Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 17:15 I have a speaking engagement tonight.
I have been asked to talk to a group of students. It was arranged several months ago and the subject is 'Civil liberties up in smoke'.
Unfortunately I find myself competing against The Brits - not a problem if you're my age but I can't imagine many students choosing me in preference to Adele, Jessie G (J?) or even James Corden.
Or am I being unduly pessimistic?
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 8:12 Metro this morning reports that:
The smoking ban should be extended to areas outside pubs and bars to curb 'social smoking', according to scientists.
The restriction has led to a decline in the number of people smoking but ildulging socially has risen among young adults.
Social smokers aged between 19 and 25 said they limited where and when they lit up only to 'spiritually' distance themselves from full-time smokers. They added that they usually smoked when they had been drinking, with the two 'going hand in hand'.
Prof Janet Hoek, of the University of Otago in New Xealand, saud: 'Introducing smoke-free outsoors bars could reduce social smoking by removing cue that stimulate this behaviour and changing the environment that facilitates it.'
The story is the result of a "small qualitiative study" published in the journal Tobacco Control, part of the BMJ Group.
Yesterday I was sent the press release (headlined 'Extending smoking ban outside bars could help curb “social smoking”') and when I read it one small but important point stood out. The 'study' is based on interviews with just 13 people, “social smokers, aged between 19 and 25, who were recruited through the online social network Facebook and via posters in cafes, supermarkets, and on community noticeboards.
Thirteen! That must have been one hell of a recruitment campaign.
Needless to say the number of participants has been ignored by Metro and will no doubt be missed by millions of people who will read no further than headlines such as 'Study backs ban on smoking outside bars' (Stuff.co.nz), 'Smokefree areas for outside bars – study' (Sky News Australia), 'Call to ban smoking outside bars' (TVNZ), and so on.
The Daily Telegraph, like some of those other reports, does mention the size of the study but most people won't read past the headline Pub gardens ban 'would help smokers quit'.
Anyway, here's the quote I gave the Telegraph (which they used):
"This study can't be taken seriously: it's based on just 13 people.
"Aside from that, the smoking ban was brought in allegedly to protect bar workers. Banning smoking outdoors would have nothing to do with that.
"I would also query that social smoking, having the odd cigarette, is an unhealthy activity."
And this is the quote from the Forest press release:
"It beggars belief that anyone could draw any conclusions from such a small scale study but the tobacco control industry will spin any research, however modest, to suit its agenda.
"The smoking ban was introduced, allegedly, to protect the health of bar workers. There is no justification for banning smoking outside bars nor is there evidence that the majority of smokers, social or otherwise, would support such a measure."
David Bowden of the Institute of Ideas has also commented here.
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 10:12 In addition to the Today programme on Radio 4, Chris Snowdon also discussed plain packaging on Five Live.
He has also written this piece for Conservative Home: Plain packaging proposals for cigarettes may actually harm the public. You can comment.
See also: Plain packing could fuel youth smoking, opponents warn (Politics.co.uk)
The London Evening Standard has the best headline – Plain cigarette packets 'illiberal'!
The story has also appeared in the Daily Telegraph, Sun, Daily Star, Metro, Scotsman, Herald, Liverpool Echo and many more. No sign of it in the Guardian or Independent, though. BBC News online has also ignored the report – although they found space for a
City AM has this report – Plain cigarette packets could damage health. It includes a quote from Anegla Harbutt of Hands Off Our Packs.
If you haven't signed up to the campaign please do so today!
PS. Click here to listen to Chris Snowdon and Deborah Arnott on the Today programme this mornning.
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 8:18 They can't help themselves. Anyone who contradicts the tobacco control industry must be a stooge of Big Tobacco.
Responding to the ASI report on plain packaging (see previous post), Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, says:
“The Adam Smith Institute, by publishing this report, is acting as the mouthpiece for the tobacco industry, as it has done on many previous occasions. It should come as no great surprise that the Institute takes a pro-tobacco line but it should be more transparent about its association with Big Tobacco.”
According to ASH:
The Adam Smith Institute, which describes itself as “the UK’s leading libertarian think tank”, has close ties with the tobacco industry.
"Close ties"? "Many previous occasions"?
ASH offers just two items of evidence. The first - the minutes of a tobacco industry meeting - is dated September 8, 1992. It appears to suggest that 20 years ago the companies funded "a two-phased Adam Smith Institute project on a counter-defence of the traditional values of European individual freedom". Shocking, truly shocking. Not.
The second barely qualifies as evidence. It's merely an allegation that:
According to an internal Philip Morris International memo, the Institute would conduct training for journalists on free market principles that would be “ideologically consistent with [Philip Morris’] issues and interests”.
And with that a world famous think tank, founded in 1977 (35 years ago), to be dismissed as a "mouthpiece for the tobacco industry". It would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic.
Curiously the Department of Health has also responded to the ASI report by issuing this statement by public health minister Anne Milton:
"We know there is not one simple answer to reducing smoking rates - that is why plain packaging is one part of a range of initiatives we are looking at.
"We are looking at whether the plain packaging of tobacco could be effective in reducing in particular the number of young people who take up smoking plus also to help adult smokers to quit.
"Anyone with views on the idea is encouraged to take part in the consultation when it is published."
OK, it's pretty bland but why would the DoH feel the need to issue any response to the ASI report unless they perceive it to be a threat to their grand plan?
Surely Milton and her cronies should be adopting a studiously neutral role prior to the consultation?
Oh, silly me, I forgot. Anne Milton and Deborah Arnott are close professional buddies (Minister's links with ASH questioned). In fact, if it wasn't for this picture some might think they are one and the same person.
Simon Clark
The ASI says: "We commissioned this report ourselves because it reflects our free market, libertarian principles. Indeed, the Adam Smith Institute does not do commissioned research.
"However, there are a couple of tobacco companies that have corporate subscriptions at the Institute. The revenue from this – while welcome – is not terribly significant. It amounted to less than three percent of our 2011 income.
"Moreover, neither of these companies has played any role whatsoever in the production or editing of this report. We take our independence very seriously."
See also Chris Snowdon's version of events.
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 7:13 Now this is interesting.
The Adam Smith Institute (ASI), one of the world's leading free market think tanks, has today published a report slamming the proposal for plain packaging of tobacco.
Written by Chris Snowdon, author of Velvet Glove Iron Fist, The Spirit Level Delusion and The Art of Suppression, the report concludes that:
"It is extraordinary," says Snowdon, "that a government which claims to be against excessive regulation should be contemplating a law which even the provisional wing of the anti-smoking lobby considered unthinkable until very recently.
"It seems that fanaticism has become institutionalised and a handful of extremists have become the de facto policy makers in matters related to tobacco. The public are gradually waking up to the fact that these neo-prohibitionists will never be satisfied. There is always another cause to campaign for, always new demands to be met. If it is not smoking, it is drinking. If it is not drinking, it is eating.
"Plain packaging is the most absurd, patronising and counterproductive policy yet advanced under the disingenuous pretext of ‘public health’. It will serve only to inconvenience retailers, stigmatise consumers and delight counterfeiters. Those who would dictate what we eat and drink are already incorporating plain packaging into their plans. It’s time to say ‘enough’. The monomaniacs have had their own way for too long.”
You can download the full report here. It has been widely reported in this morning's newspapers. Chris was also on the Today programme (BBC Radio 4) with Deborah Arnott of ASH. More on that later.
PS. If you missed it there's a great piece on plain packaging by Martin Cullip for The Free Society (see Plain ugly). A shorter version appears on the Hands Off Our Packs! campaign blog.
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 8:21 Back from Cornwall. Pity. I would have liked to have stayed another few days at least.
We rented a lovely refurbished farmhouse near Bude, a short drive from the coast. The location, at the bottom of a muddy track two miles from the nearest pub or village shop, wasn't perfect but it was very quiet, the view was impressive, and the house - well, let's just say that, barring a multi-million pound lottery win, it's my dream home.
Slate grey flagstones in kitchen, dining room and hall; oak floors in the twin sitting rooms at the front of the house; old-fashioned latches on every door; wood-burning stoves in three of the ground floor rooms; five comfortable bedrooms upstairs, one with a proper en suite bathroom (ie it had a bath as well as a shower); and wooden beams high enough to avoid any unpleasant head banging.
The kitchen had been extensively modernised with a Rangemaster cooker and breakfast bar. The dining room in contrast felt like a very small baronial hall. All this plus wifi, Sky TV and a 'dogs welcome' policy. What more could anyone want?
With all these home comforts there was very little incentive to stray beyond the local area but we did drive to Padstow, 26 miles down the coast. The first time I visited this small fishing port was in 1967. I was eight and I was on holiday with my family in nearby Trebetherick (home of Sir John Betjeman). I've been back several times since but it's best to avoid in peak season when hordes of tourists threaten to overwhelm the narrow streets and picturesque harbour.
Today Padstow is best known for its connection with restaurateur, chef and TV presenter Rick Stein who owns a hotel, restaurant, bistro, cafe, patisserie, deli and gift shop in the town. And that's not all.
You might remember me naming the Anstruther Fish Bar in Fife as my favourite fish and chip shop in Britain. Well, after an unbroken 20-year run, the title now belongs to Stein's Fish & Chips, South Quay, Padstow.
It's a 630 mile round trip from Cambridgeshire (Anstruther, surprisingly, is slightly less, 580 miles) but well worth it. Warmly recommended.
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 14:40 The smoking ban has worked, or so the prime minister, a former (?) smoker, keeps telling us.
So he will be heartened by a report in the Oxford Mail that reveals that "Not one person has been fined in Oxford for flouting the ban on smoking in pubs in almost five years since it came into force."
The implication is that the smoking ban has been a huge success and I expect there will be more stories like this as we approach the fifth anniversary of the ban in England on July 1.
I spoke at length when asked to comment but, inevitably, my response has been reduced to a soundbite. As a result the report ignores the damage the ban has done to thousands of pubs or the fact that many landlords would welcome an amendment to the ban.
After speaking at a seminar organised by the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association (FLVA) ten days ago I know there is support for a change in the law. Unfortunately many of the licensees who want change are independents and they lack a strong national voice.
What they really need is the support of a major player like the British Beer and Pub Association but the BBPA isn't interested.
After I spoke at the FLVA seminar I was approached by two senior BBPA figures. They were friendly enough - considering I had criticised the BBPA during my speech - but nothing they said encouraged me to believe that they will change their tune any time soon and certainly not while their current chief executive, health conscious Brigid Simmonds, remains in charge.
Meanwhile the prime minister sticks his head in the sand and insists that the smoking ban "has worked".
Yeah, and I'm the Queen of Sheba.
See: No-one fined for smoking in pubs (Oxford Mail)
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 9:38 The use of e-cigarettes in the workplace has been banned by one of Scotland's biggest companies.
A spokesman said: "Standard Life has been a non-smoking company for over 20 years and we have no plans to introduce e-cigarettes."
Eh? Surely e-cigarettes are a non-smoking alternative to cigarettes? Doh!
Meanwhile, spot the difference between these statements by two leading tobacco control lobbyists:
Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland: "If a company wants to ban e-cigarettes in their offices that could help avoid the impression that smoking is [a] normal or desirable thing."
Professor John Britton, chairman of the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group: “Electronic cigarettes have the potential to save lives. The concept of nicotine replacement is powerful and good.”
Full story, including a quote by Forest (voice and friend of the e-smoker?!) here: Standard Life bans employees from smoking electronic cigarettes at work (Scotsman)