Smoking, censorship and New York City

New York is often lauded as one of the world's great cities.

Not in my book. I've only been there once but I'm in no hurry to go back. OK, I chose the worst possible time to go. NYC in July is uncomfortably hot - so hot, in fact, that the open air theatre in Central Park was closed because no-one wanted to sit outside, even after dusk.

But, stifling heat apart, nothing about the city grabbed me apart from Ellis Island and the remarkable story of American immigration. Ironically many were driven to America to escape social and economic repression in Europe. How, I wonder, would they view New York today?

Brendan O'Neil, editor of the online magazine Spiked, recently drew my attention to the second of a series of reports he wrote from NYC.

Entitled 'When smoking becomes freedom of expression', it highlights the fact that NYC theatre companies are now prohibited from featuring real cigarettes in their plays. If any character smokes they have to use the herbal variety, although producers can apply for a waiver.

Worth reading.

Comments

[Junican]

I am off to Prague in March for a few days. I will bring back lots of fags for my own use. The chances of me going to New York, are infinitely small. There is the six hour smokeless journey and the hysteria, and the verboten. NO WAY!

But I am going on a cruise on an American boat in August for my granddaughter's wedding. It seems that they have smoking areas, but smoking is not allowed in the cabins or on the balconies of the cabins. Whether or not this verboten is in fact real, I do not know. Our hotel in Majorca has the same sort of rules (apart from the balcony bit), but the reality is that nobody bothers. We will see.

But I have a cunning plan. In the first place, I will take my ecig. But I will also take the most foul smelling, stinky, filthy air freshener that I can find, along with copious cans of insecticide. When the wife and I leave the cabin, I will spray it with this stuff in great volumes. The cabin will stink. That is, for the first couple of days. No smoking - lots of air freshener and insecticide.

WHAT FUN!

Isn't that the beauty of being an Englishman? One way or another, we find a way.

It may take some time, but sooner or later, The Smoking Community will come together. When we do, I can certainly see us taking air fresheners and insecticides to the pub and spraying them around - just in case.

Silly? Yes - but it is early days yet. We have not yet organised. I can certainly see the possibility of a local Smoking Community group where I live. Such a group could really amuse themselves by hitting the Town Hall with placards and air fresheners. WHAT FUN!

But I have a more serious point. I found today something that I have been looking for for some time. That is the DETAILED CAUSE OF DEATH STATISTICS WHICH ARE AGE RELATED. the figures are for 2009. Here is the URL:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/Table_2_Death_Registrations_Cause.xls

These figures are the official figures from the National Statistics Office. They show, without any doubt, that cancer death is age related. Go see for yourself. Look at the figures for ALL cancers. The vast majority appear after the age of 65.

Insecticides, fresheners, traffic fumes.........or is it age? Is it that the DNA protection system breaks down? Or even, that some people have weak DNA protection systems from the start of their lives? Look at the figures.

Oh...and that is full on smoking. We have not even begun to consider SHS.