NHS Trust conducts poll on smoking in hospital grounds

An NHS Trust in Colchester wants to ban smoking in hospital grounds, forcing smokers to walk 300 yards to a busy main road if they want to light up.

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust used No Smoking Day to launch a poll on its proposals. You must respond online before March 31, but why wait (hint hint).

The local paper has the story, with a quote from me, here.

Tobacco display ban - news and interviews

Channel 4 News featured a report about the tobacco display ban last week. Included a soundbite from me.

To hear an interview with me on Five Live Drive, click here before Wednesday. You'll find it at 2:18:40.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley was interviewed on the same programme at 00:21:30.

Welcome to the promise land

Back from Ireland but busy writing an article so things may be a little quiet for a while.

Did I mention that I am flying back to Dublin on Saturday? I have been promised tickets for the Ireland-England match at the new Aviva Stadium. In Ireland however a promise is no guarantee so I have booked my flight, and a hotel close to the ground, in hope rather than expectation.

Fingers crossed.

No rest for the wicked

Just back from London where I was interviewed by Five Live Drive and Channel 4 News.

Earlier I gave interviews on behalf of Forest to BBC Radio Sussex, Radio Devon, Radio Cambridgeshire, Radio Solent, Radio Sheffield and Radio Essex.

Meanwhile, representing The Free Society, my colleague Tom Miers was interviewed by Radio Cumbria, Radio Merseyside and Radio Lincolnshire.

I'd sleep well tonight ... if I didn't have to get up at 3.30 to drive to Stansted to catch an early morning (6.20) flight to Cork.

There really is no rest for the wicked.

Update: Currently in Dublin, having flown into Cork at 7.45 for a meeting with John Mallon of Forest Eireann after which I caught the inter-city train to Dublin (a three-hour journey), arriving mid afternoon.

Evenings in Dublin are never dull and tonight should be no different. I'm meeting up with three "business associates" and the fun starts at 7.30. Wish me luck before I go-go ...

That tobacco control plan in full

The Department of Health has now released its Tobacco Control Plan.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has confirmed plans to implement Labour legislation to ban the display of tobacco in shops.

Retailers will be given additional time to prepare. The regulations will now begin on 6 April 2012 for large stores and 6 April 2015 for all other shops.

On plain packaging, "the Government has an open mind and wants to hear views". There will be a consultation and an "assessment of the impact" before the end of 2011.

Quoting directly from the written statement, the Tobacco Control Plan has three "national ambitions" to reduce smoking rates in England by the end of 2015:

• From 21.2 per cent to 18.5 per cent or less among adults
• From 15 per cent to 12 per cent or less among 15 year olds, and
• From 14 per cent to 11 per cent or less among pregnant mothers

"These ambitions represent reductions in smoking rates that exceed the reductions we have seen in the past five years."

The Government has set out key actions in the following six areas:

• stopping the promotion of tobacco;
• making tobacco less affordable;
• effective regulation of tobacco products;
• helping tobacco users to quit;
• reducing exposure to secondhand smoke; and
• effective communications for tobacco control.

Full Government statement here.

See also: Forest attacks tobacco control plans (press release),
Brand ban no way to a Big Society (Tom Miers, The Free Society)

Update on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 12:07 by Simon Clark

Media coverage includes:

Big tobacco counter cover-up (Daily Mail)
Tobacco displays to be banned from shops (BBC News)
Tobacco display to be banned in UK in push to cut smoking-related deaths (Bloomberg)

There's also an amusing piece the Daily Mash:

Tories to treat you like children too: it is not just the Labour Party who wants to treat you like a three year-old child, it has emerged.

H/T Tom Miers

Have the Tories misread support for tobacco control?

However depressing today's Government announcement may be, there is some good news.

Long gone, for example, are the days when it felt as though Forest was fighting a lone battle against the anti-smoking movement.

For the first time I can remember, there is a genuine coalition of forces lined up against against excessive tobacco control, as a letter in today's Daily Telegraph reveals. It's signed by:

Patrick Basham, director, Democracy Institute
Dr Eamonn Butler, director, Adam Smith Institute
Donna Edmunds, director of Research, Progressive Vision
Dr Helen Evans, director, Nurses for Reform
Dr Tim Evans, chairman, Economic Policy Centre
Daniel Hamilton, director, Big Brother Watch
Angela Harbutt, executive director, Liberal Vision
Tim Knox, acting director, Centre for Policy Studies
Mark Littlewood, director-general, IEA
Matthew Sinclair, director, The TaxPayers’ Alliance
Simon Richards, director, The Freedom Association

Meanwhile I have written article for ConservativeHome – aWhatever happened to the party of business, deregulation and personal responsibility?.

Regardless of your political affiliation, please add a comment to demonstrate the strength of opinion on this issue. Click here.

You should also write to your newspaper and to your Conservative MP, if you have one.

No Smoking Day - it's your call

There hasn't been this much excitement around No Smoking Day for years. We must thank Health Secretary Andrew Lansley for giving this tired old wreck the kiss of life.

As I write I am about to be interviewed by BBC Radio Cumbria followed by Radio Sussex, Radio Devon and Radio Cambridgeshire. My colleague Tom Miers from The Free Society is doing Radio Merseyside and I'm then due to appear on Radio Lincolnshire, Radio Sheffield and Radio Shropshire. We've also arranged for someone to appear on BBC Radio Wales between 9.15 and 10.00. I suspect there may be one or two more interviews before the day is out.

One that got away was Five Live Breakfast. I was contacted yesterday afternoon but they decided eventually to book a retailer plus our old friend Philip Davies MP to oppose someone from ASH.

(Yesterday, in response to a question from Davies who described the possible introduction of plain packaging as "nanny state politics of the worst kind", Lansley said that the forthcoming tobacco control plan would have a clear purpose – to reduce the "number of people smoking and as a consequence avoidable deaths and disease".)

Anyway we understand that the policy announcement will take place at 9.30 in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement. In the meantime, in the early hours of this morning, the BBC published this report - Plans to target sale of tobacco products to be unveiled - which provides a little more information. It sounds plausible but watch this space.

Update: I was told last night that tobacco control would be the subject of Your Call, the Five Live phone-in with Nicky Campbell (hence the title of this post). In fact, they are talking about religious bigotry surrounding Old Firm games in Glasgow so I have edited this post accordingly.

Smokers wanted

Tomorrow is No Smoking Day.

We occasionally receive requests from the media who want to speak to "ordinary" smokers who enjoy smoking, have no intention of giving up, and are prepared to say so.

Forest keeps a shortlist of people we put forward on such occasions. One of them is Jenty Burrill, a long-term supporter who invariably does a great job. Without ranting or raising her voice, Jenty comes across as sane, rational and utterly normal.

Presenters like her because she has a sense of humour and is honest about the potential health risks of smoking, and indeed her own health after many years of smoking. The last time she was interviewed - on BBC Radio Kent a couple of months ago - she charmed the presenter and it was a very entertaining few minutes.

If you would like to be considered please email contact@forestonline.org with the following details: name, gender, age, town/region, telephone number.

A colleague will contact you in due course.

PS. BBC Radio Five Live - together with Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, I have just been interviewed by Gabby Logan on the subject of smoking in cars with children. It will be online later, I guess.