Forest's Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign this week unveiled a new poster with the message, "Pubs Need Smokers" (see full image below). The poster can be downloaded from the Taking Liberties blog. We ask that you send it to your MP and take a copy to your local pub.

Although we recognise that it will be very difficult to persuade the Government to review the smoking ban, we are determined to continue our campaign to amend the ban. In addition to the support we have received from MPs from all three leading parties, we were encouraged by an article in the Daily Telegraph (August 17).

Written by Philip Johnston, the headline says it all: Smokers could breathe life back into pubs. Philip, btw, was one of the speakers in the recent Voices of Freedom series of debates organised by our sister campaign The Free Society.

Smoking in cars

The tobacco control campaign to ban smoking in cars where children are present continued this month with the publication of a YouGov poll for the Faculty of Public Health that claimed that 74 per cent of people support legislation to prohibit behaviour that some doctors are now openly describing as a form of "child abuse".

Forest has responded vigorously to such language and we remain firmly opposed to calls for such a ban which would almost certainly be extended to include all cars, irrespective of whether children were present or not. The fact is, judging by comments received from many Forest supporters, very few smokers now light up in their cars when their children are present because, like most people, they choose to err on the side of courtesy.

This week Forest director Simon Clark discussed the issue on BBC Radio Ulster. Writing on his blog, Clark commented: "Enjoyed a bit of a spat with a Dr Joe Kidney (?) who repeated the claim, made by one of his colleagues in the medical profession, that smoking in cars while children are present is a form of child abuse.

"His main argument, however (apart from the usual stats about the health risk to young children, which I queried), was the fact that in a recent You Gov poll 74 per cent of people supported such a ban. Hardly surprising when 74 per cent of the population equates, roughly, to the percentage of non-smokers in Britain!

"Meanwhile, as many people have already made clear on this blog, relatively few people light up in a car when small children are present, so why the need for oppressive legislation?"

You can listen to the progamme here until Sunday August 29. The item begins about one hour 12 minutes in.

Litter and the cautionary take of a 70-year-old widow

Two weeks ago the West Midlands-based Sunday Mercury reported that an elderly widow had been handed a fixed penalty of £75 for dropping cigarette ash on the pavement and threatened with a fine of £2,500 if she doesn't pay.

Blogger Anna Raccoon, who initiated the campaign that - with your help - got landlord Nick Hogan released from jail in March, has vowed to help Sheila Martin, 70, in any way she can.

Meanwhile, in a follow-up piece in the Sunday Mercury, Forest director Simon Clark told the paper: “What is happening to [Sheila] is just another example of the bully state. Smokers are easy targets and while we do not condone littering, this case is just a complete overreaction by Sandwell Council. We will not allow this old lady to be bullied and we will do everything we can to help her.”

Watch this space.

Forest Eireann - voice of the smoker in Ireland

This month we unveiled a new group. Forest Eireann has been set up to represent smokers in Ireland. Spokesman is John Mallon and John appeared on RTE Radio 1 this week to defend the Irish prime minister Brian Cowen who was spotted (shock horror) smoking a cigarette at Croke Park, the national stadium, last Sunday. The incident was front page news in Ireland and John had this to say on the new Forest Eireann blog:

"So, Brian Cowen lit a cigarette in Croke Park and it's front page news? Anyone would think that we had very little to worry about in Ireland these days. Indeed, if I were Brian, my next move would be to light a fag in a public bar on Budget Day. He could halve the old age pension, double the VAT and raise income tax to 82% and the lead story next morning would be 'Smoker spotted in boozer'."

Comments welcome!

STOP PRESS: This morning (August 26) John was interviewed for 20 minutes on Clare FM. John reports that "Every call to the station (and there were a lot) were messages of support."



Read Simon Clark's blog Taking Liberties