Rightful Anger and Bewilderment at Lack of Support towards A Billion Lives Screenings

This is a painful post to contemplate writing anything much positive about the recent UK fiasco regarding A Billion Lives screening applications. Two only, out of many applications have been successful :- Glasgow and Swansea, this is a hugely disappointing result so far and needs sorting out quickly

Simon Clark from Forest wrote this damning indictment  which is a very powerful summary, however a few points are inaccurate and in need of correction.

he states 1)...'Vapers have also risen to the challenge in Wales with a screening in Swansea on November 23 almost certain to reach its target thanks to Vapers In Power (Wales) and some local vape stores.' 

The 2 nominated persons associated with the screening and leading driving forces were Simon Thurlow(NNA trustee) and Rhydian Mann(NNA Associate and VIP member). VIP were also heavily involved to make this a success. 

another here 

 2) 'With a few noted exceptions I'm astounded the UK's leading vaping advocates have shown so little interest in organising their own screening or promoting someone else's. (The occasional tweet doesn't count. Getting out of bed takes more effort.)' 

This appears to be a direct 'dig' at the NNA, I will not spend too long on dismissing this ridiculous slur, ALL of the NNA consumer Trustees  + many of the Associates have actively campaigned and participated in organising screenings -  eg see David Dorn,Andy Morrison,Dave Kitson in action at the NEC in front of hundreds of Vapers at a recent event.(sadly no link)

3) ''I've lost count of the number of UK-based bodies that advocate vaping, some of them funded by the e-cigarette industry. Where is their 'Jeff Stier'? Where is their planning committee?'' 

I replied to Simon on his blog regarding this ambiguous statement which is open to many interpretations. To clarify, no consumer organisation receives any funding from the e-cigarette industry 

However, all of the above 3 points are relative nit-picking on my part :- the undeniable fact is that screening numbers have been hugely disappointing. 

Apathy and calls to make the screening available for free on the internet have abounded,but I personally think that local organisers maybe grossly underestimated what was required of them(this is not meant as criticism,just an observation). Following disappointing stories I along with others have assembled a guide to help future screening organisation see  here, but it is clearly obvious that 'we' are novices at organising and marshalling the necessary interest due to inexperience in such matters, we are not PR experts!). Another walkthrough guide is here  (but this doesn't give the nuts n bolts of how to do it successfully)

Enough of this reflection and negativity, hopefully anyone contemplating organising a screening will give the matter some serious thought before blindly blundering in on a tidal wave of enthusiasm and give the matter due diligence 

This documentary is a game changer, WE all have to up our game to give it the necessary attention to make it the success it deserves