Liddle at large

Interesting postscript to Revolt In Style by Rod Liddle in The Times. Author, journalist and broadcaster, Rod was on my table, alongside Antony Worrall Thompson, Trevor Baylis and Ibrahim El-Noor, so I can't imagine where he got this idea that we were all rabid right-wingers. Perhaps it was Antony telling the government to "fuck off", or perhaps I goaded him by carelessly asking if he is still a "lefty" over a post-dinner drink.

Extremely good company, Rod was one of the last to leave The Savoy on Monday night (around 1.30am). Famously combustible, he was last heard arguing with a hotel flunkey about the quickest and shortest way to leave the building. Click HERE to read the full article.

Joe Jackson on Today, tomorrow

Fingers crossed, Joe Jackson will be featured on BBC Radio 4's Today programme tomorrow morning.

Update on Saturday, June 30, 2007 by 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.

Unhappy hookahs

An article in today's Times highlights the impact the smoking ban will have on the shisha community. "On Sunday," the paper reports, "the last charcoal will be lit, the last shisha will be brought to the table and a culture that stretches from Morocco all the way back to ancient Persia will be snuffed out." Full article HERE.

A special guest at The Savoy on Monday was Ibrahim El-Noor of the Edgware Road Association who has been fighting - albeit belatedly - the smoking ban which owners fear will result in the closure of many of Britain's 600 shisha bars.

I first met Ibrahim 15 months ago when he took me to a local hookah bar and showed me how to smoke shisha. There is very little tobacco involved - it's mostly fruit peel filtered through water. Shisha smoking, he told me, is a social activity enjoyed by different age groups and different sections of the community. According to Ibrahim, "For many young people, who do not drink or go to pubs and bars, the main leisure and social activity is to visit a shisha café. Here, they can socialise, debate and discuss their affairs without being intoxicated, introduced to drugs, or subjected to violence and anti-social behaviour."

The smoking ban, says Ibrahim, will destroy this culture and a centuries old tradition. He is holding on to the hope that legal action could lead to shisha bars being excluded from the ban (as they are in New York). Short of funding a potentially expensive - and therefore crippling - legal battle, we have offered to help in other ways. On Monday, for example, we gave him a platform to publicise his campaign and he responded with a short, moving speech that will have registered, I'm sure, with many of the MPs or peers present. If he can persuade just one of them to introduce a private members' bill on the subject, they may - just may - stay in business.

Tonight on 18 Doughty Street

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.

Update on Friday, June 29, 2007 by 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"!

Revolt In Style - match report

I promised to report back on Monday's night party but the Telegraph has done it for me - see HERE. There's not a lot more to add, but here are some highlights:

We were joined by 400 guests, some of whom travelled from as far afield as Inverness, Edinburgh, Glasgow, the North East (of England), Cornwall and even Holland. Guests included 12 MPs (all Tories) and eight (or was it nine?) peers. I can't confirm they were all present and correct - you'll just have to take my word for it. There simply wasn't time, either to speak to everyone personally, or ask guests to sign a register.

The media turned out in force, camera crews jostling for position and for interviewees. There were TV crews from Germany, France, Greece and Japan, which created quite a buzz. Domestically, ITV sent a crew to record interviews for Tonight With Trevor McDonald. Radio 4's long-running consumer programme You and Yours did likewise. But the big excitement (for me) was the appearance of Stephanie Flanders, former advisor to the US Treasury and now the economics correspondent on Newsnight, recording interviews to be broadcast on (I think) Friday June 29th, BBC2.

Journalists included Sue Carroll (Daily Mirror), Rod Liddle (Sunday Times and Spectator), Peter McKay (Daily Mail), John Walsh (Independent) and Adam Edwards (Daily Telegraph). The hospitality industry was represented by Paul Waterston (Scottish Licensed Trade Association) and Nick Bish (Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers). Other guests included Sue Brealey (co-author, The Joy of Smoking), Phil May (The Pretty Things), and inventor Trevor Baylis (former Pipesmoker of the Year). Some people booked whole tables, among them cigar importers Hunters & Frankau and the Institute of Ideas.

Antony Worrall Thompson, Claire Fox and Andrew Neil all gave excellent speeches - well received by a lively and appreciative audience who roared their approval every time anyone criticised the government! I compered - sort of - and read out messages from some of those unable to attend, including Lord Tebbit, Joe Jackson, Oscar-winning playwright Ronald Harwood, artist Maggi Hambling ("From now on it's even more important to smoke"), and screenwriter Alan Plater.

The lyrics to Plater's song 'I'm Going Outside', featured on the Forest/Boisdale CD You Can't Do That!, were printed on the reverse of the menu. After the speeches, the song was performed live by the Boisdale Blue Rhythm Band. Hitherto the band had played, in the background, the perfect music to match the boisterous mood.

Last but not least, the 'formal' part of the evening finished with a stirring live performance of the Monty Python classic, 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life'. Until that point (11.00pm) hardly a single unit of alcohol had passed my lips. I shall draw a veil over later events.

Update on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 by Simon Clark

Sue Carroll, a guest on Monday, has written an excellent piece in the Mirror HERE, quoting Andrew Neil and Claire Fox. As a result of that, Sue is appearing on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze tonight at 8.00pm. Also on the programme is regular panellist - Claire Fox!

Wozza leads the resistance

Antony Worrall Thompson was an absolute star all evening. Wozza - Forest's patron since 2001 - isn't just a name on a letterhead. For years he has taken the time and the trouble, often at short notice, to do numerous interviews on our behalf.

Monday night at The Savoy was no different. He arrived early and was immediately at a centre of a media scrum. Before dinner he must have given at least a dozen interviews to journalists and broadcasters including programmes such as Newsnight, Tonight With Trevor McDonald and You and Yours. (The latter was broadcast yesterday. Go HERE and under 'Listen Again' click on Tuesday edition. Antony is featured 37 minutes into the hour-long programme.)

He also featured in yesterday's (London) Evening Standard which reported that:

If New Labour has found the resistance to its hunting ban formidable there was an indication last night that it can expect more of the same from its ban on smoking in public places. Chef Antony Worrall Thompson led the resistance.

"This is about control. The control freakery of this fucking government. Do you ever go into a town centre and cause trouble because of the effects of a cigarette? How long before they ban alcohol in pubs? What about obesity? How long before they ban food in restaurants? I'm not going to put up the No Smoking signs in my restaurants."

The Spy column in today's Daily Telegraph repeats Wozza's "control freakery" comment. It also quotes him saying: "There are loads of 85 and 90-year-olds who have smoked all their life who didn't get cancer - and I think it'll be proved in due course that it's all genetic." The fightback starts here!

Never give up!

Still recovering from last night. The last guests left The Savoy at 2.00am and I crawled back to my hotel an hour later. Edited highlights will appear here after I've had several cups of strong black coffee and caught up with a mountain of phone calls. Tomorrow we hope to publish pictures of the event on the Forest website. In the meantime here's a taster that sums up the mood of the evening.

Yours, in haste ...

This is the only opportunity I shall get to post today. Having arrived in London last night - heavily laden with Forest ashtrays, Forest beermats and 400 Forest CDs to be given away tonight - I woke up to the news that BBC Online has given Revolt In Style a good plug (see HERE). The event was also mentioned on GMTV.

There are 400 guests attending tonight's event (double our original estimate) and people are still trying to book, although the event was sold out last week. Menus have still to be printed and 500 nanny state badges have gone missing, but apart from that everything is going OK.

I won't tempt fate by naming any guests (in case they don't show) but I can tell you there will be TV crews from Russia, Germany, France, Greece and Japan. Radio 4's You and Yours will be present, interviewing the likes of Antony Worrall Thompson. So too will Granada TV, filming for Tonight With Trevor McDonald.

The full Forest press release, including some great message of support, is HERE.

CMO promises more anti-smoking measures

Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson (left) today gives an interview to the Observer in which he pledges a "further sustained crackdown on smoking after the ban comes into force in England next Sunday".

Plans include removing cigarettes from public display, putting graphic picture warnings on cigarette packets, outlawing the sale of packets of 10 cigarettes, and reducing the number of cigarettes that we can bring into the country from inside the EU from 3,200 to 200. (That's a laugh. The Chancellor had to increase the number from 800 to 3,200, a few years ago, because high taxation in the UK had sparked a smuggling epidemic. Do you think the CMO spoke to Gordon Brown before he came up with this crackpot scheme?)

Donaldson also wants advertising campaigns to "educate" parents about the 'dangers' of smoking around children. How long before smoking in the presence of children is officially declared a form of child abuse? Full story, including a short quote from me, HERE.

All light up - a cry for freedom!

Joe Jackson (below) is not alone in recording an anti-ban protest song. The Pretty Things, founded in the Sixties and still playing and recording with their original line-up, have just released their own freedom of choice anthem, 'All Light Up'.

It's part of the band's All Light Up campaign that includes a dedicated website where you can download the track free of charge. "Play it loud and clear for all to hear, wherever you go. At home. In the car. In clubs and pubs. At work. And tell your friends to do the same!"

You can also download flyers, posters (left) and a message from the band's founder Phil May. The poster looks fantastic and the whole campaign is brilliantly designed. Manager Mark St John tells me that a video will be available on YouTube this coming week. We''ll keep you posted.

Protest and survive

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.

BBC Radio 4 You & Yours

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.

When Saturday comes

What a week, dashing backwards and forwards between our offices in Cambridge and London for meetings, interviews and more. Every time I've come out of a meeting there has been at least 15 calls waiting to be returned, usually from journalists or broadcasters.

(Apart from the usual requests for quotes or interviews with a Forest spokesman, a journalist from the People wanted a dedicated smoker to go with him to an Allen Carr quit smoking session. I nominated Jenty, a Forest supporter of long standing, whose dry sense of humour and love of nicotine can be guaranteed to withstand even the most persuasive stop smoking mantra.)

Fortunately I've had fantastic support from Sonia, Barbara, Jacqui, Rebecca, Neil and Freya without whom etc etc. Thankfully the cricket match I had organised last night was cancelled due to the weather otherwise I may have imploded - and I certainly wouldn't have completed the table plan I was working on with Boisdale. (Have you ever done a table plan for 400 people? It's not that easy, especially when you've got to accommodate MPs, peers and distinguished guests. It's a tightrope of diplomacy!)

Next week is shaping up to be even more hectic - as you would expect, with the smoking ban eight days away. But first, I shall use this momentary respite to catch up on a whole stack of emails, some of which are rather interesting. Watch this space.

House rules

I am grateful to many of the people who have posted a comment on this blog. Some of your comments have been illuminating and much of it is useful feedback (even if I don't always agree with you!). I should point out, though, that this is a blog not a message board - there is a difference.

Some of the more recent comments/posts are not in the spirit of a blog. Instead of responding to a blog post or previous comment, some of you seem to be on this site with the principal aim of promoting or recruiting members to your own website/forum/community. It's what I call cuckoo in the nest syndrome.

I'd prefer not to moderate what is supposed to be a laissez faire style of blog, but please don't abuse it. Our principal goal is to create a distinctive forum for a genuine battle of ideas, not to promote third party groups or campaigns.

Forest sells out (no, not like that!)

Revolt In Style: A Freedom Dinner is now sold out. From nought to 400 guests in four weeks is pretty good going. Now the hard work really starts - selling the event to the media. See HERE - and watch this space!