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Entries by Simon Clark (3018)

Friday
Oct172014

Parks smoking ban "illiberal" writes Indy editor

Speaking about the proposed ban on smoking in London parks, Boris Johnson said:

"This idea in my view, as a libertarian conservative, comes down too much on the side of bossiness and nannying.

"One feature of life in London is that we are a city that allows people to get on with their lives within the law provided they are not harming anyone else.

"I think smoking is a scourge and it's right to discourage it (but) I am very sceptical at the moment" (my emphasis).

Frankly, I'm nervous about anything Boris says. We all remember him nominating the existing smoking ban for Room 101. Now he supports it.

I'm reluctant too to accept his evaluation of himself as a "libertarian conservative". After all, one of the first things he did as Mayor of London was ban alcohol on the Underground when we already had laws to deal with drunken or anti-social behaviour.

I think he's libertarian by instinct but the politician inside him kicks in. Also, like many 'conservatives', the idea of actually rolling back the power of the state is too radical so he accepts the status quo.

Nevertheless Boris's comments were welcome because they took the wind from a proposal that could have developed momentum very quickly.

Less expected were these comments by Amol Rajan, editor of the Independent. Writing in the London Evening Standard, Rajan declared: Stop witless puritans banning a puff in the park.

The curious thing is, I can't think of a single national newspaper that is editorially more anti-tobacco than the Independent (not even the Guardian) so this quite a statement.

It demonstrates the anti-smoking brigade has a way to go before they win this particular battle.

They won't give up, of course. Indeed, former Labour minister Tessa Jowell – a potential Labour candidate for Mayor of London in 2016, when Boris steps down – has already said she'll introduce the ban if she becomes Mayor.

So we have a fight on our hands.

If you want to make your feelings known I suggest you come to Forest's 35th anniversary party at Boisdale of Belgravia on Tuesday November 4. That's as good a place as any to begin the revolution!

Thursday
Oct162014

Yesterday

Well, that was a long and occasionally bizarre day.

The announcement that the London Health Commission – a body set up by Mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2013 – wants to ban smoking in the capital's parks and squares sparked a mini media frenzy.

For me the day began at 5.00am (following four hours' sleep) when I scoured the newspapers, online and in print, to see how much coverage the story was getting.

It was front page on the Daily Mail and the story – and Forest's response – was also featured in the Guardian, Mirror, Daily Express and Daily Star. Online our comments were featured on a hundred or more media websites including BBC News, ITV News, Channel 4 News, LBC, Reuters and many more.

At 5.40 I got a request to appear on Good Morning Britain (ITV) at 7.00 but I could't because I was still at home in Cambridgeshire.

Instead, at 6.05 I talked to Paul Ross and Penny Smith on BBC Radio London before driving to Huntingdon to catch a train to Kings Cross.

Shortly after nine I was in a taxi en route to Broadcasting House for a series of back-to-back BBC local radio interviews:

BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire
BBC Radio Shropshire
BBC Radio Surrey & Sussex
BBC Radio Devon
BBC Radio Berkshire
BBC Radio Cornwall
BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Stoke
BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Gloucestershire

Next stop – following a coffee break at Caffe Nero directly outside the entrance to Broadcasting House (lots of BBC employees in the smoking area!) – was the ITV News studios in Gray's Inn Road.

My opponent was former Labour minister Tessa Jowell but having travelled to the studio and waited 30 minutes to do a live interview we were given no time at all to make our points.

Watching at home, Dan Donovan commented: "Took me longer to eat a sandwich."

My next appointment was in a small park, Paddington Street Gardens. No, I'd never heard of it either and nor had the cab driver.

When we found it I made a beeline for the BBC cameraman in the corner and we were soon joined by health correspondent Branwen Jeffreys and an old adversary Dr Alan Maryon-Davies.

It must be eight years since Branwen and I last met but I remember it vividly because it was the day MPs voted for a comprehensive smoking ban (February 14, 2006).

Like yesterday it was a long day punctuated with numerous interviews in a variety of locations across central London.

My first interview with Branwen was in the morning at the King's Head pub in Islington. Later I was asked to go back and be interviewed again, after MPs had voted, and I recall pitching up tired, desperate for a pint, and in a resigned, somewhat flippant mood.

Branwen got several commentators to line up in front of the bar – I felt like the condemned man – and she went down the line inviting us to say a few words.

I was holding a pint in one hand and it was the only moment in my life I wished I was a smoker so I could have lit a cigarette and exhaled with the sort of insouciance that epitomises the coolest smokers.

Anyway, I won't forget yesterday's meeting in a hurry either. One, Branwen wore an electric pink coat that will be seared on my brain forever.

Two, we had a really good laugh – and I include Alan Maryon-Davies in that. (Alan and I have crossed swords several times on radio but in person he's very charming.)

Anyway, Branwen had decided she wanted to do something a bit different. So the three of us were filmed walking together, chatting intensely.

Alan and I were then filmed facing one another, deep in conversation. Over and over we repeated the points we wanted to make while the cameraman swooped around us.

Occasionally one or both of us went off piste. At one point I suggested there should be "adult only" parks which prompted quizzical looks followed by a sudden burst of laughter.

It was a slightly facetious comment but the more I think about it the better it sounds! Why should children dictate everything adults can and can't do in public?

The whole thing took 30 minutes to film. Inevitably the broadcast report was a fraction of that, with Alan and I given no more than a ten-second soundbite apiece, but it was fun to film.

Then it was back to Gray's Inn Road to record a brief interview (in another small park) for ITV's Evening News. It wasn't broadcast, as far as I know.

Come 4.30 I was at the Millbank Studios in Westminster doing a live interview on Sky News with Kay Burley, followed by a recorded interview to be broadcast later.

I was also booked to do CNN but that was cancelled because of the developing ebola story. Instead my final interview – at 9.00pm – was with the BBC News Channel, back at Broadcasting House.

I arrived home at 11.30.

Thankfully Forest wasn't alone yesterday. Other opponents of excessive regulation pitched in and were vocal in their condemnation of the plan.

Stephanie Lis, representing the Institute of Economic Affairs, did a great job on several programmes including Five Live and Channel 5 News.

The Institute of Ideas was out there too courtesy of Claire Fox and David Bowden. Read Dave's insightful article Why did Lord Darzi pull out of an anti-smoking debate? on Politics.co.uk.

I also bumped in to Dave Atherton who was coming out of Broadcasting House just as I was arriving in the morning.

The good news is: Boris seems to have distanced himself from the proposal to ban smoking in parks. According to the Telegraph today: Boris Johnson calls ban on smoking in parks 'bossy'.

Of course the plan will come back again and again. That's how the anti-smoking lobby work. They keep banging on until they get what they want, relentlessly browbeating the opposition (and politicians) into submission or apathy.

All I'll say is this: we made a lot of mistakes when we campaigned against the ban on smoking in enclosed public places a decade ago. We won't make the same mistakes again.

Further reading: Park smoking ban shows how tragically anti-smoking movement lost its way (Ian Dunt).

Wednesday
Oct152014

Smoking in London parks: which way will Boris swing?

London faces a "public health emergency" says the London Health Commission apocalyptically.

Established by Mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2013 and chaired by Lord Darzi, "one of the world's leading surgeons" and a former Labour minister (natch), the LHC has come up with a series of measures to tackle smoking, obesity, exercise, and drinking to make London a "healthier, slimmer, fitter, city".

The most eye-catching proposal is a call for Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and 20,000 acres of parks in the capital to go "smoke free".

Naturally the idea is backed by Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies who says it will stop "role modelling in front of children".

The recent recipient of an honorary knighthood, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also chipped in, calling the plan a "major achievement" (eh?), adding that he is "looking forward to visiting London's smoke free parks and squares".

You can download the full news release – including quotes from Davies, Bloomberg and ASH here.

The notable missing person is of course Boris. So which way will that great libertarian swing?

My guess is Boris will support the plan. After all, this is the man who earlier this year wrote, Banning smoking in cars is bizarre, intrusive – and right (Daily Telegraph).

Truth is, Boris is far from the "libertarian free spirit" he claims to be. One of his first acts as Mayor was to ban alcohol on the Underground, a completely unnecessary restriction given that laws governing anti-social behaviour already existed.

On smoking bans and other issues he flip flops all the time.

Sadly even self-styled maverick politicians like Boris are addicted to regulations. They can't help themselves.

Ironically, banning smoking in parks and squares reminds me of Ken Livingstone's failed attempt to force London's pubs and clubs to go "smoke free" years before MPs voted to ban smoking in all enclosed public places.

Forest helped defeat that proposal (see our submission to the Greater London Authority investigation which ASH has helpfully kept on file) and I hope we can do the same again.

Meanwhile here's Forest's response to the LHC's call to action:

The smokers' group Forest has slammed calls for Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and 20,000 acres of parks in the capital to go smoke free.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sally Davies, has backed the proposal, by the Mayor's London Health Commission, saying it will stop “role modelling in front of children”

Simon Clark, director of Forest, said: "A ban on smoking in parks and squares would be outrageous. There's no health risk to anyone other than the smoker. If you don't like the smell, walk away.

"Tobacco is a legal product. If the Chief Medical Officer doesn't like people smoking in front of children she should lobby the government to introduce designated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs so adults can smoke inside in comfort.

"The next thing you know we'll be banned from smoking in our own gardens in case a whiff of smoke travels over the fence."

He added: "If Boris Johnson supports this move it will blow to smithereens his easy-going image.

"It will demonstrate he's just like every other politician climbing the greasy pole, happy to micro manage our lives and trample on ordinary people."

PS. The London Health Commission news release was embargoed until 00:01hrs this morning. I did my duty and delayed publishing in order not to break it.

Update (00:24): The BBC News website has the story here (Trafalgar and Parliament squares smoking ban call). There's no opposing comment from Forest (or anyone else) despite the fact we sent them our response this afternoon. I've just spoken to the UK news desk to make that point. Let's see what happens.

Update (00:30): The Daily Mail has the story here – Ban smoking in public parks: England's most senior doctor warns lighting up in public places encourages children to take up the habit. It includes a comment from Forest.

Update (00:46): The BBC News website has updated its report to include a quote from me. Better late than never.

Update (00:56): The Mirror also has a report, with a quote from Forest (Ban smoking in all London parks says Chief Medical Officer):

Simon Clark of smokers' group Forest blasted the proposals as "farcical".

He said: "There's no health risk to anyone other than the smoker. If you don't like the smell, walk away.

"The next thing will be a ban on smoking in our own gardens in case a whiff of smoke travels over the fence."

And now, to bed ...

Tuesday
Oct142014

Should teachers and health workers be forbidden to smoke completely?

I'm on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this morning:

A new survey found that over 60 per cent of people in the UK believe that employees in the food industry and health service should be completely prohibited from smoking. Over 40 per cent agreed that the emergency services and teachers should also have enforced restrictions on smoking.

Consequently I've been invited to discuss the question: "Should those working in certain professions be forbidden from smoking altogether?"

The poll was commissioned by Nicoccino, an "innovative nicotine alternative containing no tobacco or tars and without the smoke and smell".

Developed in Sweden and described as the "ultimate smokeless alternative", it's a "pure nicotine film that dissolves under your lip".

Anything that increases consumer choice is fine by me. What a pity they choose to promote it by encouraging even greater intolerance of smoking.

Try as they might to adopt a "hipster vibe", when words like "prohibition" and "enforced restrictions" are used to target other products the stench is overwhelming, however "pure" the "nicotine experience".

The same goes for e-cig companies who denigrate smoking in their advertising and marketing.

I understand why they do it – for commercial gain – but all it does is fuel the anti-tobacco, anti-nicotine industry whose representatives are currently discussing the next line of attack at COP6 in Moscow.

Reap what you sow and all that.

See also: Why I hate (some) e-cigarette retailers

Thursday
Oct092014

God bless America

So farewell then, Washington DC.

This was my third visit and I'm so glad I stopped by. It's every bit as good as I remember it.

In 1983, as I may have recorded before, I was invited to attend a two-week conference hosted by the Republican-leaning Young America's Foundation.

Brian Monteith, who was chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students at the time, put my name forward because they wanted a group of young European journalists.

Brian must have asked me to recommend a second person – three were invited from the UK – because my friend John Drummond, a reporter on the Aberdeen Evening Express, also made the trip.

The third Brit was an eccentric historian and journalist called Michael Fry. Oddly enough, he was a friend of Brian's too.

It was pretty obvious we were going to be subjected to a degree of Republican propaganda but that was a small price to pay – for me, at least.

Others didn't take so kindly to being force-fed a daily diet of Reaganite politics and one day several people walked out of our daily briefing in protest.

Personally I thought it was incredibly rude and unprofessional. We were there as journalists and journalists record things. If you walk out of such a meeting you're putting your views ahead of your readers.

We stayed in a small college style building a few miles from Downtown DC. I shared a room with Michael and all I remember is, he snored extremely loudly.

Worse, it coincided with my having the most terrible toothache. The pain would build up during the night until it was almost unbearable for about an hour, and then recede. During the day it was OK but I daren't go to a dentist because I was worried how much it would cost.

When I got home I discovered I had an access which the the dentist treated by drilling a small hole in the tooth. This released the pressure and I remember what a huge relief it was.

"That must have been extremely painful," said the dentist sympathetically.

"It was," I said, "but the guy I was sharing a room with was snoring so loudly I couldn't sleep anyway."

(A few days later I had root canal surgery to remove the nerve, but that's another story.)

Anyway, in between the political brainwashing (which I rather enjoyed) and the toothache (which I didn't) we visited the White House, the Washington Memorial and lots of other landmarks.

We also visited Williamsburg, the old colonial capital, which I would recommend to anyone touring the States.

And I met Todd Buchholz, who was one of the YAF guides. Todd and I have kept in touch ever since and last year my family even visited his family in San Diego.

Four years later I was director of the Media Monitoring Unit which was set up in 1985 to monitor current affairs programmes for political bias.

I was approached by Sir Alfred Sherman, a former advisor to Margaret Thatcher and a rather eccentric figure, who had ambitions to set up his own monitoring operation.

Sherman paid me to go to America to research other media monitoring outfits. The Washington-based Accuracy In Media was one and I spent several days in their Georgetown office reading reports and immersing myself in their work.

After that I flew to Nashville, Tennessee, home of the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, which describes itself as "the world's most extensive and complete archive of television news".

Sherman wanted to create something similar in the UK but the cost was prohibitive and the project was shelved.

So here I am, 27 years later, about to board a flight home after my third trip to Washington. I hope it won't be my last.

I sat in on some interesting meetings, met some interesting people, ate in some excellent restaurants and drank in some excellent bars.

Forget all that nonsense about weak American beer, by the way. Some of the craft beer (Port City IPA, for example) is as good as anything you'd drink in Belgium.

Sadly I had no opportunity to use the "mini intimacy kit" my hotel kindly supplied.

It included two premium condoms, a water-based personal lubricant, "lover's mints" and a feather tickler.

Now that's what I call service.

God bless America.

PS. If only British politics had campaign ads like this:

Thursday
Oct092014

Face to face with Dr Evil

You meet some larger than life characters in Washington.

Rick Berman runs the Center for Consumer Freedom, a Washington-based campaign whose slogan is 'Promoting individual responsibility and defending the freedom to choose'.

I 'discovered' the CCF a decade ago. I loved the swagger, the controlled aggression and cutting humour directed at opponents.

According to Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics, "They're quite clever and they're funny, so they're very dangerous."

Berman has won numerous awards from his peers in advertising and public affairs but opponents have a name for him - Dr Evil.

His principal strategy appears to be, destroy your opponent's credibility before they destroy yours.

Seven years ago I wanted to launch a UK version of the Center for Consumer Freedom. I played with the idea of calling it the Centre for Consumer Choice but shortened it to Consumer Choice to avoid accusations of plagiarism.

For a variety of reasons it didn't happen. Now, finally, we're giving the project another chance. Renamed Action on Consumer Choice, it will launch next month.

There's no grand plan but Rick Berman didn't have one either. He simply went with the flow. Likewise I expect Action on Consumer Choice to evolve according to events.

Rest assured it won't have any impact on Forest. Defending the interests of those who choose to smoke remains our number one priority but it's time to broaden our horizons and embrace other products.

Consumers who believe in choice and personal responsibility must have a voice. With a few tweaks for a UK audience, I can't think of a better model than Rick Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom.

Below: My favourite CCF advertisement

Wednesday
Oct082014

Save the date

Date for your diary.

The directors of Forest invite you to mark our 35th anniversary and the launch of a new campaign, Action on Consumer Choice.

Venue: Boisdale of Belgravia
Date: Tuesday November 4, 2014
Time: 6.30pm to late

Latin Cocktails, Cuban Canapés
Wine, Spirits, Beer,
Speeches, Live Music
Heated Smoking Terrace

RSVP to register your interest. Email events@forestonline.org or telephone 01223 370156.

Tuesday
Oct072014

Russian smokers behind international movement for smokers' rights

COP6 meets in Moscow next week.

COP (as you all know) stands for Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Fifteen hundred representatives from 195 countries will take part in this enormous state-funded beano.

Agenda items include 'Control and prevention of globally emerging products' (including e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco) and 'Implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC: evolving issues relating to the interference of the tobacco industry'.

Bizarrely, because Interpol has accepted money from a tobacco company to help crack down on illicit trade, WHO has taken the extraordinary step of banning the organisation from attending. (See Interpol versus the World Health Organisation.)

I could have been in Moscow myself last week for a smaller, less publicised event. But first, let me take you back to July when I found myself in Zurich meeting the mysterious Mr A (aka Andrey, executive director of the All-Russian Smokers’ Rights Movement).

I couldn't say much about it at the time but it boiled down to this: Andrey had plans to organise a smokers' rights conference in Moscow in October and bill it as the First International Conference on Smokers' Rights. Would I support the project?

Through an interpreter he explained he runs a cigar club in Russia and has contacts with other smoking clubs worldwide. (I suspect they are cigar clubs mostly.)

I'm always happy to support new initiatives if the people involved appear sane and sensible so I agreed to attend, if I could.

Andrey wanted me to speak at a press conference to announce plans for a global movement but I was reluctant to commit until I'd seen the full "declaration".

Five weeks later, having heard nothing more, I was sent an invitation to the conference that not only featured a photo of my beaming face, it listed me as one of three organisers.

I hadn't organised anything! This was the first time I'd seen an agenda and I still had no idea who was participating.

More to the point, I couldn't go because the conference was now taking place not in October but on Tuesday September 30, the day after Forest's late night reception at the Conservative party conference and the day before I was due to fly to America for GTNF.

Believe me, I did everything I could to make it happen.

I found I could catch an Easyjet flight to Moscow leaving at 7.00am (UK time) on Tuesday. I would miss much of the conference but I would be in time for the media briefing and the gala dinner.

The next problem was: how to get to West Virginia from Moscow in time for GTNF which began on Wednesday evening? I spent an entire morning searching for flights. Logistically it proved impossible so, regretfully, I pulled out.

I'm told the conference was a success but whether it will lead to anything more remains to be seen. A Russian-led revolt against the tobacco Taliban takes a bit of getting used to. (Does Putin know?!)

You can download an interview with Andrey here (the original is online here), and if you click here you'll see some photos of the conference.

There don't appear to be a huge number of delegates but I'm told participants came from Australia, Belarus, Cuba, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Latvia, Peru, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and Venezuela.

Goodness knows who they all are but they agreed to set up the International Movement for Smokers’ Rights and several organisational models are now being considered. Should anything develop I'll keep you posted.

PS. Technically this wasn't the first International Smokers' Rights Conference. That was at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in June 2005.

I suspect however the US event was more World Series than World Cup.