Not all lords are leaping to make smoking obsolete

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was debated in the House of Lords yesterday.

This was the second reading of the Bill in the upper house and it will now move to the Committee stage when amendments can be tabled and debated.

Given the small cabal of anti-smoking peers that lie in wait this represents another moment of danger because who knows what amendments may be tabled.

Yesterday's debate however was notable for the number of peers who spoke opposing the Bill, or elements of the Bill such as the generational ban or the threat to e-cigarette flavours.

Unusually, advocates and opponents of the Bill on the list of speakers were split fairly evenly so well done to the latter for making themselves heard.

Here are some of the quotes from opponents of the Bill:

Lord Blencathra: “We have a Bill with excessive powers and with large parts that are possibly unenforceable; it will lose the Government money and give young people a way to get cigarettes illegally.”

Lord Naseby: “I do not think that a generational Bill is necessary. I am sure that there has to be control but, frankly, the generational dimension makes it needlessly complicated.”

Lord Scriven: “I support many provisions within the Bill, but I have serious reservations about the centrepiece: the so-called smoke-free generation. This mechanism raises profound practical, legal and philosophical problems.”

Lord Brady of Altrincham: “I cannot think of another example where legislation has so blatantly sought to discriminate against different adult citizens according to their exact date of birth, and I find that deeply worrying.”

Lord Howard of Rising: “My Lords, nobody can fault the good intentions of the Bill, which are to be applauded, but it has the potential to profoundly impact personal choice and responsibility in our society.”

“While the intentions behind the Bill are to be applauded, I urge the House to reconsider our approach. Let us instead reaffirm our commitment to personal freedoms, informed choice and responsible government. Let this be a Government of facilitators, not enforcers.”

Baroness Hoey: “One of the fundamental principles of a free society must be personal and family responsibility. The more that the Government ban and regulate, the less that families and people feel they have to make their own decisions.”

Lord Moylan: “I regard this as essentially a reckless Bill, because it invites us to set out on a wholly untested course of a generational ban, with all the difficulties of enforcement …”

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: “I believe that individuals should be free to make choices for themselves, and that, of course, includes bad choices.”

“A smoke-free future is obviously in everyone’s interest, and I say that as an unrepentant smoker, but so would be an alcohol-free future, a drug-free future and probably a cream bun-free future. These are noble aspirations, but in practice they are not going to happen.”

Baroness Fox of Buckley: “It has been quite refreshing today to hear members of the Liberal Democrats talking about liberalism—something of a shock to the system, but I am delighted.”

“Why, oh why, are the Government so fixated on demonising flavoured vapes? Does the Minister really believe that only children like sweet things? Has she not noticed the exponential rise in the flavoured gin market for adults?”

“The cost-benefit analysis of this Bill means there are massive costs for many people. Just saying we want to stamp out smoking is not good enough. In Committee, we should ensure that we follow and track those costs and do not allow unaccountability to happen, at least here before it gets passed.”

The Earl of Leicester: “Throughout history, prohibition has never extinguished consumer demand. In fact, too often it has the opposite effect: it creates new demand.”

Lord Murray of Blidworth: “The idea that, in a few years hence, a staff member in a corner shop will routinely deny tobacco to a 37 year-old but allow it for a 38 year-old is a circumstance bordering on the incredible.”

Baroness Meyer: “History also shows that bans do not work. Remember prohibition in the United States in the 1920s. It did not end up stopping drinking; it empowered gangs and created the mafia. In 2021, South Africa’s Covid tobacco ban saw criminals fill the gap, with 93% of smokers switching to illegal sources.”

Baroness Bray of Coln: “I was a smoker for about 50 years or so and gave up seven years ago. If I am honest, it was not that hard. I do not find it possible to support the Bill as it stands.

“Smokers should always be mindful of people around them when they light up, but there is space for considerate smokers, and that is surely a reasonable balance.”

Lord Udny-Lister: “I further fear that the Bill is a grave attack on personal freedom and liberty. Sadly, it represents another step in the creep of the nanny state.”

Baroness Fox described the overall debate as "depressing", and it was certainly annoying that even opponents of the Bill often expressed support for the overall aim of the Bill (ie to stub out smoking).

For example, instead of arguing that no government should commit itself to making smoking obsolete (because that shouldn't be the job of government), several speakers focussed not on the principles of personal liberty and freedom of choice but on the unintended consequences of 'well-intentioned' legislation.

Other objections were technical – the fact, for example, that the Bill gives ministers the power to introduce further measures without having to seek Parliament's approval – while another peer urged the Government to draw a line between cigars and cigarettes.

You can read the full second reading debate here.

Over the bridge to Skye

Thirty-five years ago we visited the Isle of Skye for the first time.

The Skye Bridge didn’t exist so we caught the ferry at Kyle of Lochalsh, stayed at Hotel Eilean Iarmain overlooking the Sound of Sleat on the south east side of the island, and returned to the mainland via the smaller Mallaig ferry that still operates today.

We’ve been back several times since, most notably on our wedding day in April 1992 when we were accompanied by a small convoy of family and friends, but last week was the first time we’ve been to the island for at least 25 years.

We booked a small cabin in Glendale, a community-owned estate on the north west corner of Skye, and drove up from Cambridgeshire via Glasgow and Fort William (where we stopped to buy supplies at the local M&S Foodhall).

To give you an idea of the distance, it took us six hours to drive from Cambridgeshire to Glasgow (366 miles), and a further six to drive from Glasgow to Glendale (234 miles), the last leg featuring a succession of increasingly narrow, and hilly, single track roads.

Our home for four nights was said to be ‘off the beaten track’, and it was. It was near the end of a rough single track ‘road’ dotted with homes, and homesteads, some more isolated than others.

It was also described as a ‘rustic dwelling’ and an ‘effortlessly modern homestay’, which wasn’t inaccurate.

There were several nice touches including some (complimentary) single malt Scotch whisky from Skye’s oldest licensed distillery. (Talisker, since you ask.)

I’ve never really liked whisky but this was very smooth and too good not to drink.

There was however a small mishap when the (very loud) smoke alarm went off shortly after we lit the logs in the wood burner.

There was no smoke inside the cabin so I’ve no idea why the alarm was triggered, but it was and it was a long 20 minutes before it finally went off.

A few minutes before that I rang the property agent (in Torbay!) who contacted the owner who rang back but thankfully the alarm had stopped by then.

“Never happened before,” she said.

Highlight of the week was dinner at The Three Chimneys, a small fine dining restaurant overlooking Loch Dunvegan. It was 15 minutes (by road) from where we were staying so we booked a taxi so I could drink.

Our elderly and extremely engaging driver told us he owned a croft which he shared with his wife and 22 sheep.

There was no money in wool, he said, so the sheep are kept to breed lambs. Some, we speculated, might even end up being served to customers at The Three Chimneys.

We discovered that he had once been a part-time fireman and had also been active in the campaign to abolish the tolls imposed on road users following the opening of the Skye Bridge in 1994.

(Fun fact: the Skye Bridge was officially opened by my old boss Michael Forsyth - now Lord Forsyth of Drumlean - who was then Secretary of State for Scotland. I worked for Michael when he was director of a PR company in the early Eighties.)

But I digress.

The Three Chimneys was a Michelin star restaurant until last year when the chef left to open his own restaurant, Loch Bay, on the west coast of the island, taking the accolade with him (which is how it works).

Even without their Michelin star chef it was a very enjoyable meal that, interestingly, featured three English wines and a red wine from Georgia on the wine flight.

The staff were lovely too. Our waiter, from Bahrain, seemed to know our taxi driver quite well. “He’s a better driver than he was last year,” he told us, which was reassuring.

Our driver, who had earlier claimed that The Three Chimneys had changed its menu and was now serving burgers and fried chicken, took this quite well when I relayed it to him after he returned to drive us back to our cabin in Glendale.

Another place we visited was Café Cùil. Fifteen miles from Portree, the capital of Skye, it was founded, strangely enough, in Hackney in east London in 2019.

The owner, award-winning chef Clare Coghill, subsequently returned to her native Skye and established Café Cùil in what appears to be the middle of nowhere.

Despite that, on the day we went for lunch, the place was so full we had to wait 30 minutes for a table.

You can’t really visit Skye without doing some walking, so on Thursday we joined other hikers - many of them from France and Scandinavia - and ambled our way to Neist Point Lighthouse.

Although the walk is only 1.3 miles, it’s quite steep in places and the return leg, which includes a tiring climb, was a good test of my (lack of) fitness.

On our final morning we visited Skye Weavers, also in Glendale, before revisiting Hotel Eilean Iarmain in Sleat.

Skye Weavers is a small weaving and sewing business run by Roger and Andrea, a husband and wife team who met on the Isle of Mull before moving to Skye 13 years ago.

Roger, who sounded English, came out to greet us and demonstrate one of his looms which are driven by peddle power.

He explained that his parents bought their house in Glendale as a holiday home in 1966. He subsequently inherited it and moved to Skye permanently.

Hotel Eilean Iarmain was much as we remembered it, although I had forgotten just how small it is.

The tiny wood panelled restaurant in which we had our wedding dinner has been extended so it now offers better views of the surrounding hills, but the look and feel of the place is still that of a small hunting lodge.

The location is wonderful but it doesn’t feel as remote as it did, the long single track road across the moor having been widened significantly to accommodate two lanes of traffic.

That minor disappointment aside, I can’t speak highly enough of Skye, with the exception of Portree which gets busy and is rather touristy.

Described by some as a ‘village’, it’s actually a small town that (in my view) is not representative of the rest of the island and should arguably be avoided unless you need to buy provisions. (There’s a large Co-Op on the edge of town.)

Then again, I would probably give the entire island a miss in the busy summer months when sharing single track roads with camper vans and caravans is likely to be tiresome, at best.

Overall though it has reawakened my interest in revisiting both the Inner and Outer Hebrides including North and South Uists, Benbecula, Harris and Lewis which I last visited 50 years ago.

Finally, I genuinely can’t believe our luck with the weather. Before we travelled north last weekend heavy or light rain was forecast for every day we were due to be on Skye.

Instead, we woke up each day to bright sunshine and blue skies and although there was the occasional shower the rain was fleeting.

On our way home, the hotel receptionist in Dundee was equally amazed. “I’ve been to Skye several times and it never stopped raining,” she said.

We’ll definitely go back but we won’t wait another 25 years because by then we might be dead!

Below: Our cabin in Glendale, Isle of Skye, and some nearby locations

Bill Gibson, RIP

Sorry to hear that Bill Gibson has died.

Bill, 75, was a non-smoker who lived in Lockerbie, Scotland, and was a former director of the International Coalition Against Prohibition (now dissolved), and Forces International, a US-based smokers’ rights group.

Condolences to his family and friends.

PM joins BAT

Well, I didn't see that coming.

Penny Mordaunt, former Leader of the House of Commons and, briefly, Secretary of State for Defence, has joined British American Tobacco to advise the company on its harm reduction programme.

It’s a huge coup for BAT and the tobacco control lobby is, predictably, raging. The funniest response so far, however, is a tweet (reproduced below) by Hazel Cheeseman, CEO of ASH.

Her predecessor Deborah Arnott was not known, publicly at least, for her sense of humour, but I’d like to think that Hazel had her tongue pressed firmly in her cheek when she posted it.

I particularly love the idea that the former Tory leadership candidate may have deliberately sported BAT’s corporate colours at the King’s Coronation.

One thing is certain. In America, a huge market for the company, she will be seen as quasi royalty after a stellar performance that had the Americans drooling (Why Penny Mordaunt was the star of King Charles III’s coronation).

The only person who could top her appointment would be Queen Camilla, a former smoker. Sadly, I don’t think Charles, or royal protocol, would allow it.

Penny, though, is probably a more media friendly fit. Either way, Chris Snowdon should add it to his Banter Era series of podcasts.

See: Penny Mordaunt joins British American Tobacco (BBC News) and Penny Mordaunt takes job advising one of world’s largest tobacco firms (Guardian)

On the radio with Jeremy Vine

The story about the pub garden smoking ban rumbles on.

This afternoon (12.30) I was interviewed by Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. Also on the programme was John Garrod, the pub landlord who has banned smoking in the garden of the Hope Inn in Hythe in Kent.

I repeated what I said on BBC Radio Kent on Monday.

The Hope Inn is a private business so Garrod is entitled to impose whatever policy on smoking he likes, but publicans who ban smoking outside risk driving away a substantial number of customers who smoke, and in the winter months they may be glad of their custom when no-one else wants to sit outside.

I added that there is no evidence that smoking outside is a danger to anyone else’s health, so this is NOT a public health issue, and even Garrod has been quoted saying “It’s purely a hospitality measure”.

Speaking to Jeremy Vine he doubled down on this, saying, "I'm in the hospitality business", his argument being that he has to put the interests of the majority (who don't smoke) first.

However, under questioning from Vine (who took up my point that most non-smokers are tolerant of people smoking outside), Garrod admitted he had received very few complaints prior to introducing the ban.

He also admitted he has already lost several customers as a result of the ban, but that didn't seem to bother him because he thinks the policy will attract many more new customers.

It may, it may not, but do you remember how we were told that the indoor smoking ban would attract new customers who had never set foot in a pub or, if they had, were driven away by all that smoke?

And what happened? Tens of thousands of pubs closed in the aftermath of the ban, and the historical decline in the number of pub goers continued as before.

Today, many of the establishments that survived could still close, hence the outcry from the hospitality industry when it was reported that Starmer's Government might ban smoking in beer gardens.

My issue is this. I'm all for choice therefore I have no problem with smoking and no-smoking pubs (although we should have a choice of smoking inside as well as out).

But I guarantee that within a few years publicans who have unilaterally banned smoking in their own beer gardens will be calling for a level playing field so their rivals down the road can't enjoy a commercial advantage.

Anyway, the item finished with me saying:

"If publicans start banning smoking outside because some people don’t like the smell of tobacco smoke, what next? Should we also ban outdoor barbecues because the smell of meat might trigger non-meat eaters? It’s getting a bit ridiculous."

You can listen here, starting at 33:26.

I'm sandwiched between Tears for Fears and Robert Palmer, which is not something I expected to say when I woke up this morning.

PS. I'm still blocked by Jeremy Vine on X (formerly Twitter). He blocked me a few years ago when I made a mildly critical observation in response to one of his many cycling tweets.

To be fair, I would have probably muted him sooner or later because his war on drivers was driving me mad!

I'll say this, though. In my experience (he's interviewed me several times over the years) he's a fair and impartial presenter who gives his guests plenty of time to speak.

No complaints from me on that score.

100 not out

My Auntie Dorothy is celebrating her 100th birthday this week, although I’m not sure if celebrate is the right word.

My mother’s older sister, born in April 1925, has a wry sense of humour and a self-deprecating no-nonsense attitude, so I can’t imagine she would have wanted any fuss.

Nevertheless I don’t recall anyone else in our family reaching this milestone so I think it should be celebrated, even if it’s not as rare as it used to be.

Do you remember when reaching 100 merited a telegram from the Queen and a story in the papers?

You can still get a message (from the King) on your 100th birthday but you have to be in receipt of a state pension or other benefit and live in the UK, none of which applies to my aunt.

You see, Dorothy has lived in Zurich for 75 of her 100 years. She moved there in 1950 after marrying Reini, who was Swiss German.

They met in Switzerland in 1948. (I ought to know why she was there but I can’t remember.) Reini then visited her in London and proposed.

It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like moving to the continent so soon after the war, but the standard of living in Switzerland would have been significantly higher than the UK where rationing didn’t end until 1954.

Nor had neutral Switzerland suffered the extensive damage that blighted many of our towns and cities long after the war was over.

In those days few people in Switzerland would have spoken English so Dorothy had to learn the language (Swiss German) very quickly.

(I’m told that the Swiss can understand German but the Germans have more difficulty understanding Swiss German.)

As long as I’ve known her my aunt speaks English with a hint of a Swiss German accent, and by her own admission she uses words that were familiar in the Forties and Fifties but are no longer common parlance.

"Cripes", for example, although she's not alone in that. I've heard Boris Johnson use it too.

Remarkably, until he died 20 years ago, Reini and Dorothy lived their entire married life in the same rented apartment in Zurich (renting being at least as common as home ownership in Switzerland).

They had two children, my cousins Rolf and Tom, who are seven or eight years older than me. After doing national service (which is still compulsory in Switzerland) one became a doctor, the other a dentist.

We would see them occasionally when they visited my grandparents in England, but after my grandparents died they came over less frequently, although I remember Tom visiting my parents in Derbyshire several times.

After Reini died Dorothy continued to live in the same apartment but two years ago tenants were given notice that the building was to be demolished.

Although it was a wrench to leave, it was quite good timing because Dorothy was 98 by then and she was struggling to climb the stairs. (There was no lift.)

She therefore moved to a retirement complex where a small suite of rooms gives her some independence in a safe, communal, environment.

To put Dorothy’s mobility issues in perspective, she loved travelling and even in her Nineties she visited China and other countries where she would book a personal guide to show her around.

For many years she was a member of a private women’s club near Piccadilly where she would stay whenever she was in London.

We had dinner there once, but I usually saw her only when she was visiting my parents or, after my father died, my mother.

For many years I was the proud holder of a Swiss bank account into which Dorothy paid a small sum on my birthday until I was 18.

The money sat there for years until the bank said it was going to close the account due to inactivity, so I took the money out and used it to help pay for a trip to Switzerland.

That was one of several visits to Zurich. The first time was in the late Eighties when I was invited to address a conference in Basel.

I flew to Zurich, spent two days with Dorothy and Reini, before catching a train to Basel.

It was June/July and hot. Reini enjoyed watching Wimbledon (his favourite player at that time was Boris Becker) and I recall watching the tennis on television with him.

What I remember most though was their lovely balcony that was cocooned by flowers and shrubbery, allowing us to eat outside, and the ear-shattering noise of the local church bells at seven o’clock in the morning.

It was a remarkable sound that seemed to go forever (well, several minutes) and I’d never heard anything like it, but Dorothy and Reini were oblivious to the cacophony.

I also remember them taking me by car to a village outside Zurich where I heard the unmistakeable sound of cow bells echoing across the valley. A real Sound of Music moment.

My next visit to Zurich was with my own family in 2011. Reini had died a few years before so I took them to see Dorothy, my cousins, and their children.

We drove to Zurich via France after crossing the Channel on an overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo. It took us two days with an overnight stop in Lausanne.

As well as visiting family, we jumped on trams, explored the old town, and took a boat across Lake Zurich.

We also ascended Mount Rigi, north of Zurich, via a mountain railway which was quite an experience.

The view at the summit, looking down on other mountains, was extraordinary.

My third and last visit, in 2014, was also business related and was prompted by a request to meet a smokers’ rights campaigner from Russia, and a cigar merchant who flew in from Austria.

We met in a cigar shop before crossing the road to continue our meeting in an impressive but discreet smokers’ lounge above a restaurant. All very John Le Carre!

(See ‘My meeting with mysterious Mr A’.)

There was very little time for extracurricular activities, but I remember having dinner with my aunt and cousins, and a few other members of the family.

What I remember most about that trip however was watching Germany play Brazil in the semi-final of the World Cup.

I was in a windowless room in a nondescript hotel but there was a large screen and the result (Germany 7-1 Brazil) was one of the most remarkable in World Cup history.

Anyway, in a few weeks I’m taking my mother to Zurich to see her sister for what, realistically, will be the last time.

They speak every week on the phone but my mother is 94 so their combined ages are 194.

We’ll also see Rolf and Tom so I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, a very happy birthday to Auntie Dorothy.

One hundred not out!

Down in the Garden of England, something stirs

A pub landlord in Kent has banned smoking in his pub garden. According to John Garrod:

“You only need one person to be smoking a cigarette and their smoke is wafting over several other people, which makes it slightly less pleasant than it would otherwise be. So, the obvious action to take is to stop smoking within the garden, for the comfort of the majority.”

Even before the indoor smoking ban was introduced in 2007 I argued that publicans were perfectly entitled to ban smoking on their property if they wished, so I’m not going to change my position now.

If Garrod thinks it’s in the best interests of his business, good luck to him. The real pity is that publicans are no longer allowed to choose whether or not customers can smoke inside their pub, and I suspect it won't be long (whatever the Government currently says) before another attempt is made to prohibit smoking outside most hospitality venues as well.

Isolated initiatives like this may seem insignificant but they generate media coverage and before long anti-smoking activists and politicians are jumping on the bandwagon.

Anyway, it reminds me of what happened before smoking was banned inside every pub in the country.

Several years before the ban was introduced a handful of pubs (including The Free Press in Cambridge, which I remember visiting) went 'no smoking' through choice rather than coercion. That was their prerogative and I certainly didn't object.

As far as I was concerned it was absolutely fine because a pub was a private business and it was up to the landlord, not government or anti-smoking campaigners, to decide on the smoking policy.

Also, what was wrong with having smoking and no-smoking pubs? Let the market decide.

Then, in January 2005, it was announced that Weatherspoon was going to ban smoking in every one of its 650 pubs by May 2006. This was over a year before MPs voted in favour of a workplace smoking ban (with no exemptions) and the company's decision must have had some impact on how they voted.

What happened however is that Wetherspoon banned smoking in just 40 of Tim Martin's 650 pubs and it was such a 'success' that the company quietly reversed the policy a year later, preferring to wait until the Government's smoking ban was introduced nationwide in July 2007, thereby creating a level playing field.

I see a very similar thing happening again, with a relatively small number of publicans choosing to ban smoking in beer gardens, with politicians subsequently taking the matter into their own hands and passing a law that denies publicans any choice.

Anyway, what began as a local story on Friday developed legs over the weekend and appeared in the online editions of several national newspapers.

Shortly after breakfast yesterday I was asked to record a quick interview for South East Today (BBC1), which was duly edited into a (very) short soundbite, and this morning I was on BBC Radio Kent.

And by complete coincidence, I just happened to be in Kent on Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday we drove to Sissinghurst Castle Farmhouse where we met friends and were taken (by taxi) to Chapel Down Winery near Tenterden.

After lunch in the on-site restaurant we were given a tour of the vineyard, followed by a (generous) tasting session.

(I should add that my wife and I love Chapel Down sparkling wines, our current favourite being the Chapel Down Grand Reserve 2019, closely followed by the award-winning Chapel Down Rosé.)

We then returned to Sissinghurst Castle Farmhouse where we stayed the night.

Monday began with a delicious ‘full English’ before we checked out and went for a stroll through Sissinghurst Castle Garden which is right next to the farmhouse.

Designed by English novelist and poet Vita Sackville-West (1882-1962) - who lived there with her husband, politician and diplomat Sir Harold Nicolson (1886-1968) - the gardens are considered to be among the finest in the country.

I'm not sure that April is the best or most colourful month to enjoy the garden, but the blossom was nice and it wasn't crowded, as I'm sure it must be in summer.

Now owned by the National Trust, Sissinghurst Castle Garden was nevertheless worth the visit. Combined with a tour of Chapel Down Winery, what's not to like?

Below: Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Chapel Down Winery

Grounds for discussion

Oliver Holt, chief sportswriter for the Daily Mail and a self-confessed ‘stadium nerd’, has just completed his personal odyssey to every current Premier and Football League ground.

The final one was Harrogate Town, making it 92 in total, but it may not be the end of Holt’s journey because promotion from the National League, the fifth tier of English football, sometimes introduces new grounds to the Football League.

Alternatively clubs move to a new stadium. At the end of this season, for example, Everton will move from Goodison Park, their home since 1892, to a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool.

Holt’s job has presumably made the task a little easier but it’s still an impressive achievement, prompting similar stories from other football fans.

One person, for example, wrote that he too has visited every Premier and Football League ground and is doing it all again, this time under floodlights.

Compared to that the list of football stadia I've visited is pretty feeble, but I’m going to list them anyway. (If you're not interested look away now.)

In England I’ve been to 15 Premier and Football League grounds, although three no longer exist:

Chelsea (Stamford Bridge)
Derby (Baseball Ground and Pride Park)
Aston Villa (Villa Park)
Liverpool (Anfield)
Manchester United (Old Trafford)
Tottenham (White Hart Lane)
Crystal Palace (Selhurst Park)
Ipswich (Portman Road)
Southampton (St Mary’s Stadium)
Watford (Vicarage Road)
MK Dons (Stadium MK)
Leyton Orient (Brisbane Road)
Cambridge United (Abbey Stadium)
Chesterfield (Recreation Ground)

As I've mentioned several times, I was a regular at Stamford Bridge in the early Eighties, and a frequent visitor to the Baseball Ground for most of that decade after my parents moved to Derbyshire.

The Baseball Ground is one of the three grounds that no longer exist, the others being White Hart Lane (Tottenham) and the Recreation Ground (Chesterfield).

My experience of White Hart Lane wasn’t great. I went with a friend who was a Spurs supporter and one of the first female football writers.

We stood on a packed terrace behind one goal and had to dodge a hail of bricks that were lobbed in our direction by Arsenal fans in an adjoining enclosure.

The Recreation Ground in Chesterfield was the first football stadium I took my son to, but it wasn't my first choice.

He must have been six or seven and we were staying with my parents in Derbyshire so my intention was to take him to Pride Park, the new stadium Derby moved to in 1995. However, Derby weren’t playing at home that weekend so we went to Chesterfield instead.

Since then we’ve gone to quite a few matches together, in England and Scotland.

My daughter, on the other hand, was 20 when I took her to her first (and only) men’s match. On that occasion we travelled to Motherwell to see Dundee United play St Mirren in the final of the little known Scottish Challenge Cup.

To date I have visited 18 of the current 42 league grounds in Scotland, to which you can add St Mirren’s Love Street which no longer exists. The full list is:

Dundee United (Tannadice)
Dundee (Dens Park)
Aberdeen (Pittodrie)
Celtic (Parkhead)
Rangers (Ibrox)
Hearts (Tynecastle)
Hibernian (Easter Road)
St Johnstone (McDiarmid Park)
Motherwell (Fir Park)
St Mirren (Love Street)
Raith Rovers (Starks Park)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle (Caledonian Stadium)
Arbroath (Gayfield Park)
Hamilton (New Douglas Park)
Partick Thistle (Firhill)
Stranraer (Stair Park)
Greenock Morton (Cappielow Park)
Dunfermline Athletic (East End Park)

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been to Tannadice (it’s well into three figures) but my favourite Scottish stadium has to be Tynecastle in Edinburgh where the steep stands are close to the pitch, creating a brilliant atmosphere.

Inverness, in the Highlands, and Stranraer, in the south west corner of the country, are the furthest I’ve gone for a match.

The trip to Inverness – aboard the overnight sleeper from London’s Euston Station – is something I'll never forget, especially the view of the snow-capped mountains as dawn broke over the Cairngorms.

Pittodrie (Aberdeen) and Gayfield Park (Arbroath) are among the coldest grounds I’ve experienced, largely because they sit right next to the North Sea. Starks Park (home of Raith Rovers in Kirkcaldy) isn’t much better.

In England I loved the Baseball Ground, and for the same reasons I like Villa Park too. It's an old fashioned football ground with enormous character, a sense of history, and a fantastic atmosphere when full.

In my experience, having sat among them, Villa fans are fatalistic but funny, which in my book is a winning combination.

Anfield, oddly enough, didn't do it for me, despite its reputation. Then again, I watched a drab 0-0 draw between Liverpool and Coventry City, so I obviously picked the wrong match.

I’ve visited one non-league ground (Maidenhead United) but that was in 1968. York Road has been home to the club since 1871 and is said to be the ‘oldest continuously-used senior association football ground in the world by the same club’.

I might revisit it, if only out of curiosity, because I’ve read that it’s hardly changed in the 57 years since I was there.

I’ve also been to Blackpool FC but that wasn’t for a football match. I was a guest at a dinner hosted by the Clubs and Institutes Union who were holding their AGM in Blackpool and the function room overlooked the pitch.

What else? Oh yes, I’ve been to Wembley, old and new. The first time I went to the old Wembley was in 1982 when England beat Hungary 1-0.

The ‘new’ Wembley, which is almost 20 years old, leaves me a bit cold because it’s rather characterless, like so many 21st century stadiums in the UK with their coloured plastic seating and tacky seat typography (yes, that’s what it’s called).

To be fair, the sight lines and facilities are far superior to the old stadium, but I loved the ‘twin towers’ and the long walk the players had to take from the dressing rooms behind one goal.

They were unique to Wembley and apart from the arch (which you don't really notice when you're inside the stadium), I don't think there's anything unique about the 'new' stadium at all.

Compared to some modern stadiums in other countries it's a bit disappointing. But at least it's not Hampden Park which should have been demolished, like the old Wembley, and replaced with a new stadium years ago.

I've been to Scotland's national stadium eight or nine times but never to watch Scotland. Each time it’s been to support Dundee United in various cup finals so apart from 1994 and 2010 it's rarely been a happy experience.

The other national stadiums I’ve been to have all been rugby grounds - Twickenham (England), Principality (Wales), Murrayfield (Scotland), and Aviva (Ireland).

Murrayfield (in Edinburgh) was the first rugby stadium I went to. It was in the late Seventies, I think, and I remember climbing up a steep bank of stairs in order to stand on an enormous concrete terrace. (In those days, apart from the main stand, most of the ground was uncovered, if I remember.)

Steep terraces with crush barriers were not unusual in those days, even after the Ibrox Stadium disaster on January 2, 1971, when 66 people died when they fell and were crushed on a stairway towards the end of an Old Firm derby.

When I began watching Dundee United in 1969 the terracing at Tannadice was pretty steep too, albeit on a smaller scale, but I loved it because the view was brilliant. (In those days opposing fans weren’t segregated either and often swapped ends at half-time.)

On reflection though it probably wasn’t the safest place when there was a capacity crowd. The problem was, if someone was inadvertently pushed from behind where there was no barrier to stop them pitching forward, it could lead to a domino effect, with gravity doing the rest.

We didn’t think about it at the time, but when everyone around you was jumping up and down, celebrating a goal, you had to keep your wits about you and stay on your feet.

Cricket wise, I’ve been to pitifully few grounds – Lords, The Oval, and Trent Bridge in Nottingham come to mind – and I once watched a John Player Sunday League match in Canterbury.

I know it was a long time ago because apart from the competition sponsor (a tobacco company) the matches were 40 overs a side, a format of the game that is no longer played in professional cricket.

If you’ve come this far and would like to nominate your favourite (or least favourite) sporting ground, please do.

I should add that I have never been to a football match abroad, but if Chelsea Women upset the odds, beat Barcelona in the semi-final of the Women’s Champions League, and reach the final at Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon next month, I might be tempted.

Above: Caledonian Stadium, Inverness (March 2014)
Below: Tannadice Park, Dundee (December 2019)