A smoking room with a view

Dan Donovan was in Northern Ireland for a wedding last week.

He found this "amazing smoking room" that overlooks woodland and features "a real fire, comfy chairs and stained glass windows".

The term "smoking room" appears to be common in Ireland. My Cork-based colleague John Mallon is always using it.

It caught me out at first because I couldn't understand how an area that was open to the elements could be described as a room.

That was before I was taken to several pubs in Dublin and elsewhere and discovered that "smoking rooms" were exactly that.

In the UK however the term often has negative connotations. Think of a smoking room and many people - smokers included - imagine nicotine-stained walls, overflowing ashtrays and the smell of stale tobacco. Nice.

It doesn't have to be like that. See Is this the best smoking room in the world?.

See also Smoking in bars and brasseries - what the Belgians can teach the British.

Meanwhile, don't forget to nominate (in the comments) the pub that, in your opinion, has the best smoking area/room.

If tobacco control campaigners have their way even outdoor smoking rooms could disappear. Support the Best Smoking Area award and help us make sure that doesn't happen.

Ding dong, what a mess

A couple of years ago a friend gave me a book.

33 Revolutions Per Minute by Dorian Lynskey focussed on 33 songs (geddit?) and was described by the Telegraph as a "compassionate history of protest songs from Woody Guthrie to Green Day".

It's a while since I read it but I am fairly certain that 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead' didn't feature.

Anyway, inspired by some of the incoherent and poisonous comments posted online by several Facebook 'friends', I have just spent 79p on another little ditty.

It's the very least I could do.

Meanwhile I am enjoying watching the BBC tie itself in knots ahead of the chart show tomorrow. (Who knew a chart show still existed? It must be 45 years since I listened to it.)

The BBC's hilarious response to the 'controversy' - they will play five seconds of 'Ding Dong' and invite a journalist to explain the background - beggars belief.

Ironically, it's exactly this type of craven compromise on far more important issues (the so-called post war consensus) that accelerated Britain's decline in the Sixties and Seventies and created an urgent need for strong, decisive leadership.

Cue Mrs Thatcher.

I can't imagine she would have given a hoot about 'Ding Dong' being played on the radio. She would have been far more concerned by the BBC's response which is neither one thing nor the other.

Do people never learn? By trying to appease everyone you please no-one, as well as sounding foolish. Listen to Eddie Mair's hilarious interview with the head of Radio 1 on PM (Radio 4) yesterday.

Welcome to the post Thatcher consensus. Is it any wonder Britain is in such a mess - again?

Best smoking area - nominations wanted

Today sees the launch of the Great British Pub Awards 2013.

In association with The Publican's Morning Advertiser Forest is inviting nominations for Best Smoking Area, one of 16 categories that include Best Community Pub, Best Food Pub and Best Sports Pub.

This is the fourth year that JTI and Forest's Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign have supported this category which was previously called Best Creative Outdoor Area (!).

I know some people feel we shouldn't support an award that may appear to condone or accept the smoking ban.

Unfortunately we are where we are and I think it's right to acknowledge those pubs that have gone the extra mile to accommodate smokers and make them feel welcome.

It doesn't mean we have given up on our goal - an amendment to the ban that would allow, at the very least, separate smoking rooms in pubs and bars.

Supporting this award keeps us in touch with the hospitality industry. It also gives us a platform to promote our message because the package includes a four-page cover wrap (see last year's effort, above right) plus a four-page editorial feature.

As well as being published in the Morning Advertiser, these eight pages are also printed as a special supplement that Forest sends to politicians, journalists and other interested parties.

Anyway, following a rigorous judging process the Great British Pub Awards will be presented in September at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London, in front of 800 guests.

In 2010 we invited Conservative MP Brian Binley to present the Best Smoking Area award. In 2011 the task fell to another Conservative MP, Simon Kirby, and last year the honour went to Labour's Lindsay Hoyle.

If there is a pub you would like to nominate for this year's award please add a comment to this post. Alternatively, download the nomination form, stand over the publican while he completes it, take a few pictures of the smoking area and send them, with the form, to the relevant address.

For more information about the Great British Pub Awards click here or go direct to the awards website.

Why legislation to ban smoking in cars with children is unnecessary

Fancy that.

A study in Ireland supports our view that there is no good reason to legislate to ban smoking in cars with children.

Researchers at the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population observed 2,230 drivers in Dublin and found the prevalence of mobile telephone use was 2.56 per cent compared to 1.39 per cent for smoking.

The study, published in the Irish Medical Journal, concluded that the "resources required for a ban in vehicles may be labour intensive for the yield in detection or prevention."

Although this is an Irish study, there is no reason to believe that the same research conducted in London (for example) wouldn't produce a very similar result.

See: Ban on smoking in cars would have little impact, says study (Irish Independent).

Update: Smokers’ group welcomes study showing low level of smoking in cars (The Journal.ie)

Lack of hard evidence? Government appeals for international rescue

Here's the full page advertisement that provoked "anger" among tobacco control campaigners yesterday.

It was placed in national newspapers and magazines by the tobacco company JTI and shows the result of a Freedom of Information request obtained from the Department of Health.

Correspondence from a civil servant at the DH to his counterpart in Australia reads:

I work on the UK Government's Tobacco Policy Team ... and you will be aware that the UK Government is considering the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products.

As I'm sure you're aware, one of the difficulties regarding this is that nobody has done this and therefore there isn't any hard evidence to show that it works [my italics]. Therefore, I am wondering whether the Australian government drafted any type of impact assessment or cost analysis in which the likely benefits and costs are measured and if so, whether you would be willing to share this information with us.

It is dated May 10, 2011.

Oddly enough the Advertising Standards Authority announced only last month that it was upholding a complaint against Gallaher, which is part of the JTI group of companies, following a previous series of advertisements.

The DH has airily dismissed JTI's latest advertisement. According to a spokeswoman the correspondence is nearly two years old. "Research and evidence have developed since then and continue to emerge" she told The Grocer.

All I know is that in 2008 the then Labour Government decided not to proceed with plain packaging because ministers accepted there was no hard evidence it would work.

Three years later, undeterred by the sound of tumbleweed and the continued lack of evidence, civil servants decided to revisit the issue and plead for information from their peers Down Under.

It seems pretty desperate, doesn't it? If hard evidence existed anywhere in the world in 2011 I'm sure tobacco control campaigners in the UK would have known about it and passed the information to their friends at the DH.

Meanwhile, here we are in 2013, four months after the introduction of plain packaging in Australia, and we are still waiting for an announcement by the Aussie Government that plain packaging works.

Don't hold your breath, folks.

To download a full size pdf of the new JTI advertisement (above) click here.

See also: Anger as tobacco firm contests benefits of plain packaging , Silk Cut maker fights plain packaging (Daily Telegraph) and Why did ASA uphold complaint against JTI? (Hands Off Our Packs).

Reaction to Margaret Thatcher's death will tell us a lot about Britain

This is one of those 'Where were you?' moments.

I was in Costa Coffee in a service station off the A14 near Cambridge when I read (on Twitter!!) that Baroness Thatcher had died.

Millions of words will be written by thousands of people over the next few days.

There is very little I can add but I can't let this moment pass without tipping my hat to a most extraordinary person who inspired me and millions of others.

The reaction to her death will tell us a lot about Britain and the British people.

Meanwhile I can only echo the headline to a comment by Lord Tebbit:

The death of this great lady was a merciful release. Would that we had another Margaret Thatcher to lead us now.

Update: The editor of the Telegraph has tweeted, "We have closed comments on every #Thatcher story today - even our address to email tributes is filled with abuse."

Update: Piers Morgan tweets, "Americans would never treat the death of a President with the outrageous hateful abuse Margaret Thatcher's getting today. Sad to see."

Update: Former England rugby player (and Labour supporter) Brian Moore tweets, "Those asking why I don't decry Thatcher & her divisive poitics & social agenda - because she died today and I'm not a c***."

NICE targets friends and families

New guidelines to stop people smoking.

According to the Telegraph's interpretation of the guidelines, smokers are to be offered nicotine replacement gum and other inducements to quit smoking regardless of the reason for their being in hospital.

In other words, they could be in hospital for a non-smoking related illness or procedure and the guidelines would still be implemented.

For the record, here's my response to the Telegraph's request for a comment (although I don't think they ran the story in the end):

"The guidelines seem very heavy-handed. If enforced they will heap guilt on people at a time when they are already stressed or anxious."

"If a patient is being seen for a non smoking-related illness or procedure it's a gross invasion of their privacy to use every contact as an excuse to tackle them about their habit.

"What happens if a patient declines the offer of nicotine replacement therapy or refuses to be tested as prescribed? Will they be refused treatment?

"The NHS has a duty to treat everyone equally, regardless of their lifestyle, yet this smacks of discrimination."

The guidelines also call for a ban on smoking on hospital grounds, something I spoke about on BBC Radio London this morning.

Wanted - writers for The Free Society

Many thanks to Tom Miers for editing The Free Society website for the past two years.

In January Tom took up a new position as director of the Brussels-based think tank New Direction. Last week, as arranged, he stepped down as editor of The Free Society to concentrate on his new role.

The Free Society was set up by Forest in 2007 after the introduction of the smoking ban. The reasoning behind it was that we had to reach out to non-smokers (especially those who welcomed the ban) and explain that excessive regulation would almost certainly follow in areas such as food and drink.

(See The politics of health: is food the new tobacco?. This was based on a speech I gave to an ASI conference as long ago as 2004. Further articles on food and drink can be found, not surprisingly, in the Food and Drink section.)

Inspired by the Centre for Consumer Freedom in America, food and drink (and tobacco) were going to be our core concerns but very quickly we started to address other issues - taxation, surveillance, free speech etc.

In conjunction with The Freedom Association, The Free Society and Forest were responsible for launching The Freedom Zone at the Conservative party conference in 2008. To emphasise our concerns we added the strap line 'Putting individual freedom at the top of the political agenda'.

In collaboration with like-minded groups and organisations such as the Adam Smith Institute, Institute of Economic Affairs, Manifesto Club, Liberty League, Big Brother Watch and Privacy International – The Free Society then organised a series of debates in London in 2010 and 2011 and called it Voices of Freedom.

At last year's Conservative conference in Birmingham The Free Society hosted (with Forest) the first Liberty Lounge. Also with Forest, The Free Society was co-host for The Freedom Dinner.

Forest will continue to support The Free Society project. To justify its existence however it does need to raise its profile.

We are therefore going to publish a book, a compilation of articles posted on The Free Society website.

We will also be tweeting far more frequently. Tweets will include links to new posts so they are promoted to politicians, journalists and broadcasters as well as the wider public.

The Free Society will also co-host (with Forest) The Freedom Dinner 2013 and I hope contributors will join us for that.

Meanwhile I am grateful to everyone who has supported the project. Unfortunately, with very limited resources, it has struggled to find either a voice or an audience.

To develop it further and give it a new lease of life we need more writers and commentators.

We welcome both articles (500-800 words) and shorter posts (300-500 words). For further information email contact@thefreesociety.org.

PS. I have just posted a short piece about smoking in cars. See: Why a ban on smoking in cars would be a drag.