Accidents of timing

Two weeks ago Forest hosted a panel discussion at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

The title, 'Smoking Gun: The Infantilisation of Britain', was actually chosen six months earlier for an event we hosted at the IEA.

Although the conversation had moved on, with the Government announcing what seemed to be a relatively liberal and sensible approach to tobacco control, we nevertheless kept the title for Manchester because it still felt relevant.

As it turns out - and as Benjamin Elks of the TaxPayers Alliance pointed out in a blogpost last week - Forest’s fringe event in the Think Tent suddenly looked rather prescient.

And here’s another accident of timing. At the end of the month I shall be speaking at the annual Battle of Ideas in London.

The subject, ‘Freedom: Up In Smoke?', may sound like a reaction to Rishi Sunak’s recent policy announcement, but it’s actually the title of a short essay I wrote for the Academy of Ideas, organisers of the Battle of Ideas, in July, long before the prime minister u-turned on tobacco policy.

It’s one of a series of pocket-sized pamphlets that are collectively called Letters on Liberty. The first three were published in December 2020 and they have been appearing at regular intervals, three at a time, ever since.

When ‘Freedom: Up In Smoke?' is published with two other Letters it will bring the number up to 36.

Copies will be available at the Battle of Ideas but for those who can't join us at Church House, Westminster, on October 29 there may be another event next month to mark its publication. Watch this space.

Let’s see ACTion

Have you been following the election in New Zealand? In January I wrote:

If anyone is hoping that the resignation of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern might signal a change in tobacco policy, don't hold your breath.

The law that will make it an offence to sell tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, has already been passed by the New Zealand Parliament so it would be a surprise if it was reversed, even if the governing party (Labour) was to lose the general election later this year.

The purpose of that post (New Zealand - meet the new boss, same as the old boss?) was to query whether a change of government might prompt a change of policy.

I wasn't hugely optimistic, pointing out that:

Christopher Luxon, leader of the centre right National Party, is already on record saying he is "broadly supportive" of Labour's plan so don't expect much change there.

If there is a tiny flicker of hope it probably rests on there being a hung parliament in which the National Party can only govern with the support of smaller parties like ACT.

Nine months later Labour has been heavily defeated and Luxon is about to become prime minister.

Intriguingly, however, results suggest the National party will probably require the support of ACT, the ‘libertarian’ party whose leader David Seymour last year tweeted:

Labour’s authoritarian prohibition of tobacco has been signed up to by every party except ACT. Prohibition has never worked and it always has serious unintended consequences.

In January the Sunday Times even reported that Seymour ‘would seek to reverse Labour’s anti-smoking legislation if his party gains office'.

“This has gone beyond a public health initiative to a public control initiative,” he said.

Realistically, I would be surprised if tobacco policy is a hill Seymour will choose to die on.

Nevertheless, if the National party does need ACT's support, the issue should at least be on the table for discussion.

Either way, Sunak would be well advised to watch developments closely.

The new law may not have been a major election issue in a country where it won’t have any direct effect on consumers until January 2027, but nor did it provide the incumbent Labour Party with any sort of bounce in the polls.

Likewise, polls in the UK are largely the same as they were before the party conference season so if the aim was to generate support it would seem that Sunak’s ill-judged policy announcement has been a failure here too.

Put simply, if the PM hoped that a war on tobacco would rally the troops and attract floating voters he was poorly advised, as Jacinda Ardern and her hapless successor Chris Hipkins have now discovered.

Picture this

I think we need a brief respite from current events, so …

When I wrote about Glenda Jackson following her death in June, I mentioned that:

One of my memories of secondary school is being taken, with the rest of my history class, to the New Picture House in St Andrews to watch a special screening of Mary, Queen of Scots, the 1971 historical drama in which Jackson played Elizabeth I.

The name, New Picture House, was an anomaly even then because it opened in 1930 (or 1934, recollections vary) and was 'new' only in relation to the Cinema House on the other side of the road. That opened in 1913, hence the ‘New’ Picture House opposite:

Today the New Picture House is the only cinema in St Andrews because the Cinema House closed in 1979 before being demolished and replaced by a block of flats.

Little did I know that, four months later, the New Picture House would be subject to a bid by Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods who hope to turn it into a ‘luxury sports bar.’

According to reports this week:

The venue is expected to have golf simulators, duckpin bowling and darts and will screen sporting events.

Furthermore:

It will be named T-Squared Social - an homage to "Timberlake" and "Tiger" - after a similar venue of the same name opened in New York City last month.

That doesn’t scream ‘St Andrews’ to me so I’m not surprised the news has received a mixed response.

North Street, where the New Picture House stands, is normally pretty quiet. Although it’s within easy walking distance of the 18th green on the Old Course, there are only a handful of shops at one end, and the one pub (The Castle, at the far end near the old ruined cathedral) is long gone.

There are however lots of small hotels and b&bs nearby so I’m guessing the principal target market is the many overseas visitors who flock to play the Old Course. (It’s a public course so anyone, in theory, is allowed to play on it, regardless of their golfing ability.)

There is however a glimmer of hope for film buffs and local residents upset at the thought of losing the one remaining cinema in town:

If approved by Fife Council, the New Picture House will retain one cinema screen for theatrical releases.

How long that will survive is anyone’s guess but I’ll keep you posted on this important, and developing, local news story!

Only in Scotland

I haven't read the smoking and vaping consultation documents in full yet (see previous post), but one thing I did notice was this:

This policy [raising the age of sale by one year every year] will make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products (and in Scotland, also an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to purchase tobacco products).

I may be wrong, but buying tobacco – even if you're under age – was never previously an offence in Scotland. Like the rest of the UK, the offender was, and is, the seller not the purchaser.

Does this mean that young adults may in future be prosecuted if they attempt to buy tobacco products in Scotland? Bizarrely, the list includes heated tobacco, a reduced risk product used by smokers to quit.

It also begs the question: will it then become an offence, in Scotland, to smoke tobacco if you're born on or after 1 January 2009?

Imagine, in ten years’ time, being arrested, aged 24, for the ‘crime’ of smoking a cigarette, even in a smoking area or, potentially, your own home.

Is that where this is heading? I think we should be told.

Why the rush, Rishi?

That was quick. It's almost as if they had it planned.

Just eight days after the prime minister surprised millions of people, including members of his own party, by announcing that the Government intends to ban the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published details of a consultation that is expected to precede legislation in the new year.

As well as 'creating a smokefree generation', the PM also wants to tackle youth vaping so expect restrictions on flavours, a possible display ban, and even a ban on disposable vapes.

Significantly, while most government consultations give people at least three months to respond, this is only open for eight weeks.

Why the rush, Rishi? Perhaps it's because he knows he's only got another year in office and he wants to leave a legacy (anything will do!) so the race is on to get the legislation through parliament as quickly as possible.

The irony is that banning the sale of tobacco to future generations wasn't even his idea. It originated under a left-wing Labour government in New Zealand where it was introduced on January 1 this year.

That brought it to the attention of shadow health secretary Wes Streeting who said the UK Labour party would give it serious consideration.

Sunak's woeful legacy – the only thing he may be remembered for – could therefore be a policy he not only nicked from another country but from under the nose of His Majesty's Opposition who, far from being annoyed, are supporting it all the way.

You can respond online here and I urge everyone to do so. The closing date is Wednesday December 6 so expect a few reminders before then.

The outcome may be predictable but that's no reason to throw in the towel. Let's give it our best shot.

Unforgettable - David Hockney at the Labour Party conference

I was delighted to see that David Hockney has joined the chorus of critics denouncing Rishi Sunak’s absurd generational smoking ban.

In a piece published by the Sunday Times (Sunak says smoking kills — but guess what, we’ll all die anyway), Britain’s greatest living artist wrote:

There are too many bossy people in England. It was one of the reasons I started spending more time in Normandy. Bossy people are humourless. This is just madness to me. Why can’t Mr Sunak leave the smokers alone?

What really thrilled me, though, was the confirmation that, 18 years after I invited him to speak at a Forest event at the 2005 Labour party conference in Brighton, he clearly hasn’t forgotten that extraordinary day:

In 2005 I fought to stop the ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants. At the Labour party conference I held up a card saying ‘DEATH awaits you all even if you do smoke’.

For the benefit of new readers, here’s the full story (originally posted in May 2007). To this day it remains the most enjoyable day of my entire working life, a day when almost everything went right and, better still, we had the most enormous fun:

DAVID HOCKNEY first came to our attention as a protagonist in the smoking debate when the New York Times published a letter by him attacking the NYC smoking ban. That was in 2004. A short while later I wrote to him in California, inviting him to attend a private dinner hosted by Forest at Boisdale of Bishopsgate in London. I heard nothing and forgot about it.

However, cometh the day, cometh the man. Halfway through the evening an elderly gentleman with a distinctive white cap and two companions wandered in, sat down, and lit up. It was Hockney, arguably Britain's most famous living artist. Apparently, he had just flown in from Sicily where he had been on holiday. His manager met him at Heathrow, showed him my letter, which had been faxed to London, whereupon he had ordered the cab driver to drive straight to the restaurant.

He didn't say much (he's partially deaf, which is why he's not a huge fan of large public events) but in a phone call the following day he told me the evening had been a "life-enhancing experience" and he was sufficiently inspired to fire off a letter to the Guardian. This in turn led to a feature on Newsnight and, subsequently, a series of interviews on television and radio.

Together, however, our greatest 'success' took place in Brighton at the 2005 Labour party conference. Forest had planned, months in advance, a fringe meeting at the Metropole Hotel where many of the Cabinet were staying. The event, part of our campaign against a public smoking ban, was to be chaired by Claire Fox (now Baroness Fox) and confirmed speakers were Joe Jackson, Antony Worrall Thompson, Sue Carroll of the Daily Mirror, and Sue Brearley, co-author of The Joy of Smoking.

Word came back that Hockney was interested but couldn't commit. Nevertheless we took a chance and printed 3,000 flyers that featured his name. Less than 48 hours before the event, his manager confirmed he would be coming. Cue pandemonium. A team of students was enlisted to distribute the flyers to every corner of the conference. We also issued a press release, announcing his imminent arrival in Brighton.

The BBC were the first to respond. The following morning, shortly before he set off for the south coast, Hockney could be heard, on the Today programme, berating a junior health minister for being "boring" and "dreary". (The London Evening Standard declared it to be the most uplifting moment on radio that year.)

Moments later, on BBC1's breakfast programme, he was interviewed again - live from his London studio - with homemade posters either side of him declaring 'Death comes to us all'.

The Guardian, meanwhile, reported that:

The celebrity smoker David Hockney is a surprise visitor [to conference] today. The artist will join the tobacco campaign group Forest at a fringe meeting to denounce the government's crackdown on smoking in pubs.

Down in Brighton we were besieged by journalists wanting to interview the great man. In rapid order, we arranged one-to-one interviews with The Times, Independent, Guardian, Telegraph and the Press Association. We also got him on Andrew Neil's The Daily Politics, which was broadcasting live from the conference centre.

But first there was the little matter of a photo call at the Hilton that got completely out of hand when Stuart Holmes, a well-known anti-smoking campaigner, was encouraged (by a rogue photographer) to butt in, prompting security staff to wrestle him out of the building via a fire exit while 30 or more cameras clicked and flashed in unison. Throughout it all, David Hockney smiled benignly and exuded an air of amused detachment.

That evening, after a packed event full of laughter (it was described as "one of the best fringe meetings for years"), we took David and our other speakers for dinner at Brighton's Havana restaurant. The Sunday Times came too, columnist Jasper Gerard having been sent from London with the specific task of interviewing Hockney for the paper's Review section.

Later that night, as we walked along the promenade to our hotel (without David who had returned to London after dinner), we got caught in the most torrential downpour. It was one o'clock in the morning and the rain was bouncing off the pavement. We were exhausted, and soaking wet. But we were also exhilarated, and I will never, EVER, forget it.

See also: Hockney leads smoking ban protest (BBC News)
Hockney says Labour smoking ban will ‘destroy Bohemia’ (The Times)
Hockney blows smoke on Labour's plan to ban tobacco (Independent)
Interview: Jasper Gerard meets David Hockney (Sunday Times)

Fine words and podcasts butter no parsnips

I am grateful to every journalist, writer, and podcaster who has criticised and even poured scorn on Rishi Sunak's plan to ban the sale of cigarettes to future generations.

From The Spectator to the Telegraph via CapX and Spiked, the more liberal political commentariat has been in fine voice.

The best article, in my opinion, was Melanie McDonagh's brutal evisceration of Sunak in The Spectator (There’s nothing conservative about Sunak’s smoking ban) in which she described the PM as a 'Californian banker ... with no obvious tastes or habits that mark him out as a Tory'.

I suspect though that most commentators will quickly move on and their well-honed articles will, in the words of Bob Mortimer, soon be distant memories, like "fingerprints on an abandoned handrail".

As for podcasts, where do I start? The overwhelming majority are even more ephemeral, leaving almost no trace of their existence.

Last Orders, a Spiked podcast, is better than most but the choice of guests invited to discuss the nanny state has often left me perplexed and even a little miffed because after 70+ episodes, many of which have featured discussions about smoking, I have not once been asked to take part.

(I'm not sure why. No-one will give me an answer.)

Anyway, following Forest's hugely topical event at the Conservative conference in Manchester on Monday, I was momentarily led to believe that might be about to change.

But no. This week's guest to discuss smoking was journalist and former MEP Patrick O'Flynn who, to the best of my knowledge, has rarely if ever written or talked about the subject.

So what did he have to say?

Recorded on Tuesday, the day before Sunak's speech when it was already clear to everyone at conference that the PM was about to announce an incremental ban on the sale of cigarettes to future generations, Patrick declared:

"I would be surprised if Sunak goes ahead with this sort of ratchet mechanism because … the war on cigarettes has kind of been won.”

He later doubled down:

“I would be very surprised if this ultra hardline ratchet cigarette ban comes in because it does seem to me full of ludicrous problems.”

Admitting he had never smoked or vaped, he also confessed, "I can't say I have massively strong skin in the game".

Full marks for honesty but it begs the question: why was Patrick invited – in this of all weeks – to share his thoughts on a subject he clearly doesn't feel strongly about?

In my view, speaking as a campaigner rather than a commentator, this is no time for cosy, fireside chats.

Nor is it time to throw in the towel, as Last Orders presenter (and Spiked editor) Tom Slater effectively did here:

Rishi Sunak’s cigarette ban marks the final, depressing triumph of the nags and the killjoys ... England will never be the same.

Yes, the situation is grim and will almost certainly get worse as alcohol and 'unhealthy' food are targeted like tobacco, but dreary defeatism won't help and some of us have no intention of giving up without a fight.

Our ability to mount a counter-offensive will ultimately depend on the resources available to us but, whatever they are, this is a time for action, not light-hearted conversations about serious issues that are forgotten within minutes.

Put simply, fine words and podcasts butter no parsnips. Are you with me?

Update: Another great piece by Melanie McDonagh, in the Telegraph this time - Smoking David Hockney is a truer conservative than killjoy Rishi Sunak.

Smoke alarm

Busy week. I have a lot more to say but a quick update.

Following Forest’s very topical fringe meeting (Smoking Gun: The infantilisation of Britain) at the Conservative conference in Manchester, the prime minister announced that the Government is to introduce an incremental rise in the age of sale of tobacco to stop future generations of adults buying cigarettes legally.

Amusingly (or not) I had barely returned home - having left conference before Sunak’s speech - when I got a call asking me to return to Manchester/Salford to do the BBC1 Breakfast programme on Thursday morning. (I arrived at 2.00am and was on air at 7.10 after a short night’s sleep in a nearby hotel.)

The other amusing thing was my interview with Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV. I was doing it from my Media City hotel room when the smoke alarm went off, live on air!

Anyway, here’s a list of interviews I did and a (non-comprehensive) list of online reports that included Forest’s response. I had to turn down several other interviews (including GB News) because timings clashed:

BBC Breakfast (BBC1)
BBC Radio Five Live phone-in with Nicky Campbell
BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Manchester
BBC Radio London
BBC Radio Ulster
BBC Radio Scotland
Channel 5 News
TalkTV with Jeremy Kyle
TalkTV with Vanessa Feltz
Times Radio
Sky News Radio

Online reports that featured a comment from Forest included:

BBC News, ITV News, Sky News, MailOnline, Daily Express, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent, The Sun, Daily Record, Press Association , Wales Online, Perspective Magazine, Reason Magazine, Washington Examiner and many more.

The pushback from multiple groups and commentators has been encouraging (we’re not alone!) but I must mention ‘There’s nothing conservative about Sunak’s smoking ban’ by Melanie McDonagh in The Spectator. McDonagh absolutely nails Rishi Sunak as an archetypal ‘Californian banker’ and the ‘most two-dimensional PM ever, with no obvious tastes or habits that mark him out as a Tory’.

I’m not saying we will stop this absurd, illiberal policy - although it ought to concern anyone who believes in freedom of choice and personal responsibility - but with proper (and I mean proper) resources we’ll at least go down fighting. I love a challenge and this ain’t over.

More to follow …