Beat the Ban - a Prohibition lunch

As part of our ongoing campaign against the generational smoking ban, Forest is hosting a further event in London today.

Featuring several guest speakers, Beat The Ban: Fight For Choice - A Prohibition Lunch will highlight the wide range of opposition to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that is currently progressing through Parliament.

Venue is Boisdale of Belgravia where we have exclusive use of the terrace and restaurant from noon to 4.00pm. 

Although the second reading of the Bill – which will ban the sale of tobacco to all future generations of adults – was passed (with Labour support) by a large majority of MPs, there was significant opposition from Conservative MPs (57 voted against and a further 106 didn’t vote so their votes are arguably still up for grabs).

The third reading of the Bill is expected within weeks - following the committee and report stages - so there is still time to influence MPs (and peers) to vote against legislation that will prohibit not only the sale of cigarettes to future generations of adults but other tobacco products including cigars, cigarillos, loose leaf tobacco, heated tobacco, and even rolling paper.

The lunch follows two previous campaign events - the first at Old Queen Street Cafe in Westminster in November, the second at the House of Commons in February.

Guests include MPs, journalists, parliamentary researchers, retailers, and representatives of several Westminster think tanks.

The event is fully booked with 70 confirmed guests. Full report (and photos) to follow.

We thought it was all over … it is now

I make no apologies for writing about women’s football again, if only as an epilogue to a couple of recent posts.

Three weeks ago, as I explained here, I was one of almost 40,000 spectators at Stamford Bridge who watched the second leg of the Women’s Champions League match between Chelsea and Barcelona.

Chelsea were not at their best and lost 2-0 (2-1 on aggregate) which was disappointing but not unexpected. Barcelona, after all, have been the best women’s team in the world for several years.

A few days later Chelsea - the defending champions who had won the Women’s Super League four years running - lost again in a chaotic match won 4-3 by Liverpool.

This prompted long-serving manager Emma Hayes to effectively concede the title to Manchester City who were six points ahead of Chelsea with a significantly better goal difference, albeit Chelsea had played one game less and had three games to play compared to City’s two.

Fast forward to the following weekend and in the 88th minute Manchester City were 1-0 up against Arsenal, Chelsea’s fiercest rivals, and on course to be nine points clear of Chelsea who were playing relegated Bristol City later in the day.

I watched the City-Arsenal game on TV and although Arsenal enjoyed a better second half few would predicted what happened next. The visitors scored twice in the last few minutes to win the match 2-1.

Buoyed by that result, Chelsea then beat Bristol City 8-0, overturning the goal difference with Man City in a feverish atmosphere at Kingsmeadow, the team’s home ground in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Addressing the crowd after the match - her final home game before leaving the club to become head coach of the United States’ women’s football team - Hayes rowed back on her previous comment.

Now she told supporters:

“Let me be clear. It’s not fucking over yet. There is no time for sentimentality. All work drinks have been cancelled. There is a title to be won.”

Last Wednesday a 1-0 win against Tottenham brought her team level on points with City, with Chelsea now two goals better off.

And so to yesterday, the final day of the WSL season. City were at Aston Villa, while Chelsea were playing Man United at Old Trafford in front of almost 30,000.

Chelsea had arguably the more difficult match, having lost 2-1 to United in the Women’s FA Cup semi-final only last month.

United were also playing on the back of winning the FA Cup (4-0 against Tottenham) at Wembley last Saturday.

If you don’t know, Man City beat Villa 2-1. Chelsea, however, went one better. Actually, make that six better.

A goal up after two minutes, two up after eight, and four up at half-time, the final score was 6-0.

Yes, United’s defending was comically dreadful at times, but in the first half - before she went off early in the second - there was a truly stupendous performance by the Colombian forward Mayra Ramírez.

Since arriving at the club in January following a long-term injury to Chelsea’s star player, the Australian captain Sam Kerr, Ramírez’s appearances have been limited by a series of niggling injuries, most recently a hamstring injury that had kept her out since April 14.

Sadly, that included the second leg of the Women’s Champions League match against Barcelona. Yesterday was her first game back and for 45 minutes, until she succumbed to cramp, she was sensational.

Chelsea, then, are the WSL champions for the fifth year running. Two weeks ago we thought it was all over … it is now.

My hospital stories

Talking of hospitals (see previous post), I’ve been quite lucky, I think.

Although I’ve had a number of hospital appointments in recent years - mostly for scans (MRI, CT, ultrasound) - that’s more to do with ageing than anything serious.

I’ve not required a hospital bed nor have I been kept in for more than a few hours.

The last time I needed a bed was in 2008 when I was taken to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington in an ambulance for what turned out to be a gall stone. But even then I discharged myself after five hours.

The longest I’ve ever been in hospital was the ten days I spent in Dundee Royal Infirmary in 1971. I was twelve years old and was rushed to hospital with acute appendicitis.

I didn’t know it was appendicitis or acute until I got to hospital, but I was in severe pain and they operated within hours of my arrival.

(Had they not removed my appendix, I’m told it would have burst, which is quite serious.)

The operation was notable (for me) because I ‘woke up’ from the general anaesthetic while they were still stitching me up, but I was sufficiently sedated that I couldn’t move or speak so I just had to grin and bear it, although I could feel the needle going in and out.

I’ve read that it’s very rare but does happen and I remember it to this day, although it wasn’t as bad as it sounds.

However, the reason I ended up in hospital for ten days was because the wound got badly infected so they had to keep me in while they treated it.

I’ll spare you the gory details but reopening the wound to relieve the pressure caused by the infection was even more painful than the acute appendicitis. (You’ve never seen so many swabs!)

Those ten days in hospital were nevertheless an interesting experience.

I was in a children’s ward and in the bed next to me was a boy - eight-years-old, perhaps - who had spina bifida but was the nicest, most cheerful person you could wish to meet.

I may be wrong, but in those days children with spina bifida were not expected to live very long.

Perhaps he didn’t know this, but there was no self pity, or grumbling, and I sometimes think back and wonder what happened to him.

Another thing I remember is that, after ten days, it was a bit of a wrench to go home (and I was very happy at home!).

Despite the terrible food, and the significant incentive of going home to my mother's cooking, I think I got institutionalised very quickly to the rhythm of the hospital day - from the (very) early breakfasts to lights out at 8.00pm or whenever it was – and the camaraderie of the children's ward.

Anyway, I was off school for SIX WEEKS which was great at the time but, although my teachers sent me homework, the break did me no favours when it came to the end of year exams.

A few years earlier, when I was six or seven, I remember having a painful sty removed from one eye. That required a visit to a hospital in Staines, I think.

Afterwards I wore an eye patch for a week but it was a white one. In my view (no pun intended), black pirate style eye patches should be mandatory for children and adults.

Then, when I was ten (and shortly after we moved to Scotland), I tripped jumping over a low wall at school and broke a bone in my hand, and that led to my first visit to Dundee Royal Infirmary.

Sitting in his office after my fall, the headmaster (Mr Russell), assured me I hadn’t broken my hand but sent me home anyway.

When I returned to school the next day, hand, wrist, and arm in a rigid plaster cast, he said: “Ah, I thought so.”

Apart from that, I’ve been lucky with fractures or worse.

Age is now creeping up on me so hospital visits may become more common both for me and my contemporaries.

Then again, it will be something to write about so if I do end up in hospital for any length of time I'll be sure to blog about it!

Going private

I had my first experience of a private hospital this week.

Nothing serious. I was referred there by my GP because the ‘issue’ I have is considered cosmetic and not something the NHS wishes to spend public money on, which is fair enough.

Anyway, I arrived in good time - 45 minutes before my appointment - but there was a problem. Although it was a modern building, there were simply not enough parking spaces.

Round and round I went, looking for somewhere to park, without success. And I wasn’t alone.

A woman in a Range-Rover was also looking for a parking space. She followed me, then I followed her. Eventually, as we were both turning, we caught one another’s eye and shrugged, then laughed.

Others had double-parked, blocking cars in. I didn’t want to do that but parking on the road outside the hospital was prohibited and the nearest residential roads - we were in a leafy, expensive part of town - were a quarter of a mile away and designated as ‘private’ and ‘resident parking only’.

The clock was ticking and I was beginning to get stressed so I drove back to the hospital and parked in one of four bays reserved for disabled drivers directly outside the entrance. (Well, I have been suffering from gout.)

Fortunately, when I explained the situation at reception, they were perfectly all right with it.

“That’s fine,” said the receptionist, smiling and pointing me to a device that asked me to register my registration number.

This being my first time there, I then had to fill in some forms and give them my credit card details. Payment, they said, could be made online when I got home - they would send me an invoice.

I was then asked to sit in the waiting area (soft, soothing muzak played in the background) until I was called for my 30-minute appointment which was scheduled for 3.00pm.

And here’s the thing. At three o’clock prompt (or it may have been two minutes’ past), the consultant came out, called my name, and in I went.

That never (or very rarely) happens with the NHS.

I have arrived at an NHS hospital for an 11.00pm appointment (a scan, for example) and had to wait one or two hours.

Or I’ve gone to my local GP for a 9.00am appointment and been seen at 9.20, the timetable already behind schedule.

(Ten-minute appointments are ridiculously short, btw. They really need to be 15 or 20 minutes, to allow the doctor to do the paperwork as well as see the patient, but I guess that would mean fewer people being seen and waiting lists being even longer.)

Anyway, my first taste of a private hospital was brief but, car parking aside, extremely efficient.

So too was the speed with which the invoice arrived, quickly followed by a quote for the relevant operation/procedure.

“That’s the cost of a holiday!” my wife gasped when she saw it, but I’m only following my GP’s advice.

“I’d have it done,” he told me a few months ago, having undergone a similar albeit smaller procedure himself.

Then again, as he also told me, he got “mate’s rates”.

Lucky man!

Wanted - spokesman for Forest in Ireland

The Irish Government this week confirmed that it intends to raise the age of sale of tobacco from 18 to 21.

On Monday, ahead of the announcement, I appeared on RTE Radio 1 and The Tonight Show (Virgin Media). I also gave some soundbites to Newstalk for use on their news bulletins.

The following day (Tuesday) I was interviewed by two local radio stations, Live 95 in Limerick, and LMFM which is based in Drogheda, County Louth, north of Dublin.

And yesterday I was on the daily Opinion Line (phone-in) on Cork’s 96FM.

The reason I did those interviews is because we have yet to find someone to replace John Mallon who was our spokesman in Ireland from 2010 until his very sad death in December following a long battle with ill health.

No-one is irreplaceable but John was (almost) perfect for the role, not least because he genuinely believed in and supported smokers’ rights, even after he quit smoking and switched to vapes.

He also came without any political baggage or ‘history’, so in that sense he was a blank canvas.

Anyway, he was clearly liked by many of the presenters on whose shows he often appeared, and when I notified one of John’s death, I received this reply:

‘I’m so sorry to hear that devastating news. I have spoken to John many times over the years and he was a wonderful man and passionate in his field.’

On Tuesday I received a text from a radio producer. ‘Where’s John?’, it asked, and after I explained the situation the reaction was one of genuine regret.

People may not have agreed with him on the subject of smoking, but John was an amiable man and most of the people he met or talked to seemed to like him.

Also, thanks to his annual media tours when he would travel to radio stations around the country to be interviewed in person, he was a familiar face to many broadcasters.

This week John’s absence has been felt even more keenly, not least by me, but in stepping in to his shoes - temporarily - it is actually a reminder of the days before we recruited John to be Forest’s spokesman in Ireland.

Before and after the introduction of the smoking ban in March 2004 I did quite a few interviews on Irish radio and, very occasionally, on TV too.

It’s far better though to have an Irish voice representing Forest in Ireland, which is why we are currently advertising for John’s successor.

Full details here.

Fingers crossed, I shall be interviewing candidates in Dublin next month so if you know someone who might be interested in the role, do send them the link.

Nine years ago we placed a similar ad in the hope of recruiting someone to assist John. We received quite a few applications and ended up interviewing four or five candidates.

Unfortunately the person we gave the job to left ‘by mutual agreement’ after two months, but that’s another story.

PS. PJ Coogan, host of the Opinion Line on Cork’s 96FM, paid a very nice tribute to John on air yesterday, describing him as very “affable”.

As a resident of Cork, born and bred, John appeared many times on the Opinion Line so it was nice of PJ to say something.

Below: Me being interviewed at the RTE studios in Dublin many years ago

Last night on The Tonight Show

Busy day yesterday and not just because I was attending a family funeral.

Sod’s Law, minutes before we set off for West Mersea near Colchester, I was alerted to reports that the Irish Government was to consider raising the age of sale of tobacco from 18 to 21 at a Cabinet meeting this week.

The initiative – which appears to have the approval of Simon Harris, the new Taoiseach, was first reported two weeks ago by the Irish Examiner.

Surprisingly the story didn't make a bigger splash, although our response was reported in a follow-up piece by the same paper, and I also did a couple of local radio interviews.

Yesterday however the story was widely reported by RTE and several other newspapers, so we immediately issued a news release with Forest's reaction.

This led to requests for interviews from, among others, RTE, Newstalk, Today FM, and Virgin Media (the equivalent of ITV in Ireland).

Given the circumstances I couldn't do them all, but I did appear on RTE Radio 1 (from a car park near Stansted) with Professor Luke Clancy, founder of the TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland.

Luke and I go back a long way - at least 20 years - when he was director of ASH Ireland and we went head-to-head several times on TV and radio.

That was before the smoking ban was introduced in Ireland in March 2004 and long before we established Forest Ireland in 2010.

Late last night I was also one of three guests who were invited to discuss the issue on The Tonight Show on Virgin Media.

The others were Senator Tim Lombard (Fine Gael spokesman on Agriculture, Food, Forestry and the Marine), and our old friend Professor John Crown.

You can watch the programme (it's the first item) here.

Needless to say my media appearances have not made the slightest difference and today it's been reported that plans to raise the age of sale to 21 have been approved by Cabinet.

A couple of points worth noting though.

One, during what was quite a heated interview on RTE (the presenter took umbrage with several things I said), I quoted Ireland’s Health Research Board on the subject of alcohol.

According to the HRB, one in three drinkers aged 15-24 has an alcohol use disorder which begs the question: surely a far more important priority for government is tackling misuse of alcohol among younger people?

In reply, Prof Clancy commented that raising the age of sale of alcohol could happen as well. You read it here first, folks!

Two, on the question of vaping, there seems to be a narrative developing in Ireland that e-cigarettes are a gateway for children to start smoking.

It was mentioned twice on The Tonight Show and when I challenged it and asked for evidence, Prof Crown chose to ignore my comment while Senator Lombard quoted research based on what sounded like anecdotal and therefore unsubstantiated evidence provided by pupils at a school in Cork.

Is that it?

I also recorded some soundbites for Newstalk to use in their news bulletins, and this morning I did two more interviews - on Limerick Today (Live 95), and the Michael Reade Show on LMFM.

At one point Reade said “people want” the government to raise the age of sale of tobacco to 21, which wasn’t the first time I’d heard this said in the last 24 hours.

It’s based, I believe, on a poll that found that 76 per cent of the general public (and 71 per cent of smokers) support raising the age of sale.

My point, when I challenged Reade, was that you can’t say “people want” something when almost 25 per cent don’t want it.

Perhaps I’m being pedantic but at the very least you have to qualify the statement otherwise the views of a significant minority are whitewashed from history.

See also - Smoking lobby group: ‘We should be trusted to buy cigarettes at 18’ (Newstalk)

Above: with presenter Kieran Cuddihy on The Tonight Show (Virgin Media). Below: all the guests featured on last night’s programme.

Remembering Uncle Roy

I attended a family funeral yesterday.

During his working life my Uncle Roy (my mother's brother) was a GP who trained at St Thomas's Hospital in London in the 1950s.

(For decades I thought I was born at St Thomas's because of that connection but I'm now told I was born at another hospital nearby.)

Anyway, from the stories I've heard, Uncle Roy and his fellow trainee doctors could have been the inspiration for Doctor in the House, the 1954 film starring starring Kenneth More, Dirk Bogarde, and James Robertson Justice.

After he qualified, Roy married, became a GP, and moved with his family (I have four cousins) to Colchester where he commissioned an architect to design a spacious modern house that included a surgery and waiting room on the ground floor.

This was the house that subsequently featured in a Channel 4 series called From Ugly House to Lovely House, which I wrote about here.

But as well as enjoying a successful medical career, Roy was also an amateur racing driver. After rolling his car once too often, he eventually quit and took up sailing instead.

His interest in sport also led him to become medical officer to the British team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Within twelve months he was appointed chairman of the British Olympic Association medical committee.

I remember him chiefly, though, for his warmth and good humour, and the wry amusement with which he greeted most things in life.

After he retired he and my aunt Sarah moved to West Mersea on Mersey Island near Colchester where they were members of the local yacht club and where a memorial to Roy will take place next month.

Yesterday's service was primarily for immediate family and it was nice to meet and talk to cousins I haven't seen for decades.

Roy was 94, a grand old age. His older sister (my aunt), who lives in Zurich, is 99, and my mother is 93.

The question is, have those long life family genes been passed down to me? I sincerely hope not!

I’m in love … with my iPad

Apple has faced a significant backlash in recent days following the release of an ad for its new iPad Pro.

According to one report:

Apple has apologised for its new iPad Pro advert where it crushed cameras, books and musical instruments, saying it "missed the mark".

The advert - shared online by Apple chief executive Tim Cook - also featured creative tools such as a record player and a metronome being crushed in an industrial press.

It was intended to show off the wide range of tools that the thinnest ever iPad can be used for.

Misstep? Perhaps, but I do think the reaction has been wildly excessive because, at the end of the day, it’s just an ad.

Critics included the comedian Simon Evans who spoke at the Forest Summer Lunch last year. I liked Simon very much (and still do!) but while his article for Spiked was, as ever, well written and from the heart, it struck me as a bit overwrought.

But it was when the likes of Hugh Grant started giving us the benefit of their opinion that I felt I had to respond, and what tipped me over the edge was an article by food writer and restaurant critic William Sitwell.

Writing for the Telegraph, Sitwell didn’t restrict his criticism to the ad but went further and argued:

This could be the tipping point for the awful iPad. Let’s smash them in that giant crusher, to smithereens and embrace real objects; inventions that celebrate and encourage the best of human endeavour.

Oh, f*ck off! The iPad is a magnificent device to which I am completely devoted (not addicted). Like most things I could live without it, but I’d prefer not to.

Launched in 2010, three years after the iPhone, I think I’m on my third or fourth iPad and I rarely if ever leave the house without it.

Together with my wallet, my reading glasses, and the keys to my house, I take it everywhere. The only time I don’t have it with me is when I’m walking the dog!

I won’t say how many hours, on average, I am glued to its ultra retina screen each day because it’s a bit embarrassing, but the idea that without it I would do something more useful or creative is nonsense.

According to Sitwell, his criticism is reserved exclusively for the iPad. His iPhone is exempt, he says, because:

For me, the iPhone is essential – along with all its glorious accessories from train ticket purchasing and banking to communicating and frivolity. And then I have a Mac, my personal computer upon which I write.

I too have an iPhone, and a Mac (an iMac), but for my ageing eyes the iPad is better than an iPhone for most things because an 11” screen (the smaller of two sizes) is far easier to read and use than even the largest iPhone (6.7”).

Today I read almost everything - books, newspapers, magazines etc - on my iPad because I struggle if I have to read anything of any length on an iPhone. (Text and WhatsApp messages are OK but that’s about it.)

I find paperback books especially difficult to read these days because the printed text seems so small, but an iPad allows you to increase the size and the larger screen means I can read books and online publications in comfort.

The only limiting factor for a persistent user like me is the battery but that’s rarely an issue these days. As long as it’s fully charged when I leave the house, I should be able to use my iPad all day until I get home in the evening, when I can recharge it again.

Most of the posts I write for this blog are written on my iPad and then copied and pasted onto the Squarespace platform that hosts the blog.

You probably don’t want to hear this but I’m actually writing this post on my iPad while I’m in the bath, which I wouldn’t dare do on my iPhone in case I dropped the smaller device in the water!

The larger digital keyboard on the iPad is also far more comfortable to use than the much smaller keyboard on an iPhone, although younger people seem to manage perfectly well with their more dexterous fingers.

Meanwhile the much larger display on an iPad means I’m not straining my eyes, as I would if I was using my iPhone all the time.

As I say, I have an iMac too but even when I’m using that, as I do most days, the iPad sits next to it, on a stand, so I am constantly swapping from one to the other.

For many years I also had the wonderful MacBook Pro laptop but I found I was using it less and less in favour of the iPad.

The iPad can’t completely replace a MacBook, but it’s obviously lighter, and smaller, and therefore more convenient when travelling or even moving room to room at home.

Today I would only use a laptop if I was going to be working away from home or office for more than a few days and needed access to all the additional software a laptop can offer, although you can get iPad versions of Word, Excel etc.

What I’m trying to say is, the iPad is one of the greatest consumer products ever invented and no-one will convince me otherwise.

It has changed my life far more than the iPhone - which is a fine product in its own right and was genuinely revolutionary when it first appeared - and I wouldn’t be without it.

Sales of iPads may be relatively small compared to the iPhone but for people like me, who need a simple hand held mobile computer for business and leisure, it’s far from ‘awful’ - it’s just about perfect.