Day after the party the night before
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 9:39 Still in London following last night's Smoke On The Water boat party.
The event took place under leaden skies but the expected showers failed to materialise and guests were able to experience The Elizabethan's unique sliding roof. This gives passengers a great view of some of London's best known buildings and bridges, and it's particularly atmospheric after dark when the coloured lighting on landmarks such as County Hall and the London Eye can be seen so clearly.
I first booked this Mississippi-style paddle steamer for a party in, I think, 1995. Smoke On The Water was the sixth time I have hired it and it has never let me down. Its only failing is a rather small bar that can cause a bit of a bottleneck for drinks, but that normally resolves itself following the initial surge. (Anticipating this problem, guests were offered a free glass of wine to kick start the evening, but we very quickly exhausted the 80 bottles we had set aside. Thirsty work, smoking.)
We had an excellent six-piece band, Urban Blue, who played a mixture of jazz, funk and soul, and between sets I was delighted to introduce our two guest speakers, blogger Dick Puddlecote and David Nuttall MP. Experience has taught me that speeches and stand up receptions are not a good mix (people are far more interested in drinking and continuing their conversation) and last night was no exception.
Nevertheless Dick and David both spoke with great conviction and the message was very clear and very simple. The fight for smokers' rights will continue for as long as it takes and far from going away (as some people predicted it would after the smoking ban in 2007) the 'movement' is actually growing, to the extent that 'ordinary' smokers like Dick have been emboldened to organise their own protest events.
Likewise, David Nuttall has no intention of abandoning the cause, unlike some of his fellow MPs. There is a small group of independently-minded MPs to whom we are very grateful for their support and with the help of David and others like him we intend to build on that.
It's worth noting that MPs' researchers (if not MPs) were out in force last night. I spoke to one (significantly, he's also a local councillor) and he is very keen to help. Watch this space.
In total, almost 250 people attended last night's event, very close to capacity. Interestingly, while there was some overlap, it was a very different crowd to the 200+ people who attended our Save Our Pubs and Clubs reception at the House of Commons two weeks ago. Much younger, someone noted. If we could combine the two groups it's not unrealistic to think we could attract at least 500 – maybe more – for an even bigger event. Smoke In The Park, perhaps?
To date Forest's record attendance is 400 for our Revolt in Style dinner at the Savoy Hotel in 2007. In 2006 a Politics and Prohibition themed event at the Conservative conference in Bournemouth attracted a similar number to the Royal Bath Hotel. In fact, that event was so popular hotel staff had to stop people coming in, citing "elf 'n safety"!
Can you imagine ASH attracting similar support? No, neither can I. The conundrum is, how to convert the popularity of social events like Revolt In Style and Smoke On The Water into hard political currency.
PS. Loving the superfast broadband in my hotel. (Each room comes equipped with its own iMac. Bliss.)
I'm not one of those who considers broadband (fast or slow) to be a human right (ridiculous idea), but it does improve the quality of my life enormously.
Sadly I have to check out in a couple of hours otherwise I would happily stay here all day.
Reader Comments (5)
Thump, thump, bang, bang, yes that is my head you are hearing.
The annual Forest bash is always one of my highlights of the year. Catch up with some old friends and make some new ones. As you quite rightly say it is so good to see so many young people who share the liberty platform.
I am getting ready for Dick Puddlecote's event on Saturday, I hope to catch up with you all again.
Many thanks again Simon, to alll who made last night such a success and a most enjoyable evening. My head still hurts ....
I had a great time; many, many thanks for arranging the evening. I heard, at one point, someone who I presume to be the ship's captain announcing that, unless several people stopped smoking, the ship would dock and everyone would leave. If several people are smoking indoors, I suggest that the Captain's correct course of conduct is ask them to smoke outside, or THEY would be ejected at the next docking. To punish almost 250 people because of two or three is unjust, an abdication of responsibilty, and an example of the intolerance that the evening was against. I hope you or Forest write a letter of protest regarding this. I look forward to next year.
I attended the Smoke on the Water party on Wednesday, along with my wife, Frances, and a non-smoking friend, who incidentally just loved it, and is now thinking of taking up smoking as a result of the party. He isn't really, but unlike many non-smokers, he is a strong believer in personal freedom, and doesn't see why there shouldn't be separate provision made for smokers and non-smokers alike. I have spoken to him since the party by the way, and contrary to the likes of ASH's predictions, he is still alive, even after being surrounded for a whole evening by non-sop, second-hand smoke.
It was so good to see so many 'old' friends there again, some from last year's boat party and others from Boisdale events. What I was very impressed with however, was the amount of younger people who turned up. So good to see fresh young blood, so to speak.
This of course completely undermines yet another falsehood put out by ASH. In their poorly constructed propaganda, they try to paint all smokers with one brush, saying that smokers are a dying breed of old fogies. Their simplistic message is so obviously aimed at young children, whom they hope will believe anything, if it is told to them enough times. "You don't want to be like these old fogies do you?" they ask, "Only old people smoke - it's so uncool". The problem is that young minds are susceptible to these mind bending exercises.
The young people who were at the boat party this week, are far from being children, and between them they represent a very powerful part of this country's political future, and I would guess, from what I saw, that 99% of them smoked. They all looked very clean and very healthy, and very sure of where they are going in life. No old fogies in this crowd I can assure you! And if anyone wanted a role-model for their children, they could do no better than to look to these people.
I would like to thank Simon, who did an excellent job, as usual, organising this party, and for slowly but surely helping to get the young people of Great Britain onto the side of democracy one again.
It's Stony Stratford next!
"The conundrum is, how to convert the popularity of social events like Revolt In Style and Smoke On The Water into hard political currency."
Have you thought Simon of taking on a public relations company to give some pointers on how Forest could court the main stream broadcast media for a bigger impact?