From the archive: Scottish Forest and a special birthday cake

The fourth edition of Free Choice, the Forest magazine, was published in summer 2000.

Our cover 'star' was Charles Maclean, the Scots whisky expert who had recently been appointed spokesman for Scottish Forest which had been launched a few weeks earlier in a blaze of publicity. Under the headline 'What the HELL is Scottish Forest?' we wrote:

Health fanatics beware. There's a new kid on the block. Yes, Scottish Forest – the antidote to ASH Scotland and every other po-faced puritan north of Berwick – has finally arrived ... To mark its launch last month, Forest organised a smoker-friendly fry-up hosted by chairman Lord Harris in Glasgow, followed by a reception, hosted by Brian Monteith MSP, at the Oxygen Bar in Edinburgh.

Any interest from the media? Just a bit. The 'Forest fry-up', as it was dubbed, was broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland. The launch was also featured on several radio stations including Radio Clyde, Scot FM and Kingdom FM. Reports of the launch also appeared in the Scotsman, Herald, Daily Record, Dundee Courier, Evening Times (Glasgow) and Evening News (Edinburgh). The Herald, which included a report and two diary items, even devoted a leader to Forest, castigating us for our 'distasteful stunt'.

Follow-up stories appeared in the Sunday Times (Scotland) and Scotland on Sunday. Best of all, we were followed from Glashow to Edinburgh by a BBC camera crew that was filming a report for Newsnight Scotland, on which Forest director Simon Clark later appeared alongside representatives of ASH Scotland and the British Medical Association.

Whisky connoisseur Charlie Maclean also featured in the 'What's Your Vice?' column and continuing the Scottish theme there was an interview with Brian Monteith, former spokesman for Forest in Scotland before he became a member of the Scottish Parliament. Meanwhile our 'Smoker's Diary' was written by Bob Shields, columnist and chief feature writer for the Daily Record, who had accompanied us to Paris on No Smoking Day the previous year.

The same issue also featured a photo of Claire Fox (now Baroness Fox), director of the Academy of Ideas, with a cake we sent her on her birthday.