Smokers’ lobby group Forest tonight hosts a ‘Freedom Dinner’ to mark
the fifth anniversary of the smoking ban in England [July 1st].
The event will also highlight what Forest calls a “growing disenchantment with excessive regulation” in tobacco control.
Former head of the British army General Sir Mike Jackson is one of
three speakers at tonight’s event. Sir Mike, who commanded UN forces in
Kosovo and peacekeeping missions in Bosnia, is a keen cigar smoker.
Other speakers are Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas, and writer, journalist and broadcaster James Delingpole.
The event begins with a drinks reception on the smoking terrace
overlooking the fountains of Cabot Square in London’s Canary Wharf.
Guests will then sit down to a three-course meal, after dinner speeches
and live music.
Simon Clark, director of Forest, said: “The smoking ban has been a
disaster for thousands of pubs and clubs, many of which have been forced
to close as a direct result of the ban.
“Instead of learning a painful lesson about the effects of excessive
regulation, the government has chosen to ban the display of tobacco in
shops and is now considering plans to put tobacco in standard packs,
regardless of the damage it will do to retailers who will almost
certainly lose out to counterfeiters and criminal gangs selling illicit
cigarettes.
“The Freedom Dinner is an opportunity to demonstrate that there is a
demand for comfortable smoking rooms in pubs and bars, and that many
adults are sick and tired of being harassed by government and the
tobacco control industry.”
Forest was founded in 1979 by former Battle of Britain fighter pilot
Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris. Supporters include artist David Hockney,
Oscar-winning screenwriter Sir Ronald Harwood, musician Joe Jackson and
inventor Trevor Baylis.
The Freedom Dinner, Tuesday 26th June 2012
Boisdale of Canary Wharf, Cabot Square, London E14 4QT
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Joe Jackson, the singer who had the hit single 'Different for Girls' is an intelligent man who has done much research and written many essays about smoking.
ReplyDeleteWell worth reading if you have the time.
http://www.joejackson.com/smokingissue.htm
Although I am not a smoker myself, I would prefer they allowed smoking in some areas of pubs but totally banned children from inside pubs. I don't mind kids in country pub gardens but, in my opinion, the worst thing the last government did was to allow kids into pubs.
ReplyDeleteMrs Tonk and I went into a local pub only last week; it was part of the pub chain that promotes real ale and affordable pub meals; as we walked through the door, we were greeted by about a dozen young kids running around on top of the bench seating, crawling under the tables and screaming whilst their mother, sad their mah nah mah nahing on their mobiles and grining daftly at the behaviour of their feral off-spring.......Needless to say, Mrs Tonk and I turned around and walked out and I cooked at home.
Sorry, typo....Sad should read, Sat.
DeleteFYI.....Mah nah mah nahing is what the chavs on mobiles sound like when talking....There was a song called Mah nah mah nah which was the theme tune to the muppets.....If you listen to it, it almost sounds like a conversation between two people with nothing really to say......This is exactly what I feel most conversations between young mothers on mobiles are like.
Here's a link to Mah nah mah nah....You'll see what I mean:-)
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_tupPBtWQ
I agree, tonk, pubs are not the place for children. As far as the incident you describe goes, perhaps you should have complained to the manager and, if he/she failed to deal with the matter satisfactorily, informed him/her exactly why you and Mrs Tonk were walking out, and that you would be sending a letter of complaint to the CEO of the chain in question.
ReplyDeleteMy Lord;
DeleteWhen one does complain, the manager's hands are all too often tied......They usually say something along the lines of; "The company does not want the bad publicity of saying no to children" who, of course in Nanny's brave new world, can do no wrong.
The fundamental problem is that we have kids having kids, that themselves were kids of kids having kids.......We now see the second and third generation of children growing up never having been told no.
When the previous government mooted the idea of allowing kids to go into pubs etc, I wrote to my own MP, then he was in opposition, and said that although it sounds lovely to have families in pubs, just as on the continent, their culture is different to ours and in my opinion, the only people that will take their kids into pubs and sit there with them all hours, are the very people one would not want to be in company with. I look at some of the parents, often singular, and listen to the way they speak to their kids and wonder what chance in life these children have....Snobbish I know but, true.
just in to add to the hypocrisy
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9361730/MP-opponents-of-plain-packaging-for-cigarettes-accepted-hospitality-from-tobacco-giant.html