A reminder that Smoke On The Water returns on Tuesday 22nd October and we would be delighted if you would join us.

Almost 200 people have registered to attend this previously popular riverboat cruise. This year's event is designed to help us engage with MPs on two issues: the generational tobacco ban and the plan to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas including pub gardens.

Guests will board The Elizabethan at Westminster Pier at 19:15. For the first hour the boat will remain static before leaving the pier at 20:15, returning at 21:45. Places are still available but if you’d like to join us RSVP as soon as possible: [email protected].

Note: If you have registered already and received confirmation from us there is no need to RSVP again.

Role play

Despite changing attitudes to smoking, Forest still has an important role to play, director Simon Clark tells George Gay in the latest issue of the trade magazine Tobacco Reporter.

In a wide-ranging interview, Clark addresses a number of subjects including the generational ban on the sale of tobacco, reduced risk products, and the future of Forest.

To read the article online click here.

Would you trust the Tories?

Thanks to the TaxPayers Alliance for inviting us to take part in a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference in Birmingham the other week.

Chaired by the TPA’s Benjamin Elks, Forest's Simon Clark was joined by Andrew Rosindell MP, Joseph Dinnage (deputy editor, Cap X), and Emily Fielder (Adam Smith Institute).

“Over the next few years,” Clark told the audience, “there is an opportunity for the Tories to create clear blue water between the Conservative party and all the other parties who want to restrict our freedoms.

“The problem is, Conservative politicians often defend individual freedoms when in opposition, but as soon as they’re in power they change their tune, or accept the status quo they’ve inherited.”

To read his opening comments in full, click here.

New Forest website

If you’ve visited the Forest website recently you will have noticed some changes.

The old site was launched in 2011 and the software was obsolete so a new site was long overdue.

On the new site you'll find our news releases, some recommended reading, plus information about recent events.

A new section, Videos and Podcasts, includes an edition of The Swift Half, a 30-minute podcast hosted by the IEA’s Chris Snowdon, recorded earlier this year with Forest director Simon Clark.

Launched last month, the new website is still in development and we will continue to add to it, but do have a browse. Go to forestonline.org.

Ireland – Forest condemns "brutal" price hike

If you think the cost of tobacco is high in the UK, spare a thought for law-abiding smokers in Ireland where the cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes in the most popular price category is now €18.05, an increase of one euro following the recent Budget.

Forest's response to this "brutal" and "counter-productive" tax hike was reported by the Irish Daily Mail, and director Simon Clark was also quoted by Ian O'Doherty in The Spectator who also noted:

‘In an increasingly puritanical Ireland, that massive price hike has attracted little attention. In fact, the only anger has been coming from smokers themselves and organisations such as Forest, who often appear like the last of the Mohicans when it comes to advocating for a smoker’s basic human right to enjoy a fag without being persecuted or penalised by the eternal-health fantasists of the government and their prohibitionist allies.’

'Last of the Mohicans'!! See Ireland’s puritanical attack on smokers.

Meanwhile, Clark was also interviewed by Radio Kerry, East Coast FM, and Dublin's 104FM.

And finally ... 

Farewell, Deborah Arnott. Appointed in 2003, the long-serving chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health retired on September 30, bringing to an end 21 years of service to the nanny state.

Arnott's retirement was announcement in February so it was a long time coming, but it would be ungracious not acknowledge the moment. We even have an award we'd like to present to her, at her convenience.

See: So long, farewell, Deborah Arnott is (finally!) leaving the building