Plain packaging of cigarettes: Good news for children and families

The 19^th of May this year was a good day for individuals, children and families in this country and potentially around the world.

In a landmark ruling in the High Court, Mr Justice Green dismissed a legal challenge by the world’s four biggest tobacco manufacturers to stop the introduction of plain packaging of cigarettes in this country.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Green pointed out the weaknesses of the evidence put forward by the tobacco giants, and emphasised the damaging impact of tobacco marketing on both individuals and on our country:

“In the United Kingdom alone, 600 children every day are initiated into smoking. These are the future customers of the tobacco industry… [smoking generates] a vast financial burden for the state in terms of medical and care costs and it imposes, for those who succumb to tobacco-related illness, pain and suffering.”

This is a huge step forward. There seems to me little doubt that the tobacco companies themselves were convinced that branded packaging encourages more people to smoke, otherwise they wouldn’t have fought the ruling so vehemently. As one cigarette packet designer pointed out:

“A cigarette package is part of a smoker’s clothing, and when he saunters into a bar and plunks it down, he makes a statement about himself. When a user displays a badge product, this is witnessed by others, providing a living testimonial endorsement of the user on behalf of that brand and product.”

The UK now joins Australia and France in banning all branded packaging. Ireland, Hungary, Norway, Canada and New Zealand are set to follow.

Let’s hope the momentum will grow, and the tobacco companies and those who own and direct them will be increasingly exposed for the greed and indifference that compels them to keep producing and marketing their products, fully cognisant of the grief and suffering they bring.

May 14, 2016May 14, 2016

Big Tobacco: absolving the corporate conscience

After my enraged outburst against the seemingly callous indifference of the big tobacco companies to the immense suffering they cause to millions of families around the world, I decided I should do a bit more than just rant and rave.

So, taking a deep breath, I wrote to the chairs of the boards of the two big UK based companies, inviting them to come with me to meet some bereaved parents whose babies died suddenly and unexpectedly and for whom, their own addiction to cigarettes was undoubtedly a contributory factor. I didn’t expect anything great, but I felt that maybe, if they did accept and were to hear, first hand, these families’ stories, maybe, just maybe, it might touch something.

Richard Burrows: Chair of Board of Directors, British American Tobacco

Mark Williamson Chair of Board of Directors, Imperial Tobacco

As I looked, on their websites, at the ordinary, human faces of the directors of these companies, I felt once more saddened and angry: surely, these were normal human beings, just like you and me, with friends and families whom they loved and cared for. And yet, somehow, these people could sit in their offices and corporate board rooms, thinking about profits and marketing strategies and all the other things that directors think about, while blocking off the death and suffering their products are causing.

After a long gap, I did hear back from the head of corporate affairs at British American Tobacco. Not surprisingly, they turned down my offer for a meeting with bereaved parents. As they pointed out, it is probably ‘not appropriate for us to play the role of adviser on public health issues.’

“We clearly acknowledge the reported risks related to smoking while pregnant and explicitly endorse the advice of health professionals such as yourself to refrain from smoking during pregnancy. We also agree that people should not smoke in the vicinity of children.”

– British American Tobacco

Imperial Tobacco has remained silent.

So does acknowledging the risks absolve the corporate conscience?

And meanwhile, while hundreds of babies die as a result of exposure to parental cigarette smoke, and millions worldwide suffer and die of diseases caused by tobacco, the corporate giants will continue to manufacture and promote their wares.

This coming week, the High Court in London will rule on a challenge by British American Tobacco PLC, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International Inc. against the UK parliament’s vote to ban branded packaging of cigarettes. If the High Court rules in favour of the government, this will come into effect in May next year, marking a huge step forward in the battle against tobacco, and following Australia who went that way in 2012 and have since seen smoking prevalence decline from 19.4% to 17.2% (with a quarter of that decline being attributed to the introduction of plain packaging).

I don’t know how much the court case will have cost, but I suspect it is not unreasonable to guess that hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been spent in fighting the challenge, money that could, instead, have been invested in health, education or welfare. And that, too, makes me angry.

May 9, 2016

Confessions of a coffee addict

Recently I came across a wonderful sign in a café window in Durham: a simple flowchart gave you options for what to do depending on whether or not your life is good at the moment.

If your life is looking good, they recommend coming in for a cup of coffee…

If your life is not looking good, they recommend… coming in for a cup of coffee!

It is a philosophy of life that appeals to me:

Living in the moment
Savouring what is good
Enjoying company
Pausing and slowing down

A global Coffee Culture

However, somehow in all that, I have to live with the fact that coffee has its down-side.

I recently read an article about shade-grown coffee. Since the 1980s, global coffee consumption has increased year-on-year, as we have seen a growing culture of coffee-drinking. It now stands at over 150 million 60kg bags of coffee per year and is growing at a rate of 2.5% per year. In order to feed this insatiable demand, more and more coffee is being grown in big plantations. Like so many other aspects of our consumer culture, this is damaging the environment, leading to further destruction of the rain forests, dehydration and acidification of the soil, and the use of large quantities of fertilizers and pesticides.

So I know I really should stop drinking it.

But I really do enjoy a good cup of coffee.

How to keep drinking coffee while not contributing too much to the destruction of our environment

So, in my usual manner, wanting to have my cake (or cup of coffee) and drink it, I have gone for a compromise.

Since January, I have cut down my coffee drinking to no more than 2 cups a day. And I have managed to stick to that, and with it, I think I am feeling better and craving coffee far less.

I also decided to write to the two companies from which I buy most of my coffee beans: Sainsbury’s and Taylors. I had helpful responses from both, perhaps not surprisingly pointing out that the solution isn’t totally straightforward.

Taylors’ coffees gave a particularly helpful response, pointing out the different ways in which they are striving to ensure both social and environmental sustainability through their coffee production.

Much of the coffee we buy from Central America is shade grown, but in Africa this is much less common. We have been working in Uganda prototyping an approach with around 6000 smallholder farmers that is promoting shade grown coffee (amongst other good agricultural practices) in an effort to increase quality, productivity and provide some defence against increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. Over the last 4 seasons we have seen some remarkable farm improvements and are looking to take this approach to other countries we buy from – but the social and economic benefits to farming communities will always have to match the environmental impacts for us to continue promoting this and in some areas this may not be so clear cut.

Taylors of Harrogate

So, while I am not ready yet to give up my coffee entirely, I will continue to pursue my reduced-consumption approach, and I will strive to buy only coffee that is both Fair Trade and Rain Forest Alliance certified, to do my bit to promote both social justice and environmental sustainability.

And, right now, I might just go and make a couple of nice flat whites (Taylors’ Lazy Sunday blend) and sit out in the garden with Lois to enjoy them.

The Rainforest Alliance do not stipulate shade grown coffee as part of their standard and they certify both shade grown and full sun grown coffee; however, their standards include pretty comprehensive criteria on ecosystem conservation, wildlife protection, water conservation, soil management and other environmental sustainability issues on the farm. Taylors are buying both shade and sun grown coffee. The long relationships we have with our coffee farmers are based on quality first, but with a mutual commitment to balancing economic, social and environmental improvement – prioritising one over the other is less about our own stance on the environment and more about the real needs of the communities we are sourcing from.

Very often, by building projects that address an economic or social need we achieve environmental improvements as a by-product. For example, by funding biogas digesters on smallholder coffee farms in Africa we have provided families with a clean and constant source of energy to cook with, lighting at night time, improved income, saved huge amounts of women’s time and improved respiratory health – the project is also combating deforestation, reducing greenhouse gases that would otherwise be adding to climate change and producing an organic compost for the farm… but these are secondary benefits to the socio-economic impacts.

Taylors of Harrogate

April 24, 2016

Banksy on the mount IV: Be the change you want to see in the world…

Now when he saw the crowds,

he went into the urban jungle

and began to paint…

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…

for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

No-one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

.Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;

or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more important than food,

and the body more important than clothes?

And why do you worry about clothes?

See how the lilies of the field grow.

They do not labour or spin.

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged,

and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you..

Ask and it will be given to you;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.

In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…

but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

To see the rest of the series, Click on Let Justice Roll>Banksy on the mount

April 3, 2016April 3, 2016

Banksy on the mount I: The Beatitudes

Now when he saw the crowds,

he went into the urban jungle

and began to paint…

.

The Beatitudes…

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted

Blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Banksy on the Mount: a series of reflections

March 26, 2016March 26, 2016

Easter Weekend: Holding Hope along with Anger

Just days after writing my two ‘angry’ blogs (SIDS, restorative justice and big tobacco: why I’m feeling angry; and George Osborne’s budget: more reasons to be angry), Europe was racked by another terrorist attack, this time in Brussels. Violence continues to shake our streets. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, innocent women, children and men continue to flee from their homes in terror, and risk their lives in desperate bids for freedom. And, closer to home, it seems to me, as I walk through the streets of Coventry, that the number of homeless young men is once again increasing.

The inequalities, the injustice, the violence, hatred and greed seem to continue unabated.

And yet, in this same week, we saw David Cameron’s government do a U-turn on cutting disability benefits; a WHO report highlighted that the proportion of British 15 year olds who reported having their first cigarette at age 13 fell from 24% to 17% from 2009-2010 to 2013-2014; and the House of Lords voted to amend the immigration bill in order to require the government to allow 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees into our country.

In spite of the darkness, there is always reason to hope.

Good Friday

Yesterday, I sat in silence and tears for our Good Friday service; angry still at the injustice of our world.

Like many other good men and women, Jesus was assassinated because he dared to confront the unjust powers of his day. He walked the road of non-violent confrontation, and it cost him his life. Others, too have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed for speaking out for justice and peace: one only has to think of people such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Oscar Romero, or Aung San Suu Kyi.

When I wake tomorrow, 2,000 years after Jesus gave his life, the injustice will still be there. So, too, will the terror, hatred, greed, violence, and the untold suffering of millions around our world.

So I will still be angry.

But I will also carry with me a ray of hope.

Easter Day

If (and I accept that for many this is a huge ‘if’) Jesus truly did rise from the dead as the gospels tell us, then there really is hope. The resurrection of Jesus boldly proclaims that violence, suffering, injustice and greed do not have the last word. That ultimately death itself is defeated and has no power.

So I will hold onto my anger, believing that this world should be different. And I will hold onto hope, believing that this world will one day be different. And I will celebrate the gift of love that is stronger than death.

March 20, 2016

George Osborne’s Budget: more reasons to be angry

A report from the Resolution Foundation has estimated that the UK Chancellor’s raising of the higher rate income tax threshold in this year’s budget will boost incomes for higher rate taxpayers by £200 per year.

At the same time, his increase in the personal tax allowance will raise incomes for basic rate taxpayers by just £60 per year.

When you look at the changes by distribution of household income, these inequalities are even more stark, with the poorest 10% of UK households receiving less than £10 per year extra, while the richest 10% (myself included) will receive an average of around £270 per year extra.

Distributional impact of income tax threshold changes in April 2017

But it gets worse.

When you take into account other changes to benefits and taxes, the Resolution Foundation calculate that by 2020-21, households in the bottom half of the income distribution will be £375 worse off, while those in the top half will be £235 better off.

How can this be right?

Having had a few days now to reflect on this budget, I am appalled by the preferential treatment of the rich:

As a high earner with a secure job, I will gain by an extra £2,615 of my salary being taxed at a lower rate;
As someone who can afford to save, I could invest in shares and pay less tax when I sell those shares for a profit;
I could give up to £4,000 per year to each of my children to put into a new lifetime ISA, to which the government will add £1 of tax payers’ money to every £4 they save;
When Esther and Joe move away from home later this year, we could rent out the extra rooms through AirBnB and earn up to £1,000 per year tax-free.

Meanwhile, the chancellor has announced that he will cut £4.4 billion from benefits for disabled people. Apparently this means that 200,000 disabled people who are dependent on personal independence payments for help in personal care will lose out on these benefits, while a further 400,000 will see them cut.

If the health of our nation is measured, even in part, by how we treat the poorest and most vulnerable of our neighbours, it seems to me that we are sadly lacking at present.

But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos 5:24

March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

SIDS, restorative justice and big tobacco: why I’m feeling angry

The other day I visited a couple whose baby had recently died suddenly and unexpectedly. This family stood out as unusual in that neither parent smoked. The vast majority of bereaved parents whom I have visited over the past years have been smokers, and it seems clear to me that this is one of the biggest modifiable risk factors for SIDS.

In our South West study of sudden infant death in 2003-6, we found that 59% of mothers of SIDS infants had smoked during pregnancy, compared to just 14% of mothers whose babies had not died, equating to a 13-fold increase in risk[1].

And this makes me angry.

Not at the mothers or fathers who expose their babies to such risks, but at the callous greed and indifference of those who continue to produce and market the cigarettes that are killing these babies.

Over the past few months, Lois and I have had the privilege of visiting a local family assessment unit as lay chaplains. The families placed here for assessment come from a range of backgrounds, but all have been treated harshly by life, and the odds seem stacked against them and their babies. Every Saturday night many of these parents come to the chapel with their babies for a bit of space: away from the constant scrutiny and surveillance. Here in this sacred space they can be themselves. We have a laugh together, share some of Lois’ home baking, and join in a simple liturgy of reflection. Many of them ask us to pray a simple prayer of blessing over their baby: they, like all parents, long for their babies to have a better life.

After our time together, almost without exception, these parents congregate outside the chapel, with their babies, in the outdoor smoking shelter. We sometimes stop and chat a bit longer before heading off. And I feel angry. There in that shelter, these parents are slowly poisoning themselves and their babies.

But the parents themselves are victims: victims of the aggressive marketing of the cigarette companies that got them addicted in the first place; victims of a society that alienates and marginalises them; victims of their background and culture that leaves them feeling powerless to change, so that often the only solace they can find is in that little fix of nicotine and tobacco.

And meanwhile, the tobacco companies continue to produce their poison.

In 2012, 5,800,000,000,000 cigarettes were smoked globally.[2]

The WHO estimates that one person dies from tobacco every 6 seconds; 10% of these as a result of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

Meanwhile, the tobacco giants continue to rake in their profits. Jonathan Gornall, writing in the BMJ, cited operating profits of 9.2 billion pounds for Philip Morris International, and £6.1 billion for British American Tobacco.

When I sit down with a parent whose baby has recently died and they ask me that deep, deep question, ‘Why?’ I am sometimes tempted to cry out in pain, ‘Because of the greed and indifference of the chief executives, the board members and the shareholders of the big tobacco companies who have made you and your baby victims! Don’t ask me why your baby died, go and ask them.’

But surely those people, too, must have a heart, somewhere, that beats?

Is it too much to hope that somehow those hearts could be changed?

In his book The Book of Forgiving, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with his daughter, Mpho, reflect on their painful experiences through their lives in South Africa, and particularly the Archbishop’s involvement in the Truth and Reconciliation commission. Back in the 1980s it seemed impossible to hope that the perpetrators of apartheid and the unjust systems of that country could ever change. And yet, they have found that through the hard, long road of restorative justice, people have changed; truth has come to light; and reconciliation has occurred.

Do I dare to dream of the possibility that just one of these CEOs, or a board member of one of the tobacco companies could one day accompany me as I visit a bereaved family; that they, too, could hear their story; and maybe, just maybe, a glimmer of compassion could be awakened in their heart?

[1] Blair, P. S., et al. (2009). “Hazardous cosleeping environments and risk factors amenable to change: case-control study of SIDS in south west England.” BMJ 339: b3666.

[2] Gornall, J. (2015) Slaying the Dragon: how the tobacco industry refuses to die. BMJ 2015;350:h2052