2012: that was the year that was
Monday, December 31, 2012 at 17:09 January
16 – Stephen Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, helps launch "Europe’s first major campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of glitzy tobacco packaging to children". I wrote about it here and here and a few days later over 1300 mostly negative comments had been posted on Williams' blog!
27 – Still on plain packaging I went head-to-head with Maura Gillespie, head of policy and advocacy at the British Heart Foundation, in The Times.
28 – Responding to a Guardian interview with anti-smoking activist Simon Chapman, Forest supporter David Hockney asks "Why doesn't Mr Chapman debate with a good and satisfied customer of the tobacco companies?". Good question.
30 – Forest launches new website, Hands Off Our Packs.
February
06 – Welsh Assembly Government launches campaign to 'persuade' parents not to smoke in their cars when children are present. Forest's response is highlighted by the Today programme.
07 – Forest announces that Angela Harbutt and Amul Pandya have been recruited to work on the Hands Off Our Packs campaign.
20 – A report by Chris Snowdon for the Adam Smith Institute concludes that there is no evidence that standardised packaging will reduce consumption or provide any public health benefits. Instead, writes Snowdon, it may lead to an increase in the counterfeit cigarette trade, making cheap tobacco more easily available to young would-be smokers. ASH hits back, accusing the internationally respected ASI of acting as a "mouthpiece for the tobacco industry".
27 – Almost 150 guests attend the launch of Forest's Hands Off Our Packs campaign in London. Tobacco Reporter said the campaign had got off to a "rousing start".
March
06 – Forest releases Welcome to Nanny Town, the first of two Hands Off Our Packs campaign videos.
13 – Forest launches online ad campaign for Hands Off Our Packs.
April
01 – Forest issues spoof press release, Easter eggs to be sold in plain packaging. Some people believe it.
02 – We reveal how public money is going to influence the forthcoming consultation on plain packaging. Sadly this is not an April Fool joke.
07 – A report in the Financial Times begins:
The footage resembles a music video for an anarchist punk-rock band. Policemen, warning signs, CCTV cameras and spiked fences appear in a rapid sequence of black and white shots. A thrashing guitar soundtrack begins – cue the message: “Welcome to Nanny Town”.
The article then refers to an "unconventional libertarian campaign" and features quotes from me, the IEA's Mark Littlewood and Deborah Arnott of ASH.
12 – Forest Eireann reacts to the news that Ireland has joined the race to ban smoking in cars with children.
16 – Government publishes consultation document on standardised packaging and launches a three-month public consultation on the issue.
27 – Stephen Williams MP agrees to take part in a debate with Forest on plain packaging.
May
01 – Major breakthrough in Ireland where Forest spokesman John Mallon is booked to appear on Prime Time, RTE's flagship current affairs programme. His opponent in the studio is health minister James O'Reilly who wants to ban smoking in cars, in parks and, apparently, on beaches.
10 – Chris Snowdon and I are guests of the Bristol Debating Union which has invited us to debate plain packaging with Stephen Williams and Dr Gabriel Scully, former director of public health in the South West. I arrive in Bristol where I am met by a reporter for BBC Points West who wants my response to the allegation that the pro plain packs campaign has been a "victim of sabotage". See Plain cigarette packet 'sabotage' claim. For a report on the debate, see Stephen Williams, "the forces of darkness" and Chris Snowdon's vagina.
17 – The Publican's Morning Advertiser features a four-page cover wrap promoting Forest's Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign. There are two pages of advertorial, one featuring the story 'Out in the cold: why smokers are turning their backs on the British pub', the other headlined 'It's time to relax the smoking ban: Government should look to Europe say campaigners'. There is also a short piece by Joe Jackson plus quotes from several readers of this blog, among them Pat Nurse, Tim Paton and Liz Barber.
30 – We reveal how Smokefree South West asked spectators to sign their publicly-funded plain pack petition when the Olympic torch arrived in Bristol. Shameless.
June
14-15 – Global Tobacco Network Forum in Antwerp. Full report.
20 – Forest hosts its annual boat party, Smoke On The Water. Guest speaker, David Nuttall MP. See Messing about on the river.
22 – Forest launches second Hands Off Our Packs video. Plain Packaging? No Minister! introduces viewers to the Rt Hon Peter Perfect MP.
26 – Forest hosts a new event, The Freedom Dinner, at Boisdale of Canary Wharf. The event attracted 120 guests including speakers General Sir Mike Jackson (below), former head of the British Army; Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas; and journalist James Delingpole. Read about it here. And here: Forest dinner provokes international incident!. More photos here. Video here.
July
05 – Government extends plain packaging consultation by four weeks. Now why would they do that? See also: Tobacco company questions plain pack consultation process.
07 – A survey of the Morning Advertiser's readership found that a clear majority (68.3 per cent) either agree or strongly agree that pubs should be permitted to have separate smoking rooms, in line with some European countries. Six out of 10 felt there should be designated smoking and non-smoking bars.
10 – Forest launches mobile billboard outside Houses of Parliament.
13 – Doh! Plain Packs Protect lists Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, as a supporter of plain packs. How stupid is that?
20 – Forest featured on Channel 4 comedy panel game A Short History of Everything Else. See A short history of Forest.
August
08 – Closing date for the consultation on plain packaging is August 10. On Wednesday August 8 Forest submits the names of over 235,000 people who are opposed to the measure. I was on a Mediterranean cruise when we delivered the names. Consequently I had to keep in touch with colleagues back home via text and email whilst sitting outside a cafe in less than idyllic Gibraltar. The Grocer has more here.
16 – The number of people who registered opposition to plain packaging in the public consultation is revealed to be 500,000. This contrasts with the 210,000 names submitted by the Plain Packs Protect campaign. What will the Department of Health do now?
September
13 – And the winner of the Great British Pubs Award for Best Smoking Area, supported by JTI and the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign, is The Royal Oak in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
October
08 – Forest launches a new event – The Liberty Lounge – at the Conservative party conference. "Free food, free drinks, free speech."
November
23 – Attempt by tobacco control activists to smear the Hands Off Our Packs campaign with allegations of "petition rigging" backfire spectacularly when a Freedom of Information request unearths an incriminating email from a Research Fellow at the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies (UKCTCS). Circulated to goodness knows how many people, it reads:
Many of you may be aware that there is a public consultation open for people to express their views to the Government about plain (or standardised) packaging of cigarettes ...
John Britton has submitted a statement to government on behalf of the UKCTCS supporting plain packaging. At the end of the consultation period, the government will be taking into account all the views expressed, but also will count the number of people that have signed petitions for and against ...
Basically, we need as many people as possible who are for plain packaging to sign petitions and submit their views to government, and this is where you come in. If you feel so inclined, a number of charities have petitions on their website that you can sign to show support ...
You can only vote once on each petition but I would seriously doubt that there will be cross checking between charity petitions so it may be worth signing all of them to get your money’s worth. You can also submit your thoughts to government directly and there is a website to guide you through that.
Full story: Revealed through Freedom of Information: the hypocrisy of ASH.
30 – Forest places a full page advertisement in The House magazine which is read by MPs and civil servants. The message: 'Plain packaging? They must be crackers'.
December
01 – With the introduction of plain packaging in Australia, Angela Harbutt and I go on TV and radio to explain Forest's opposition to the measure. You can catch us here and here.
04 – Our 2012 Christmas message to MPs and journalists reads 'Hands off our presents!'. The card is later reproduced in The Times which congratulates Forest on "mustering some Christmas spirit".
19 – The European Commission finally announces significant revisions to its Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Needless to say officials chose to ignore the result of a public consultation and will try to introduce measures that were opposed by a large majority of the EU citizens who took part in the consultation. Fancy that!
24 – The year ends with the news that a new version of the famous Christmas poem, A Visit From St Nicholas, has taken out all references to Father Christmas smoking a pipe in an attempt to prevent children from taking up the habit.
Happy New Year!
Reader Comments (3)
Simon, a busy year, well done keep up the good work. A happy new year to you and all the other regulars who read this web site.
Best wishes.
Gary.
Happy new year!
I regret not having more direct involvement, not least because I live in Ireland, where a lot of this nonsense started. Here, it is quite easy to become resigned to folly. A morbid antidote is Syria, where people smoke as they fight. Unfortunately, it seems only a war gets a sense of proportion about some things... How would the pub ban on fags have gone down during the Blitz, I wonder?!