Paul lights up the airwaves
Wednesday, December 4, 2013 at 12:32 Love this interview on BBC Radio Somerset.
It was posted last week on YouTube and Facebook by Forest supporter Paul Toole.
I've written about Paul several times. In 2007, shortly after the smoking ban was introduced in England, he organised not one but three protest marches – in Wells, Glastonbury and Bristol.
I drove down to Wells in Somerset and invited him to address a Forest event at the Labour party conference in Bournemouth.
He gave a great speech and I'm delighted to hear he's lost none of his passion for the subject!
See: Walk this way (July 12, 2007), Paul's protest moves to Glastonbury (July 31, 2007), Paul and Chris walk tall (August 11, 2007), Protest and survive - the sequel (October 10, 2007), Bristol protest march (October 21, 2007).
See also: Another dose of hard Labour (September 26, 2007).
This is a good time of year to mention Paul because unofficially he's known as the 'King of Christmas Lights' after he appeared on a Channel 4 documentary of the same name.
Paul's Christmas Light Show is taking a break this year but will be back in December 2014. Click here for more information.
Reader Comments (6)
Great stuff. He spoke up for choice. That's what this is all about.
An unapologetic smoker - how refreshing.
Thanks Paul. A smoker actually doing something practical to demonstrate that smokers enjoy smoking, we are not victims, and we just want to be left alone in peace and want the attacks on our consumer product of choice to end.
Education is important but coercion, bullying and propaganda are unacceptable, damaging and counter productive.
"Education in schools"? Does that mean brainwashing children in the way that the communists did?
No - there are risks associated with smoking and I have no problem about educating about those relative risks in their true context. I draw the line at hammering it into kids they will die, their parents will die and the world will blow up if they choose to smoke as adults which is pretty much the sort of brainwashing that goes on in schools today.
Pat: well put; 'relative risks in their true context'. Such respect for precision and truth is not observed by the zealots. I've been worried for a long while about the assault on children's sense of security. I think to play on the fears of children is wicked. The consequent threat to family harmony likewise.