Forest turns 40

The U.K.’s Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest), last night celebrated its 40th birthday with a gala dinner in London.

The dinner, which was held at Boisdale, Canary Wharf, a traditional Scottish restaurant with cigar terrace, was attended by about 180 guests, who included members of parliament, parliamentary researchers and friends of Forest.

Simon Clark, director of Forest since 1999, told guests it had been his great pleasure to be the non-smoking director of Forest for precisely 20 years.

“Smokers must be one of the most vilified minorities in the country and I am proud to be involved in this small but important battle against anti-smoking zealots and an overbearing nanny state,” he said.

“Forest has always promoted choice, not smoking. Forty years on we are more convinced than ever that advocating freedom of choice and personal responsibility is a cause worth fighting for.”

Speakers at the dinner included Madsen Pirie, co-founder and president of the Adam Smith Institute, Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and Claire Fox, a member of the European Parliament and founder and director of the Academy of Ideas.