The Times reports that Chapel Down sold a million bottles of English sparkling wine ‘for the first time last year’ and hopes to capture ‘1 per cent of the global champagne market by 2035’.

I can’t remember when I first discovered Chapel Down wines but my interest in English wines began about ten years ago.

It was announced today that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill has received Royal Assent and become law.

The Press Association reported the story by leading with a quote from Rishi Sunak, the former Conservative prime minister who introduced the idea of a generational ban in the UK in October 2023.

Further to my previous post, I thought I was being interviewed by World Radio News for a rather longer feature, but I was wrong.

Instead it was a four-minute report on a 30-minute news podcast so my 20-minute ‘interview’ was edited to a soundbite of less than 20 seconds!

I was interviewed by World Radio News last night.

No, I’d never heard of it either, but the US-based operation describes itself as a ‘news organization producing Biblically sound, daily coverage of global, national, and cultural current events’.

It frustrates me that many people are only just waking up to the generational tobacco sales ban.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who have criticised the policy – on social media and in print – since the Tobacco and Vapes Bill concluded its passage through parliament last week, following which there was an unexpected flurry of media reports.

Yesterday was interesting for several reasons.

First, I had to get up early in order to appear, via Zoom, on GB News. After that I was on the Five Live phone-in with Nicky Campbell, followed by BBC Radio Manchester, and after that I had a hospital appointment.

Yesterday the Tobacco and Vapes Bill finally cleared parliament and now awaits Royal Assent.

The flagship policy, which will be introduced next year, is the ban on the sale of tobacco products to all future generations of adults. However, the new act also gives government the power to introduce further restrictions on smoking and vaping, hence the current public consultation.

I mentioned on Friday that the late Lord Skidelsky and Professor Norman Stone had been members of Forest’s Advisory Council.

The Advisory Council was set up by one of my predecessors, Chris Tame. Chris joined Forest in 1988 and became director in succession to Stephen Eyres who died, aged 42, in 1990.