I'm not wholly convinced by all this 'Magna Carta: 800 years of liberty' stuff.
Tell that to the serfs and peasants of the Middle Ages or the workers in the "dark satanic mills" of the 19th century.
Nevertheless I enjoyed Conservatives for Liberty's celebratory dinner at the Savile Club in London on Wednesday when I rubbed shoulders, very briefly, with the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, John Redwood and David Davis.
Rees-Mogg was the sole after dinner speaker and I admire anyone who can give a highly articulate speech without pause and without notes, as he did.
That said, the whole Magna Carta thing left me a bit cold and the connection with the liberties we have today (and in some instances are slowly losing) seems a bit tenuous and occasionally convoluted.
Still, it was a fun evening among friendly faces in a lovely, surprisingly intimate, venue.
Hats off to Conservatives for Liberty for organising an enjoyable, unpretentious event devoid of political posturing and dogma.
As I mentioned in a previous post I did a handful of radio interviews this morning.
LBC was first, at 6.50. For those who like to know these things I was on my mobile phone in the middle of Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Palace of Westminster overlooking the Thames.
Normally it's quite a nice spot but at the moment it looks like a building site. And at that time of the morning it was also quite cold. To listen click here.
I then popped across the road to the Millbank studios which are shared by the BBC, ITV, Sky News and other broadcasters.
On BBC Radio Scotland I was grilled by former international rugby player John Beattie (an ex-smoker) who is now a BBC radio presenter. Click here.
After that I went head-to-head with ASH CEO Deborah Arnott on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. The clip doesn't sound quite as feisty or as argumentative as I remember it. I think that's because they turned down our microphones when we started to speak over one another.
At the time I thought, 'Why is Deborah so angry? Is it something I said?'. Click here to listen to it in full.
I later did an interview for BBC Radio Merseyside. I'll post the clip here when it arrives. Or you can listen now via the BBC Merseyside website. The item begins at 06:15.
AITS stands for Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists.
A decade or so ago the AITS annual lunch replaced the Pipesmokers' Council annual lunch which included an annual award, Pipesmoker of the Year.
The event took place at The Savoy in London and attracted 300-400 people.
Over 25 years the Pipesmoker of the Year award was given to some very well-known sportsmen and celebrities who were more than happy to turn up and accept it in person.
Off the top of my head they included Henry Cooper, Ian Botham, Barry Norman, Tony Benn, Ranulph Fiennes and, finally, Stephen Fry.
Fry was the last person to be honoured and after that the event was cancelled and the AITS stepped in.
For some years now the lunch has been held at Lords, sometimes in the Long Room overlooking the ground, sometimes in a rather featureless corporate conference room. (I think it's the latter today.)
What is slightly galling to me is the choice of speakers. Over the last decade we've had Boris Johnson, Carol Thatcher, George Galloway, Christine Hamilton, Bobby Davro (!) and, last year, Karren Brady.
Rarely if ever do they have anything to say about smoking or the latest tobacco regulations. Galloway, if I remember, made a few comments about anti-smoking zealots, and Christine Hamilton mentioned Forest (she was a friend of our late chairman Lord Harris), but that's about it.
Generally the subject of smoking is ignored. Last year Karren Brady gave what I assume is her standard speech about her success in business but I may be wrong because I fell asleep halfway through.
Today's speaker is Phil Tufnell, bless him. As least he's a smoker (or former smoker). But guess what? We've been invited to ask questions and his agent (yes, his agent!) has suggested questions we might like to ask.
Needless to say there is not a single question about smoking. Instead it has been 'suggested' that we ask the following:
1. Who was the best batsman to whom you have ever bowled?
2. Who was the scariest bowler to face?
3. Who was the worst person to 'room with' on tour?
4. Who was the best spin bowler - Warne or Murali?
5. Which did you prefer - jungle or ballroom?
6. What has been your most bizarre appearance since becoming a 'celebrity'?
7. What is more terrifying, playing in front of 100,000 baying Australians or doing 'Strictly Come Dancing'?
If I can I'm tempted to ask the following: "Did smoking help, hinder or make no difference to your cricket career?"
Update: Surprise, surprise, all seven questions were duly asked but he did a take some additional questions at the end.
No surprise there either, though, because if I remember every one was about cricket.
In the circumstances (and despite the fact that it was a tobacco trade event) I felt it might have jarred a bit if, out of the blue, I asked him about smoking.
Nevertheless, he was good value, his act is pretty good, and he was a lot funnier than Karren Brady.
He was also ridiculously pleased to have been given some free cigars and finished by saying, "If you've got any [more] cigars I'll be outside having a fag."
The Guardian also has an article by YouGov's Peter Kellner who also authored the ASH report 'Smoking Still Kills'.
Sky News and ITV News are reporting the story but not in any great detail as far as I can tell.
In response I did a handful of interviews this morning.
A scheduled live interview on BBC Radio Scotland was shelved at the last moment because of an over-running item featuring Nicola Sturgeon.
Instead I recorded an interview with the great John Beattie, the former international rugby player who toured twice with the Lions, and is now a BBC Scotland presenter.
Before we began he told me he was a former smoker, then gave me quite a grilling. It was curiously enjoyable.
Even more satisfying was hearing Deborah Arnott getting quite angry when we went head-to-head on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire a few minutes later.
I don't know why but, increasingly, Forest seems to have that effect on her.
Last week, ahead of the launch of 'Smoking Still Kills', ASH's latest tobacco control strategy report (see earlier post), Forest commissioned a new national poll.
I haven't got time to go through all the results (you can read them here), but this one might interest you.
According to the nationally representative sample of over 2,000 people, a clear majority would allow well-ventilated designated smoking rooms in pubs and private members' clubs, including working men's clubs (57% against 43% who wouldn't allow them).
This is not a rogue result. In fact it follows a ComRes poll for the Institute of Economic Affairs in December 2014 that also found support for designated smoking rooms.
Asked whether owners of pubs and private members’ clubs should be allowed to have a private room for people to smoke in if they want to, 51% agreed, 35% disagreed, and 14% didn’t know.
The tobacco control industry likes to argue that the smoking ban has been a huge success and enjoys overwhelming public support. These polls suggest otherwise.
The reason compliance is so high is because of the stiff penalties that can even lead to landlords ending up in jail.
The detail is quite interesting too:
Men are more in favour of pubs and private members’ clubs being allowed to provide a well-ventilated designated smoking room to accommodate smokers; 62% vs. 51% of women.
As age increases so does the likelihood of thinking that pubs and private members’ clubs should be allowed to provide a well-ventilated designated smoking room to accommodate smokers; 49% of 18-34 year olds, increasing to two thirds (66%) of those aged 65 and over.
Those working in the private sector are more in favour of pubs and private members’ clubs being allowed to provide smoking rooms; 57% compared to 49% among those working in the public sector.
Respondents living the West Midlands are the most likely to think that pubs and private members’ clubs should be allowed to provide a well-ventilated designated smoking room to accommodate smokers (63%), and those living in the South West are least likely to (48%).
Here is Forest's response:
"It’s clear there is substantial support for designated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs.
“No landlord or proprietor should be forced to accommodate people who want to smoke but they should have a choice.
“It’s time the government reviewed the impact of the smoking ban on pubs and local communities and considered an amendment to the existing legislation.”
The Populus survey was carried out on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. If I have time I'll return to it later. The Forest press release is on our website:
“E-cigarettes are widely recognised as much safer than tobacco cigarettes both for users and those around them.
"Banning e-cigarettes from public enclosed spaces and workplaces would take away one of their major attractions to potential users – they can be used where cigarettes can’t – and wrongly implies they are dangerous.
"It’s hard to think of a more irrational policy in terms of promoting health.”
Rob is currently doing some radio interviews on the subject. I'm also on BBC Hereford and Worcestershire around 9.30.
I have in my hand an invitation to attend the Smoking Still Kills report launch at the House of Commons later today.
It's not addressed to me, obviously, although I did email the organisers (ASH) to ask if I could go. (I'm waiting for a reply.)
I've seen the press release but media stories are "strictly embargoed until 00.01 Wednesday 10 June" so all I can tell you is that today's parliamentary launch will be hosted by Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East and Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, and other speakers will include:
Jane Ellison MP, Minister for Public Health
Peter Kellner, Chair of the report’s Editorial Board and YouGov President
Deborah Arnott, ASH Chief Executive
Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK
Mike Hobday, Director of Policy at British Heart Foundation
Don't expect too many smiles when they convene. Arnott is hardly a ray of sunshine at the best of times. She was in Warsaw at the weekend, attending the Global Forum on Nicotine, and a little bird tells me her mood never lifted from the moment she arrived.
Kumar may be feeling a little bruised today. A Sun investigation, published yesterday, revealed he was paid between £230,000 and £240,000 last year. In my book that's nothing to be ashamed of but people can be funny about charities and salaries. However thick-skinned you are, it's probably not the sort of information you want emblazoned across the front page of Britain's largest selling tabloid newspaper.
As for Kellner, he too took a kicking recently, but if you thought a professional pollster might adopt an impartial position on an important topical issue such as this, prepare to be disappointed. He made his views very clear in 2008 when ASH published 'Beyond Smoking Kills'. I wrote about it under the headline: Peter Kellner, YouGov and ASH.
The biggest question mark however concerns Jane Ellison. What is she thinking?!
It's one thing to listen and observe but I'm amazed a government minister would speak at the launch of what is certain to be a contentious report by a partisan pressure group whose principal purpose is to lobby government.
Actually, I'm not amazed at all. We've come to expect this sort of thing from successive governments and, let's face it, the difference between ASH and the Department of Health is cigarette paper thin. I'm only surprised they don't share an office.
It's less than an hour north of Peterborough but once you get there it feels further away.
For some reason it's developed a dodgy reputation but there are some gorgeous Georgian buildings along the river and in the centre of town.
Anyway, we went because we'd been invited to a "private book launch and exhibition of photographs" at the Angles Theatre.
The book and photographs were by Dan Donovan, who lives locally.
My Eye is a photo journal that features images from a number of countries – America, Portugal, France, Belgium, Italy and of course England (Ely, Emneth, Downham Market and London, to name a few places).
They are personal to Dan but anyone can admire them in their own right.
Two of my favourite photographs were taken from the rustic attic bedroom Dan and his older sister shared in their home in Matlock, Derbyshire, when they were small children.
I'm not very good at describing these things but the room is completely dark and the focal point is a wooden staircase and a single window that provides the light and looks out over the countryside which is left to your imagination because there's barely a glimpse of it.
In the photo it looks more like a hayloft than a bedroom. Perhaps it was, once.
Dan's father died when he was five, I think, so they're not only lovely images but rather poignant as well.
My wife took a fancy to a photograph taken in a wood in Sandringham. It features a wonderfully ethereal shaft of light that casts a natural spotlight on the ferns on the ground.
Dan's sister and brother-in-law liked it too so we could be in a bidding war. (Dan, if you're reading this, relatives come first. I don't want to be the cause of a family dispute.)
For those who don't know, I've worked with Dan for over nine years and I can't thank him enough for the work he has done for Forest.
He first contacted us in September 2005, before the smoking ban was introduced. I still have the email:
I'd like to register my support for the 'Fight the ban: fight for choice' campaign.
Sunday evening at Naples airport, about to enjoy a cigarette after checking in. I was told there was no smoking areas and I would have to wait 'till I got to Gatwick. I was then told with the other boarding passengers to wait next to the shuttle bus as we were about to get on the plane.
We all stood for approximately 10-15 minutes as the bus churned out diesel fumes waiting for the OK so we could get on. The bus finally took a 400 yard trip to the plane which in fact would have been a hundred yard walk. The irony of it all enraged me.
The world has gone mad. All the passengers were exposed to lethal fumes and yet I wasn't allowed a cigarette. What's more I figured the bus was pretty much running all day, making unnecessary trips, guzzling fuel and pouring out fumes in a 'smoke free' environment!?
It's this kind of scenario that encourages me to support your campaign even more. Authorities should consider that the smoker isn't the health threat here and do something about encouraging good air con, less pollution and stop scaring the life out of non-smokers.
At that stage I had no idea what he did. In April 2006, two months after MPs voted for the smoking ban, he emailed us again offering his services. I have that email too:
I run a graphic design company, just up the road from you, and if ever you need our services I would be happy to help.
We met the following week in Ely. It was obvious he was the real deal, a superbly gifted designer, photographer and musician.
Since then Dan has designed most of Forest's campaign materials including logos, letterheads, posters, invitations, beer mats, book covers and much, much more.
Dan attends many of our events, filming or taking photographs. I've not yet had the courage to book his band, King Kool, to play at a Forest event (they're far too loud) but their music has featured on several videos Dan has produced for Forest, including the one below.
For someone whose band makes such a racket he's remarkably quiet and unassuming. I'm sure I must annoy him when I change my mind or request a minor amendment to his artwork at some ungodly hour of the day or night, but I've never heard him utter a single cross word. Not even an exasperated sigh.
Dan's circle of friends are an eclectic bunch.
Unless I'm mistaken, Ben, his assistant, has added even more body jewellery since I saw him at Forest's 'Stop The Nonsense' event in London in February.
Jo, Dan's wife, could stop the traffic with the colour of her hair. (I mean that as a compliment, btw.) Jo is Irish and works at a private hospital in Kings Lynn. She described herself to me as "occasionally fiery". I didn't argue.
Pas, drummer with King Kool and the archetypal "wild man of rock" (looks wise), had cut his hair and trimmed his beard since I saw him last. Wisbech, he said, was attracting a younger hipster crowd and I suspect he wants to fit in.
Meanwhile, playing cello, was another friend of Dan's, a musician who has worked with Blur and other bands.
My Eye (the cover photo was taken by Dan's teenage daughter Fern) is a limited edition 100-page, soft back, perfect bound book. You can view the images and buy a copy here.
Warmly recommended.
Update on Sunday, June 7, 2015 at 17:57 by
Simon Clark
Dan Donovan writes:
The Matlock attic photos are a bit of a wild card in the collection although there's a story attached to all the pics. When my sister was around eleven the attic room became mine. My memories of growing up and of that room have a sad darkness to them. I believe that due to my dyslexia I became withdrawn in public (particularly at school). The room was my sanctuary but also a dark place, almost a cell. I could view through the small window/portal the potential for more in life but was also apprehensive of how I would if ever fit in.
I had a vision one night in the room of three ominous red flares of light hovering in the middle of the darkness, one day I'll figure out what they meant. I also remember a figure at the bottom of the stairs just standing and looking down at the floor, maybe it was some kind of protective spirit.
My dad, a travelling Evangelist, died in 1964 when I was four and my mum, sister and myself lived in that house all those years. The day my mum left the house about five years ago I went into the attic room and took those pictures as closure. I like the pictures but they stir up difficult emotional memories. It has been pointed out that one photo looks like a coffin with a light, a very deep observation and very apt.
The crowd on Friday was a mixture of photographers, musicians, creatives and friends. Before he retired Alan Florence was a sound engineer who worked with producer John Shroeder. In the Sixties he worked at Abbey Road with the Beatles and later co-produced all the early Status Quo albums. Cellist Ivan McCready is an interesting character. He's a smoker and has some strong opinions as a working musician on how the smoking regulations have impacted culturally his world.
King Kool is ten years old but over the last 35 years I have had 12 album releases and all isn't so noisy. In fact this year I'm recording a solo acoustic album. I should let you hear some of my other stuff sometime!
Friday, June 12, 2015 at 17:02 
