Diary of a smokers’ rights campaigner

Several years before I began writing this blog in 2007 I kept a ‘Forest’ diary.

I recently stumbled upon some entries from 2003 and 2004 and thought you might like to read them.

It was an interesting period for Forest, not least because we were struggling a bit financially.

We lost two members of staff - who we couldn’t afford to replace - and in 2004 we had to give up our London office and move to cheaper premises in Cambridge.

At the same time we faced what was perhaps Forest’s biggest challenge, fighting increasing demands for smoking to be banned in public places.

Flitting in and out of these entries are Joe Jackson, Antony Worrall Thompson and David Hockney who all made significant contributions to the national debate.

I’d forgotten the number of times Joe and Anthony in particular helped us out when we were overwhelmed with requests for interviews or simply needed another voice.

Another entry records a meeting Forest chairman Lord Harris and I had with John Reid, Labour’s Secretary of State for Health. At the time it felt like an important moment. Now it's barely a footnote in history.

Looking back, I’d also forgotten how much travelling was involved. These entries record meetings and interviews in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Plymouth, to name a few, but there were many, many more.

To say they stretched our resources would be an understatement. The meeting with John Reid, for example, took place in London on a Friday afternoon. That morning I’d also given evidence to a Welsh Assembly committee in Cardiff.

2003 also saw the appointment of Deborah Arnott as director of ASH, replacing Clive Bates. I had a few things to say about her too!

The full cast of characters who make fleeting appearances in these entries includes Lionel Blair, Edwina Currie, Bob Geldof, Allen Carr, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Tony Blackburn, Marcus Brigstocke and many more.

It’s a long read but if you’re interested click here.

Comments

[pat nurse]

Julia Hartley Brewer. A woman rational and reasonable in almost all things except for her smokerphobic view that smokers must be forced out of society and villified because she believes cigarettes are so dangerous just one can kill.

As for your previous financial difficulty, it is yet more evidence that we, and our only supporting group, Forest, are Davids fighting as hard as we can against the hate campaigning of the Goliaths like the political quango public health with its £4.5billion funding per year.

Just imagine if we were treated equally and what we could achieve with that sort of free money hand out to fight back against our health and social exclusion, inequality, and discrimination.