There’s an amusing postscript to yesterday's piece about Conservative MP Mark Pritchard.
But first, I was disappointed that the Shropshire Star appeared to ignore our response to their story about his call for the government to introduce rules to further restrict the places where smokers can light up if and when lockdown is eased.
You can read the Star report here and our subsequent response on the Forest website here.
This morning, in the absence of a follow-up report highlighting our opposition to Pritchard's intervention, I emailed the paper to say:
I am curious why you have not reported our criticism of Mark Pritchard’s call for new rules on smoking if the government decides to relax the lockdown on pubs, cafes and restaurants with outside seating.
Mr Pritchard’s comments have provoked a lot of negative comment on social media yet your original report included not a single dissenting voice.
Mr Pritchard’s position is based not on evidence of risk to non-smokers but on his own subjective dislike of other people smoking in his vicinity. His views deserve to be challenged.
Mr Pritchard - with your acquiescence - appears to treat the Shropshire Star like a parish noticeboard. If this is the level you aspire to no wonder local newspapers are struggling to retain readers.
Within minutes I received a reply:
Thank you for your email ... The story will be updated this morning.
I now feel a bit guilty about the waspish tone of my email, especially the final sentence which was arguably a bit below the belt.
On the other hand, I do find it annoying that I spend so much time chasing journalists to provide even a semblance of balance on smoking-related issues.
I've also been reading the responses to a tweet by Pritchard in which he repeated his call for new rules on smoking in external public areas outside pubs, cafes and restaurants and it doesn't make pretty reading.
Comments include:
Really? Make it even more difficult for businesses? Can't people choose where they want to sit outside with or without smokers ? Or do you feel you need to inflict more 'rules' on adults.
To be fair, whilst the nation is under virtual house arrest, now really isn't the time for this sort of authoritarian finger wagging.
Oh God ....
Ye gods. Get a grip.
If smokers can’t use beer gardens then they should be allowed to smoke inside the pub ...
Its people like yourself that make Covid-19 seem like a welcome proposition.
A conservative MP?????????
This is not the moment to make yourself a bigger tosser than you really are. We've had about enough of politicians telling us what we can't do.
Even more acerbic comments have been posted on the Friends of Forest Facebook page. They include:
Snivelling little turd. Always an excuse for new laws and restrictions.
Hasn't he got more important issues to deal with? Obviously not.
Good luck enforcing that!
TWAT ALERT!!
Pubs are already struggling , an outside smoking ban would be the death knell for many, if this idiot doesn't like the smoke, go inside, there its smoke free!
What a load of bollocks, leave us smokers alone 😡😡
So far I haven't found a single comment supporting his idea although, to be fair, his tweet did get a handful of 'likes' (15) and retweets (4).
Naturally, one of the people who RT'd and 'liked' it was fellow Conservative MP Bob Blackman, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health run by ASH.
All things considered, though, hardly a ringing endorsement.
But back to that amusing postscript.
A little bird tells me that despite being a non-smoker (who we now know has an issue with tobacco smoke), Mark Pritchard MP was a long-standing member of the Lords and Commons Cigar Club, attending numerous events over many years.
Perhaps that's where he developed his over-sensitive aversion to tobacco smoke.
You couldn’t make it up.
PS. The Shropshire Star has now reported our reaction here:
Smokers' group hits out at Shropshire MP's call for beer-garden restrictions if lockdown eased.
Update: Here's another comment from the Friends of Forest Facebook page:
I'm a member of a large licensees group on Facebook and the original article was also posted there. The language used in the comments concerning the MP's suggestion was some of the strongest I've seen in a long time and rightly so!
Good to know.
Update: The Shropshire Star has posted a third report - MP writes to Health Secretary in call for new smoking rules - featuring comments by Mark Pritchard and me.
No complaints from me this time - it’s a well balanced report.