Welcome to Harrogate

Currently on a short break in Harrogate.

Yesterday we had lunch at the Coach and Horses, an award-winning pub a few yards from our hotel.

The pub (above) has a very clear identity. No music, no televised sport, no games machines and no kids:

We are a traditional pub for adults ... We don’t cater for children and therefore do not allow them in the pub at any time.

I can also recommend the Sunday roasts.

Photo: Welcome to Yorkshire

Smoking: pathetic addiction or lifestyle choice?

The cover of the current edition of The Oldie features Lionel Blair.

The well-known dancer, choreographer and broadcaster turned 90 in December and last month he was awarded the title Oldie of the Year.

Many years ago I had a chance encounter with Blair (Lionel not Tony) when we shared a table while waiting for a train at Kings Cross.

Clutching a cup of coffee, he caught my eye and asked, very politely, if he could smoke. “Of course,” I said.

A number of things went through my head but I didn't want to invade his privacy so I kept quiet, finished my drink and eventually stood up to leave.

Before I hurried away however I thrust my business card into his hand. It read: 'Simon Clark, director, Forest, voice and friend of the smoker'.

The following day I contacted his agent, explained what had happened, and asked if we might interview him for the Forest magazine Free Choice. (I had the headline already: 'Blair's Britain'.)

“Sorry,” I was told. “Lionel feels guilty about smoking. He doesn't like to talk about it.”

That was 19 years ago. In 2017, discussing his health, he told the Daily Mail, “I know that I shouldn’t [smoke]” so he clearly hadn’t given up.

However, apart from being treated (successfully) for prostate cancer a decade ago, he’s remained in good health. The key to his longevity, he told the Mail, was a balanced diet.

Smoking, then, may be Lionel’s 'big vice' but it hasn't stopped him staying fit and living to a grand old age.

Sadly he's not the only smoker who feels guilty about his habit.

I first met journalist Tom Utley at a soiree sponsored by Forest and organised by Auberon Waugh at the Academy Club in Soho.

That was in 2001. Since then Tom has attended a number of Forest events and written several must read articles on the subject of the smoking ban and the supposed threat of passive smoking, which he rightly describes as 'a lie'.

See, for example, ‘I resolve not to be a shameful smoker' (2004) and 'Why my smoking habit proves you can't believe a word the b******s tell you' (2007).

On Friday, in the Daily Mail, he took aim at the proposal by Democrat politician Dr Richard Creagan to eventually prohibit the sale of tobacco in Hawaii to anyone under the age of 100.

However, as with most of Tom’s articles about smoking, it came with a caveat, the sort of self-loathing I can only put down to decades of relentless anti-smoking propaganda.

In contrast, in the Mirror today, we got a rather different take on smoking from 'life coach Paul McKenna' that didn’t involve phrases like ‘disgusting habit’ or ‘pathetic addiction’:

As it happens, I bumped into McKenna once, several years ago, while we were waiting to be interviewed on Radio 2.

We weren’t on together because he was there to promote a new book about something else but we nevertheless had a short chat outside the studio.

Knowing he helped people stop smoking I expected a negative reaction when I told him what I did for a living but his response was consistent with what he told the Mirror.

In fact, he was extremely personable and I liked him immediately. His latest comments make me like him even more.

Happy birthday, Boisdale!

Further to my previous post, Boisdale is celebrating its own anniversary this year.

London’s leading Scottish-themed bar restaurant was founded by Ranald Macdonald in 1989 (not 1988 as I had always thought).

When it opened the Belgravia restaurant was half its current size. It expanded when Ranald bought the property next door and a conservatory and snug bar were added.

In 2007, to accommodate patrons who wanted to smoke after the introduction of the indoor smoking ban, Ranald spent £40,000 on a covered, heated terrace on what was previously a section of the roof.

By then a second restaurant, Boisdale of Bishopsgate, had opened. Canary Wharf - with its large smoking terrace overlooking Cabot Square - was launched in 2011, and a few years later a much smaller restaurant opened in Mayfair.

To call Boisdale a restaurant probably understates its appeal. You can pop in for a drink at the bar, for example, or spend an afternoon on the terrace without being compelled to eat.

There’s also live music - mostly jazz - at all four venues with the larger stage at Canary Wharf attracting some well-known names.

The Forest office in Palace Street, Victoria, wasn’t far from the Belgravia restaurant but I’m not sure I was aware of it until I read a comment by Ranald in the Evening Standard (circa 2004) complaining about the prospect of a smoking ban.

I wrote to him, he didn’t reply, so I rang him and we arranged to meet. I liked him immediately, although we are very different. A successful businessman with a laidback almost bohemian air, he calls me “Mr Grumpy” - with some justification, it must be said.

He’s also the son of a clan chief but aside from a shared dislike of excessive regulation we do have something else in common - we both studied in St Andrews. I went to school there and a decade later he was at the university.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, Ranald quickly became one of Forest’s leading supporters, playing a starring role in one of our most successful events (Bournemouth, 2006) as well as facilitating a series of dinners, receptions and parties at Boisdale (Belgravia and Canary Wharf).

Best of all, perhaps, he was the person without whom we could not have pulled off our most ambitious event ever - a gala dinner for 400 people at the Savoy Hotel shortly before the introduction of the smoking ban.

He even persuaded broadcaster Andrew Neil - a member of the Boisdale Jazz and Cigar Club - to be the principal guest speaker.

A few years ago Ranald invited me to join the club’s annual jaunt to the Havana Cigar Festival in Cuba. It was an experience I’ll never forget. If you’re interested you can read about it here.

More recently he was a contestant in our 2017 Balloon Debate (‘The most pleasurable nicotine delivery device in the world’) when he advocated the cigar. Not for the first time he supplied the wine for that event at cost price, a substantial saving.

He has also been generous with his time and I’m delighted that this year we are working together on two events - Forest’s 40th anniversary dinner in June and a smaller, more intimate event later in the year when we will pay tribute to those who have supported or made a notable contribution to Forest during the past four decades.

In the meantime, happy birthday, Boisdale!

Below: Ranald Macdonald

Date for your diary

Pleased to report that we will be marking Forest's 40th anniversary with a gala dinner in London on Tuesday June 25, 2019.

Venue is Boisdale of Canary Wharf and our host is Boisdale MD Ranald Macdonald whose has been a member of our Supporters’ Council for 15 years.

Full details, including how to book tickets, in due course. Watch this space!

Making sense of statistics

According to a survey of 2,219 UK adults by analysts Mintel, ‘one in five Britons vape, up from 17 per cent in 2016.’

One in five? I’m confused.

According to the most recent ONS figures:

In 2017, 5.5% of people reported that they currently used an e-cigarette (vaped): this equates to approximately 2.8 million vapers in the population of Great Britain.

More recently still a YouGov survey of over 12,000 adults for ASH estimated that 3.2 million adults in Britain (approximately 8%) are using e-cigarettes.

Mintel also found that ‘almost one in three 18-24 year olds’ now vape. If it's true that ‘only one per cent of non-smokers vape’ it means that almost one in three 18-24 year olds must have been smokers before they started vaping.

According to the ONS, however, only 17.8 per cent of 18-24 year olds were smokers in 2017 (down from 25.7 per cent in 2011).

The conundrum is, who to believe? An 'award-winning provider of market research', a government agency or a lobby group?

Help!

See ‘Vaping seen as increasingly "fashionable" as one in three millennials take up smoking substitute’ (Telegraph).

Smoking or vaping, it's your choice

Catherine Noone wants e-cigarettes to be used as a tool to help people quit smoking in Ireland.

The Fine Gael Senator (above), who was awarded the title 'Nanny-in-Chief' by Forest in 2017, told the Irish Independent:

“We are currently on track to miss our smoke-free deadlines in Ireland and I believe that we can correct this course by potentially incorporating e-cigarettes in our policies.

“In an ideal world none of these products would be necessary. However we must recognise the challenges in front of us and do everything we can to tackle smoking."

Responding to her comments my colleague John Mallon said:

“We welcome Senator Noone's support for e-cigarettes which evidence suggests are a helpful and safer option for smokers who wish to quit.

“It is wrong however to set deadlines for a smoke-free Ireland and to promote vaping as a tool to achieve an unrealistic and artificial target.

“Tobacco is a legal product and if adults choose to smoke in full knowledge of the health risks that is a matter for them not government or nanny state loving politicians."

Like most vaping advocates in the political and public health arenas Catherine Noone would like e-cigarettes to be a short-term smoking cessation tool.

We, on the other hand, also see them as a long-term recreational product.

Catherine supports vaping but only as part of the government's anti-smoking strategy.

We, on the other hand, embrace e-cigarettes because we believe in consumer choice – which means respecting the decision of any adult who chooses to vape ... or smoke tobacco.

Anyway, John and Catherine have been booked to discuss the issue on Newstalk, Ireland's leading independent talk radio station, at 10.40 this morning.

Tune in!

Bercow blasts “irreverent” House on first reading of Brabin bill

Update to Tuesday’s post about Tracy Brabin’s attempt ‘to prohibit smoking on National Health Service premises’.

Standing up to present the first reading of the Smoking Prohibition (National Health Service Premises) Bill, the former Coronation Street actress, now Labour MP for Batley and Spen, began by saying, tongue-in-cheek:

It is fabulous to have a full House, Mr Speaker. How marvellous.

More seriously, she continued:

This is a Bill that I hope is simple in its terms, can forge the support of as much of this House as possible and can bring us in line with the intentions of the Welsh and Scottish Parliaments - a Bill that would give our NHS trusts the legal back-up to ban smoking on their grounds, which I believe would be to the benefit of patients, visitors, staff, trusts and society more widely.

During my contribution I will try to convince Members of its benefits, but I am not naïve. I am aware that some Members, indeed some commentators too, will have already written this off as some sort of attempted nanny state intervention that will only seek to cruelly deny unwell people the so-called pleasure of smoking a cigarette. I know I have my work cut out for me, so let us start at the beginning.

Although there was indeed a full house - a result of the Brexit debate that was to follow - it seems not everyone was giving the Ten Minute Rule Motion their full attention. At one point Speaker John Bercow was even forced to intervene:

Order. The hon. Lady is a distinguished actress and has a voice that projects, but it seems to me that the House is rather irreverent. What she is saying on this matter should be heard.

You can read Brabin’s full speech here.

The second reading of the bill will take place on Friday March 15. According to one MP I’ve been in contact with:

This Bill isn’t going anywhere so I wouldn’t worry too much. It is the government doing something about it that you need to worry about.

Indeed.

See also: Tracy’s law (Taking Liberties)

With friends like Kate who needs enemies?!!

Great to see the IEA's Kate Andrews on Sky News the other night venting unbridled anger at the Lancet's ludicrous campaign to turn us all into vegans.

What a pity, though, that 'liberal' and free market commentators like Kate (above) now reserve all their righteous indignation for attacks on alcohol, sugary drinks and 'junk' food.

Tobacco? Not so much.

In fact, you can almost hear the horror in Kate's voice when she said:

"To treat food like tobacco, to any person listening out there, is genuinely baffling."

Likewise:

"To compare a treat or a meal out or a hamburger to smoking a cigarette ..."

The only thing missing from the end of that sentence was a full-throated "Ugh!".

Yes, I know she was talking about the relative health risks but implicit in Kate's reaction was an abhorrence of tobacco, as though smoking a cigarette is something unfathomable to ordinary people.

I'm familiar with the tone because many vaping advocates, including some ex-smokers, adopt it when they're comparing e-cigarettes with traditional cigarettes.

I don't disagree with Kate that there is a significant difference in risk but it saddens me that she has apparently accepted every ounce of propaganda about smoking which is now seen as just about the worst thing you can do if you want to stay fit and healthy.

Health is incredibly complicated. Take my father, for example. He didn’t smoke, he drank in moderation, was never overweight and was far fitter than me for much of his life, yet needed triple heart by-pass surgery at the age of 58 and again a few years later. He subsequently had a full heart transplant.

I am almost 60. I am not a smoker but I am officially obese and last year I was told that unless I take statins every day for the rest of my life there is a strong chance I will have a stroke within the next ten years.

I don’t dispute that smokers put their health at risk - though almost all smoking-related illnesses are multifactorial and many smokers live to a ripe old age without succumbing to poor health as a direct result of their habit - but so do people like me who take little or no exercise and allow themselves to become overweight.

Genetics are a factor too which is why I don’t accept the argument that people have a ‘right’ to good health.

Meanwhile history shows that by throwing tobacco (and smokers) under the bus you simply create a template for attacks on consumers of other 'unhealthy' products – the so-called 'slippery slope' that Kate was talking about.

Instead of meekly accepting each and every argument against smoking, commentators should be challenging some of the more outrageous claims – the suggestion, for example, that 'every 15 cigarettes smoked causes a genetic mutation' or that 'passive smoking kills 600,000 a year, including 165,000 children'.

When did you last hear even the more liberal commentators criticise the punitive levels of tobacco duty that hurt consumers far more than the current tax on sugary drinks?

Throwing in the towel on smoking – even when the evidence is sometimes questionable – has led directly to what Kate was justifiably angry about when reviewing the papers on Monday night because it has emboldened public health activists to turn their attention to food and drink.

In short, it's no good complaining about the current assault on alcohol, sugary drinks and 'junk' food if you accept without question all the scaremongering about smoking (primary and ‘secondhand’) because the 'health' lobby will simply turn round and say, 'Well, we were right about smoking.'

The food and drink industry’s attempt to distance itself from tobacco - including, on occasion, refusing to share a platform with tobacco companies - is already proving to be a gross misjudgement because it has given momentum to public health zealots.

While some of us were fighting graphic health warnings, the display ban and plain packaging, what was the food and drink industry doing to protect both its long-term interests and consumers who believe in choice and personal responsibility?

Did senior executives not realise that once activists and politicians had acquired a taste for such policies, tobacco was only the start?

Apparently not. According to Tim Rycroft, chief operating officer at the Food and Drink Federation:

“Drawing a comparison between tobacco and food is deeply irresponsible. Food and drink are essential to sustain life while even the smallest dose of tobacco is harmful to health."

I’m sorry, this is nonsense. In fact I’m with Professor William Dietz, co-chair of the Obesity Commission, who said:

“Although food clearly differs from tobacco because it is a necessity to support human life, unhealthy food and beverages are not.”

He’s absolutely right, although I defend every person’s right to eat and drink whatever they damn well choose without excessive regulation or, worse, prohibition.

So, no offence Kate, but with friends like you (and the food and drink industry), who needs enemies?!!

“They want us to essentially move to vegan lifestyles in which we don’t eat meat, we don’t have Coca Cola, in which people who can’t afford it are taxed out of being able to do this, whilst they fly around on their jets in Davos!” says @KateAndrs on the Lancet's diet prescription pic.twitter.com/BPmkfFgqZW

— IEA (@iealondon) January 28, 2019