Waking up to ASH Wales
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 15:50 I was still at home in my dressing gown when I was interviewed by BBC Radio Wales this morning.
Oh, and the dog was scrabbling at the door, trying to get into the room.
Maybe that's why I was a trifle tetchy with Carole Morgan-Jones of ASH Wales.
The BBC website describes our encounter thus:
A ban on cigarette vending machine sales has come into force in Wales. It prompted a lively debate chaired by Felicity Evans on Good Morning Wales involving Carole Morgan-Jones, of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) in Wales, and Simon Clark, director of the smoking group Forest.
You can listen here.
Simon Clark
A reader writes:
Our local has a sign behind the bar, saying: 'This notice is to advise you that we're not allowed to tell you we sell cigarettes'. Then for eight quid, the landlord will obtain (20!) cigarettes from his otherwise redundant fag machine!
You couldn't make it up.
Reader Comments (11)
Oh good grief!
These people couldn't lie straight in bed. Come on Carole Morgan-Jones, spit it out at last. It's part of the display ban. As you can see the cigarettes in a vending machine, if cigarette packets must be hidden in shops, they must also be hidden at every point of sale just as instructed.
Article 13
12. Retail sale and display.
"Display of tobacco products at point of sale in itself constitutes advertising and promotion.
13."To ensure that points of sale of tobacco products do not have any promotional elements. Parties should introduce a total ban on any display and on the visibility of tobacco products at points of sale, including fixed retail outlets and street vendors."
14. "Vending machines should be banned because they constute by their very presence a means of advertising or promotion under the terms of the Convention."
http://www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/article_13.pdf
Good job Simon - you drew out her fanaticism and showed it up for what it is - a hate campaign against adults who refuse to quit smoking using a non-existent problem of child access as an excuse. Even the interviewer didn't appear convinced by their argument.
So, ASH Wales think it's unfair for bar staff to have to police age-restricted vending machines, but are perfectly happy for them to police the smoking ban?
Their arguments shift from one extreme to the other. Hardly the most honest of organisations, is it?
...Slippery as eels smeared in vaseline.
Excellent, Simon, excellent. You should wear your dressing gown and have the dog scrabbling a bit more often. Patience with stupidity wearing thin came across strongly. (and, boy, wasn't Morgan-Jones useless) Again, excellent. A few more interviews like that and they'll be ringing you every day.
Thanks Simon, keep the good work up. A little passion coming through even though you've being doing it so long! Most importantly, you riled an anti-smoker, an excellent start to the working day!
Dick P mentions bar staff policing the smoking ban. Have we forgotten an even more fundamental matter - the sale of alcohol to under 18s?
Carole Morgan-Jones waffled.
It was good to see (hear) Simon being aggressive. The impression I gained from CMJ was simply incompetance. She is probably good at the propaganda waffle, but useless in the actuality. That is normal, and that is why ASH dare not debate. In comparison with, say, Dave Atherton or Snowdon, or many others, ASH ET AL cannot compete. They function purely in well-thought-through press releases. They are unable to handle critisism. It is horrific to contemplate that these people are dictating policy to the Government of the United Kingdom. Really horrific.
I know that it will be difficult, but there is a seriously important issue. Does SHS harm children? There is no evidence that it does, apart from a few children who are already really ill. SHS harm to children is a myth. The lack of evidence to the contrary proves that it is a myth. But, somehow, the propaganda reliance of ASH ET AL on the use of children needs to be combated and, if possible, destroyed.
Very well done, Simon. Attack.
Goodness gracious - they just will not listen to any reasonable alternative solutions e.g. the use of tokens, credit cards, remote controls etc., as Simon suggested.
Well Simon, you certainly ruffled her (CMJ) feathers - how refreshing. I've thanked you in the past for all you do, and I thank you again today.
Splendid challenge, Simon. I noticed that whenever you put her on the spot, the waffle-betraying expression 'you know' came from her. But the trouble in dealing with the zealots is that they know that they can dump a dramatic headline on docile front pages, with the knowledge that never will the facts be allowed to contradict them with equal impact.
Junican: as someone who's been drinking since age 15, I'm in complete favor of alcohol being sold to under 18s.