Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Following a well-publicised protest in Wells, Somerset, karaoke owner Paul Toole is organising a similar event in Glastonbury on Saturday August 11. The march coincides with the Glastonbury Extravaganza (August 10-12) so it promises to be well worth the effort. More details HERE.
Monday, July 30, 2007 
"Drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol will be targeted during a summer crackdown in England and Wales." Fair enough (full story HERE). But wait:
Steve Green, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, says legally available prescription drugs should be included in the ban. "We've got to err on the safe side. If a drug can have that result [of impairing driving ability] then I think we've got to say to people I'm sorry, if you need this drug, then you shouldn't drive."
So, drivers on legally available prescription drugs could be asked by police to take a roadside test and those who refuse could be arrested and (as a result) fined or even banned from driving.
Think about it. There must be hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people on prescription drugs. Thousands of older people (organ transplant patients, for example) rely on prescription drugs to keep them alive. Are all these people to live in fear of being pulled over by the police and arrested?
As for drivers who want to quit smoking, I'd think twice about using a prescription drug such as Champix or Zyban. It may help you stop smoking, but at what cost to your independence and even your livelihood?
Monday, July 30, 2007 We are currently designing a pocket ashtray for distribution at this year's party conferences and beyond. (It's part of our 'Nanny State? No Thanks' campaign.) We'd be interested in feedback re colour (ie gold, white or black). Any preference? 
Simon Clark
Black it is (see Comments). The ashtray will be available to everyone who registers their support on the new Free Society website. We're also producing a Forest version (below):
Sunday, July 29, 2007 
Thousands of pubs, bingo halls and working men's clubs could be at risk because of the smoking ban, a report in today's Sunday Mirror suggests.
"Pub takings are down by as much as 40 per cent as smokers choose to drink at home, say landlords in the first major survey into the impact of the month-old ban. Small town-centre pubs and bars in inner-city areas are the worst affected with profits down an average 20 per cent, mainly because they have no outside area for smokers to light up."
Critics will argue that it's not a large survey - the paper contacted just 70 pubs, members-only clubs and bingo halls - but as Richard, a reader of this blog, points out, the report appears in a Labour-supporting newspaper so there is no question of political bias (other than 'New' versus 'Old' Labour).
Full story HERE. I suggest that everyone sends a copy to their MP with a covering note (making it clear that you expect a reply, which we would be interested to read).
Sunday, July 29, 2007 
I don't smoke but I do have an addiction. I'm addicted to caffeine. And newspapers. Coffee and newspapers. The two go together like Bill and Ben. Or Starsky and Hutch.
Fuelling my addiction, I was given a Nespresso coffee machine (left) for Christmas and I can honestly say it's one of the best presents I have ever had. It's not just the ease with which I can have coffee on tap, I am now a fully signed up member of the Nespresso Club, and you have no idea how much pleasure that brings.
Yesterday I took delivery of £200 worth of coffee capsules, ordered online and delivered (within two days) to my door. There are numerous blends to choose from (which is part of the fun) and I am gradually trying them all (which is even more fun). Some I have rejected (too weak for my taste), others I have ordered again (and again).
Current favourite is Arpeggio (which sounds like a character from The Aristocats). It comes in an attractive purple capsule and is rated 9/10 for strength. (If it's late at night, and I don't want my hands shaking uncontrollably into the early hours, I'll select Decaffeinato Intenso, but in general I prefer the real, caffeinated, deal.)
The Nespresso website - which features a short film starring "brand hero" George Clooney - is a triumph of feelgood marketing. Play it with the volume up and it's almost pornographic. "Rich, sensual, intense, unique ... The hero, of course, is Nespresso ... What else?"
According to its Wikipedia entry, "Criticisms have been raised regarding the ecological implications of Nespresso and the freedom it gives the consumer over their coffee". What a load of tosh. The Magimix Nespresso M200 makes perfect coffee time after time. Buy one today!
Saturday, July 28, 2007 
Interesting interview with playwright Simon Gray, author of The Smoking Diaries (left), in today's Guardian. Gray is a close personal friend of fellow playwright (and Oscar-winning screenwriter) Ronald Harwood. Ronnie, a member of Forest's Supporters Council, is a fierce critic of public smoking bans.
His friend, it would seem, is ambivalent, which demonstrates that, even among smokers, there is more than one point of view. Here's a taster:
[Gray] finds it odd that he has become a poster boy for cigarettes. True, he has puffed in the face of adversity, but he never championed smoking. "It's thought that I'm a great defender of smoking, but I'm not. I mostly hate it. It's vile and destructive." He pauses, wondering whether he's being too harsh. "It's given me pleasure, one has to be fair, and on occasion I think it's saved my life." How? "There have been times when I have felt you're never alone with a cigarette. Sometimes when you're desperate or depressed a cigarette is invaluable. But I'd much rather not have smoked."
Nowadays, he says, he hasn't the energy to smoke 65 a day. He complains that modern film actors don't know how to smoke properly. For Gray, smoking is an art, an occupation and a curse. He hates the smoking ban in principle, but is grateful for it in practice: "When I'm in a restaurant it means for two to three hours I don't smoke. I'm quite pleased about that."
Full interview HERE.
Saturday, July 28, 2007 
In the last six months I have seriously considered buying a 4x4, a patio heater and a plasma TV.
Now I am told that all three are symbols of "environmentally destructive consumerism".
Help!
Friday, July 27, 2007 
Just fancy that! Hardly had the words "prostitution of science" appeared on this blog (see below) than a press release landed in my inbox. A report produced jointly by the All Party Parliamentary Middle Way Group and the Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management (and published this morning) claims there is no valid scientific evidence to justify the hunting ban.
The report, The Use, Misuse and Abuse of Science in support of the Hunting Act 2004, argues that government, the media and the public have all been "duped by fake and twisted science". According to the press release:
This document provides the first opportunity to scrutinise the reports, submissions and statements made by anti-hunting groups, some scientists and others during the process which led to the passing of the Hunting Act 2004. It shows that the “large body of scientific evidence”, a claim made by the RSPCA, simply does not exist.
Dr Lewis Thomas for the VAWM, which represents over 550 veterinary surgeons, says, "This carefully compiled document comprehensively puts the scientific record straight in respect of the hunting debate and demonstrates that there are not and never were any scientific grounds for banning hunting on the grounds of cruelty.”
The co-chairs of the Middle Way Group (Baroness Golding - Labour, Peter Luff MP - Conservative, and Lembit Öpik MP - Liberal Democrat) - say, "Parliament does not make judgements based purely on science, but science can guide and inform those who create our laws. To invent, deliberately misinterpret or ignore evidence, the results of which are then fed into the legislative process, is a serious charge. This examination of the so-called science put forward to justify the Hunting Act, demonstrates that Parliament, the media and the public were deceived."
Sound familar?
Thursday, July 26, 2007 
Hours after it was announced that all Disney-branded films will be smoke-free and the company will actively "discourage depictions" of cigarette smoking in films made by Miramax and Touchstone (which it owns), ITV has responded in robust fashion to a complaint (not from me!) that Coronation Street's Liz McDonald was filmed smoking in the loo at the Rovers' Return. An email that has come into our possession reads:
I’m sorry to read that seeing one of our players smoking has caused you concern. Successful drama such as Coronation Street depends on realistic characterization and there must be moments when inappropriate things are said or done. If no one ever demonstrates human frailty or ignorance it is impossible to identify with them.
Our responsibility as programme makers is to ensure that where they behave unreasonably or incorrectly their actions are not seen to be promoted. In this instance we took great care to be accurate and under the STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS 2007 No. 76 of the PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, ENGLAND - The Smoke-free (Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations 2007, Section 6 of the act refers to performers:
“Where the artistic integrity of a performance makes it appropriate for a person who is taking part in that performance to smoke, the part of the premises in which that person performs is not smoke-free in relation to that person during his performance”.
Once again thank you for your e-mail and I hope that this incident does not spoil your continued enjoyment of Coronation Street.
Thursday, July 26, 2007 
Claire Fox (left), director of the Institute of Ideas, former publisher of Living Marxism, and a regular speaker at Forest events (including our recent Savoy dinner), has launched a fierce attack on the smoking ban on Friction TV:
"Smoking is a private habit, yet it has been turned into a massive public issue. The government try and emotionally blackmail me by telling me that my habits seriously affect others. This is a prostitution of science. This is an attack on a free society and the government should butt out of my life."
Click HERE for the full two-minute video.
Launched in March, Friction TV attracted 250,000 unique visitors in its first three months and is said to be outpacing YouTube. Forest has two videos on the site. The first, with 11,309 plays, is still one of the most watched; the second, recorded at The Savoy, has been played 5,804 times since it was uploaded on June 26. Click HERE and HERE.
Thursday, July 26, 2007 
Interviewed on Dublin 98FM last night, I was asked to comment on a story in which an Irish smoker (Charles) was refused his driving test because the examiner didn't care for the smell of tobacco smoke in Charles's car. Note: there is no question that he was smoking in the car while the examiner was present. What is in dispute is when he last lit up in the car. Charles claimed it was eleven hours previously, the examiner believed it to be shortly before the test.
Only in Ireland, you might think. But no. I have just checked and according to the Driving Standards Agency here in the UK:
From 1 July 2007 smoking in vehicles used as workplaces will be banned in England. Although the legislation will only apply to instructors’ vehicles candidates for test need to be aware that if you bring your own vehicle to test it is DSA policy to provide a smoke free working environment for all staff. The examiner may therefore refuse to conduct the test if the vehicle contains tobacco smoke.
Note: it doesn't say "smell of tobacco smoke" but that won't stop the more fastidious examiner. Expect similar stories in the UK within the year.
Smoking Wednesday, July 25, 2007 
Dinner with my old friend Todd Buchholz. We first met, in Washington DC, in 1983. I was there as a guest of the Young America's Foundation and as an up-and-coming "young American" Todd was given the job of looking after us. Today, according to the Penguin website:
Todd G. Buchholz is an internationally acclaimed economist who advises ABC News, as well as some of the world's leading investment funds. He has served as a director of economic policy at the White House and is a contributing editor for Worth magazine. Buchholz holds advanced degrees from Cambridge University and Harvard Law School and was awarded the Allyn Young Teaching Prize by Harvard University's Department of Economics.
There's more. A best-selling author, Todd's books have been published in dozens of languages and, earlier this year, his first novel was published. He has guest hosted several television programmes in America and, intriguingly, is credited as co-producer of Jersey Boys, the smash hit Broadway musical which opens in the West End in February 2008. (When I ask him about this it turns out he's an investor. It's his first flutter in this particular minefield and, true to form, the show's success is making him another small fortune.)
Hopefully, he'll be back in London for the West End premiere which coincides with the UK publication of his new book, New Ideas from Dead CEOs. A special Free Society event may be in order ...
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 
Lunch with Jayne and Tavy, the PR people behind SmokersLife, the new "lifestyle portal" for Britain's 12 million smokers.
Phase one was launched on July 1st. It includes links to "vintage" videos plus (limited) information about the best post-ban venues for social smokers. Phase two - the core business - will feature an online dating service plus access to smoker-friendly insurance packages.
Described as a "support system as well as a dating service", SmokersLife is reported to be seeking £250,000 in return for equity in the company. "This will be used to market the business to smokers in the UK, France and Germany enabling the company to develop projected sales of over £90 million by the end of Year 5."
I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 
Late breakfast with Mark St John at the Troubadour, "the last 50s coffee house in Earls Court". Mark is manager of The Pretty Things whose protest song, 'All Light Up', featured on this blog and the Forest website when it was released last month.
'All Light Up' is part of a broader offensive in defence of civil liberties. Phil May, founder and lead singer of the band, came to our Revolt In Style dinner at The Savoy and we are currently discussing ways we can work together to highlight opposition to the smoking ban and other Big Government initiatives.
Top of our list is some form of protest at the Labour conference in Bournemouth in September. We know what we want to do - it's just a question of whether we can sort out the logistics. Watch this space.
Monday, July 23, 2007 
Just published in HR Director magazine:
Stress affects one in five of the working population and is the single biggest cause of sickness absence in the UK. With that in mind, employers need to be even more vigilant about stress levels in the workplace now that staff may be feeling the effects of the smoking ban.
To help employers empower their staff to combat stress, BUPA Wellness has come up with a list of stress symptoms to look out for. It has also created a list of top 10 mini work break ideas to help smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers stay cool, calm, and collected with customers and colleagues.
Full article HERE.
Smoking 
