Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 19:39 Could this be true?
Via a well-connected MP and an intermediary I've heard that David Cameron was told by an anti-smoking group that if he didn't introduce plain packaging before the election he'd be followed throughout the campaign by a man dressed as a cigarette.
Needless to say, instead of telling the public health bullies to f-off, our PR PM rolled over. Again.
You couldn't make it up.
Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 14:35 So, it seems MPs will get to vote on plain packaging next week, but there won't be a debate.
In the last hour the Telegraph's chief political correspondent Christopher Hope has reported that:
A ban on advertising on cigarette packets will become law through the House of Commons without a debate by MPs next week.
The controversial ban will be considered by a cross party committee of MPs on Monday and then – if the MPs agree – there will be a free vote without a debate on Wednesday.
The cross party committee that will consider the legislation is the House of Commons Delegated Legislation Committee whose members are:
Chair: Sir Roger Gale (Conservative)
Debbie Abrahams (Labour)
Luciana Berger (Labour)
Kevin Brennan (Labour)
Mr Russell Brown (Labour)
Paul Burstow (Lib Dem)
Neil Carmichael (Conservative)
Alex Cunningham (Labour)
Nick de Bois (Conservative)
Jane Ellison, Public Health Minister (Conservative)
Sir Edward Garnier (Conservative)
Richard Harrington (Conservative)
John Penrose (Conservative)
Chris Ruane (Labour)
Sir Andrew Stunell (Lib Dem)
Phil Wilson (Labour)
Sammy Wilson (DUP)
By our reckoning only three are opposed to plain packaging. A fourth is against but he's a government whip so he'll vote in favour.
Not looking good, but we knew that anyway.
Fury as Tory MPs denied a debate on plain packaging cigarette ban. Free vote on Wed; 100 MPs set to rebel. By me: http://t.co/EkV2K7Sxbd
— Christopher Hope (@christopherhope) March 5, 2015Meanwhile we've placed a sponsored post on Politics Home.
Stop the nonsense say critics of plain packaging | http://t.co/P5UeyY2Wbd @Forest_Smoking
— Central Lobby (@CentralLobby) March 5, 2015Ireland yesterday became the first country in Europe and the second in the world to pass plain packaging laws for tobacco.
Anti-smoking campaigners were quick to celebrate and they brought their children – bearing an assortment of PR friendly placards – with them. Now that's what I call child abuse!
Forest reacted as best we could. John Mallon, our man in Cork, appeared on RTE News and was interviewed on radio by Newstalk, and, this morning, Clare FM.
He also featured in news bulletins on the following stations: 4FM, FM104, Galway Bay FM, KCLR FM, Limerick 95FM, Northern Sound and Tipp FM.
On Monday he was interviewed on UTV Ireland Live with our old friend Dr Luke Clancy, formerly of ASH Ireland.
Forest Eireann's full response, issued yesterday, was:
Campaigners have urged the government to postpone the implementation of standardised packaging for cigarettes until ministers have assessed the impact of other tobacco control measures.
Legislation to introduce plain packaging will move a step closer to becoming law today but the smokers' group Forest Eireann wants the government to delay the introduction of the measure.
Spokesman John Mallon said: "The government should wait until it has assessed the impact of the larger health warnings that are being introduced next year as part of the European Union's revised Tobacco Products Directive.
"This legislation is the result of a personal crusade by children's minister James Reilly. It is deeply flawed. There's no evidence plain packaging will stop children smoking."
He added: "Evidence from Australia suggests that standardised packaging could fuel illicit trade by playing into the hands of counterfeiters and criminal gangs.
"Ultimately that could be far more harmful to children because criminals don't care who they sell to."
PS. I don't think John was impressed but this tweet made laugh.
Seriously? Forest Éireann John Mallon #SmokersRights @UTVIreland #smoking pic.twitter.com/IXjE1u1NMS
— Melanie May (@_melaniemay) March 3, 2015Here it is, the video of Stop The Nonsense: An Evening of Plain Speaking on Plain Packaging at the Institute of Directors.
Dan Donovan has edited 98 minutes of footage into a twelve-minute film that features contributions from the eight speakers (and me).
Speakers included the IEA's Mark Littlewood; Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute; John O'Connell (TaxPayers Alliance); Angela Harbutt (Liberal Vision); and Chris Snowdon.
There are also soundbites from a handful of guests. Sorry we couldn't include more.
The video will be sent on DVD and memory stick to MPs and journalists. In addition to the main video (above), the DVD will feature every speech in full.
It will also feature Brian Monteith reading an anti plain pack message from former justice minister, the Rt Hon Damian Green MP.
I'll post a selection over the next few days.
Many thanks to Dan Donovan who has battled numerous other commitments (plus a heavy cold and fatigue!) to complete this time-consuming task. He was still emailing me at 4.00am on Monday morning.
Update: It's not too late to make your opinions known. If you haven't done so, please write to your MP via our Last Chance Saloon microsite.
Monday, March 2, 2015 at 13:34 Forget taste and decency.
The propaganda value of the death of a well-known long-term smoker is far more important, it seems.
In January Joe Cocker's death, at the age of 70, was marked by some pretty distasteful tweets by anti-smoking campaigners (see Dick Puddlecote on the subject, Death as a PR opportunity).
The death last week of Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy has generated a similar reaction.
Nimoy was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allegedly from decades of smoking.
I don't doubt the connection (although the LA smog may have been a contributory factor, who knows?), but there are two things to note:
One, Nimoy died at the age of 83. The average life expectancy for a white American male is 76 years.
I don't know where Nimoy lived but the state with the best average life expectancy for a white American male is the District of Columbia at just shy of 81.
He might of course have lived in pain and discomfort for many years. Again, I don't know.
What I do know is that he was only diagnosed with lung disease in February 2014, at the age of 82, one year before he died, at which point he began urging everyone to quit smoking.
Nimoy's death at the ripe old age of 83 will come as no consolation to his family, but let's get it in perspective. He was an old man who appears to have lived a long and extremely full life.
That hasn't deterred the tobacco taliban of course, hence these tweets this morning from ASH:
What Killed Spock: Leonard Nimoy killed by cigarettes he gave up 30 years ago http://t.co/2w8×0Mova3
— ASH (@ASH_LDN) March 2, 2015'Don't smoke. I did. Wish I never had. LLAP', Leonard Nimoy
— ASH (@ASH_LDN) March 2, 2015Talking of risible and ridiculous (see previous post), Cancer Research UK has just scaled new heights.
According to the headline of a CRUK press release embargoed until a few minutes ago, 'Half a million children predicted to die from smoking as MPs head toward a vote on standard cig packs'.
The implication is that half a million children will die from smoking but standardised packaging could reduce that catastrophic loss of life in the under 18 age group.
Needless to say the headline is a crude and inaccurate sleight of hand:
Around 500,000 children will die from smoking when they are adults [my emphasis] unless more is done to cut smoking rates according to new Cancer Research UK figures released today (Friday).
Based on current smoking rates Cancer Research UK estimates that of today’s 12 million under 16 year olds, 2.7 million will become smokers as young adults. This could lead to around half a million smoking related deaths unless rates fall.
This shocking statistic has prompted the charity to renew its call for MPs to back the introduction of plain, standardised tobacco packaging when they vote on the issue in the coming weeks.
See what they've done?
To claim, in a eye-catching headline, that half a million children will die of smoking when they are really talking about adults, most of whom will live well into their sixties, seventies and even eighties, is pretty sick.
Forget the "shocking statistic". What's shocking is the depth to which the tobacco control industry will sink to force through a policy that an overwhelming majority of people have opposed in not one but two public consultations.
I'll be interested to see how much coverage this shabby piece of propaganda gets. In the meantime here's Forest's response, issued yesterday:
Campaigners urge government to postpone introduction of plain packaging
Campaigners have urged the government to postpone the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco until it has assessed the impact of the tobacco display ban and larger health warnings.
Responding to new figures from Cancer Research UK which claims "around 500,000 children will die from smoking when they are adults unless more is done to cut smoking rates", Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest which runs the Hands Off Our Packs campaign, said:
"There's no evidence plain packaging will reduce youth smoking rates. Packaging isn't responsible for children smoking. It's mostly peer pressure, the influence of family members or the fact that some children will always want to experiment or rebel.
"Ninety-nine per cent of responses to last year's public consultation on plain packaging opposed the measure. That included retailers, unions and members of the public.
"The real scandal is the fact that the government is pressing ahead with a policy that has been rejected by an overwhelming majority of respondents to its own consultation.
"We urge the government to wait until it can assess the impact of the display ban, which is still being implemented, and larger health warnings which are being introduced next year as part of the European Union's revised Tobacco Products Directive."
Update: Via Dick Puddlecote and Guido Fawkes I have just learned that CRUK's "head lobbyist" earns £230k a year. Nice.
Update: CRUK's child-centred propaganda appears to have bombed. The only national media that appear to have covered the story are i, the condensed version of the Independent, and the Express.
Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 22:46 
Dick Puddlecote has written an excellent review of our Stop The Nonsense event on Tuesday night.
To read the full post click here.
Of the ten speakers DP highlights the contribution from Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs (above):
Lastly came a cracker of a speech by Mark Littlewood which I asked those filming on the night to just bung up on YouTube when they had time. Calling plain packaging laws "risible, and ridiculous", he was incredulous that while we have Russian planes flying over Cornwall, a £100bn deficit, Greece causing ructions in the Eurozone and a general election in our imminent future, "the last act of this government is to regulate colour schemes".
We will indeed post Mark's speech on YouTube. (We're currently editing a video that will feature soundbites from speakers and guests.)
In the meantime you can listen to an audio file here.
Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 14:25 Today's call by for a ban on smoking in parks and squares attracted only a modest amount of media attention.
We've been here before of course because former Labour health minister Lord Darzi made a similar plea in October 2014 before he was shot down by Boris Johnson who called the idea "bossy".
Darzi will no doubt return again and again to the subject, aided and abetted by an increasing number of politicians and anti-smoking campaigners, but for now there seems little enthusiasm for the proposal.
As I mentioned in my previous post I was put on standby for BBC Breakfast but nothing materialised.
BBC News did cover the story online – with a quote from Forest (Experts debate smoking ban in outdoor public spaces).
The Guardian also quoted Forest (Call for New York-style ban on smoking in public in UK) and there were reports in the Express and Mail Online.
All four reports featured comments by Australia's leading tobacco control campaigner Simon Chapman who surprised many of us with the vehemence of his opposition to the measure.
This apparent rift between leading "health experts" was highlighted by Politics.co.uk which headlined its report, Call for public smoking ban splits anti-tobacco lobby.
Frankly, I'm not sure what to make of it. I welcome Chapman's comments but he will never be an ally. Far from it.
I'm beginning to think he just likes picking fights and is never happier than when he's arguing with someone, anyone, even colleagues and former tobacco control allies (like Clive Bates on e-cigarettes).
Anyway, there's no doubt that bans on smoking in open spaces is the next goal for the anti-smoking lobby in Britain.
We've known this for some time but we've been pre-occupied with plain packaging and smoking in cars.
The problem is that bans are likely to be introduced at a local rather than national level. How many battles we can win remains to be seen but forewarned is forearmed.
Remarkably we don't have to resort to words like "totalitarian" or "draconian" in relation to this policy because Simon Chapman has already done it for us.
All we have to do is quote him. How bizarre is that?
Update: Cancer Research UK has issued a press release with the most misleading and pernicious headline I've seen in a long time.
It's embargoed until midnight so you'll have to wait ...