Trenton Oldfield's stupid stunt
Monday, April 9, 2012 at 14:03 The disruption of the Boat Race by self-styled "class warrior" Trenton Oldfield is a reminder that stunts like this can be horribly counter-productive.
Sure, you get your 15 minutes of fame but most people will remember you as a self-indulgent twat and a figure of fun or even revulsion. Your cause - whatever it is - may be hugely undermined, perhaps forever.
It is reported that Oldfield was inspired by suffragette Emily Davison who died throwing herself under the King's horse at the Derby in 1913. Well, had an Oxford oar been any closer to his head Oldfield might indeed have gone down in history - as the first man decapitated live on British TV.
I mention this because I've lost count of the number of times Forest has been urged to organise acts of civil disobedience in the name of smokers' rights.
Doing so without alienating the overwhelmingly moderate people we are trying to represent (or influence) is very difficult. Imagine, for example, if the closing stage of the marathon at the London Olympics was interrupted by activists protesting against the ban on smoking in the Olympic park. Would you welcome it?
(As soon as I wrote that last sentence I regretted it. I fear I know what some of your answers might be!! Experience however has taught me that most smokers would find such actions in their name hugely embarrassing.)
Not every direct action involves breaking the law so we're open to sensible and pragmatic suggestions. Unfortunately public protests can have a negative impact on innocent third parties and that's where you risk shooting yourself in the foot. Unions face the same PR problem when they threaten to strike.
For this reason I was never in favour of groups of smokers going into pubs and publicly lighting up in protest against the smoking ban. Even with the support of landlords like Nick Hogan, such stunts rarely end happily.
On this blog a couple of days ago someone suggested (how seriously I'm not sure) a go-slow when buying cigarettes in a shop hit by the display ban. With respect, what's the point? Why alienate the shop assistant and other shoppers including fellow smokers?
It's like suggesting a go-slow when buying a ticket at a train station in protest at the price of train fares. Even if I agreed with you, if I was in the queue behind you I'd be seriously pissed off and the effect of your 'protest' would almost certainly be counter-productive. In fact I'd probably set up a rival campaign calling for higher fares!
Oddly enough, Trenton Oldfield seems to have had a similar idea. According to the Daily Mail the self-styled "guerilla architect" is "happy to list just what we can all do irritate those nasty old poshos, if we are so disposed. Taxi drivers, for instance, should take the longest routes when they pick up people from addresses where ‘the elite live’. Waiters at exclusive restaurants should wait until hot food is cold before serving it to wealthy customers". Yawn.
Another report, that the Boat Race protester "is prepared to go to jail for his principles", also sounds familiar. In fact the last campaigner I heard say that was a 57-year-old smoker from Northern Ireland (‘Put me behind bars’, says Carter).
I'm not knocking Chris Carter's motivation (although I think he was ill-advised) but the next time a lone campaigner engages in direct action and invites imprisonment, think 'Trenton Oldfield'.
That said, should smoking ever be banned in public parks I do see the attraction of a mass light up because by anyone's standards it would be a victimless 'crime'. Organised with style and humour (and lots of pocket ashtrays) it could be a great success.
Then again, I recommend that we do it before the horse has bolted. A mass light up after smoking has been banned in parks may sound rebellious but like many protests it will be too little too late. The time to act is before legislation is introduced - hence our current plain packaging campaign.
Meanwhile, if anyone comes to us with any more ideas for civil disobedience, I shall stick to our standard response - if it's such a good idea, do it yourself!!
Reader Comments (36)
Mass light-ups in the open air sounds appealing and it would be nice to do something before we're ousted from there too.
Outdoor bans are coming, and car bans, and home bans. Lansley declared war on us this week and admitted that he isn't driven by concerns for health but snobbery and a hatred of the smoking culture and those who indulge in it.
The best mass protest I can think of is to vote against all three main parties so that the eventually get the message that the issues of free will and free choice really do matter .
I wonder what would happen at the next election if the 15 million smokers could be organised into a block vote?
I think the mass boycott of the three main EU parties may already be underway.
We will see at the next by election.
We could all light up in Parliament, though. Right? Right? Who's with me?!!! They can do it, why can't we? If one were to protest smoking laws, it would have to be there. Where else?
No? Hello? Anyone...?
Anyway, who protests against "elitism?" What kind of cause is that? The guy is a moron.
Successful civil disobedience actions that receive the support of a public majority almost always occur organically, meaning no one planned it, and the support comes after the fact. It just happened, because it felt like the right thing to do at the time, and people will retroactively engage with the protest. That guy in China, who stood before the tanks and stopped them is a classic example.
But Pat is right. It is becoming a war, a war against culture and liberties. And there will be millions of people who are anything but happy when it all goes to hell in a hand basket.
Some day I will post on why the whole Occupy thing was a ultimately a pointless disaster, and why it failed to accomplish 99% percent of its goals.
Another idea is for everyone here and friends to write to their MP - I have done.
Ok, still waiting for a response to the first post, but have sent a second.
It is something that may or may not do any good, but the more who get letters or emails from individuals, the better. It can, at least, do no harm. Individual MP's need to know just how pissed off we are and how tenuous their positions are likely to be if they do not speak up for us. After all, in my humble opinon, most do not want to leave the gravy train any time soon!
I have pointed out to my MP that I would not currently vote for any of the 3 main parties at this time as they are all pretty much the same and not one of them stands for what they used to.
Let rip with emails, it is at least a start and something we can do as individuals.
"I shall stick to our standard response - if it's such a good idea, do it yourself!!"
And some of us do.
http://tinyurl.com/cysfbpu
We boycott UK retailers, we refuse to fund the Smoking Ban or an NHS that refuses to treat us. The only protest that really works, the only Direct Action worth taking is to 'hit' them where it hurts- right in the luxury Duck House.
Boycott UK retailers, UK Pubs and Bars (go to a 'Smokey Drinky' if you need to drink socially).
Simon, this just shows how much you are out of touch with the real world. Chris Carter took this case on all by himself with considerable help from myself and a legal advisor. In an interesting twist, the case has been re-opened and will be aired again within the Belfast High Courts on the 1st June in front of the Lord Chief Justice ... we are now looking at a Miscarrage of Justice and the evidence has actually been in the Courts since the very first day of the Court proceedings. The prosecution and the Judiciary failed to note the evidence intentionally presented to test the integrity of Government officials, they obviously failed their "integrity test" and must now be answerable within the Court of Law system.
Hello, Bill, I thought you might comment. Yes, I am aware that you have been advising Chris. I wish him well and will follow developments with interest. Good luck.
Simon - Good to see you read the blogs !! The suggestion of the go slow was actually not really that serious. Best thing to do is not buy cigarettes from the supermarkets when their sales drop to zero it will show what happens and hopefully the ban will not be introduced to destroy the small shops that are still allowed to display for the next few years. Of course even better is not to buy in UK at all - it saves a lot of money and stops the government getting tax. I agree with Pat use your X in the next election and don't vote for the mainstream parties - anyone but. I think this is already underway and not only 15+ million smokers there are a lot of others in the UK who are sick of this nonsense. On a different subject - all this giving up smoking buisness does anyone actually know someone who has given up because of these campaigns???? I know a few people who have started because they were sick of being alone in the pub!!
I am totally disillusioned with politics or a least the Westminister variety. I have no intention of voting for the main three parties - there really is only a wafer thin roll-up paper between them in terms of policies and most of those are either vacuous or taking more liberties away.
I may vote UKIP or not at all (the more likely) at protest against the dullards that currently rule us. It is my lone protest, Simon, as they will just not listen to us!
I do think smokers should be encouraged not to buy from supermarkets and support their small shops instead because they are not yet subjected to hidden displays.
The extra income from smokers might even help them to stay afloat once they are forced to implement ideological changes at a cost of thousands not hundreds as dishonestly claimed by ASH
This will tell the retail business that it needs to stand up for its customers while telling Govt that we won't play it's infantile games any longer.
We won't win support by going on a go slow at tobacco counters.
Bill C - All it takes for tyrany to prevail is for a good man to do nothing. Use your X that is the only way to win this fight.
Simon I do tend to agree with you 80%-90%, acting like a bunch of yobs is counter productive. However it seems that Labour and the ConLib alliance, seem to have common cause.
Emile Pankhurst and the Suffragettes are viewed to be a positive influence on British social and political history. When the Queen visited Ireland last year she was seen to acknowledge that the sometimes violent nature of the struggles in Ireland were at worst understandable, if not in a way justified. I quote from the BBC.
"Buckingham Palace and the British government clearly felt that the Queen needed to make a very obvious declaration that Ireland's struggle to break free from the British crown had been legitimate and - more than that - that there were aspects of British rule in Ireland that had been wrong."
"To put that in purely factual but starker terms, this is where men and women who belonged to groups like the Fenian Brotherhood and the old IRA, who took up arms and waged an armed struggle against Britain, are remembered."
Certainly not being able to smoke in a pub is not worthy of fisticuffs let alone planting a bomb. However, it seems playing a straight bat allows us no relief from the avalanche of legislation and discrimination.
As someone who has a keen interest in history, empires rise and fall, ideas the same. I am hoping that the worm may turn. In 1998 Clive Bates, the then head of ASH said:
"No one is seriously talking about a complete ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants. This is a scaremongering story by a tobacco industry front group." *
I am under no illusion that the end game is upgrading tobacco to a class B drug like cannabis, effectual illegalisation, or making it so hard to buy and smoke. Even under alcohol prohibition in the USA it was never illegal to drink alcohol, is was the making and distribution that was. Also despite Deborah Arnott's protestations that she does not want to see tobacco illegalised in our discussion on Radio 5 Live may seem shallow or not. After all she maybe out of a job, or maybe she is keeping her powder dry when she thinks the time is right.
Let me come back to back to Simon. For the moment as Ms Arnott is keeping her powder dry, I for one urge caution and restraint. However, if I can invoke the heroism of the British Commandos in the Netherlands in the autumn of 1944, there will be a 'Bridge Too Far' even for me.
My powder is dry but the musket is clean and loaded, I am getting to the end of my tether.
*Velvet Glove Iron Fist page 243, author Chris Snowdon.
Dave, I'll have whatever it is you're drinking!
So far there have been 2 exceptionally good ideas on here! congratulations Simon "Imagine, for example, if the closing stage of the marathon at the London Olympics was interrupted by activists protesting against the ban on smoking in the Olympic park" and Pat Nurse, "The best mass protest I can think of is to vote against all three main parties so that the eventually get the message that the issues of free will and free choice really do matter."
Simon do you not think that interrupting the closing stages of the marathon would not embarrass this government (worldwide) and, more to the point, show government that the people DO object to being treated/bullied like little children unable to defend themselves? Do you think Al Qaeda will bother about upsetting the marathon, a track event or a pool full of swimmers? I don't. Extreme? yes it is, but people can only take so much before 'the fire in their bellies begins to rise'.
Pat...I commend your policy of ignoring the main 3 parties at the polling stations but the unfortunate thing is that we are only 25% of the population! We need the drinkers and our larger friends to realise that what has happened to the smokers is going to happen to them-but will they listen?
Chris Carter is a very brave man, a man who took the corrupt Irish legal system on full bore, a man that DID go to prison standing up for smokers rights. SmokersJustice.co.uk ensured that his stay at her majesty's pleasure ( a 'pleasure' that denied him his immensely important daily medication ) was as short as possible due to his delicate state of health. Numerous bloggers were invited to help-but few actually did Simon. Perhaps that was because he wasn't mainland England I don't know.
The point here is that by what right can they ban smoking in the olympic village if the olympic village is not totally enclosed? What about contestants that smoke?
Where has continuous diplomacy got us Simon? Idiot blogs from Stephen Williams is the answer-happy to evoke passions from those being subjected to restrictions and equally happy to put all objectors in the "paid by BT" folder-end of! ASH are doing anything & everything THEY want and now, we have that pompous ass Lansley sucking up to them at every turn, spending more and more of our money for them to beat us with. Sometimes, just sometimes, actions speak far louder than words!
Just to be clear - there are no issues that I care more strongly about than free will and free choice and the right to be left alone in peace but if this movement, that really began with the smoking ban, ever got violent then I could support it no longer.
As for group protests and marches, our problem has always been funding, lack of organisation, and pulling the required number of people together for the required effect.
Smokers may be 25% of the electorate - they may even be more because no one knows for sure - but that 25% added as a block vote to one party that is not LibLabCon is a message that we are of one mind and we have had enough. Our votes must be earned back with representation.
My argument on that stands the same as it was before the election in 2010 when it seemed obvious by its absence of mention that the Tories would continue the agenda against smokers and we would would be stuck with it and more deeply ingrained into Denormalisation by the end of their term five more years on.
Simon
I am interested to know as to why you believe that Chris Carter has been ill advised. Before the last General Election you were clearly expecting the Conservatives to be true to their word and at least look to amend the Smoking Ban ... instead we see more unnecessary and unwanted legislation being heaped upon the nation. This would lead us to accept thae there is no political solution to the issues of Free Choice and that the right course of action is through the Courts. As our legal system is as corrupt as our Government then the right approach must be taken. In the case of N Ireland, their legislation was not voted upon by any politician but was acted upon by Privy Councel and a signature by HM Queen.
Therefore it cannot and is not right that Privy Councel act as Judge & Jury on legislation that they initiated as has been the case in the Carter judgement.
To date, no amount of political lobbying, petitions or open protests have had any effect ... the truth must and will be presented in the proper arena.
What is required is legal action to be initiated against individuals of NGO's who have deliberately misinformed Government and that this action be followed through all the way to The Hague within the Courts of Criminal Justice as a Crime Against Humanity, politicians and their lobbyists continue to talk of denormalising, stigma etc.
Failure to act positively means, bans in cars, the private home as well as outdoor areas to add to the current ban, the ban on vending machines and the display ban all of which could and should have been avoided if more decisive action had been taken way back in 2005/6
"Do you think Al Qaeda will bother about upsetting the marathon, a track event or a pool full of swimmers?"
Probably not, Phil, but Al Qaeda is a terrorist organisation. I don't understand why you would even mention them in a thread about Forest, smokers' rights and civil disobedience. To avoid any semblance of doubt, neither I nor Forest would support, encourage or condone the physical disruption of any event, Olympic or otherwise, in the name of smokers' rights. I can't imagine anything more counter-productive.
Bill, if the Chris Carter case has been re-opened, as you say, it is probably best not to discuss on a public forum why I think he has been "ill-advised". Happy to do so when the case is finished. To repeat: I wish him well. In the meantime, if he wants to win public support for his action, I would encourage him to drop the references to the Third Reich.
Third Reich, Al Qaeda ... sometimes we can be our own worst enemies.
I have read the blog, I have read the responses, here is my response to the blog and resposes.
Simon, absolutely, and it is the first time that you have said something in which I understand where you are coming from.
Write to your MP? If you like, as long as you can handle being seen as a bitter minority or tobacco industry stooge.
Ballot Box? No radical swing would ever be seen as a protest against anti smoking legislation. Having said that, here is my comment on that subject. There is a local election soon. I will go to the polling station. If the choice is Con/Lab/Lib/Green and no other, I will not bother. If there is another choice, then I will vote for that one. I hope it is UKIP, but I would even vote BNP just for the hell of it.
The real problem, as I see it, is that the Big Three are so beholden unto the EU that, whether they want to or not, they simply aren’t permitted to repeal, amend or relax legislation on any of the EU’s Holy Cow rules, the smoking ban being just one of these. Cameron’s recent declaration that rude videos should be given an 18-rating like films are (he’s the Prime Minister, for God’s sake!) must surely be one of the biggest give-aways that the only initiatives our Government – of whatever colour – is permitted these days is essentially the political equivalent of paper-clip counting. All the major or far-reaching decisions affecting the British people is decided in Brussels by EU bureaucrats, with our Government merely serving the purpose of “going through the motions” of passing the legislation to make it look like it’s “ours,” and then organising the administration and enforcement of it once it’s been passed.
I think that Leg-Iron had it right in the run-up to the last election when he urged everyone – smoker, non-smoker, drinker, abstainer, chubby and skinny alike – to vote for anyone but the Big Three, whether that was for well-known smaller parties like UKIP, little single-issue parties like Respect or even one of the “funnies” like the Church of the Militant Elvis, if there was no serious alternative. It was a great idea – the chances of any of these (UKIP excepted) getting a majority would be small indeed so that even the “bad guy” small parties like the BNP wouldn’t have free rein to indulge their – shall we say – less palatable policies on the rest of us, but the impact on the Big Three would be huge and unprecedented and would certainly send an enormously strong message both to them and their EU controllers that the British people were, and still are, fast getting to the end of their tether with being treated like infantile serfs. I’m the first to admit that it almost certainly wouldn’t lead to a workable Government which would last very long, but it would certainly be different from what we have now and, quite frankly, could that possibly be any worse?
Forgot to say. When I saw the sliding doors at Tescos, I felt so embarrased that I went to the corner shop.
May I also add that I buy my tobacco abroad, I fund the UK revenue with aprox 10 factory made cigarettes a wek.
The Free State Of Bavaria (somewhat of a misnomer I feel nowadays) has today banned smoking on the OPEN decks of all its ships- for the sake of the Kinder of course. There was a report about it on the national 19:00 news (ZDF) this evening and it also featured a young man furtively having a smoke on a windswept and by definition well ventilated deck. His somewhat sheepish comment was ' smoking has almost become [in itself] an act of Civil Disobedience ' .
That's the sort of physical disruption any organisation proclaiming itself the Voice Of The Smoker should be encouraging at the Olympics...ie calling on every smoker in an open Stadium/at an outdoor event to light up. Although I suppose armed Police are going to search every visitor and confiscate cigarettes at the gate as they no doubt will for alcohol and politically incorrect T-shirts?
The only airtime smokers get is when in it's on a debate that is edited by whichever station it is on depending on the bias of said station. The smokers point of view can be, and is, often lost because the anti-smokers are given ample opportunity to challenge the points and usually have the last word. Nowhere is the smokers message given with who to contact and what they can do to fight all the endless oppression.
The internet has it's place but it is not exactly getting to the smokers themselves. As a means of reaching the man in the pub it is virtually useless.
To reach these smokers there is only 2 realistic options. One is radio ads and the other is tv ads. The ads get the message across with no interruptions from the likes of ASH, Lansley and the like. There is a third option but it would need the likes of a spokesperson such as Joanna Lumley or the like but even that is nowhere near as good as the first 2.
The ideal is tv (which could indirectly get you the third option). Unless you reach the smokers on the street we'll remain buried and ignored.
Does anyone have contacts in the tv industry? On advertising l found this:-
"How much does TV Advertising cost?
To work out the TV Advertising costs for a specific programme or channel, you will need to establish two things, firstly the average TV viewing figures and secondly the traded cost per thousand. For example, to advertise Nationally in This Morning on ITV1 in April 2010 buying adults, would be calculated as follows; Adults Viewers for This Morning = 1 million, ratecard cost per thousand for Adults in April 2010 = £8.21/1000. Therefore 1,000 x £8.21 = £8,210 per 30 seconds."
I asked my daughters (in their early 40s) and my grand-daughter, who do not smoke, tonight, what they thought about SHS. They are reluctant to talk to me about the matter because I am father/grandfather, but I forced them to do so. By forcing them, I discovered that they accept that SHS is harmful. When I asked how they know, they could not answer. I persisted, but even then they still struggled, in their minds, to acknowledge that their belief was based solely upon what they had been told - and told - and told. These are intelligent, sensible, grown-up persons, but they are suseptible to alien ideas. I think that the reason is that they, as non-smokers, have no reason to believe otherwise. They are 'cannon fodder'.
Oddly enough, I find that quite heartening. If they are not sufficiently bothered one way or another, then the ASH ET AL's grasp upon public opinion is bound to be ephemeral. That is, the deliberate intention of ASH to obfuscate by using the word 'children' and then using the words 'young people' must eventually rebound upon them. When ASH say 'children', do they mean 0 -11, !2 - 15, 16 - 18, 19 +? It really is of the greatest importance to get them to identify the groups.
Propaganda depends upon ignorance (ignorance meaning 'lack of knowledge').
'Prohitition' existed in the USA for some 20 years. That is a long time. We do not want such an event to exist in England. Tobacco Prohibition is already in place, be in no doubt. I mean, already the situation exists in the sense that tobacco is not permitted to exist in certain places.
And yet only a very few people give a toss about smoking. Nobody really gives a shit, really. Everything about the evil of tobacco is a confidence trick.
What I illustrate thereby is how high the mountain is. If the tobacco companies want to help their customers, they must take out full page adverts in newspapers and the equivalent on TV in order to overcome ASH ET AL's propaganda. Only tobacco companies have the resources.
The only hope for Smokers is, UKIP, there the only true "libertarian" party we have left in this country. But the way things are going, will DC/EM or even Nick Clegg be leading there party's come the next election? something has to give.
"Do you think Al Qaeda will bother about upsetting the marathon, a track event or a pool full of swimmers?"
I don't think they will turn a hair about such an action Simon but that doesn't mean I advocate such an action in any way, shape or form. The point made being that Al Qaeda use direct action to make their point-as did the IRA!
You don't smoke, I don't smoke Simon, but I can certainly imagine plenty that do would quite happily hold a protest march along the final mile of the marathon simply because being ousted, like lepers, from their normal social outlets has become too much of an injustice to bear.
We now know for certain that our legal system has been totally corrupted in favour of enforcing the smoking ban (not just the Chris Carter case Simon) as you now have to prove your innocence-not them having to prove your guilt for the newly created anti tobacco EHO's are deemed "more credible a witness than your credible self (proof available), even when that EHO is telling the court absolute untruths!
You tell me Simon, what course of action is left open to the common man who doth protest for his right to smoke in a pub, in a separated room with ventilation? Would an organised 'amble' up the final mile of the marathon be such a heinous crime as to be ranked alongside the horrors of the 'Twin Towers' and other such atrocities (?) - I don't think so my friend, but it would certainly bring worldwide media attention to the cause!
Stoney Stratford was a marvellous example of people power Simon, you were there, anti-bansters were there, blogosphere was there & the townspeople were there. It was a quiet, well organised objection to one man's seemingly ludicrous proposals; those of Councillor 'Bloomberg' Bartlett! But what is happening now Simon? ASH (they are the true terrorists in all of this) are using every weapon they possess to have smoking banned in cars, in parks, in the home-err... everywhere possible!
How can plain packaging make any difference? Since when did any teenager start smoking because he admired the red packet or the blue striped packet? Never is the answer but they have smashed that particular request through as the 'consultation' will be totally rigged in their favour as none of us will be invited to the jibber-jabber, as we weren't to the original 'post-card' response public consultation scam which led to the re-jigged Heath Act 2006! Quite simply Simon 'they' will use every trick in the book, justify every sleight of hand & twist any evidence to suit their purpose so as to legislate further and feel fully justified in doing so!
Why was Chris Carter NOT allowed to call such as Goggins et al before the courts of justice? Simple answer again Simon-because the man would have had to lie, under oath, to support the smoking ban.....and the establishment knew that, thus the judiciary were used to deny CC's request to call witnesses-it's a bit like the 'dead men tell no lies' syndrome.
Stoney Stratford produced public anger. Stoney Straford brought angry people out onto the streets (you & I were part of it Simon). Stoney Stratford brought like minded people together Simon-smoker & non smoker, it brought politicians together. Stoney Stratford was a small town protest but a major protest and it was orderly, non violent & well reported.
Now what was wrong with that form of direct action?
I can't help but feel we're kidding ourselves with all this talk of mass protest, when we can't even get our fellow smokers (and supporters) to spend 10 seconds signing the Amend the Ban petition.
The Ban, after all, is the issue that has by far the greatest effect on smokers. Sure, the Display ban and plain packaging plans are annoying and grievous for the shops and tobacco companies, and I agree we should campaign against them. But I can buy my cigarettes elsewhere and put them in a cigarette case, or cover the packs with sticky back plastic if I want! I still don't have a decent social life. And yet so few people bothered to sign the petition. Don't they care? It's baffling to me. And depressing.
"I would encourage him to drop the references to the Third Reich. Third Reich, Al Qaeda ... sometimes we can be our own worst enemies."
Why Simon, when Arnott & Co insist on spouting the language of Goebbels? Do you think 'denormalization' sounds any better in the original German? It doesn't.
Read some of Anti Smoking 'literature' of the Third Reich. ASH obviously have.
@ smoking hot: I believe I am correct in saying that broadcast media advertising on political issues is not allowed. We tried it a few years ago in Scotland. The radio station (now defunct Talk 107) was enthusiastic at first but had to come back and tell us they couldn't go ahead.
I certainly feel that a "call to arms" would not be in our best interest. Indeed, I would look a bit silly at my age waving a walking stick around - coo, that should scare the antis!
However, I think some of your ideas could be effective and so I intend to use my vote away from mainstream and, if I do have to buy any cigarettes in this country, I will buy them in the local shops and not the supermarkets.
I have always wondered why we receive no support from the tobacco companies, the pubcos & landlords and groups like CAMRA - surely it's in there interest to back us?
I would love to see a media campaign from the tobacco companies, to get the message out, but how would that sit with a ban on tobacco advertising?
Also, what would the legal implications be if further bans are implicated i.e. smoking outdoors, in the car and finally the home? I would have purchased a legal product but, as far as I can see, could never use it - that can't be right, can it?
Finally, what is this 'elusive something' (can't put my finger on it) that is driving this relentless persecution and why? I can't believe this is just about health.
Would something like 'Don't Be Wrongly Branded A Smuggler' or similar advert on another issue contravene these regs? Direct them to the site and then you can get their attention on other issues not allowed by Ofcom
Ellie, we have come a long way from Trenton Oldfield, direct action and civil disobedience so I think the issue of tobacco company support needs a separate post (which I will publish shortly).
Phil, I agree with you about Stony Stratford. Nothing wrong at all with that form of direct action. It was peaceful yet purposeful and was a great success. H/T Dick Puddlecote for organising it and all the bloggers who promoted it.
I think any protest which disrupts a sporting event would be a PR disaster and it would be totally unfair to the the competitors who have devoted years of their lives to their sports.
There are plenty of ways of protesting which aren't illegal and wouldn't anger the general public, the majority of which wouldn't be concerned were smoking pubs and smoking rooms in pubs to be allowed. Here are a few:
Don't go on the organ donor register. 41% of transplanted lungs come from smokers and it is increasingly unlikely smokers will be the recipeients of organs. Many doctors have publicly suggested they should not be.
Don't give blood. Nobody knows the reasons why people don't give blood.
Don't agree to non compulsory interviews/conversations held in places where smoking is banned. For example, in Police stations, work functions outside of working hours.
Don't answer medical questionnaires or else give incorrect responses.
Vote for UKIP.
Buy more tobacco abroad.
Don't visit pubs, restaurants or cafes unless the weather is such that you would be sitting outside even if there weren't a ban. Many of us already do this.
What definitely doesn't have any effect is mildly objecting to each new measure. It hasn't worked for the last seven years and it won't work in the future. I know Simon works hard and wants to help smokers, but Forest is funded by the tobacco industry - I've no problem with that - but it means that it is the Plain Packs campaign has the effort put behind it, whereas most of us couldn't care less about the packs, we don't want to help the tobacco companies: we just want a decent choice of indoor smoking venues. The public interest when hundreds of thousands on Clegg's website want the ban amended, doen't ever seem to translate into signatures on petitions and long term, solid opinion behind an amendment to the ban, and the Forest petition has been scuppered by AWT's shoplifting episode, which was a shame as he came across really well on the radio. Pat Nurse, Chris Snowdon and Dave Atherton are getting more media exposure now. My greatest respect to them. I don't have the courage to go on national radio.
My legal suggestion for making a difference is the setting up of smoke extraction research experiments, which would be entirely legal if were they on residential premises. People would sit around chatting, reading the paper, drinking coffee and smoking. A real time analysis of the results could be put on Youtube, together with links to information about passive smoking. I'm sure an extraction equipment manufacturer would sponsor this; many people would find it interesting- news of it would soon get around - and it wouldn't incovenience members of the general public.
Rose, re your comment about the petition. I agree to a point about apathy however after the budget a petition was created about the Granny tax. It now has 60,000 signatures. Likewise Camra has started one about the beer escalation tax. It now has 27,000 signatures. The difference here I think is that both have been allowed to advertise the fact in the media. Would any newspaper print an article which was inviting all and sundry to sign ours? Actually I doubt if you would even be able to get a comment printed if you were advertising its existence.
Sheila makes a valid point. How can it be that Camra or whoever can advertise their petition but smokers cannot? It is hard to see how advertising a petition can be construed as tobacco advertising.
Weil Maesson said that part of his contribution to the effort to have the ban in Belgium amended was the cost of advertising. If the Tories, Labour, Liberals, etc can advertise politically via party political broadcasts, why should not smokers do likewise? To deny smokers the use of the media while ASH ET AL have free rein is anti-democratic. I doubt that such a situation would stand up to constitutional scrutiny for one minute.
Have read all recent comments, but have no time just now to respond individually.
Point I really wanted to make is re the e-petitions to government and lack of signatures.
I have to wonder if perhaps thousands more have signed it and had their signature confirmed, but how many check to see, if that is possible? How many signatures have, perhaps, disappeared?
I wouldn't put anything past this corrupt government!
Talking of people power & Stoney Stratford Simon-our efforts have been well rewarded:- http://dickpuddlecote.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/bye-bye-bartlett.html. "Bloomberg Bartlett" has resigned rather than be humiliated!