Friday
Aug312012
Something for the weekend
Friday, August 31, 2012 at 18:43 I shall be on Sky News in the morning (7.10am) which means a very early start to get to west London from Cambridgeshire.
You can tell it's the silly season because there doesn't seem to be much in the story. All I know is that someone from the North East (a professor?) is calling for Britain to be smoke free by 2032.
Sky asked me to recommend a few people who might be available for an interview to "support people’s right to smoke" so they obviously hope to keep the story rolling throughout the day.
I suggested half a dozen names, some of them readers of this blog. Watch this space.
Update: UK could be a 'no smoking nation' by 2032 (Sky News)
Reader Comments (14)
I'd rather my grandkids grow up in a Fascist Free Britain by 2032. After all, they are the ones who will be criminalised adults tomorrow if the antis can't save them as kids today. It's not about health. http://patnurseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/true-colours.html
God !! What is wrong with these anti smoking fanatics ? Yet another nutty professor who do doubt has re written the Holy Bible.
A recent (August 14th) AP report about yet another anti-smoking 'initiative' (in council parks) - this time from an absurdity called 'NHS Blackpool' - just about sums up the political and social culture of New Britain:
"The signs read: "Altogether Now. To protect children, this is a designated smokefree site."
Bless.
Personally, I'd have opted for something a little more appropriately Teutonic and zingy - such as:
'Raucher sind hier nicht erwünscht !'
It might even encourage the Kiddies to start learning foreign languages.
I might just put the suggestion to Herr Lansley - a man well known for his 'open' mind on such matters.
Whadya think ?
John Stuart Mill who, in his essay On Liberty, said:
"Neither one person, nor any number of persons, is warranted in saying to another human creature of ripe years that he shall not do with his life for his own benefit what he chooses to do with it. All errors he is likely to commit against advice and warning are far outweighed by the evil of allowing others to constrain him to do what they deem his good."
"All together now..." Only if you're not a tobacco consumer and then you are legally excluded from being any member of the public.
Something must be done about these criminals because that's what they are. They are the ones who should be outed in 2032 as bigots, liars, fraudsters and hate mongers. Anyone else pushing hate crime to exclude one community group from society because another despises them would be prosecuted for hate crime. That is where we should be heading by 2032 - get the nasty fascists out.
John -
Your quote from JSM (standard bed-time reading for the Cameroons, one imagines) is timely and well-chosen.
However, the sentiments contained therein are nowadays neatly side-stepped (as they were by one particularly stupid black Senator in the Land of (Lost) Freedom) by intoning the simple mantra:
"This is a Health Issue - not a Freedom Issue."
An argument of almost universal application, of course - which could equally apply to Compulsory Euthanasia.
Or the banning of chocolate.
Such childish illogicality, however, is usually sufficient to stop Mr Timid Reporter dead in his tracks.
And send Lansley (and his clones) back into his deep slumber (once he's said his prayers to Jesus).
This should be compulsory reading
http://members.iinet.net.au/~ray/finch2.pdf
How do professional journalists get away with parrotting such nonsense as "Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS in England alone £2.7bn per year, with the cost to society as a whole estimated to be £13.74bn" time and time again, without considering the revenue smoking brings in? Did they not do mathematics at school?
"get the nasty fascists out........"
Which, Pat, is what millions of members of my parents' generation thought they had done !
Sadly, they were deluded, of course.
But you'll have to look slightly higher up the food chain - above, that's to say, the bottom-feeders like Blair, Cameron, Bush, and Obama - to find their New Berghof.
Much better defended, alas, than the old one. - and they tend to speak English up there nowadays.
As Brecht rather inelegantly put it: the Bitch is still in heat.
Just try telling people, though !
How much more can our country actually take?
I know that we're British and renowned for turning the other cheek, but how far does the financial and social ruin of our country have to stoop before a decent government actually realises what's going on?
I've lost faith in all major political parties and their current leaders. They care nothing for the ordinary man in the street, nor our country, since turning into career politicians. They only follow the filthy lucre of current times.
I just hope that I'm still alive to witness their humiliating downfall.
Shame on the lot of them.
"a decent government........."
One of today's more blatant oxymorons, I fear, Helen !
I have no Magical Solution - but I am now convinced of one thing, one vital principle that shrieks out to be learned (and quickly): unless we re-acquire the art of 'governing' OURSELVES more, and the WILL to do so, we must expect MORE 'government' by OTHERS.
And it will inevitably fall somewhere on the political axis from Soft Authoritarianism (Mr Nudge) to blatant in-your-face, knock-on-your-front-door Fascism (Mr Jackboot).
(Apologies for the capitalisation)
I, for one, do not find that a cheery prospect.
Seems desperately un-English, somehow !
I think its too late for the art to govern ourselves, like in the old days.
Tony Blair put paid to that when he opened our borders to all and sundry.
Allegiance now has many agendas.
These anti smoking bigots are a total menace. With their constant interference in peoples daily lives. I'm sure that measures like the smoking ban and display bans are actually increasing smoking rates as more choose to light up in defiance.
The idea of more price hikes means the likes of Britton are again in fact proposing, to attack those poorest in our society.
Targeting the poorest, clearly isn't moral or fair.
"Targeting the poorest, clearly isn't moral or fair......."
But SO much easier, Mark.
And the smug Middle Classes, now re-programmed into believing that smoking is merely a symptom of fecklessness, moral turpitude, weak-mindedness, and poor education - that's to say a typically 'working class' pursuit like cock-fighting, bingo, and wife-beating - will (smugly) congratulate themselves on their impeccable judgement in such matters, sigh, and do absolutely bugger all - apart from continuing to belly-ache about builders, car mechanics, and those GHASTLY roll-ups (Darling).