning I shall be on Radio Four News (at 5.30am!) and Radio Wales (8.15) reacting to the graphic health warnings that will appear on cigarette packets from the beginning of October. (Five Live is also doing an item on the subject - around 7.30am - but they're using an advertising guy from Saatchi and Saatchi who will argue that shock ads don't work.) Then, later in the morning, I'm doing a piece for ITV News.
My response to graphic health warnings is quite simple: we support measures that educate people about the health risks of smoking, but these pictures are designed not just to educate but to shock and coerce people to give up a legal product. They are unnecessarily intrusive, gratuitously offensive, and yet another example of smokers being singled out for special attention.
To paraphrase David Hockney, this is yet another step towards the uglification of Britain.
Simon Clark
Oh, I forgot ... I shall also be on the Gabby Logan Show on Five Live on Sunday morning ... and the Today programme tomorrow morning.
Simon Clark
I got bumped from Five Live this morning, but at least it allowed me to set off for Birmingham a bit earlier. I have just checked into my hotel - watch this space!
Sunday, June 1, 2008 I thought you might like to know how I spent World No Tobacco Day (aka May 31). It began at 5.00am when I got up, got dressed, checked Forest's online press review, and discovered that our response to the DoH announcement (see below) had been widely quoted in the media. Sixty minutes later I was out of the house and driving down the A1 to London.
8.15 Arrive at BBC Television Centre in west London. A parking space has been reserved for me at the Stage Door entrance. In reception, I spy Celia Walden whose scantily-clad picture often appears above the masthead on the Daily Telegraph. Celia is not only a leading feature writer at the Telegraph, she is also Piers Morgan's girlfriend. She is here to talk about Britain's Got Talent which features, er, Piers Morgan. (I should add that Celia is VERY tall but when she appears on BBC News she is, miraculously, no taller than either the presenters or her fellow guest who, moments earlier, she had towered over in the corridor. I think they must have lowered her chair.)
8.45 A producer arrives to take me to the BBC News green room. It's no bigger than a broom cupboard and is littered with newspapers, dirty teacups, discarded water bottles - and guests.
9.00 Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, arrives and we exchange pleasantries. Some people find it hard to believe, but I don't dislike Deborah at all. Why should I? At worst, she's civil. At best, she can be quite friendly. She's also good at her job, which I respect. I liked her predecessor, Clive Bates, too. I invited him to lunch once but he declined. He did however accept my invitation to contribute to a "What's My Vice?" feature in the Forest magazine Free Choice. (His vice, it turned out, was Belgian beer.) When Clive left ASH, we sent him flowers. And a farewell card. But I don't like everyone at ASH. Take Ian Willmore, who left a year or so ago. I don't think Willmore ever said "Hello", shook my hand or even caught my eye if he could help it. I hate that sort of behaviour. What a plonker!
9.10 The make-up girl offers to do what she can to make my head look less "shiny". I hate seeing myself on television. I'm fat, I know, but I'm not THAT fat! On TV I'm just a blob - a sweaty blob with no neck. They say that high definition television will highlight every imperfection. Perhaps I should retire now.
9.15 Deborah and I are on air, answering questions about the proposed tobacco control measures. Breaking news that two young children have been stabbed and killed has cut into our allotted time and the "discussion" is over before it's even begun.
9.30 Drive to our office in central London, still wearing my BBC make-up (which I have forgotten about). I rarely take the car into London but when I do it is almost always expensive. The underground car park in Cavendish Square, close to the office, costs £5 an hour, or £50 for 24 hours. There's no congestion charge at the weekend, which is just as well. Two weeks ago I drove into London on Thursday, stayed overnight, and drove home the following day. Not for the first time I forgot to pay the congestion charge. I have now received two penalty notices (one for each day), a total of £120 (if I pay within 14 days, £240 if I don't).
10.00 ITN has left a message on voicemail. They want an interview, and they need it now, for their lunchtime news bulletin. I jump in a cab and race over to the studios in Gray's Inn Road. In fact, the interview is filmed outside, round the back of the building to escape the noise of passing traffic. The reporter is sympathetic to my views. As we walk back she tells me that although she gave up smoking nine months ago, she agrees that a point of sale ban is a step too far.
11.50 Back at the office, another car arrives, courtesy of Sky News, to take me to the Millbank studios. Millbank is close to the Palace of Westminster and Sky, the BBC and ITV all have facilities there. Westminster Council seems to be digging up half the roads in central London. After several detours we arrive with five minutes to spare. Catch sight of my BBC make-up - which is showing signs of wear and tear - but it's too late to do anything about it. Anyway, it's Saturday and the Sky make-up girl is nowhere to be seen.
12.30 Live on Sky News. Sky presenters can be quite feisty (ie aggressive) on the subject of smoking, but today I am given a relatively easy ride. The presenters allow me to say my piece without (much) interruption. This must be some sort of record. Afterwards I am whisked into another studio for a recorded interview with a distinguished grey-haired correspondent who confesses that he is a hardened smoker. He looks and sounds a bit like Peter O'Toole. (I swear he called me "Dear boy".) I don't like to ask him his name because I feel I should know who he is. I must find out.
1.05 Still at Millbank, but now I'm on BBC News (again) and this time I'm on my own. Peter Sissons is the presenter and I am interviewed for what seems like ten minutes. It's probably much less but in TV news terms it's still a long interview. I like Sissons. He's not aggressive (like Paxman or Humphrys) but drop your guard and he is quick to pounce.
1.20 Still at Millbank and still at the BBC, but now I'm in a radio studio (smaller than a broom cupboard) being interviewed live on the World Service. They ask me, in advance, to mention countries other than the UK, so I throw in some stuff about Iceland, Ireland and Canada. I also refer to dollars instead of pounds and it's all going rather well until I suggest that, thanks to the anti-smoking movement, smoking could become cool again. I hear a sharp intake of breath in my headphones and the interview is brought to an abrupt end, the presenter reminding listeners worldwide that Forest is funded by the tobacco industry. C'est la vie, as they say in France (and England).
Postscript: my final interview yesterday was on Five Live's News Hour (8.00-9.00pm), presented by John Pienaar and Lesley Ashmall. By now I was at home, dying for a drink (and considerably more than the government's recommended 3-4 units). The last time I was on News Hour, a few weeks ago, there was a dodgy line and I couldn't hear properly so I just kept talking - and talking. Eventually Pienaar gave up trying to gain my attention ("Simon, Simon, Simon") and simply cut me off. I don't blame him. I would have done the same. Last night Ashmall asked the questions and I was so tired I can't remember a single one. I do hope it went well.
Thursday, May 22, 2008 I have just appeared on BBC Breakfast to discuss the Scottish government's plans, announced yesterday, to ban the display of cigarettes in shops and the sale of 10-packs. Similar proposals have been put forward by the UK government which is about to launch a public consultation on the subject.
Needless to say, with Britain having a devolved political system, the SNP government wants to be seen to "lead" the way and thereby justify its existence.
When the announcement was made, my colleague Neil Rafferty was in an Edinburgh studio giving an immediate reaction on Holyrood Live (BBC Scotland). I rather liked his comment that: ""We will soon be living in a country where pornographic magazines will be on display in shops and not cigarettes."
There is more coverage of the story - and Forest's reaction - HERE and HERE.
Sunday, March 9, 2008 Last night, for the third time in four weeks, I was a guest on Five Live's Stephen Nolan Show. This time it was to discuss what Nolan called a "Five Live exclusive" - the claim, by Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital, that up to a third of the children it treats for certain conditions are ill because their parents smoke in front of them. (Full story HERE.)
I armed myself with appropriate notes but it was no use. The adults, myself included, were completely upstaged by two children - a remarkably articulate 14-year-old boy whose hatred of tobacco smoke and concern for his mother and stepfather's health had persuaded them to stop smoking, and a 10-year-old girl who wanted her mother to quit before her "addiction" killed the pair of them.
Together they made an extraordinary double-act and dominated the programme to such an extent that at one point Nolan decided to butt out and let them speak to one another directly without interruption.
Outgunned by tales of woe from various listeners, the girl's mother was equally impressive with her quiet determination to smoke in a well-ventilated room in her own home. By the end, however, even she was on the verge of conceding the argument in order to mollify her sweet but increasingly opinionated child.
You can hear the discussion HERE for the next seven days. It's at the start of the programme and continues for about 45 minutes. My (brief) contribution comes at the start and end of the discussion. In between I gave up the unequal contest and watched Match of the Day instead.
Never work with children? Never work with anti-smoking children!!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 
We have been approached by a leading British independent film and television production company who produce documentary films for, among others, the BBC, Channel 4 and Five.
The company is developing a film about Britain’s nanny state and the people who are fighting against it. They want to speak to people who have a personal story that has affected them in such a way that not only are they unwilling to accept it, they are actively campaigning against it.
Publican Hamish Howitt - who spoke at our Conservative conference event in Blackpool last year - is an obvious example, but it needn't have anything to do with smoking. It might be to do with weight or alcohol consumption. Or something else.
If you have a story to tell - or know of someone who does - drop me a note.
Sunday, December 30, 2007 
Look out for Forest patron Antony Worrall Thompson on BBC Breakfast (BBC1) tomorrow morning. He's due on the sofa at 7.40 and 8.40. Subject: the smoking ban six months on. The antis will of course declare the ban to have been a great "success" - high compliance rate and improved health all round. AWT will, I'm sure, be as feisty as ever in his response.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 
I shall be in London tomorrow recording a 20-second soundbite for BBC Breakfast to be broadcast after Christmas. To be specific, they want to film in the car park at Sainsbury's, Ladbroke Grove, at 9.00am. No doubt it will be very, very cold.
The interview is part of a report examining the impact of the smoking ban, six months on. Anti-smoking campaigners will declare the ban to have been a great success (high compliance, dramatic health benefits etc). Expect more of this nonsense between now and the new year.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 
This morning I took a call from Dan Sheldon, assistant producer, Big Brother. Endemol, the production company, is currently in the middle of auditions for new housemates for the next series.
"We're hoping to cast the net far and wide so that housemates represent a broad spectrum of beliefs, interests and groups. It would be great if you could pass on the audition details to as many of your supporters as possible in case they want to come along and audition."
Venues, dates and times can be found on the Big Brother website (click HERE). They include Glasgow (Sat & Sun 5/6 Jan), Newcastle (Sat & Sun 12/13 Jan) and London (Sat & Sun 19/20 Jan).
"If anyone is interested in applying," said Dan, "they can email BB directly with their details which means they could avoid all the queues at the venues." The address is bb9@endemoluk.com.
Note: in the unlikely event that you get selected, Forest reserves the right to disown or deny any knowledge of you whatsoever. I'm not joking.
Saturday, October 13, 2007 
Commenting on the return of Top Gear (BBC2, Sundays, 8.00pm), TV critic Stephen Pile writes, in today's Telegraph:
"Above all, [Top Gear] is a study of the masculine principle that is everywhere else avoided on TV, but the programme has a second and equally important atavistic function. In return for creature comforts, lifestyle opportunities and a golfing bolthole in Bulgaria, the newly spineless British have lost their freeborn yeoman virtues and tamely accepted CCTV cameras, health and safety regulations, armed riot police on the streets when there is no prospect of a riot, political correctness, spin, jumped-up cooks on TV and a nanny state. Top Gear is a belated reminder of lost Anglo-Saxon strengths, certainties and freedoms ..."
Not to be missed.
Friday, June 29, 2007 
Fingers crossed, Joe Jackson will be featured on BBC Radio 4's Today programme tomorrow morning.
Simon Clark
An edited version of Joe Jackson's pre-recorded interview (see below) was broadcast on the Today programme at 7.35, preceded by a short blast of 'In 20-0-3'. Knowing Joe, I'm sure he will be miffed at the extent to which the interview was cut and presented (it came across as though it was part of a longer documentary rather than a stand alone report, and the rather rushed intro didn't really put it in its proper context) but - in my view - anything is better than nothing. And in the short time Joe was on air, he didn't pull his punches. To listen go HERE , scroll down and click on 0730-0800.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 
I'm on 18 Doughty Street tonight. I'll be discussing the smoking ban with Iain Dale, Britain's top political blogger, on Live At Nine. Doughty Street was among those filming at The Savoy on Monday, so there will be a small package of vox pop interviews. After that they want me to stay on for Vox Politics and the End of the Day show, which finishes at midnight. (Hopefully, someone, somewhere, will still be watching!)Iain and I go back a bit. He was the man behind Politico's Bookshop and together we briefly published The Politico, a short-lived magazine that was very well received but was never going to be a great commercial success so we pulled the plug.
I've featured this before so apologies for repeating myself - but here's one of my earlier appearances on the Internet-based channel. If you want to be mildly amused, double-click on the screen below.
Simon Clark
Iain Dale deserted his post at the last moment in favour of an appearance on Five Live - Shane Greer deputised. To see the programme in full click HERE. ASH, by the way, wouldn't put someone forward because their spokesman was "on holiday"!
Saturday, June 23, 2007 
The Radio 4 Today programme wants to interview Joe Jackson in Berlin, where he is recording a new album following his recent European tour. In particular, they want to record him playing his song 'In 20-0-3' which was released following the introduction of the New York smoking ban in, er, 2003.
I won't quote him direct but Joe is concerned that they just want some light entertainment to add colour to their coverage of the smoking ban and what he (a musician) has to say won't be taken seriously. I disagree. He may not be an 'expert' in the conventional sense but the fact that he is passionate and clearly knows his stuff forces people to sit up and listen. (I know journalists and MPs who would never read an 'official' policy document from cover to cover, but they have read Joe's essays on smoking.)
Of course, we can't control how the media presents our message but that's life. The important thing is to take every opportunity to get that message across. Sometimes we'll fail, other times we'll succeed. But you have to be a player. At the moment I'm the middle man between Joe and the BBC. If you'd like to hear Joe on the Today programme this week post a comment on this blog asap. It may convince him to do it.
Saturday, June 23, 2007 
One of the week's many messages was from Radio 4. On Tuesday (June 26th) the consumer programme You and Yours (12.00-1.00pm) is dedicating its entire programme to the smoking ban.
"As England takes its last few puffs before the ban begins on July 1st it’s your chance to put your views across. We want to hear your hopes and fears for the ban. If you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland how have things changed? And as smoking rooms are shut forever and smokers shooed away from doorways how will the workplace be affected? Regardless of the impact of the ban is legislation really the best way to deal with the problem?"
The programme intends to interview Forest patron Antony Worrall Thompson, host of Revolt In Style, at The Savoy on Monday for inclusion in Tuesday's programme. You can have your say by visiting the You and Yours website now.
