Above: Forest director Simon Clark on BBC1's Sunday Politics

It's been another busy year for Forest. Here are some of the highlights:

In 2014 issues included:

Plain packaging of tobacco
Smoking in cars with children
Smoking in hospital grounds
Smoking in parks and squares
Vaping and electronic cigarettes
EU Tobacco Products Directive
Increase in tobacco duty
Proposal to ban sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2000

We responded to these and many other matters including (just yesterday) ...

'Stop the rot', Public Health England's latest anti-smoking campaign.

Forest spokesmen appeared regularly on national and local TV and radio including BBC News, ITV News, Sky News, LBC and BBC Five Live. Director Simon Clark was also interviewed on the World at One and Today programmes (BBC Radio Four), Daily Politics (BBC2) and Sunday Politics (BBC1).

We were frequently quoted in the local, national and international print media including The Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Mail on Sunday and Observer. 

Online we were quoted by BBC News, ITV News and Sky News which also featured us in a number of video clips.

Trade publications featuring our comments included The Grocer, Convenience Store and the pub industry's Morning Advertiser.



Campaigns
In April, following the publication of the Chantler Report and the government’s announcement that it was now “minded” to proceed with plain packaging following a “final short” consultation, we launched a new phase of our long-running campaign against plain packaging (Hands Off Our Packs).

The ‘No, Prime Minister’ initiative encouraged members of the public to write direct to the PM via a dedicated microsite (noprimeminister.org.uk).

To promote the ‘No Prime Minister’ initiative we advertised in a number of publications, among them The House magazine (which goes direct to MPs and civil servants), Total Politics and Modern Government. We also advertised online via the MessageSpace network that includes Guido Fawkes, Conservative Home, Labour List (which banned our ads – twice!), Liberal Democrat Voice and many other blogs.

On August 5 over 53,000 signed letters were delivered to Downing Street. Two days later a duplicate set plus 97,000 petition responses were delivered to the Department of Health in response to the "final" six-week consultation. An estimated 8,000 emails were also sent to the DH via an online app. 

Note: this is in addition to the 265,000+ petition responses we submitted to the DH following a 16-week consultation in 2012. According to the DH's official report, published in 2013:

665,989 campaign responses were received from 24 separate campaigns. Around two-thirds of campaign responses received were from people who are opposed to the introduction of standardised packaging (total of 427,888 responses) and one-third of campaign responses received were from people who are in support (238,101 responses) ...

In September we launched our ‘Last Chance Saloon’ microsite (no2plainpacks.org). ‘Last Chance Saloon’ flyers opposing plain packaging were distributed at Ukip and Conservative party conferences. In Doncaster Ukip leader Nigel Farage even visited our stand to confirm his opposition to the policy.



Events
In London in June we hosted a drinks reception and talk to mark the publication of Unlucky Strike: Private Health and the Science, Law and Politics of Smoking by John Staddon, Emeritus Professor at Duke University and Honorary Visiting Professor, University of York.

On June 25 we hosted our popular annual boat party (Smoke On The Water) aboard The Elizabethan, a Mississippi-style paddle steamer. Over 200 guests attended this year’s event including parliamentary researchers and other members of the Westminster village.

Our third annual Freedom Dinner took place at Boisdale of Canary Wharf on July 15. Over 150 guests enjoyed a drinks reception on the smoking terrace overlooking the fountains at Cabot Square. This was followed by a three-course meal and after dinner speeches by Alex Deane, former chief of staff to David Cameron, and Brendan O’Neil, editor of the online magazine Spiked. 

At the Conservative conference in Birmingham we hosted two events – Stand Up For Freedom (drinks and stand up comedy) with Conservatives for Liberty, and Last Chance Saloon (drinks reception) with the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association. Both events were very well attended. Nick de Bois MP spoke at the drinks reception; journalist James Delingpole at Stand Up For Freedom (which also featured a 30-minute set by comedian Alistair Barrie).

In November we organised a special event to mark Forest’s 35th anniversary and the launch of a new campaign, Action on Consumer Choice. The event attracted over 200 guests to Boisdale of Belgravia including half a dozen MPs (Brian Binley, Ian Paisley, Nigel Evans, Laurence Robertson, David Nuttall and the Rt Hon Sir Greg Knight) and one MEP (Ukip’s Tim Aker). They were joined by supporters of Forest including Trevor Baylis OBE, inventor of the clockwork radio, and musician Joe Jackson ('It's Different for Girls', 'Is She Really Going Out With Him?').

A popular attraction on the night was our live band, Hidden Charms. Click on the image below to hear their debut single 'Sunnyside'.



Publications
In October we published Hands Off Our Packs: Diary of a Political Campaign, a 67,000 word book based on posts originally written by director Simon Clark for his blog Taking Liberties. Beginning in January 2012 the book follows the Hands Off Our Packs campaign from its launch to the end of the government’s “final” consultation on plain packaging in August 2014.

"As well as a very good read Hands Off Our Packs is an on-the-ground expose of the cravenness of politicians, the distortion of political process, the willingness of public health campaigners to lie and distort, and the degree to which impartiality and objectivity have departed much of the media, particularly the BBC," wrote one reader.

You can download a copy here.

The Free Society
Under the editorship of former MSP Brian Monteith, Forest's Free Society website published articles on a range of issues including smoking, eating and drinking. Regular contributors included Simon Hills, associate editor of The Times’ Saturday Magazine. In 2015 we'll be publishing a compilation of Simon's humorous yet acerbic articles. 

Social media
Forest continues to be active on Facebook and Twitter. We have a Facebook group, Friends of Forest, and a campaign page, Hands Off Our Packs.

On Twitter we have several accounts including Forest (@Forest_Smoking), Hands Off Our Packs (@No2PlainPacks) and Action_Choice (Action on Consumer Choice). 

Director Simon Clark has his own account (@simonclark_). Information and comment about our work is also posted regularly on Simon’s blog Taking Liberties.

A new campaign website, actiononchoice.org, will be launched in January. Watch this space and have a very happy New Year!