Forest - the movie

When I wrote "Final word on the Forest party" (below), what I meant was ... oh, never mind. Click HERE and watch the video on Friction TV.

PS. An earlier Forest video, recorded at our Revolt In Style dinner at The Savoy last summer, has been viewed 18,172 times. It features Antony Worrall Thompson, among others, and you can view it HERE.

Pound stretches the truth

Stephen Pound MP used to be a supporter of Forest. Today, writing in the Independent, he explains (not for the first time) "why I threw away my cigarettes the day after voting for the ban". He did the same the day after the vote (in February 2006) when he appeared on the Today programme to announce his sudden flip-flop conversion.

Pound's "moment of epiphany" was apparently the result of listening to Deborah Arnott of ASH ("calm and realistic") and Dr Richard Taylor, "the independent MP for the Wyre Forest, who was scarily scientific in his description of the foul chemical-sodden composition of what I had thought was sun-dried organic Virginia tobacco".

Ignoring the evidence on passive smoking (which a House of Lords committee subsequently confirmed did NOT justify a comprehensive ban), Pound chose to conclude that "while I had a right to kill myself slowly I had no such right to visit a long, lingering and agonising death on those around me".

Politicians are busy people and it is understandable if, on occasion, they take their cue from one or two so-called "experts". When, however, you are about to vote on an issue that could have serious social and economic consequences for millions of people, surely you do a bit more research?

Politicians. Don't you just love 'em. Full article HERE.

Rio de Janeiro? I'll eat my hat!

Final word on the Boisdale party. Late in the evening, after most of the guests had left, I was accosted by an absurdly flirtatious woman who asked me if I'd like to go to Rio de Janeiro. (Would I like to go to Rio de Janeiro? Is the Pope Catholic?)

I won't bore you with the details (they were sketchy, to say the least) but I think I heard the words "conference" and "tobacco". Now, I don't know if this was a wind up, but if I find myself on a plane bound for Brazil later this year I shall (a) be thrilled, and (b) eat my hat. Watch this space.

Update on Sunday, June 29, 2008 by Simon Clark

And finally, Madsen Pirie has posted a short piece about the party on his Another Food Blog HERE.

Demon Barber puts the knife in

I was quite excited when I heard that Lynn Barber was coming to the Forest party last week. Lynn Barber! Not only is she one of the most famous journalists of the last 20 years (her interviews are legendary), she's also a smoker. And she's on friendly terms with David Hockney, and since he was coming too (and the party went so well, or so I thought) I was convinced we were set for a favourable review.

As it happens I've been in public relations long enough never to count my chickens. But even I was disappointed to read Barber's piece in today's Observer. (The title alone sets alarm bells ringing: 'This party's such a drag'.) Disappointed, but not surprised. After all, one of my favourite articles is Toby Young's 'My interview from hell' in which he wrote:

The question of why anyone agrees to be profiled by Lynn Barber is a curious one. After all, her last collection of interviews was called Demon Barber so it's not as if she makes any secret of her intentions. The hatchet job is her stock-in-trade, yet for some reason there is never any shortage of willing subjects.

According to Young:

"Recent casualties include Boy George, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Winston, Jerry Hall, Gyles Brandreth, Alan Sugar, Terence Conran, Julian Fellowes and Clare Short, to name but a few".

That was in 2006. I'm sure there have been a few more "casualties" since, and I'm equally sure that Forest won't be the last.

Lynn Barber's Forest/Boisdale article is HERE but the last word should go to Toby Young:

"I did my best to keep my cool. I counted to ten. I tried to picture her naked. But it was no good. Words came tumbling out of my mouth in a torrent of rage. At one point, I even noticed a fleck of spit landing on her taperecorder. I was fucked."

It's still David Davis for me

I had to laugh when I saw the list of candidates (all 26 of them!) for the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. The full list is:

Grace Christine Astley - Independent
David Laurence Bishop - Church of the Militant Elvis Party
Ronnie Carroll - Make Politicians History
Mad Cow-Girl - The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
David Craig - Independent
Herbert Winford Crossman - Independent
Tess Culnane - National Front Britain for the British
Thomas Faithful Darwood - Independent
David Michael Davis - Conservative
Tony Farnon - Independent
Eamonn "Fitzy" Fitzpatrick - Independent
Christopher Mark Foren - Independent
Gemma Dawn Garrett - Miss Great Britain Party
George Hargreaves - Christian Party
Hamish Howitt - Freedom4Choice
David Icke - No party listed
John Nicholson - Independent
Shan Oakes - Green Party
David Pinder - The New Party
Joanne Robinson - English Democrats: Putting England First
Jill Saward - Independent
Norman Scarth - Independent
Walter Edward Sweeney - Independent
Christopher John Talbot - Socialist Equality Party
John Randle Upex - Independent
Greg Wood - Independent

Somewhere in there you may have spotted Hamish Howitt, the anti-smoking ban candidate. Now, as readers know, I sympathise with Hamish's position and - to date - Forest has been happy to give him a platform for his views. (Last year we invited him to speak at a reception at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool. This week we gave him the microphone so he could address guests at our Smoke-Free England? party in London, and we have also invited him to our reception at the House of Commons on Tuesday.)

Unfortunately, standing for parliament alongside David Icke, Mad Cow-Girl and the Church of the Militant Elvis Party threatens the very serious message that Hamish is trying to get across.

David Davis can rise above this circus because, until now, he has been in the driving seat and has set the agenda. That said, Donal Blaney has a very interesting take on the DD campaign HERE which, I think, is spot on. There is a real danger that all these candidates, allied to a lacklustre Davis campaign, could result in a small turnout and the sense that people really aren't that bothered about civil rights. That would be a disaster, not only for Davis, but for everyone who believes that civil rights (including smokers' rights) are worth fighting for.

For that reason, my vote (if I had one) would still go to David Davis. In the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, DD is the only civil rights campaigner who is going to win. He's lukewarm on the smoking issue (and doesn't want to embrace the subject as part of his manifesto), but - looking at the bigger picture - that doesn't matter. What matters - if we want civil liberties to remain high up the political agenda and more embarrassment to be heaped on the Labour government - is that David Davis wins on a good turnout, with an increased majority, and a larger percentage of the vote.

If Hamish wants my advice, it's this: throughout the campaign he must stick to DD like glue. Wherever Davis goes, Hamish must shadow him - not to upstage or verbally attack him (there must be no talk of "giving Davis a bloody nose") but to engage, support and expand upon DD's civil rights manifesto (see HERE).

In short, Hamish has got to play this straight. No hyperbole, no outrageous claims (eg "I believe we've got a good chance of beating David Davis", as Nick Hogan, his campaign manager, is reported to have said), just a simple, honest, down-to-earth message that smokers' rights matter because, if we ignore smaller breaches of our civil rights, politicians will be encouraged to introduce bigger breaches such as unrestricted surveillance cameras, 42-day detention without charge, and worse.

PS. You can read David Davis's campaign blog HERE.

Down and out in Henley

Further to the Henley by-election result, I take no pleasure in pointing out that UKIP trailed in last - behind Labour, who came fifth. I do so merely to emphasise what I have argued before - that voting for UKIP is not going to help amend the smoking ban. (I'll re-phrase that. It might if ten million people voted for UKIP but that's not going to happen.)

In politics you have to work with the system as it is, not how you want it to be. The only way we can persuade government to introduce amendments (yes, amendments) to the smoking ban is to concentrate our efforts on lobbying those in power or likely to be in power in the foreseeable future.

I should add that, having had a chat with the immensely likeable UKIP leader Nigel Farage (above left) at the Forest bash on Tuesday (where he gave a short but impressive speech), I have even more respect for him than before - but I still wouldn't vote for his party in a non-European election because single issue parties don't win elections. And yes, I know that UKIP isn't a single issue party, but try telling the vast majority of the British electorate. As far as they're concerned, UKIP is interested in one thing and one thing only - getting Britain out of the EU.

Someone (I think it was Brian Monteith) later reminded me that Nigel tried to change the party's name from UKIP to the Independence Party but without success. I don't know why it hasn't happened (perhaps someone can tell me) but if UKIP is to have any chance of picking up seats in a general election (without proportional representation) a name change and a drastic re-branding is absolutely vital. And even that is grasping at straws.

PS. A few years ago a friend of mine (a disillusioned Conservative) registered the name "Enterprise Party". The project, such as it was, never got off the ground, but I still think it's a great name and concept for a political party. One day, perhaps.

Another kick in the teeth for Labour

Result of yesterday's Henley by-election: John Howell (Conservative) 19,796; Stephen Kearney (Lib Dems) 9,680; Mark Stevenson (Green) 1,321; Timothy Rait (BNP) 1,243; Richard McKenzie (Labour) 1,066; Chris Adams (UKIP) 843.

Although Henley is a safe Tory seat, coming fifth behind the BNP is a disaster for Labour and Gordon Brown in particular. There has been a sea-change in British politics over the past nine months (ever since the PM bottled calling a general election) and nothing, it seems, can keep Labour in power after the next election.

Drugs: where do we draw the line?

Another guest at the Forest party on Tuesday was Suzy Dean, a journalist and writer who works for the Manifesto Club and is behind tonight's debate, "Drugs: Where Do We Draw The Line?".

Speakers include consultant psychiatrist Swaran Singh; Marcus Roberts, director of policy at DrugScope; and James Douglass, who has conducted postgraduate research into drug cultures and has written for the Independent, Guardian and Spiked.

To coincide with the debate, James has written THIS article for The Free Society.

For full details of the event click HERE.

PS. I intended to go to tonight's event - until I remembered that I have tickets to see Lou Reed's Berlin at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. I can't be in two places at one time but if anyone wants to go to the Manifesto Club Night and post a report on this blog, please do.

Smoke-free England?

You know it's been a good event when Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, emails to say, "Jolliest party of the year! Thank you so much".

Last night close on 300 people squeezed into Boisdale Bar & Restaurant in London. Pausing only to pick up the first of several complementary complimentary drinks (vodka cocktail, glass of wine or beer), many headed straight for the cigar terrace (capacity: 45) which groaned under the weight of a hundred smokers.

Star guest was an old friend of Forest - David Hockney, Britain's greatest living artist. Just back from Baden Baden, the spa town in Germany which he visits every year, David told me that he came home with 6,000 cigarettes. "I never buy them in this country."

Hockney didn't hang around long - he's a bit deaf, and large, noisy crowds make it difficult for him to hear what people are saying - but while he was there he spoke to a number of people, including the Observer's Lynn Barber, another very welcome guest.

Others included Madsen Pirie and the aforementioned Eamonn Butler of the Adam Smith Institute; Matthew Elliott, director of The Taxpayers Alliance; Simon Richards, director of The Freedom Association; Claire Fox, director the Institute of Ideas and her colleague Tony Gilland; Rob Lyons, deputy editor of Spiked; Tom Utley of the Daily Mail; Telegraph leader writer Alex Singleton; Simon Hills of The Times; and Michael White, political editor of the Guardian.

Less well known (but no less welcome) was Sarah Bland and her husband Darren. Sarah is nine months' pregnant and even though the baby is due on Friday she still wanted to come and support our event. (You couldn't make it up.)

There was a warm welcome too for Dick Engel of the Dutch smokers' group Stichting Rokersbelangen. Dick is a former police officer (vice squad), a good man to have on our side. (His colleague Ton was supposed to come but missed the plane. I won't tell you what Dick said.)

Other long distance travellers included our own Brian Monteith (Edinburgh) and Neil Rafferty (the Borders), and Liz Barber (Stockton-on-Tees).

It was good to see (even briefly) some of the regulars on this blog: Dave Atherton, Joyce Stewart, Rose Whiteley, Dave Hook. (I don't know what happened to Peter Thurgood. If you're reading this, Peter, Joyce was looking for you.)

Friction TV came and filmed a series of "Smoking Breaks" for the Forest website (we will launch our own video player later in the year). I was interviewed by the Guardian and German radio.

Guest speakers were Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley (West Yorkshire); Nigel Farage, a 60-a-day smoker (did he really say that?) and leader of UKIP; and "rebel landlord" Hamish Howitt. Michael White describes their speeches HERE.

Most poignant sight of the evening had to be Ranald Macdonald, MD of Boisdale, gently asking guests in the (enclosed) Garden Restaurant to stub out their fags. "I felt really bad about it," he told me later, "but we could lose our license."

On the cigar terrace and out on the street, at the front of the building, nothing was going to stop guests lighting up. Smoke-free England? I don't think so.

Postscript: the picture above features Forest supporter Bob Loveday with a US duty free packet of cigarettes. Note the absence of any health warning. Bob is a long-serving member of Bob Geldof's band.

First, I need some sleep!

After a late night (following a 4.00am start), I have just got back from London and our Smoke-Free England? party at Boisdale. A report will follow later. For the moment I can record that an estimated 300 people turned up, including David Hockney (photographed, left, with yours truly), and our guest speakers were Philip Davies MP, UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP, and "rebel landlord" Hamish Howitt who is standing in the Haltemprice & Howden by-election. More to follow.

BTW, Michael White, avuncular political editor of the Guardian, has THIS to say about the party. You can comment.

Total Politics: debating matters

The first issue of Total Politics is out this weekend. The publisher is Iain Dale and it's bankrolled by Tory billionaire Michael Ashcroft, see HERE. (Update: Iain tells me that Ashcroft is not bankrolling the magazine. "He is a commercial investor, just like several others.")

I haven't seen a copy yet (apparently it's on sale in some branches of WH Smith, Borders and Waterstones) so I'll reserve judgement, but the launch issue includes a head-to-head debate on the question "Was the smoking ban right?". In the "yes" corner is the Guardian's Polly Toynbee; and in the "No" corner is my old friend Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute.

Writing as an ex-smoker, Toynbee argues:

"Banning indoor smoking in public places was a big political risk. Would smokers rebel? The fear was that people would disobey and make the same monkey of the law we have seen with the fox hunting. But one year on, it is a law the country has taken to heart. No-one would dare light up in the wrong place – not for fear of the plod, but fear of the public. It has been an unexpectedly popular law."

Pirie (an occasional cigar smoker) responds:

"The smoking ban arose from an unfortunate desire some people have to make others live as they would have them live, rather than as they themselves would want to live. The same desire has characterised destructive political ideologies and religious zealotry, and does not belong in a free society. The smoking ban has significantly eroded that freedom."

You can read the full feature online HERE.

Update on Sunday, June 22, 2008 by Simon Clark

I have just spent the afternoon at a garden party in Cambridge where one of the guests was ... Madsen Pirie.

Forest in the House

On July 1st, the first anniversary of the public smoking ban in England, Philip Davies MP is hosting a reception for Forest in the House of Commons. This is an invitation only event to which we are inviting MPs and a small representative group of people for whom the legislation has had a major social or economic impact. (The group includes include smokers, tolerant non-smokers, pub and bar owners, to name a few.)

If you have a message for your MP (or MPs generally) concerning the smoking ban, please comment here or email me direct. We are particularly keen to register with MPs the negative impact the ban is having on many people's lives. Describe how the ban has affected you personally.

Also, what amendments to the current legislation would you like to see introduced following the review of the Health Act in 2010? Third, has the ban influenced you to cut down or quit smoking? Fourth, what do you think of the government for introducing a comprehensive ban (ignoring its manifesto commitment to exclude private clubs and pubs that don't serve food) and will it influence your vote at the next election?

We need your name and (optionally) your age and occupation. The best comments will be added to the document we are sending to MPs to mark the launch of our Amend The Smoking Ban campaign.

Have you RSVP'd yet?

We have a handful of tickets left for our Smoke-Free England? party at Boisdale on Tuesday (June 24).

The event marks the first anniversary of the smoking ban in England. We are holding it in advance of  July 1st to give journalists an opportunity to speak to a wide range of smokers from different backgrounds who are opposed to the ban and who believe there should be amendments to the legislation.

If you want to come and have not yet RSVP'd, don't delay. Email events@forestonline.org or telephone Georgina on 01223 270156 (office hours).

David and Shami need to lighten up

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 Down Under

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.