Cheers!

A few weeks ago I mentioned visiting the Chapel Down vineyard in Kent with my wife and two friends.

We had lunch in the excellent on site restaurant before being given a guided tour of the vineyard and winery.

We then had a ‘tutored tasting of five signature wines’ before winding up in the shop. As you do.

We didn’t need convincing to splash the cash because we’ve been drinking Chapel Down sparkling wines for several years.

Occasionally we’ll buy the more expensive Grand Reserve and Rosé Reserve, but the mid range Brut and award-winning Rosé are excellent too.

I’m also a convert to Chapel Down’s ‘cheaper’ sparkling wines so I was delighted when I discovered that Boisdale could offer A Touch of Sparkle (above) to guests at the Forest lunch on Tuesday.

If you can get past the rather twee name, it’s really rather good. In fact, several guests said how much they liked it which I was pleased about because I’ve become a bit of an enthusiast for English sparkling wines (Chapel Down and Nye Timber in particular), and I’m happy to promote them when I can.

Although I remain sceptical about the severity of climate change, and how much is man-made, I do accept that the climate has changed a bit in recent decades, and the proof is in the remarkable growth and development of English wines, which we should support and celebrate!

Tastes differ, but if push came to shove I would recommend the following Chapel Down wines: Grand Reserve, Rosé, and A Touch of Sparkle Classic.

The good news is I now receive a monthly state pension so I’d like to thank the great British taxpayer for enabling me to keep my ‘cellar’ (aka my garage) well stocked.

Cheers!

"If there’s a will, there’s a way"

There has been a great reaction to the Forest lunch at Boisdale on Tuesday with one guest writing:

‘Congratulations on a brilliant event - great turn out, fun guests, and importantly strong advocates!’

Other responses have included ‘very enjoyable’, ‘great fun’, ‘I enjoyed it enormously’, and ‘such a joy to be among so many like-minded people’.

Here are my introductory comments. They included a response to Ranald Macdonald’s plea for cigars to be exempt from the generational sales ban.

I’m not against an exemption for cigars but I didn’t want guests to think that Forest is abandoning combustible cigarettes, which we are not.

Anyway, read on … the comments below are mine, not the speakers I subsequently introduced.

Lovely to see some new faces and it’s particularly good to see some younger guests, not because we want the next generation to smoke but because we want the next generation to defend the right to smoke and purchase tobacco, whether it’s cigarettes, heated tobacco, or a celebratory cigar to celebrate a special occasion.

Ranald (above) is right to defend the unique nature of the cigar and point out the difference between cigarettes and cigars. However, Forest has never discriminated between different types of tobacco product. We believe this is a more general issue concerning freedom of choice and personal responsibility, and if you make an informed choice to smoke cigarettes, knowing the health risks, that’s a matter for you, not the government.

Many of you will be familiar with the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which is progressing through parliament at the moment. Having passed the report stage and third reading in the House of Commons last month, the Bill received its second reading in the House of Lords on 23rd April – and we are very grateful to all those peers who spoke against the Bill.

The date for the committee stage of the Bill in the House of Lords has not yet been announced but we know that amendments include an amendment tabled by Conservative peer Lord Bethell who is demanding the ‘complete prohibition of tobacco products from 2040’.

If the generational ban goes ahead as planned in 2027, in 2040 it will be illegal for anyone aged 30 to be sold tobacco, so you could argue that Lord Bethell’s amendment is simply the logical extension of the generational ban. Either way, it’s clear that prohibition is the goal of the anti-smoking lobby, and we all know what prohibition leads to.

Nevertheless, it’s beyond bizarre that while young adults may be allowed to drive trains carrying hundreds of passengers, that same age group will soon be banned from legally purchasing tobacco.

And think of all the other things you can do at 18, or even 17. At 17 you can drive a car and potentially kill someone, including yourself. You can also join the army, while at 18 you can purchase all sorts of age restricted items including alcohol, fireworks, axes, blades, and even crossbows!

Despite that successive governments – Conservative and Labour – have introduced Bills banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009, which means that, eventually, not a single adult - young or old - will be allowed to buy cigarettes or even a celebratory cigar.

And it gets even more bizarre because the current Government wants to give children (16 and 17-year-olds) the vote.

Whatever happens, I want to assure everyone here today that Forest will NOT give up the fight and, even if the generational ban becomes law, we will continue to lobby all the main opposition parties to amend or even repeal the Tobacco and Vapes Act if and when they get into power.

It’s happened before – in New Zealand – where the current coalition government repealed legislation that would have banned the sale of tobacco to all future generations of adults in that country.

If there’s a will, there’s a way, so we appeal to parliamentarians of all parties to stand up for freedom of choice and personal responsibility, and not give in to the zealots, the prohibitionists, and those who think they know best how other people should live their lives.

On that note I want to introduce someone who has defended the freedom principle for as long as I’ve known her, which is 25 years, when she was the publisher of Living Marxism.

(Note: I actually said 'Marxism Today' at which point I was rightly heckled by the lady herself!)

In the intervening years she founded the Academy of Ideas and the annual Battle of Ideas festival. In May 2019 she was elected as an MEP in the European Parliament elections and in September 2020 she became a member of the House of Lords.

She’s one of the most principled people I know so please give a warm Boisdale welcome to Baroness Fox of Buckley.

After Claire’s speech I presented a Voices of Freedom award.

Moving on, we would like to present a special award to someone who has been a friend of Forest for almost 20 years, despite the fact that he doesn’t smoke and doesn’t like smoking.

Elected as the member of parliament for Shipley in West Yorkshire in 2005, he has been a guest at several Forest events, including the annual Freedom Dinner that ran from 2012 to 2017. He has also been a panellist at several other events, in London and at party conference.

In June 2010 he joined us for one of our Voices of Freedom debates at the Institute of Economic Affairs when we addressed the issue 'Big Government Is Watching You: the surveillance society and individual freedom'.

Our guest today stirred things up with a passionate defence of surveillance cameras and other tools of what some might call the Big Brother state. Broadcaster Iain Dale, who was chairing the discussion, live tweeted that he was ‘making (a) superb anti civil liberties speech, even if I disagree with virtually all of it!’.

I didn't agree with much of what our guest said either, but he did make me think, and I admired the way he argued his corner. Another thing I admire about him is that, although he freely admits he doesn't like smoking, he defends an adult's right to smoke, and as a member of parliament he consistently voted against anti-smoking legislation, including the display ban and plain packaging.

Before he lost his seat at the 2024 general election his Wikipedia entry described him as ‘the most rebellious serving Conservative MP, having voted against the Tory whip over 250 times in the course of his parliamentary career'. Despite that, he was knighted by Rishi Sunak, with who he remains on good terms.

Ladies and gentlemen, please show your appreciation and welcome to the stage, to receive his well deserved Voices of Freedom award, Sir Philip Davies.

Accepting the award, Philip said a few words before I continued as follows:

Before we finish we have one more award to announce and it goes to the person who has done most to further the cause of the nanny state in the UK over the past year or so.

There were many nominations for this prestigious award but after a couple of pints we whittled the list down to just two and they are the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, former prime minister, and the Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP, the current incumbent of 10 Downing Street.

And to decide the winner, please welcome the founder and editor of the Nanny State Index, Dr Christopher Snowdon.

Chris chose Rishi Sunak as our Nanny-in-Chief. I then wrapped up, thanked everyone for coming, and guests who didn’t have to return to work then retired to smoking terrace. Not a bad way to spend a few hours on a Tuesday afternoon!

‘Great people, fantastic vibe, excellent speeches’ - the 2025 Forest annual lunch

Thanks to everyone who attended the Forest Freedom Up In Smoke lunch at Boisdale of Belgravia on Tuesday.

We had a full house (80 guests) including MPs, peers, parliamentary researchers, think tank staffers, journalists (among them the legendary Tom Utley and Harry Cole!), and friends of Forest.

The event began with drinks on the terrace before guests took their places for lunch in the main restaurant.

Unusually, I don’t think there was a single empty seat. Inevitably we had a few last minute withdrawals, albeit fewer than usual, but there were also several guests who turned up unexpectedly, having not replied to our invitation.

Somehow, with a bit of juggling, we managed to fit everyone in.

Special thanks to our host, Ranald Macdonald, MD of Boisdale Restaurants, and guest speaker Claire Fox, aka Baroness Fox of Buckley, who talked about the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which is currently progressing through the House of Lords.

Sir Philip Davies (above), the former MP for Shipley (2005-2024), was presented with our prestigious (!) Voices of Freedom award for consistently voting against anti-smoking legislation, despite being a non-smoker and having a general dislike of smoking.

Last and definitely least, former prime minister Rishi Sunak was given our Nanny-in-Chief award for having initiated the generational tobacco ban that will eventually prohibit the sale of tobacco to adults of ALL ages.

Sunak just beat Sir Keir Starmer to the award. Sadly, he wasn’t present to collect it in person but Chris Snowdon (below), founder and editor of the Nanny State Index, accepted it on his behalf.

After the speeches guests who didn’t have to go back to work were invited to reconvene on the terrace, and many did. In fact the party was still going strong six hours after it started, at which point I had to leave to attend another event.

Yesterday Ranald sent me a text: ‘I thought it was the best [lunch] yet. Great people, fantastic vibe, excellent speeches.’ He may be right although, in truth, he says the same thing every year.

To see the full gallery of fabulous photos, click here.

Photos: Gary Williams
Instagram: garywilliams.photography

Below: Baroness Meyer (left) with Baroness Fox (centre) and Baroness Hoey (right). Catherine Meyer is the wife of the late Sir Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to the United States and Germany; Kate Hoey, another life peer, was a minister in the Blair government.

A perfect day

Enjoyable afternoon at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

For the final weekend of the Women’s Super League season the stadium was, officially at least, half full (21,000) for Chelsea versus Liverpool.

Kick-off was 12.30 so we arrived at the ground shortly before midday and took our seats in Westview, the upper part of the West Stand, where tickets cost a very reasonable £25. (For a men’s match they can cost up to £240.)

This was the third women’s match I’ve been to at Chelsea’s home ground in the last twelve months and each time the atmosphere has been great, even when the stadium hasn’t been full.

The pre-match entertainment is loud and boisterous and, as you would expect, the crowd is predominantly women and families. There are lots of children, but all generations are represented.

Sitting in front of us were a couple in their early twenties. To their left was a young girl, no more than seven or eight, with her father. And to our right, dancing to the thumping pre-match music, was a somewhat older woman - an octogenarian, I would guess.

Having attended hundreds of football matches over the years, one of the things I like about the women’s game is the absence of taunts from rival supporters.

There is no ugly or aggressive chanting and very little abuse of the referee or opposing players.

Until the last few minutes yesterday’s match lacked tension because the WSL title had been won by Chelsea ten days earlier.

However, there was the small matter that if Chelsea avoided defeat the team would have gone through an entire 22-match WSL season undefeated, thereby establishing a new record.

And if they won the match they would have achieved a record 60 points.

It wasn’t a great game, to be honest, and there wasn’t a goal until the 91st minute when Chelsea’s top scorer, 21-year-old Aggie Beaver-Jones, scored the only goal in added time.

The stadium erupted and it was a great end to a match played in bright sunshine in a generally vibrant atmosphere, although there were periods when it was quite quiet. (There is far less chanting at women’s matches.)

The focus was still on the football, though. There were no Mexican waves, for example, which is always a sign that spectators have lost interest in the game.

The presentation of the trophy was an added bonus, and I liked the fact that the small group of Liverpool supporters in one corner of the ground stayed to watch, which is almost unheard of in the men’s game nowadays.

Another nice touch was Chelsea supporters applauding a Liverpool player as she walked very slowly, with the help of two physios, around the outside of the pitch after being injured and substituted.

(OK, it’s not unheard of in the men’s game but sympathetic applause for opposing players is usually restricted to players who are being carried off on a stretcher en route, it is assumed, to the nearest hospital.)

The atmosphere outside the ground was nice too, and if you have an open mind about women’s football I can’t recommend it enough, especially if, like me, you’ve grown weary of the relentless hype and mindless aggression around men’s football.

I dare say women’s football will follow the same path as more and more money enters the game, attendances grow, and greater rivalries develop, but for now there’s something rather charming about the women’s game.

I’m lucky, I suppose, that the women’s team I support is enjoying a golden era - this was the sixth league title in a row that Chelsea have won - but my interest in football has never been driven by winning.

(I support Dundee United, for heaven’s sake, and I started supporting Chelsea decades before the successful Roman Abramovich era.)

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m invested in the women’s team in a way that I’m not with the current men’s team, despite supporting the club for almost 60 years.

Having fallen out of love with (men’s) football, it’s been a pleasant surprise to say the least.

PS. After the match we had a late lunch at Josephine, a French bistro in the Fulham Road.

We were home (in Cambridgeshire) by 7.00pm where there was still time to enjoy the evening sun in the garden with a celebratory bottle of English sparkling wine.

All in all, a perfect day.

See also: Football focus

BAT subsidiary launches new cigarette brand

According to British American Tobacco (BAT):

Our purpose is to create A Better Tomorrow™ with a vision to Build a Smokeless world – one where smokers have migrated from cigarettes to smokeless alternatives ...

This week however the Korean Herald reported:

BAT Rothmans, the South Korean subsidiary of British American Tobacco, announced on Wednesday the global launch of a new cigarette brand, Global Editions by Dunhill, with Korea serving as the first market …

“Global Editions by Dunhill captures special moments of travel and offers consumers a distinctive sensory experience,” said a BAT Rothmans representative.

“As we take this first step, we are committed to establishing a strong presence in the combustible cigarette market and building a new global brand story beyond Korea.”

Confused? Join the club!

Talking of cigarette brands, I am reminded that in 2011, during a trip to Vienna, I saw a poster that read, ‘Lucky Strikes Loves Austria’.

It was an eye-catching campaign and on my return I wrote:

I now have a complete set of cigarette packs featuring the following slogans: 'I Love Austria', 'I Love Nature', 'I Love Snow', 'I Love Mountains' and 'I Love Sunshine'.

The only slogan missing, I added, was ‘I Love Freedom’ but that wasn’t an option, sadly.

The Lucky Strike brand is of course owned by British American Tobacco whose vision, in 2025, is to ‘Build a Smokeless world’.

Clearly, their South Korean subsidiary didn’t get the memo!

See also: BAT debuts new cigarette in Korea (Tobacco Reporter)

Starmer’s Britain: Old enough to drive a train, too young to buy fags

Reports say the minimum age to be a train driver is to be lowered from 20 to 18.

Although the job comes with great responsibility, my understanding is that trains are largely automated these days so there is relatively little to do, although I may be wrong!

Either way, if a 20-year-old can do the job I don't see why an 18-year-old can't do it too.

Nevertheless, it’s beyond bizarre that while young adults may be allowed to drive trains carrying hundreds of passengers, that same age group will soon be banned from legally purchasing tobacco.

Meanwhile, think of all the other things you can do at 18, or even 17.

At 17 you can drive a car and potentially kill someone, including yourself. You can also join the army, while at 18 you can purchase all sorts of age restricted items including alcohol, fireworks, axes, blades, and even crossbows!

But from January 1, 2027, the Government wants to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009, until not a single adult - young or old - will be allowed to buy cigarettes or even a celebratory cigar.

How does that make sense?

And it gets even more bizarre because the Government wants to give children (16 and 17-year-olds) the vote.

That seems ridiculous to me although, to be fair, a reader who lives on the Isle of Man wrote to me recently and said:

We gave 16-year-olds the vote well over a decade ago, and I'd have to say it's worked well. Good take-up, and some take such an interest and make such articulate, well-researched arguments that after one government minister and his advisors were torn apart by a group of sixth formers no others dare enter a secondary school outside of speech day.

Interesting. Nevertheless I still think voting should be restricted to adults.

But whether it’s 16 or 18, if you’re old enough to vote, drive a car (or a train!), purchase a crossbow, and join the army, you’re old enough to buy fags.

Farewell ‘Grandad’, Ireland's 'most cantankerous auld fella'

'All I want now is to be left in peace; to smoke my pipe and to enjoy an odd pint of stout.’ (Head Rambles, 2008)

For the past twelve months, Richard O'Connor, aka 'Grandad' or Ireland's 'most cantankerous auld fella', has ‘endured pain, disfigurement and endless trips to and from various hospitals'.

'The general consensus,' he wrote two weeks ago, 'is that physically and emotionally I have been through a lot, probably far more than most in their lifetime.'

Sadly, just a week after being admitted to a hospice near his home in Co Wicklow, Richard died yesterday morning. Announcing his death on the blog he has been writing for almost 20 years, his daughter wrote:

He declined gracefully and great efforts were made to ensure he wasn’t suffering in any way. He got visits from dogs, and had a few days sitting outside in unseasonably warm weather listening to birdsong before he became too weak to move around.

Remarkably, and despite the tribulations of the last twelve months, he maintained the same sense of humour (and irascibility!) that attracted readers to the blog he started writing in October 2006.

In 2008 he won ‘Best Personal Blog’ in the Irish Blog Awards and that led to a book, a compilation of his best blog posts, entitled Head Rambles: With Ireland's most cantankerous auld fella.

But it’s the brave and stoic manner with which he endured a horribly aggressive form of cancer that I will remember him.

We corresponded infrequently over the years (he had some kind words to say about John Mallon when Forest’s Cork-based spokesman died in December 2023), but my final email to him, on April 21, read:

Dear Richard,

I was so sorry to read your update, but thank you for posting it. I very much hope you get the best possible care and pain relief available.

As many of the commenters on your blog have said, you have shown enormous courage and bravery.

I particularly admire the fact that you have not become a recluse but have continued to pop in to your local coffee shop, for example.

Despite everything, you have also maintained a remarkable sense of humour in extremely challenging circumstances.

There’s nothing more I can add because we have never met and we are, effectively, strangers.

Nevertheless your blog has been a source of pleasure to many people, including me, for many years, and although it has taken a darker turn in the past 12 months I’m sure your words will inspire many of us to soldier on for as long as we can, should we find ourselves in a similar position.

No need to reply but I just wanted to send my very best wishes and point out what I hope is blindingly obvious - there is a huge amount of goodwill out there for you, which I hope brings you some solace.

His penultimate blog post was published on April 24 and he was wisecracking to the end:

‘The Wicklow Hospice,’ he wrote, ‘is everyone’s choice. They even allow smoking and drinking on the terraces!'

A few days later he posted what we now know were his final written words. Comfortingly, he appeared to be at peace.

RIP, Grandad, and condolences to family and friends.

See also: Grandad pulls no punches as he shoots from the lip (Irish Independent, 2009)

Canada calling

In a couple of months it will be 20 years since I first visited Canada.

I was reminded of this when watching series three of Race Across The World on iPlayer.

For those who don’t know, Race Across The World is a reality travel programme that pits five pairs of adults against one another in a race across various regions of the world.

Couples may be friends, or related to one another.

The schtick is that they have no phones (so they can’t make calls or access the internet), or credit cards.

They have to survive on a budget of approximately £50 a day (cash), which they can top up doing odd jobs en route, and the assistance of strangers.

They may be travelling for up to 50 days, so it’s quite a slog, but the programme is strangely addictive and has proved a ratings hit.

The first series (London to Singapore) was filmed in 2019 and broadcast during Covid in 2020.

The fifth series is currently on BBC1 but my wife and I only discovered the programme quite recently so we’re still catching up.

Series three, which we finished watching last night, was broadcast two years ago. Teams started in Vancouver in British Columbia and had to make their way across Canada to St John’s in Newfoundland, a distance of over 3,000 miles.

I knew Canada was big but it’s actually the second largest country in the world (after Russia), which I didn’t know.

Huge swathes of the country are sparsely populated, which means public transport - buses, trains and ferries - are infrequent to say the least.

It’s also very expensive. A loaf of bread, for example, can cost twice as much as it does in the UK.

Nevertheless, the scenery in the more rural areas was spectacular and it has prompted my wife and I to consider a longer holiday in the country.

In the meantime it was fun to be reminded of some of the places I’ve already visited - notably Vancouver and Vancouver Island (2019), and Toronto and Niagara Falls (2005).

My visit to Toronto 20 years ago was actually a business trip, the highlights of which were (a) being upgraded to business class by British Airways (!), and (b) meeting Matt Finlayson, composer of ‘The Smoke Police’, and his friend, poet Eric Layman (1943-2008).

Matt not only invited me to dinner with his family, he even drove me to Niagara Falls, a round trip of 150 miles.

I also met the director of a short-lived smokers’ rights group but that, as they say, is another story.

Below: Victoria, Vancouver Island, 2019