A personal view by TheBigYin.
Ahead of the General Election the three main parties (and most of the others) have published their manifesto’s, whoopee doopy bloody doo! So which party does the humble, and much maligned smoker, all 12.81 million of us, look to for respite against the onslaught of anti-smoker hysteria propaganda?
Which of these parties will amend or repeal the most draconian of laws ever to hit these shores? Vote Labour in again thinking they will say “we didn’t really mean it, we were conned by ASH et al into believing the junk science. We weally weally value your ten billion pounds extorted levied at you for the sake of the children, that’s why we salt the economy with your money and will think of you when forming the new government when you elect us AGAIN? Don’t vote Lib Dems or the Tories just for change, we’ll give you more of the same, you know you love it.”
Are you going to get change with the other two parties? Or are you going to get more of the same? Which of the other two are going to give the smoker a break eh?
Ok, we know that smoking, and where you can smoke, is not up there with XXX number of trillion pounds we are in hock to the EU or the wankers bankers, our laws being handed over, carte blanche, to the Eurocrats, or our sovereign autonomy being handed over by our government and our sovereign lady being gag-ga about signing over that sovereignty to a foreign power called the Common Market EU. But the Smoking Ban Experiment must not be ignored, must not be passed off as a law that is noble and just, just because the anti-smoker [ASH et al] have leavened the bread to turn a lie into a truism in the minds of the sheeple people. Don’t forget, you non-smokers, drinkers, fast food eaters that there is a group out there who try to influence your government about your lifestyle choices or habits, whither you indulge in these things heartily or not you can be assured that they will be asking your government to ban it!
Well we now know not to trust Labour (and, as a ex Labour voter all my eligible voting life, and that was difficult to write,) after all they reneged on their 2005 manifesto pledge: (Ed: My emphasis throughout.)
In November 2004, the government published the white paper on public health, detailing its intention to introduce a partial ban, which would make it illegal to smoke in enclosed public spaces in England and Wales. However, an exception would be made for licensed premises such as bars, private clubs and pubs where no food was served. There would be a complete ban on smoking in the bar area of licensed premises, to protect staff.
So Labour screwed the smoker, and businesses that rely on the smoker, for the most part, for their income, like pubs, clubs, Bingo halls and Shisha Bars, BIG STYLE! And they are unrepentant, on page 35 of their 2010 manifesto they say:
Prevention and early intervention
The NHS must be as effective at preventing ill health as it is at treating those in need of care. Prevention and early intervention will be at the heart of our plans for a reformed healthcare system offering more for every pound we spend, significantly improving survival rates for cancer, heart disease and strokes so that we are among the very best in the world. (Ed: Go tell it to the Yanks Labour, Obamacare is going down a storm over there. I wonder which health care model President Obama is using?)
We all have a responsibility to look after our own health, supported by our family and our employer. The ban on smoking in public places will be maintained.
Wherever necessary, we will act to protect children’s health from tobacco, alcohol and sunbeds.
Oi, are you smoking in there? No, just give me another half hour you bansterbating bastard!
Gulp…SUNBEDS…whatever next? Who the hell has it in for sunbeds?!? Ohh, Gillian Merron, now where have I heard that name before? And I wonder where she gets her advice from…Ohh. If the public wants it, enjoys it, but this government thinks it’s bad for them, debate over, ban it! Another legitimate industry/business that will suffer under NuLabour.
Under-18s will be banned from visiting sunbed salons in a move by the government to reduce the risk of young people developing skin cancer.
Gillian Merron, the public health minister, said that voluntary action by the sunbed industry to stop children had failed and that ministers planned to introduce legislation to tackle the problem.
The proposed ban comes as research reported in today's British Medical Journal shows that more than 250,000 children aged 11-17 in England are thought to use sunbeds. It shows that up to half of all girls aged 15-17 in some areas undergo artificial tanning, which experts warn seriously increases the risk of malignant melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer.
Two studies of children's tanning habits highlighted in the BMJ, which were government-funded and commissioned by Cancer Research UK (CRUK), found that 6% of 9,000 children aged 11-17 interviewed had used a sunbed. The average age of first use was 14, they found. If translated across England that would mean that around 250,000 children in that age group had done so. Girls, children of both sexes from deprived communities and those in the north of England are disproportionately likely to use sunbeds.
"We are determined to protect young people from the dangers of using sunbeds," said Merron. "Cancer Research UK's report clearly shows worrying levels of sunbed use by under-18s. The report confirms that voluntary action by the industry is not protecting young people, and points to the need to introduce legislation."
When it comes to this nations health this [Labour] government uses the Godber principle, which they have used to great effect to make laws that curtail the public’s ‘lifestyle’ choices (especially the smokers,) which are filed under “My knee just jerked!”
In 1975 our Chief Medical Officer, Sir George Edward Godber (a total anti tobacco zealot) cornered the ear of the World Health Organisation (the WHO) and informed them that deception was needed to change people’s perceptions of second hand smoke (SHS). He stated that if a programme were set out conditioning people to believe that SHS was deadly, then smoking habits could be controlled by governments - how right he proved to be! Nobody could foresee the colossal damage soon to be caused. All they (the anti tobacco zealots) could see was a world where nobody smoked, it was their eutopia.
Suffice is to say that what you do for [legal] enjoyment is under scrutiny by government ‘advisors’ which, in turn, is turned into a draconian law against your “naughty but nice” pleasures by your sharing, caring [Labour] government. Oh you lucky people! You’ve never had it so good.
1957: Britons 'have never had it so good'
The British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, has made an optimistic speech telling fellow Conservatives that "most of our people have never had it so good".
These days the ‘feelgood’ factor is lost on me as I stand outside a pub, freezing my nuts off having a cigarette and listening to my whining mates talking about how they are being treated as second class citizens and being denormalised while calmly saying “what can I do about it?!” Somehow 1957 feels more comforting, even under a Tory government.
Talking about manifestos and political parties I found the only one that talks sense:
UKIP believes the smoking ban should be made more flexible, and that some exceptions should be made possible - in short, 'That the Landlord should decide', to allow those pubs and clubs very seriously damaged by that ban to make alternative arrangements for smokers within agreed guidelines. UKIP is deeply concerned at the loss of 39 pubs a week ( for last 6 months of 2008, up on 36 previously and equal to 6 pubs a day closing ), many of which can be blamed on a fall in takings of 8 to 10% due to the ban, and the fall in AWP ( Amusement with Prizes ) Machines takings by 20%.
So there are parties out there willing to acknowledge that businesses are suffering since the smoking ban experiment came into being on the 1st of July 2007! Well that’s a start.
The ruling Labour party, months ahead of it’s much mentioned smoking ban review are proven to be liars, cheats and deceivers of the public, there 2010 manifesto said:
“The ban on smoking in public places will be maintained.”
So, months ahead of the smoking ban review my beloved government of the people sharing, caring government have already decided that the smoking ban review will be a whitewash!
The government will review its policy on its partial ban on smoking in public places three years after the new legislation is introduced in summer 2007, MPs were told last week.
Eh, partial ban?
Speaking to the parliamentary select committee on health on the same day that she unveiled the Health Bill, the secretary of state for health, Patricia Hewitt, said the bill would mean smoking is banned in "virtually" every enclosed work place and public place in England.
"We will monitor the impact from day one, and we will have a full review at the end of three years," she told the MPs.
hogwash whitewash?
So you, and your bloody review committee will say that your Smoking Ban Experiment was a bloody success, despite all the evidence to the contrary? You and your cohorts in your party have already decided that the review is a stitch up forgone conclusion.
Why should I, a now floating voter, believe you and your party on other issues like the economy, immigration, jobs, housing, businesses or health for that matter? Truth is Labour…YOU SCREWED ME OVER, BIG STYLE, and I don’t forget!
You can guess where my floating vote is going.
