Friday
Mar132015
I'm not laughing at you, Deborah, honest!
Friday, March 13, 2015 at 15:30 I was going to re-post the interview Deborah Arnott and I did on the BBC News Channel on Wednesday because it got a bit lost with so much else going on.
ASH, however, has beaten me to it. Not once but twice they've tweeted a link to a clip of the interview.
I'm a bit surprised because I don't think it's Deborah's finest hour. Her colleagues must think differently, unless they're having a little fun at her expense.
See what you think.
Video: Deborah Arnott and Simon Clark debate Plain Packaging http://t.co/NXH71417F1 #packetracket
— ASH (@ASH_LDN) March 13, 2015
Reader Comments (11)
hahahahahahahaha - you should always point out, because it's important to reference it, that in addition to sponging cash from smokers' tax, ASH is also funded by private industry, Big Pharma, which is tobacco's main competitor to provide smokers with nicotine, along with ecig companies and I wonder if ASH is after a slice of their cash to fund their holidays, pensions and mortgages.
I don't know why she is allowed to lie like that - perhaps she gets paid to lie.
I am a smoker. Lifelong. She does not speak for me. You do. You did great. Thank you x
I went on to watch the interview you did from Salford - thought you were excellent (hearing the inane objections lobbed by the anchorman for Beeb24 I can understand why local journalists I came across said that non-Beeb journos hold Beeb journos in contempt).
When they were showing shots of 'plain' packs with extended graphic warnings the thought occurred that TC has shot itself in the foot bigtime - The Doors of Shame (h/t legiron) hide the grotesque images that would really be in TC's interests to display in all their glory!
There's a firm that produces cig boxes with images to order - I'm going to choose a 'cool' brand and order a box with its pre-standardised (I refuse to call it 'plain') branding.
I must admit that the moment that Arnott first opened her mouth and said 'Big Tobacco', I was tempted to switch off. But I am glad that I persevered. From Arnott's mouth came slogan, slogan, slogan.
What I found comical was when she said that you do not speak for smokers. It was somewhat clouded, but I swear that she was about to claim that she was speaking for smokers because 'surveys have shown'.
At least the presenter was reasonably unbiased, I thought.
I thought that you made the arguments against PP very clearly and that Arnott was on the defensive all the time.
Well done.
Well, she certainly does not welcome dissenting opinions. Apparently she has missed the news reports where senior Garda are concerned that plain packs will create opportunity for organized crime. She also mistakes the public support of plain packages and tried to speak over reference to the public consultations.
Ooh - do you have a link to that company, Joyce? I've been keeping my old packets so that I can re-use them when PP comes in and, when they finally get too tatty, intend to take them apart and either reproduce them on my computer (I'm sure the tobacco companies won't mind!), or re-design my own, using the old shape as a template - all without the health warnings natch. But if there's someone already producing them, that's much easier.
Simon, one comment: I really wish you would not use the term denormalization. As I am sure you are aware this is a polite academic term whose real effect and consequence is the demonization and marginalization of smokers.
Those who use this word do so to distance themselves and others from the real consequence and effect of their actions.
Please don't buy into the vocabulary of your opponents. Better to speak in plain english to the real effects of what is happening to smokers.
"This is a counterfeit pack." Yes I believe you Debs, thousand's wouldn't, oh, hang on. How the hell can we tell it's counterfeit if we can only see it briefly on a tv screen?
When you mentioned that your son smokes (I assume he's over 18) I'm surprised she didn't scream 'child abuse'! I got the impression that the interviewer was more interested in what you had to say, like in the interview you did opposite Andrea Crossfield back in 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AiGPZiy_xM
I'm with Pat, Debs doesn't speak for me ether.
Here you go, Misty
http://www.smoke-screenz.com/
@ Misty
Google 'smoke-screenz' (don't forget the hyphen) and you'll find it. M J McFadden, the author of 'Dissecting Anti-smoker's Brains' has apparently been using his for a year or more, and it's still going strong.
Lord Harris
Simon off topic where can I find the pdf for Lord Harris (smoking out the truth)
Thanks!
Lifelong non-smoker and you speak for me too, because, let's not forget, this is ultimately about choice, not smoking. Every government denial of a choice made by consulting adults, however unpopular their activity may be, is another blow against democracy.