Parliamentary debate on ‘smokefree’ Britain vs. dental appointment

MPs will this afternoon hold a ‘debate’ on achieving a ‘smokefree’ (sic) future.

It won’t be a debate at all, of course, because opposing voices will be noticeable by their absence, and when I say ‘MPs’ I would be surprised if more than a handful turn up.

Furthermore, I reckon I can predict who most of them will be.

Apart from Conservative MP Bob Blackman, chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health (run by ASH), who has tabled this ‘debate’, the usual suspects will no doubt include Labour’s Alex Cunningham and Mary Kelly Foy, plus Maggie Throup and Steve Brine (Conservative).

To be fair, I’ve lost count of the number of similar ‘debates’, in the chamber or Westminster Hall, so hats off to Blackman et al for persistence, but if you’re hoping to hear anything new, forget it.

The Government will have to respond however so there could be an announcement about the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and the Government’s plan to ban the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults.

The Bill is currently being drafted and is expected to be published next month. Hopefully it will be properly scrutinised and, yes, debated, and amended accordingly.

Meanwhile Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard has tabled a parliamentary question ‘to ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made towards the ambition of creating a “smokefree” generation by 2030’.

This (oral) question is scheduled for January 25 so I imagine that both the debate and Rennard’s PQ have been coordinated to put pressure on the Government to act quickly, not that the prime minister and officials at the Department of Health need much encouragement.

Anyway, if there’s anything worth reporting from today’s ‘debate’ I’ll post it here.

I do however have a dental appointment and, given the choice, I think I’d prefer to listen to the dentist’s drill than Bob Blackman droning on about tobacco control.

Update: I was right about Mary Kelly Foy being there, but wrong about Alex Cunningham, Maggie Throup and Steve Brine who were absent.

In fact, I over-estimated the number of MPs I thought might be there. Including the chairman, Virendra Sharma, there were just eight MPs in attendance.

In addition to Bob Blackman and Mary Kelly Foy, they were Jim Shannon (DUP), Liz Twist (Labour), Preet Kaur Gill (Labour’s shadow public health minister), and public health minister Andrea Leadsom, all of whom supported the ‘smokefree’ ambition.

The only dissenting voice was another DUP MP, Ian Paisley, but his principal concern was the unintended consequences of crime in Northern Ireland and the problems that might arise if a generational ban was introduced there when, over the border in the Republic, tobacco could still be purchased legally at 18.

Arise, Sir Tim, slayer of smoking and vaping in Britain's pubs

I'm a bit late to this but, just for the record, I wanted to respond to those who recently celebrated the knighthood awarded to Tim Martin, founder and chairman of Wetherspoon, in the New Year honours list.

I have nothing against Wetherspoon pubs, and I admire Sir Tim (as we should now call him) as a businessman, but I would remind those singing his praises, especially those who opposed the smoking ban, that he is arguably partly responsible for the comprehensive ban that was introduced in every pub and bar across Britain.

Truth is, until Martin stuck his oar in, the pub industry was largely united in opposing a blanket ban on smoking in pubs and bars.

The degree of opposition may have varied from body to body, but Martin’s intervention in April 2004, when he broke ranks and called for a ban on smoking in pubs and bars across Britain, was a genuine game changer because it altered the dynamic, and the conversation.

Although he later claimed his comments had been "misinterpreted", no clarification was needed in January 2005 when it was reported that Wetherspoon was to introduce an immediate ban on smoking in 60 of its 650 pubs, with a view to extending the policy to every Wetherspoon pub by May 2006.

According to the Guardian:

The company already includes non-smoking areas in its 650 pubs, but intends to make them all no-go zones for smokers two years before government legislation on smoking in public places comes into effect.

"An increasing percentage of the population are giving up smoking, and a significant number of people are staying away from pubs and restaurants because they are too smoky," Tim Martin, the Wetherspoon chairman, said.

At the time the Labour Government favoured a partial ban with exemptions for pubs that didn't serve food, but Martin criticised that too:

... pointing out that pubs could get around it by giving up food sales. "We believe the Wetherspoon approach of a complete ban after a period of notice is the right one," he added.

You only have to read the Guardian report (Wetherspoon pubs to ban smoking) to see how little support Martin had from the main trade bodies, the British Beer and Pub Association and the British Institute of Innkeepers.

Nevertheless, by planting his flag firmly in the prohibitionist camp, Martin encouraged those demanding a comprehensive ban, while his interventions generated a huge amount of coverage that helped fuel the drive toward prohibition.

What was less widely reported was the subsequent decision, in March 2006, to abandon the ban on smoking in a limited number of Wetherspoon pubs 'after the company faced plunging alcohol and slot machine revenues and a backlash from increasingly disgruntled regular customers'.

See: 'JD Wetherspoon ends no-smoking trial' (Guardian).

By then, of course, MPs had already voted in favour of the blanket ban Martin had advocated, so the company's volte-face was way too late to influence government policy the other way.

Instead, it appeared to be a damage limitation exercise designed to protect the company until the new law was enforced in July 2007 when the no smoking regulation would apply to all pubs, whether they liked it or not.

In other words, there would be a level playing field, although the level playing field only extended to pubs with an outdoor space. Many small urban pubs where there was no outside space for smokers were well and truly f*cked.

As we now know, thousands of pubs closed following the smoking ban, and although there were several factors in addition to the ban, it was clearly one of the most significant.

Either way, in fuelling the campaign for a smoking ban in all pubs, Martin not only took a hatchet to consumer choice, he ultimately helped deny thousands of publicans the opportunity to choose their own policies based on customer demand.

In my view, the smoking ban left the country a poorer, less tolerant place because look at what's happened since the ban was introduced.

Not only have thousands of pubs gone out of business, some people are now so intolerant of the merest whiff of tobacco smoke, they want smoking banned outside pubs as well.

Also, let's not forget that in 2013 it was reported that Wetherspoon had banned the use of e-cigarettes inside all of its pubs as well.

I don't know if that is still the case (I can't remember the last time I went into a Wetherspoon pub) but, again, it makes me laugh that one of Sir Tim's biggest cheerleaders (yes, I'm talking about you, Chris Snowdon) is an ardent vaping advocate.

For whatever reason, in his lionisation of Sir Tim, Chris has chosen to overlook the unfortunate truth that the chairman of Wetherspoon is a prohibitionist.

To be clear, Martin is entitled to choose whatever policy he likes on smoking and vaping in his own pubs. Where he crossed the line was in calling for a ban on smoking in every other pub and bar as well.

That doesn't sit easy with me, and it never will.

The irony is that, despite being in favour of Brexit, Sir Tim was happy for the Government to impose a smoking ban on every pub and bar in Britain, much like the EU regularly imposes prescriptive policies on every member state regardless of whether they like it or not.

Presumably he wanted Britain to take back control of decision-making, but when it came to smoking in pubs he was happy for the UK government to impose its will on publicans and customers, just like the EU frequently imposed its policies on Britain.

So forgive me if I don’t celebrate Sir Tim Martin’s knighthood with quite the same enthusiasm as Chris, but it seems I have a slightly longer and less selective memory.

Music to my ears

In The Times today there is a review of a BBC lunchtime recital by acclaimed violinist Chloe Hanslip at the Wigmore Hall in London.

According to The Times, it is almost 22 years since Hanslip made her Wigmore debut at the age of 14.

The reason I mention it is that, 30 years ago, I organised a concert at the Royal Academy of Music and one of the featured musicians was a six-year-old violinist by the name of … Chloe Hanslip.

I’m no expert, but I could tell she was pretty good, even then.

The concert was one of a series of events I produced at venues including the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, and the BBC Concert Hall between 1993 and 1998.

The concert featuring Chloe Hanslip took place on Sunday June 26, 1994. We chose the date because it was also National Music Day and we wanted to be part of it.

Launched in 1992, National Music Day was an annual event that ran for several years before fizzling out having failed to achieve ‘cultural significance’ (ie it was said to be too middle-aged and middle class).

In 1994 however it was celebrated with a day of broadcasts on Radio 2. The combination of Chloe’s age and ability inevitably attracted interest, and on the day the BBC’s Ken Bruce came and interviewed her live on Radio 2 during rehearsals.

For a multitude of reasons, child prodigies often fail to live up to their early promise, but Chloe Hanslip has carved out a substantial career - and she’s still only 36.

The Queen and I

Before Christmas Rebecca English, the Daily Mail's royal editor, tweeted:

Queen Camilla is launching a podcast

The Queen's Reading Room Podcast is available weekly from January 8 and will feature HM The Queen and names such as Joanna Lumley and Sir Ian Rankin. It's aim? To promote the joy of reading.

This is an extremely tenuous link but it reminded me that eight years ago (January 2016) I took part in a balloon debate at what was then the new Foyles bookshop in London's Charing Cross Road.

I was one of seven speakers invited to champion the 'Best Book in the World'. Two didn't turn up but the five who did were given two and a half minutes each to pitch our chosen titles.

After a short Q&A, the audience then voted. They could vote for as many books/speakers as they liked, and the two with the fewest votes were eliminated.

To my surprise – because I was totally out of my comfort zone – I got through to the final round and although I didn't win I didn't embarrass myself (which I thought I might).

Full story: Why Mr Galliano's Circus is the best book in the world

PS. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it difficult to associate the words 'the Queen' with Camilla?

Nothing against King Charles' wife, who seems very nice with a good sense of humour, but whenever I see any reference to 'the Queen' I automatically think of Elizabeth II, which is technically how we are supposed to refer to the late queen now.

Nevertheless – and I know this makes me historically illiterate – there will only ever be one queen for me!

New year, new address

Forest has a new address:

The Quad, Cambridge
No.9 Journey Campus
Castle Park
Cambridge CB3 0AX

The location (a four-storey business centre ten minutes' walk from the city centre) is the same as before and the building hasn't changed. There is however going to be a new canopy over the main entrance, and a reception area where people can meet and have coffee, although there seems to be an issue with the installation of a coffee machine that still requires approval (!).

I suggested a similar space some years ago because, in the many years Forest has been based here, there has never been a proper communal area, unlike the Barley Mow Workspace in Chiswick where I worked as a freelance journalist in the late Eighties.

I moved in to what is now called the Barley Mow Centre in February 1987 and worked there for four years. I loved it, and met some great people – including graphic designers, IT experts, and translators – often over lunch in the excellent canteen that was run as a stand alone business.

Anyway, the rebranding of what was previously Sheraton House in Castle Park, Cambridge, is a good excuse to list some of the other addresses Forest has had over the years. I'll start with:

2 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1
When I joined Forest in January 1999 we were in Palace Street, near Victoria Station and a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace. Before Palace Street, Forest had been at 2 Grosvenor Gardens, a Grade II listed building that was only a minute from Victoria Station. Someone who worked there as a temp described the Forest office as "very small and quite tatty" but that's not how the building looks today so it must have been restored since then.

Audley House, 13 Palace Street, London SW1
The move to Audley House, an 'elegant Edwardian building' opposite what is now The Other Palace Theatre, took place in 1998. Marjorie, my predecessor, arranged for the new office to be ‘opened’ by the president of the GMB union. Comedian Jo Brand was another visitor that year. Named ‘Smokers' Rights Champion of the Year’, she apparently popped in to collect her award in person. A former psychiatric nurse, Brand later quit smoking, although I’ve read interviews in which she said how much she enjoyed it - a familiar tale.

Built in 1903, both the building and our office on the ground floor were in pretty good nick so I’m guessing it had been refurbished before Forest moved in. Marjorie went a step further however and had several air filtration units installed in the ceiling that seemed to remove most if not all the tobacco smoke in the room. In those pre-smoking ban days there were four full-time and two part-time staff working for Forest, half of whom were smokers, and the effectiveness of the technology was genuinely impressive.

Unfortunately I also inherited a financially crippling ten-year lease and when the rent went up to £50,000 a year we simply couldn't afford to stay there any longer. In 2004, six years into the lease, we were forced to negotiate our way out, but it cost us an additional £40k in 'reparations'.

Sheraton House, Castle Park, Cambridge
After Audley House we moved our main office out of London to Cambridge and I vowed to never again lease an office. Instead we rented a serviced office (on an annual contract) a short walk from the city centre, and Sheraton House has been our principal address ever since. For several years though we kept a London base, a sort of hot-desking arrangement with a TV production company in central London that was initially based in Margaret Street, near Oxford Circus, but later moved to Wardour Street in Soho.

33 Margaret Street was a great location. Broadcasting House, where I did a lot of interviews for BBC Radio, was just around the corner, and the PR company that worked with us on our campaign against the smoking ban was also a very short walk away. The office we shared with the TV production company was a former penthouse flat on the top floor of a building that was later demolished and replaced by a new office block (pictured here).

After we were given notice that the ‘old’ Seventies building was to be knocked down, we moved to Wardour Street which was a ten minute walk from Margaret Street. It was also in Soho, which gave it added credibility.

Gradually, though, I spent less time in London so when the production company moved again, this time to Marylebone, I declined the offer to go with them. Instead, I started travelling to London only when necessary – for meetings and interviews, for example.

As it happens, the BBC was happy enough for us to do interviews from their Cambridge studio, and I discovered that ITV Anglia also had a small facility in Great Shelford, just outside the city, so we were able to use that as well.

Since Covid, of course, it has become the norm to do interviews via Zoom or some other digital platform so there's far less call to travel to studios in London or anywhere else.

In some ways I miss the formality and occasional excitement of the studio interview, but it's certainly cut down the many hours I used to spend travelling to and from studios in London and elsewhere, not to mention the inevitable waiting around, sometimes for no more than 20 seconds of air time on a national news bulletin.

But I digress.

We moved to Cambridge in February 2004, renting an office from Citibase who have offices in London and around the country.

A great many Citibase Cambridge staff have come and gone since then - too many to name them all - but I would like to give a shout out to long-serving business manager Ann, her equally long-serving assistant Georgie, not to mention Freya, Ellie, and Kristina, plus Sue and Nicky on reception.

All are long gone from Sheraton House but their help and good humour won’t be forgotten.

More recently I am indebted to Chiara without whom I would have struggled to complete the current, and somewhat Byzantine, contract process, but we’re still here and next month will mark the 20th (yes, 20th) anniversary of our move to Cambridge.

Derek Draper on political intelligence

Derek Draper, the former political advisor and Labour activist, has died aged 56.

It’s a sad outcome but not a surprise because, as the BBC reports:

Draper had been living with extreme complications from Covid since contracting the disease in March 2020.

The curious thing is that, aside from his long illness, Draper is best known for being the husband of Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway.

The Telegraph, for example, reported his death like this – 'Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper dies aged 56'.

In the Nineties however Draper was a significant figure in his own right. A former aide to Peter Mandelson (who was arguably the architect of New Labour), he was a leading spin doctor and lobbyist.

In 1998, however, he was involved in a 'scandal' in which he was alleged to have claimed, “There are 17 people who count in this government, and to say I am intimate with all of them is the understatement of the century.”

I can't remember if it was before or after 'lobbygate' that I commissioned him to write a 1200-word article for a magazine I was editing.

Either way, I was slightly surprised that he agreed to do it, but it was a thoughtful, well-written piece and I thought you might like to read an abridged version. We called it:

Derek Draper's Guide to Political Intelligence

It was John Stuart Mill who first labelled the Conservative Party the "stupid party". He meant it as an insult but it is the least intellectual who seem to prosper best in politics. The much more wounding put down is to be told you're "too clever by half". One can be bright but not too bright ...

The Tories have always been more withering in their contempt for intelligence … Prior to the Thatcherite takeover [the] party prided itself on being an ideas free zone. Whilst the socialists worried themselves about Gramsci, Marx, Crosland or Laski, the Tories got on with governing the country.

Only with the accession of Thatcher did intellectuals turn the party into an ideological venture. Managing decline was no longer a policy option. But whilst Thatcher built an intellectual coterie during the 1970s, as soon as she gained power the brains were spurned and the old machine politicians took over …

Blair has similarly turned to trusted party men now he has the keys to No 10 … Welcome Jack “The Enforcer” Cunningham, a man who learnt his trade amongst the shop stewards of Newcastle GMB; Peter Mandelson, a strategist with a keen intelligence but not an intellectual; and John Prescott. Only Gordon Brown (with his PhD and desperation to get to grips with neo-endogenous growth theory) could remotely be described as intellectual ...

Being too clever by half is, of course, only a handicap in British politics. In France, Italy and Germany politicians regularly display their intellectual depth with turgid books on the foundations on their political philosophy ...

In Britain the ambitious politico settles for a newspaper picture of himself drinking local ale in the nearest saloon bar. Politicians like the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, the Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine and even William Hague are widely viewed with suspicion for their clever-clever air.

The only way, as George Bush found during the 1988 US Presidential campaign, is to dumb down, lose the hauteur and go for the soundbite. For the cruel truth is that modern electorates like the impression of ordinary men doing extraordinary jobs; not extraordinary men who deign to perform ordinary jobs.

Ultimately it is instinct, common sense and, above all, luck which services the successful politician more usefully than any degree of grey matter. Tony Blair’s instinctive response on the morning after Princess Diana’s death earned him a deeper and more lasting support than any clever policy wheeze ever could.

Intellectuals have their function – but it is usually limited and far from the centre of power. Politics is, in a now hackneyed phrase, about hard choices. The intellectual usually sees too many alternatives, paradoxes and complications to act with the decision and brutality required.

The irony is that Derek Draper's own political intelligence failed him on several occasions, not least in 2009 when another 'scandal' (not of his making, as it happens) effectively forced him out of frontline politics.

But that, as they say, is another story.

Derek Draper: born August 1967, died January 2024

PS. Alongside Derek Draper's article on political intelligence, I also ran a feature by Madsen Pirie in which the co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute calculated a "political quotient" for each member of the then Labour Cabinet.

He did this by estimating and giving marks for the political and intellectual ability of each minister.

Tony Blair, for example, got 8 out of 10 for political ability, and 5 out of 10 for his intellectual prowess. In contrast, Gordon Brown got 6 for political ability and 6 for intellect.

To achieve a PQ rating we added these figures together and multiplied the result by five to give a mark out of 100. Simple!

It was just a bit of fun and the winner was ... Peter Mandelson with a PQ of 90.

Other scores included Jack Straw (75), David Blunkett (70), Tony Blair (65), Alastair Darling (65), Gordon Brown (60) and John Prescott (45).

Bottom of the class were Clare Short, Nick Brown and Chris Smith with PQs of 30. Oh dear.

Why it’s alright to keep our Christmas decorations up (until February 2)

When should the Christmas decorations come down? I ask because it’s a small bone of contention in my house.

The week after New Year is so depressing I like to keep the tree and decorations up for as long as possible, and for as long as I can remember the date by which they ‘have’ to come down - or risk bad luck - is January 6, or Twelfth Night.

My wife however disagrees and insists that Twelfth Night is January 5 (ie today). Well, it turns out we’re both right. It simply depends on when you start counting.

Some people think the twelve days of Christmas start with Christmas Day. Others believe they begin on Boxing Day.

To be honest, I’d never given it a moment’s thought but, thinking about it now, it does seem more logical for Christmas Day to be the first day of Christmas.

But that would mean changing the habit of a lifetime and at my age I simply refuse to take the tree and decorations down a day earlier than I have to.

In fact, why take them down today or tomorrow? According to Dr Michael Carter, English Heritage’s Senior Properties Historian:

… contrary to popular belief, the Christmas season actually continues right through to Candlemas on 2 February so there's no real reason why you should take your decorations down earlier.

Furthermore, he adds:

The tradition that it is bad luck to keep decorations up after Twelfth Night and the Epiphany is a modern invention …

What I don’t understand is why it’s become acceptable to put the Christmas decorations up earlier and earlier, but frowned upon to keep them up beyond January 5 or 6.

Personally I would be happy to leave them up until the end of the month at least. Instead I shall be one of millions of people dutifully taking down their trees and decorations, and feeling momentarily bereft.

(Last year, to fill the void left by our Christmas tree, I rushed off to John Lewis and spent £400 on a beautiful oak floor lamp, so that was some consolation.)

So why do we do it? Why are we so keen to conform? It can’t be a genuine fear of bad luck, surely?

All I know is, come tomorrow afternoon, even the seasonal Emma Bridgwater pottery will have been packed away along with the lights, the baubles, and everything else that made the house so festive and cheerful for the past five weeks.

Welcome to January … the most miserable month of the year.

John Mallon - in memoriam

John Mallon’s funeral took place in Cork yesterday.

I couldn’t go, unfortunately, but a colleague went and I watched the requiem mass online.

An interesting part of the service was when John’s son and daughter presented “symbols of John’s life”. They included his laptop computer, a family photo, a replica football shirt, a book, and some mince pies.

His daughter Michelle explained that the laptop represented his “thirst for knowledge and his love of world affairs, history, and politics”.

The other items represented his love of family, sport, reading, and his “sweet tooth”.

I also learned a few things I didn’t know.

I knew John was a sales executive for Apple in the Nineties (before the iMac and the Apple Store changed everything).

I knew too that he was a videographer for several years.

What I didn’t know is that at various times he also ran a laundrette and sold jewellery - quite the entrepreneur!

What came through most, though, was his love of family which he put above everything, including material possessions or wealth.

Personally, I will miss his sense of humour, and his courage in standing up to the bully state.

A notable ally was award-winning blogger Richard O’Connor (aka ‘Grandad’) who helped John set up his own blog.

According to Richard:

John took to the scribbling lark like a duck to water. Over the years we kept up sporadic correspondence. He would occasionally phone me just for a chat when we would have a grand laugh at life. We shared a common jaundiced view on life in general.

Sadly, we never met, as he lived in Cork, and I didn’t. On several occasions we had some near misses as I travelled to west Cork or he travelled to Dublin but for various reasons that meet never happened.

I’ll miss his gentle Cork accent and his unrepeatable comments on our politicians.

But the final word goes to my colleague Jacqui Delbaere:

I had the joy and privilege of working with John over a number of years in his capacity as Forest Ireland spokesman. I set up radio and TV interviews for his media tours. John was always lovely to work with, up for the ‘craic’, and I will miss our banter and camaraderie. God bless.’

See also: ‘John Mallon RIP’

Below: Jacqui, John, and me on the terrace of the House of Commons in 2011. It may look like it, but we weren’t holding John hostage, honest!