Baby it’s cold outside…

…and who cares? Maybe ASH does?

Maybe not!

We are born and then we die, so why not take any pleasure that we can in between?

Blogger Tags: Hatred kills, the pleasure of smoking tobacco

The blame game- Konrad Jamrozik - RIP

Kamrozik-1955-2010-father of the Second Hand Smoke lie-dies aged 55

Death, when it comes to someone you love and respect, one of your kith and kin, is hard to take, it rips you apart. Outside of your nearest and dearest a death is less tearworthy [thinking friends here] but the loss is heart rending never the less. But when it comes to a death of someone you do not respect, because they hit the headlines with outrageous claims, in  Konrad's case, Second Hand Smoke kills, you shed no tears at all. In fact some of us may crow at his demise.

I will not crow to the fact that you despised me as a smoker or that you were one of the original perp's of junk science to put me down as a mass murderer because I smoke, not that I was killing myself but that I was killing those about me, something that I will not swallow, but I'll listen. Everyone has something to say, and they should be given a hearing, rightly or wrongly, you then have to make up your own mind if they are talking bollocks.  Konrad, you talked ballocks.

As JJ says in the comments section over at DP's place:

Sorry DP – but I won’t be shedding any big tears for this man. His work was once quoted to me by my shitty county council as being a benchmark by which they further extended their policy of non-smoking in public areas surrounding Kelham Hall.

Then you read his [Konrad's] bio:

Since the mid-1980s, Konrad combined his academic and clinical work with his passion for tobacco control, as a part-time activist but full-time advocate. His approach to advocacy was both opportunistic and unrelenting - "like water dripping on a stone... you never know which drip will crack it".
As an academic expert he generated significant new evidence on the impact of smoking on vascular disease, particularly on stroke, and analysed the evidence as a member of numerous expert groups including the National Health and Medical Research Council's Second Working Party on Passive Smoking, an enquiry that the tobacco industry found so threatening they sought to gag its members through legal action.

 It is hard to take this man seriously. Very hard.  In life and in death.

 R.I.P Konrad. I will not crow at your demise even though you are three years younger than me; a smoker and a drinker. Misinformation is a killer, what killed you? Self righteous indignation I suspect.

HatTip to Dick Puddlecote, who is more learned than I.

Who'da thunk it?

Call for More Support for Smoking Cessation Services

Say Pfizer ... who provide smoking cessation services.

Targets of the RIPA kind

Be afraid! Be very afraid.

Smokers and tramps join 8,000 council surveillance targets

We have you in our sights.

And smokers are not alone in the game of fear…

Councils carried out more than 8,500 secret snooping operations on members of the public during the past two years, including spying on dog owners, fly tippers and loan sharks, according to a report published today.

Secret surveillance operations also took place against smokers, suspected benefit fraudsters, vagrants buying alcohol for under-18s and people repairing vehicles in the street.

There’s them pesky smokers again. Oh, and it gets worse…

More than 12 local councils used Ripa powers to spy on dog owners suspected of letting their animals foul public thoroughfares. Allederdale council in Cumbria used the powers to check whether a dog was wearing a collar and tag.

…and worse…

Kensington & Chelsea council spied on someone suspected of carrying out illegal vehicle repairs on the street, Gloucestershire on the suspected illegal movement of sheep and Great Yarmouth snooped on someone suspected of illegal tattooing.

…and worse…

Councils in North Norfolk, Chesterfield, Nuneaton & Bedworth, and Merton, southwest London, used Ripa powers to snoop on people suspected of lighting up in a no-smoking area.

…and…

The council in Newcastle upon Tyne topped the list of Ripa investigations, carrying out 231 operations between 2008 and 2010.

Councils also used the powers to spy on their own employees. In Darlington, Co Durham, staff were suspected of lying about their car parking and in Hambleton, North Yorkshire, and Hammersmith & Fulham employees were thought to be lying about being sick. The report found that 399 prosecutions resulted from the surveillance operations though in other cases people may have been given an on-the-spot fine rather than be taken to court.

Under the law 474 local authorities and 318 other agencies, including the Ambulance Service and the Charity Commission, can carry out surveillance operations.

Frightening, truly frightening…but are we becoming blasé about this?

After all, in another country, and in another era that, as the years fade into obscurity and recollections are dimmed by time and concerted efforts to eliminate the bad things of history in our media and in our schools and colleges it couldn’t happen again…could it?

Some younger readers might not know what I mean in that last paragraph, so I will elucidate:

Himmler
In 1936 Heinrich Himmler was made Reich Police Leader.

Himmler was an enthusiast for Nazi racial doctrines and his appointment resulted in a more radical policy over asocials (as it did over a number of other issues).

In February 1937 he ordered habitual criminals and offenders against public decency (which included gays) to be sent to ‘preventive custody’ instead of ordinary prison. This meant the concentration camps. This was illegal at first but was made lawful in December.

The criminal police were then empowered to arrest people who had not committed any crime if they could be shown to be unwilling ‘to conform to the natural discipline of the National Socialist State’. This included a very wide range of categories of behaviour including the ‘workshy’, the homeless, Sinti and Roma, gays, beggars, people (often women) whose sex life seemed irregular or irresponsible, prostitutes, pimps, people who refused to pay maintenance, and so on.

In April 1938 the first big wave of arrests occurred of people whose names were found in the records of local labour exchanges (jobcentres). [Ed: Records these days are called Databases, every council and government has one which makes it quicker to identify you than trawling through a paper database, and a pound to a penny YOU are on one!]

Godwin’s law I hear you cry! Well I would argue that once you invoke Godwin’s law then it is you that have lost the argument as you have gotten your ideal way out of continuing further debate about the excesses of government control.  It’s your way of saying GAME OVER when you have run out of ideas to parley with.

I think we all have worked it out by now that most anti-smokers are ex-smokers that have exercised self control and the power of their own will by their own volition to stop smoking, who then turn out to be the most ferocious and rabid of anti-smokers.

The very fact that the ex-smoker used his or her intellect to make the conscious decision to refrain from smoking tobacco products and then say that smokers in their midst are addicts akin to junkies without the same conscious decision making mechanism they used is to treat them [the smoker] as lesser mortals than themselves, devoid of decision making processes. So their mindset is set in stone, they are superior to you because they gave up smoking and they think you cant, you are not as strong as them, you are weak, they are strong in mind, body and soul, you have no place in their society, full stop.  It would never occur to them that you enjoy what you do, they have deliberately forgotten the enjoyment that they once had when they were smoking. Megalomaniacs crave control, and if, as a leader of a country, you can control smokers and something as mundane as smoking, then you can control anything, Nazi Germany was nothing if not efficient.

In our dim and distant past:

It seems that Hitler was a smoker in his youth but at some stage he became aware of its health hazards and, when in power (perhaps with the zeal of a convert), appeared to detest tobacco, which he called "the wrath of the Red Man against the White Man, vengeance for having been given hard liquor." But the antismoking campaign reflected "a national political climate stressing the virtues of racial hygiene and bodily purity" as well as the Fuhrer's personal prejudices. The same could be said of Nazi efforts to discourage drinking and encourage a better diet.

The state performer in antismoking propaganda was Adolf Hitler. As one magazine put it: "brother national socialist, do you know that our Führer is against smoking and think that every German is responsible to the whole people for all his deeds and emissions, and does not have the right to damage his body with drugs?"

Today:

I used to be a smoker. The first thing I did when I woke up at 6am was to reach out of bed, grab a cigarette and light up. It was my start to the day, every day. I tried several times to give up, but only lasted a few months before going back. During one of the periods when I was off cigarettes, I went to the pub. Somebody bought a round, then someone passed round a packet of fags. I foolishly took one – I'd had a few drinks – and the next thing I was a smoker again.

That was about 30 years ago, and I finally managed to kick the habit soon after that, partly because I met a woman who didn't smoke. We married and had four children. […]

In my view smokers who currently stand outside a pub or restaurant having a fag should have to stand at least several yards away from the front door, to save the 79% of us who don't smoke from breathing in their smoke when we go in or out. We should curtail the rights of the 21% and increase their responsibilities towards the 79%. In other words, we should stop them killing us and our children. […]

Smoking should be banned in cars, and particularly any vehicle with children in it. On a school visit I met a 12-year-boy who wanted to be an athlete who told me that every morning his mother lit up when she was driving to school, even though he'd begged her to stop. He should be able to report her to the police.

It should also be illegal to smoke at home in front of children. I accept that enforcing such a law would be difficult, but it would send a message that such behaviour is unacceptable. And shops should need a licence to sell cigarettes. They need a licence to sell alcohol, which is sometimes addictive and certainly harmful, just like tobacco, so why not? That would make shopkeepers less likely to sell fags to people under age.

Duncan Bannatyne

Tomorrow?

The Grim Ripa pdf.

My emphasis throughout.

Hat Tip and many thanks to: Martin Edwards at the UK Column and Big Brother Watch

Blogger Tags: Ripa, Smokers targeted under UK terrorist laws, The UK Column, Big Brother Watch, Nazism, The sign of things to come, History always repeats itself

Anti-smokers love wasting your money

As my esteemed colleague has mentioned, the vultures are gathering.

479 of them, to be precise. Well, that was the body count as of Friday, anyway.

So, what's the cost to you, the taxpayer, of this irrelevant nonsense?

A registration fee of £375 per delegate, paid for exclusively from public funds, costs the country nigh on £180,000, without adding in travel expenses, hotels, subsistence allowance and the money squandered on hosting the whole exercise.

The wages of these tax-spongers will make you wince even more. A brief Google search suggests that we're looking at a minimum of £30,000pa.

So this conference is costing the country, at the very least, £15m. To put that into perspective, the MP expenses scandal only worked out at around £1m worth of abuse ... over a number of years. And there are still three weeks to go for more of them to claim a fully-paid jolly at your expense. Thankfully, at least the ones who have been jailed won't be there.

All in a good cause though. Let's look at those smoker prevalence figures again, shall we?

It was a roaring success in England

Smoking ban fails to curb the habit: Figures reveal men are smoking MORE

And also in Scotland.

THE smoking ban has failed to persuade Scots to pack in the habit, we can reveal.

Government figures show the numbers of smokers are about the same as when the ban was introduced in 2006.

And they say that smokers, who pay £10bn in tobacco duties per year, are a drain on the NHS? Good grief.

We're told that the country needs to make public sector cuts. How about 479 hugely wasteful burdens who could be dispensed with tomorrow without any effect on front line NHS services whatsoever?

Them and us

Hell hath no fury like the righteous scorned!

As we are all to aware these days there are groups out there that want to take your freedoms away because they quite simply don't like you having that freedom. That freedom may be a simple one, like having a pint of beer, a glass of whiskey or even a burger-you'll need a strong stomach to watch this anti MacDonalds vid-, fish & chips with salt & vinigar...in fact anything you enjoy occassionally is deemed wrong to one group or another. And of course the odd tobacco product of your choosing is, as you already know, verboten, even to your naked eye. In fact the righteous will bend over backwards to denormalise you because of your lifestyle choice, no matter how innocuous your choices are.

Are you getting the picture yet? No? You still need convincing that they, the righteous groups that have the ear of your their government via quangos and so called fake "Charidies" like ASH (spit) et al, partly set up by that government that you pay your taxes to? The likes of Dick Puddlecote may say he, and his hard working staff, are being Bled Almost Dry but that's of little consequence to Tobacco Control and their paymasters, you big, and I mean BIG government. They might as well take a leaf out of Sir Bob's book and demand "give us your f****** money!" Right? I mean I'll they will look after it, all for your own wellbeing,  of course, right! Hmmmm.

The vultures are gathering:

GLASGOW, RADISSON SAS HOTEL, MONDAY 14 AND TUESDAY 15 JUNE 2010 

Conference

(My emphasis throughout)

The UK National Smoking Cessation Force Conference attracts world-class junk scientists speakers presenting the very latest in junk science clinical, research [talked to some numbties on the phone] and policy developments [we hate smokers and smoking and we will present this as a 'development'.]

This year, the UKNSCC [United Kingdom No Smoking Cessation in Congress] will reflect the latest developments in good practice for smoking cessation in special populations, [that means you and I, whereever you may reside] new indications for NRT, medication force compliance, marketing and supporting tobacco control  [it was NEVER about health] activity, and the impact of illicit tobacco.


The UKNSCC agenda is driven by [our hatred of tobacco, the users of tobacco and anyone that suports the usage of tobacco.] the involvement of the field and will contain presentations from practitioners that focus on the policy and practice of forcing helping smokers to stop.


We hope that you will be able to join us in our hatred of all tobacco products and their  drug depandant users and to contribute to this not so unique event.


Just look at the delegates attending this junket:

Enlarge this document in a new window
Publishing Software from YUDU

Nice, can I cum come?

No?  Is it because I'm not a Stakeholder? Guess my invite was lost in the post. Anyway I couldn't afford the Full conference fee of £375 per delegate. What, you can't affort that fee either? No worries, your respective departments will pay it for you out of government coffers and the taxpayer's Dick Puddlecote's wallet and the wallets of the people he employs. Thats the likes of me and you folks, the much maligned taxpayer and it is TIME to say NO.

Into the breech my friends:

If you want to demonstrate peacfully your dissaproval at their wasting of your money then come and join us on the 14th & 15th of June 2010. A lawful demonstration is being organised by Freedom2Choose (Scotland.) You can email me at office@freedom2choose.info if you want to participate.

Don't forget that address and those dates:

GLASGOW,

RADISSON SAS HOTEL,

MONDAY 14 AND TUESDAY 15 JUNE 2010

There are THEM and there are US. And we WILL have our say!

SNATCH-the great health service swindle.

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, is pressing ahead with his mission to roll back what he terms the "obsessive lawmaking" of the New Labour years. In today's speech to students at London's City and Islington College he said he wanted people to get involved in "our very own Great Reform Act". (Guardian)

Don’t forget the hated Smoking Ban Experiment Nick, amendments are needed, now!



And if you are serious about reducing the national debt then you and Dave can stop the haemorrhaging of serious lucre to denormalise the smoker without culling doctors or nurses frontline services.

MASS MEDIA HEALTH PROMOTION CAMPAIGNS
Expenditure on mass media education campaigns in England and Wales has increased in recent years, reaching a peak in the 2004/05 financial year. Expenditure in 2004-05 included the provision of £15M over three years to Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation. (ED: See page 8 in the YUDU document below.)

1999/2000 - £6.18m
2000/2001 - £8.97m
2001/2002 - £7.79m
2002/2003 - £7.87m
2003/2004 - £17.34m
2004/2005 - £24.0m
2005/2006 - £22.7.0m
2006/2007 - £13.5m
2007/2008 - £11.39m
2008/2009 - £23.38m

Click to launch the full edition in a new window
Publishing Software from YUDU
The above is just the tip of a very, very big iceberg.

Blogger Tags: Wasting your money, Tobacco Control, NHS, Quangos, Fake Charities like ASH

Voices of Freedom

We smokers know what it is like to have our freedoms stolen from us, but we are not alone because there are government funded “fake Charities” out there that want to take the food out of your mouth! Every day some freedom or another that we enjoyed, but took for granted, is snatched by the government of the day from under our very noses. I’m sure you all can add your own freedom that has been taken from you. It is time that we all cried FREEDOM.

Over at Simon Clark’s blog they take our freedoms very seriously:

I am delighted to announce the launch of an exciting new programme of events. In association with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the Adam Smith Institute, Big Brother Watch, The Manifesto Club and Liberal Vision, The Free Society - a campaign launched by Forest in 2008 - is hosting a series of debates entitled Voices of Freedom: The Battle Against Big Government.

Subjects include Economic Freedom in Welfare, Big Government is Watching You, Can a Big Society be a Free Society?, Hyper-Regulation and the Bully State; and Who Holds the Liberal Torch in 2010?.

The debates - chaired by Iain Dale (Total Politics), Claire Fox (Institute of Ideas), James Panton (Manifesto Club) and Mark Littlewood (IEA) - take place next month at the IEA in Westminster. Make a note of these dates: Thursday June 3, Thursday June 10, Tuesday June 15, Thursday June 24 and Tuesday June 29.

Speakers currently confirmed include Philip Davies MP; Steve Baker MP; Michael White, assistant editor of the Guardian; Ross Clark, author of The Road To Southend: One Man's Struggle Against the Surveillance Society; Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute; Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch and former chief of staff to David Cameron; Dr Tim Evans, president of the Libertarian Alliance; freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke; Chris Mounsey, leader of the Libertarian party; Josie Appleton of the Manifesto Club; and Daily Telegraph journalist Philip Johnston, author of Bad Laws: An Explosive Analysis of Britain’s Petty Rules, Health and Safety Lunacies and Madcap Laws. More speakers will be confirmed shortly.

Each debate begins at 7.00pm but prior to that there will be a drinks reception from 6.00pm hosted by The Free Society and sponsored by Boisdale of Belgravia.

Entry is free but strictly RSVP. Email events@forestonline.org or telephone 01223 370156

For more info please go here and here.

Freedom is more than just a word.

Blogger Tags: Simon Clark, The Free Society, Voices for Freedom, Forest

We DO enjoy smoking after all

After years of telling us that smokers don't really enjoy smoking and that it's just a psychological illusion, Indian anti-smoking fanatics have bucked the trend.

It's officially a 'pleasure' according to them. Unfortunately, their passive smoking analogy tends to suggest that sparking up is akin to setting fire to your dad's head.

Same hyperbole, same ludicrous nonsense, same detachment from reality. They can't photoshop for toffee, either.

Still, it's interesting to see that tobacco controllers in India are as mentally-imbalanced as their counterparts in New Zealand and the US.

True Lies

From Fausty’s libertarian Blog:

One
basic
truth can
be used as
a foundation for
a mountain of lies,
and if we dig down deep
enough in the mountain of lies,
and bring out that truth, to set it
on top of the mountain of lies; the entire
mountain of lies will crumble under the weight of
that one truth, and there is nothing more devastating to a
structure of lies than the revelation of the truth upon which
the structure of lies was built, because the shock waves of
the revelation of the truth reverberate, and continue to
reverberate throughout the Earth for generations to
follow, awakening even those
people who had no
desire to be
awakened
to the
truth.

Delamer Duverus

And there is this from our fellow freedom fighters over the pond, (You can see the below in full if you go here.)

Action	Antismoking Extremists Say	Folks say	The Cold Sharp Slap Of Reality
A Stranger Comes To Town	We are here to help, you can't avoid a ban because EVERYONE for the good of the children. is doing it,	We can decide what we want on our own properties, we can hang signs and let the public decide where to spend their money.	Antismoking Extremists think you are too stupid to know Big Pharmaceutical their lies because they said so. supports them, and they count on the fact that you will believe
Battle Lines Being Drawn	We are not including the casinos and private clubs, so don't worry, you don't have to fight us. If anything, the ban will give you more business.	Nothing is said because there is nothing to worry about. You are still believing every little thing your new friends say.	As soon as the ban is passed, they will go after the casinos and private clubs. This divide and conquer technique works all the time. The Antis may demand the change themselves, or they will use mis-guided private business owners to do it for them under the guise that there is no "level playing field" which ends with no exemptions at all. You just got conned Bubba, they played you like a cheap fiddle!
Smoke Screen	Let's include smokeless tobacco products in the ban. We don't want those horrid people to have anything. Let them buy Big Pharm stuff to quit smoking! In fact, let's tell them that "Cold Turkey" doesn't work so we can get every dime we can out of them and make our nicotine delivery products the only legal ones.	Nothing is said. You are too worried about the ban to notice the fact that anything about smoke shouldn't include smokeless products.	You let the next step of the Anti plan slide by. Shame on you. THE ANTI-TOBACCO RECIPE FOR SUCCESS 1. Choose an industry. 2. Regulate the industry. 3. Tax the industry. 4. Sue the industry. When one source of money dries up, return to Step 1 and repeat. By S. Phillipe
Ban Is Passed	Gloat, gloat, giggle, strut. Now we can get away with anything. Cue up the next deep pocket!	WHAT?! That's not right, that's not what I voted for. This isn't what I thought they meant, what do you mean I can't smoke in my own one person office?!!!	This is when the Newsletter picks up new readers. Lots of them. They are very unhappy people who have to work thru the rage, depression, and finally agree that they got bamboozled by highly paid strangers with a packet full of junk science that it would have been politically incorrect for mere sheeple to take a close look at. Antis won't stop at a town, they will go for the state. Don't let them get a foot in your door.
Patio Issue	Now we need to make more changes to the ban and tighten up the loopholes. Let's start with no smoking outside as well.	I should have the right to allow my customers to smoke on my new patio if I want. I spent a lot of money building it because you said I could!	You opened the flood gates. You can close them, or watch your business get washed away. Overturn the whole ban, or watch more and more bans come in until grandpa's business is closed. First it's inside, then it's outside seating areas, then it's on the sidewalk.
Noise Issue	It's time to get rid of all the bars, or, ban all smoking on the sidewalk, for the good of the children.	You have got to be kidding me! Where did you think my customers would go to smoke when you banned smoking inside?	The Antis have you so far under their control now that you will waste your time and money in a fight about the noise issue, which you could solve easily by getting rid of the ban and letting people drink and smoke inside like they should be.
Litter Issue	We need to ban smoking on beaches, in parks, everywhere those nasty smokers are littering.	Enforce the litter laws that already exist. We don't need a separate one for cigarettes, one for diapers, another for soda cans, etc...	The Antis are not interested in enforcing perfectly good existing laws. They are only interested in getting new laws put in to justify their incomes and paychecks.
Economy Issue	Just like we said, now the non-smokers will come to your place of business and you'll do better than ever.	Where are the non-smokers? My business is going under!	Do I really have to say this? You bought into the Anti lies. So did the good folks on the Ban Loss and Ban Damage pages, and others.
Car Issue	We have to stop those stinky smokers from smoking in their cars, for the good of the children. It doesn't matter if it's a convertible car and it is moving at 55 MPH. We can say, "Only 20 seconds of smoke exposure will kill them instantly." No one dares argue with us or we'll say they are a front for the tobacco company. No one is allowed to question us!	Hey, wait a minute, I don't have any kids! Even if I did, that would be up to me what I want in my own car, not you.	Remember, every new ban the Antis get on the books justifies their paycheck from Big Pharma in helping to make their nicotine delivery system the only one politically correct, or legally available.
Home Issue	We've done the inside, outside, car, work and more... now you are not a good citizen if you don't agree to home bans! It doesn't matter if you own, or rent, or have a room in a nursing home, we will get our way. This is long past "safety" based on junk science, and all about MONEY.	This is my home, you can't do this.	Derr... what do you think I'm going to say next? Get rid of the ban! Stop it all. Don't let the Antis take your eye off the big picture by getting you stuck up to the neck in the muck of the little battles. Get rid of the whole Anti movement and the entire ban. Tell them you are still a free citizen and capable of making your own decisions about any and all legal products!
Tax Issue	We need more money. We are making less from the MSA now because less tobacco is being sold. Some states want to cut our funding, there has to be someone to tell the sheeple what to do! You are politically incorrect if you don't do as we tell you! Raise the taxes to continue our good work!	The few of us smokers in town are already paying for the roads that everyone gets to drive on. This isn't fair. Every citizen should pay equal taxes!	So do something about it. Highly paid people quit when they are not being paid. Cut off ALL funding to the Antis at your local and state level. Do not donate money to groups that fund Antis. Make Big Pharma support them alone so when the Antis realize there is money to be made off Big Pharma in court, it'll be too late, and they will eat their own masters.
Other Issues	Insert the insane claim and demand from the Antismoking Extremists of your choice here.	You can't do that.	So how's that approach there working out for you?

Tell your town, city, county, state, or country that you are sick of this. You fell for it, but don't need to continue to fall for it. For the sake of the children, protect the freedom to use your own good sense where any and all legal products are concerned and keep the world free from overpaid petty tyrants. What kind of world do you want to leave your children? Read the Newsletter, send it to friends, and open the eyes of everyone. No matter what you like, if it's tobacco, booze, scents, food, etc... your freedom of choice is in danger. Do not let your legacy for future generations be that of a slave society filled with sheeple afraid to stand for anything, and falling for everything.

Says it all really. Please donate to The Smokers Club Inc. as they need new computers to keep on with their newsletters and keep up the fight against the nanny state.

Click to donate

Blogger Tags: Truth and lies, Smokers Club Inc.

Whoever said smoking isn’t sexy?

Please visit The Art of Smoking to see more of these gloriously sexy pics.

 

 

 

 

 

Blogger Tags: The Art of Smoking, Sexy, Smoking Pictures

The shape of things to come

As the gruesome twosome transform themselves from feuding opposites  to gushing celebrity  bride and groom*, one has to ask the question, “what’s in the The Great Repeal Bill for smokers-and drinkers come to that-which has been pencilled into The Queen’s Speech this month?”

Should we in the anti smoking ban movement in the UK get excited? After all most Tories were against a blanket ban and favour a relaxation of it, but can they be counted on to fight our corner?

Well we should start with our newly elected bridegroom leader, David Cameron, who beats himself up over his past smoking habit and went on to appoint Andrew Lansley as his Health Secretary who:

Voted for smoking ban with exemption for private members' clubs. Supports removal of vending machines from public areas of licensed premises. Not in favour of extending smoking ban (yet).

Then there’s the blushing bride, Nick Clegg:

Nick Clegg is an occasional smoker, he has admitted.

The Liberal Democrat leader revealed his habit during a half-hour interview with politics.co.uk, conducted in association with Yahoo!.

Asked if he would repeal the ban on smoking in public places, Mr Clegg admitted the ban made him miss the days of smoking in pubs, but insisted he believed it was the right thing to do.

"I have a confession to make," he told politics.co.uk. "I do take the occasional puffs of cigarettes myself.

"I understand that if you do, the days of sitting in a pub drinking a pint and having a cigarette is something you feel very attached to."

But the Liberal Democrat leader insisted the ban confirmed to his liberal philosophy.

"One of the first principles of a liberal is that you allow people to do what they want as long as it doesn't harm others," he said.

"Smoking is one of those classic examples where it's not a harm-free activity because it harms others around you and therefore I struggled with it a bit, but I voted for the smoking ban and I wouldn't seek to reverse it or dilute it."  [My emphasis]

Will a case of common sense break out in the new, shiny ConDem party coalition? I don’t think Frank Davis holds out much hope of that, he can see a new Puritanism just around the corner:

In the same interview, Cameron spoke of his religious belief. And I could help but think that being "clean" and feeling "deep remorse" had religious undertones as well. Cameron was repenting of his ways, and had been backsliding into sinfulness, but now he had been washed clean of vice. He didn't miss smoking, he said. But quite obviously he did, because otherwise he wouldn't have dreamed about it.

Nip over to Frank’s place and have a read, it’s well worth it.

I think I have five years to try and work out that Rubix Cube. I’ll need to keep my hands occupied as more misery is heaped onto the smoker and I’ll need to keep my hands busy as I sit in a pub having a pint during the winter months as I can see no end to the pub & club smoking ban anytime soon.

*I’ll leave it up to you to work out who is the Bride and who is the Groom in this mockery of a marriage, you will have five years to make up your mind as the ‘pact’ is ‘locked in’ for that long.

Blogger Tags: Marriage of convenience, mockery, smoking ban in pubs and clubs, new puritans, same old, Frank Davis

Pass the sick bag

 Joe Biden, vice president under Barack Obama, addresses the EU and exalts the Lisbon Treaty while talking about their “special relationship.” (says a lot about the UK’s “special relationship” with America, doesn’t it.)
He mentions about Washington DC being tagged as the capital of the “free” world and sees a parallel with Brussels:

It seems to me, in this great city, which boasts 1000 years of  history and which serves the capitol of Belgium, the home of the European Union and the headquarters for NATO, this city has it’s own legitimate claim to that title [capitol of the free world].

Also listen out for these two little words, COMMON PURPOSE.

It is not without reason that TICAP, of which Freedom2Choose and Freedom2Choose (Scotland) are member organisations, chose to hold their first conference in Brussels as 75% or more of British laws are made, and are subservient to, the EU in Brussels. The smoking ban here in the UK conformed to their diktats on this most draconian of laws.
Hat Tip to Subrosa and Richard

Blogger Tags: New World Order, Common Purpose, EU, Lisbon Treaty, treachery, Your masters voice

Music to one's Ears

Over many years it has been the musicians 'lot' to bring the attention of the masses to wrongs that need to be righted; music creates unity. We've seen it over the decades with Live Aid, Band Aid and numerous other musical creations from our talented artists of the vocal orientation.
Well, I suppose we could call this one "Pub Aid" for we have our very own singing star who has now completed writing a song to help fundraising for the long fight ahead to save the Great British Pubs/Clubs. Bob James, formerley lived in Uxbridge but left these shores in 1998 to further his career in America-and he has certainly done that for Bob now owns a recording studio & an independent record company, Magic of Music records.
Bob is only too aware of all that is wrong in this sad old country of ours thus has offered his invaluable services to our sister organisation, Justice for Licensees and ourselves in an attempt to bring awareness to the masses as to exactly what is going on in this country. Bob knows the value of the British boozer, he knows that it not just somewhere to sit and get sozzled; he knows it is an integral part of community life!
Bob is only too aware of the number of closures over the past 34 months and like all of us involved in saving our pubs & clubs, cannot simply sit back and watch the eradication of our way of life.
After much negotiation withInez Ward (JFL) Bob has written a song especially aimed at supporting the fight to save the pubs/clubs. "What Can We Do Now" will be released very shortly and thanks to Bobs'extraordinary generosity (and fully backed by a video!) all proceeds will go straight into the fighting fund that we so badly need to right the wrongs heaped upon us.
Bob is a non smoker but he is tolerant of those that do smoke and fully believes that a separate room for smokers is the correct and proper way to go. If only those in power even considered such a simple format!
Obviously I have left Inez to do most of the talking as this is 'her baby', but in brief conversations i have pointed out to Bob that 68% of pub/club regulars were smokers. I say 'were' simply because now they have gone the pubs & clubs are suffering mightily from the ridiculous legislation passed in 2007-so mightily that 5,000 venues have disappeared. Only last week Admiral taverns announced the sale of 200 'sites'. 200!
M&B have announced something similar for their 'wet-led' pubs-where will this end? If all the pubs that are left are turned into gastro-pubs then we are going to be flooded with them instead-and they will start closing due to lack of business!
Back to the record and our hero Bob James. There are plans afoot to get a world tour under way with venues here in Britain, America and quite possibly Australia so, with the possible help of other musicians this could be big-very big!
We have long known and had to accept that governments use our money against us, the people, but this is a golden opportunity to redress that balance for Bob has unselfishly declared that all profits from sales will go directly into the fighting fund now being set up by Inez Ward. Plus money from concerts etc and we could be looking at a tidy sum to help the fight to regain our rights.
So there you have it folks! With the power of the music behind us i think we can now start to look forward to brighter times for our pubs & clubs. It matters not how hard and long we fight, it sometimes takes one special man or woman to highlight the desperation of a situation. In this case we have one of each!
My heartiest thanks go out to Inez & Bob for this wonderful opportunity to save the pubs & clubs of this country.

Freedom2Choose (Scotland) Fundraiser.

On Sunday the 30th of May 2010 starting at 2pm F2C Scotland will have a fundraiser In Glenrothes. Music will be provided by the awesome band Stretch Dawrson and the Mending Hearts. they describe themselves as:

Scotland’s premier western swing band, a group of some of the best country/jazz/roots session musicians in the country.

If you are able to attend a good time will be assured.

Now I’m of to the online “learn yourself line dancing” website.

Details on the above poster.

Blogger Tags: Fundraiser, F2C Scotland, Freedom2Choose Scotland, Country & Western

For whom the Bell tolls…

…It tolls for thee Stuart!

Money for old rope, and I mean to keep it that way!

An election special and a personal view by TheBigYin

I am a Scotsman who has lived in Middlesbrough almost constantly since the early seventies and in that time Stuart Bell has been my MP. Like a sheep to the slaughter I voted for this guy every five years, until, that is, the smoking ban came into force. It was then I started taking politics seriously.

Middlesbrough has been likened to the arsehole backside of this country many a time but I have always found it’s people, in general, to be the most likeable, trustworthy, honourable, down to earth lot I’ve ever met. Oh sure, we have our problems here, like any other town but even we need reliable political representation, don’t we?

In those thirty odd years that we have had Sir Stuart Bell as our representative in parliament he has been noticeable by his absence…but still he gets voted in:

http://www.power2010.org.uk/blog/entry/middlesbrough-sends-a-big-message-to-stuart-bell/
 

I never new, after all these years he had a home in France…I wonder who helps pay for it?

Stuart Bell sits on some nice little earners committees, one of them looks into MPs standards, (actually he plays a key role in a "root and branch" review of MPs' expenses. )

MPs’ Expenses: There must be no Amnesty

Senior Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell said the Commons would be asked to approve an independent auditing body, which would be made up entirely of independent people, to oversee expense claim made by MP’s. If approved by the Commons, he said that this body would analyse ”every claim that is made“. On the face of it, this sounds like a positive move, however, as you might expect, there is a catch. Because, he also made clear on Channel 4 News that this body would only analyse “NEW” claims, that their remit will specifically exclude a retrospective review of prior claims. According to Bell, the setting up of this auditing body would demonstrate that MP’s are both “contrite” and keen that respect for parliament and democracy is restored. Is this man for real?

Does Stuart Bell really believe that the public will accept what amounts to a clumsy and inappropriate fudge. Ignoring past claims, which is what the public is so angered about, would amount to an amnesty for any MP that had been predisposed to lie, cheat, defraud, or deceive in relation to their expenses and/or allowances? Any attempt by Commons authorities to limit the scope of this, or any other independent auditing body, is tantamount to an admission that widespread abuse had taken place and they (MP’s) do not want further investigation. In other words, they want to draw a line under it and move on. Not acceptable. If, as they insist, everything has been “within the rules” then what have they got to worry about? The only way to restore public confidence is to have a truly independent auditing body trawl over past claims, perhaps for the past 10 years. Furthermore, if I was one of the many “honest MP’s”, then I would demand a proper investigation, if, for no other reason, than to persuade the public that there are many honest members of parliament.

Here are just some of Bell’s expenses. Oh, and he pays his wife, Lady Bell, to work as his Office Manager:

Sir Stuart's wife, Lady Margaret, receives pounds £35,000 a year as his office manager.

You, Stuart Bell, voted moderately for a smoking ban [don’t expect me to thank you for that!], when most of your constituents are smokers, they love their pint and a cigar/cigarette/pipe, I know because there are three clubs and four pubs around me in Priestfields, a working class estate where most of the [pubs and clubs] ‘clientele’ are working class smokers but you didn’t stick up for them, you abstained in a few places and in others you just did not bother to turn up.

Well I cast my vote around an hour ago and, guess what, I saw my preferred candidate on the ballot paper, along with you, the BNP, whom I’ve never seen on a ballot paper here before.

If my preferred candidate was not there, and other than vote for the BNP, who are against the smoking ban, and the independents  here are pro smoking ban, I was seriously going against my working class roots and vote for this Tory chap, thanks to Dick Puddlecote.
But don’t tell anyone that I considered voting for a Tory.

respect to my Tory voting friends. Dave Atherton comes to mind, a good man.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On on another note, most of the supreme bloggers on the net these days are doing a live blog about the erection election results as they come in, there is smoking and drinking allowed so do please join in around 10pm this election night for an all night party, and you can even swear, how cool is that, with:

All Seeing Eye, Barking Spider, Biased-BBC, Corrugated Soundbite, Dick Puddlecote, Governmentitus, GrumpyOldTwat, Man Widdecombe, Subrosa and The Red Rag,

Lets have a f****** party, as Frank Galagher might say.

Blogger Tags: Stuart Bell MP for Middlesbrough, Stuart Bell is more than useless, Ashok Kumar good riddence., you shouldn't have died but you are no loss, no smoke, no vote.

Nostalgia-Alan Silitoe-RIP.

Alan Silitoe, one of our finest writers.

LONDON—British writer Alan Sillitoe, whose "Saturday Night And Sunday Morning," and "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner" chronicled the bleak postwar realities of the country's poor, died Sunday. He was 82.

Sillitoe, a leading member of the 1950s group of so-called angry young men of British fiction, was acclaimed for his uncompromising social criticism and depiction of domestic tensions -- often dubbed kitchen sink dramas.

The writer's son David said his father had died at London's Charing Cross hospital, but gave no other details.

Albert Finney starred in the adaptation of "Saturday Night And Sunday Morning," as a disillusioned young factory worker. In the "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner," Tom Courtenay portrayed a young delinquent whose athletic prowess is seized upon by authorities as proof of their ability to rehabilitate troubled youths.

"He put somehow forgotten places at center-stage," British poet Ian MacMillan told the BBC. "He made the ordinary life into a kind of poetry."

Recalling his own modest upbringing in Nottingham, central England, Sillitoe once recalled the smells of "leaking gas, stale fat, and layers of moldering wallpaper."

In 2008, the author was bestowed with the freedom of Nottingham -- an ancient ceremonial honor that allows recipients to drove sheep through the center of the city. He had been due to join other recipients at an event to celebrate the city earlier this month, but was forced to withdraw because of illness.

Sillitoe lived briefly overseas with Ruth Fainlight, the American poet he married in 1959, but later returned to Britain.

In 2007, Sillitoe published "Gadfly In Russia," an account of four decades of travel through Russia.

Born in 1928, Sillitoe left school at the age of 14 and worked in factories. He later served as a wireless operator in the Royal Air Force, including in British-controlled Malaya, now Malaysia.

Sillitoe is survived by his wife and the couple's son and daughter.

Click To Play

RIP my friend, the anti-smoker nut jobs cant get you now.

Another country, another smoking ban

On May the 1st Switzerland imposed, against their better judgement, a smoking ban that will effect business up and down that once sane country. But it does not go unopposed though, just listen as the interview below decends into an 'on air' fight. The same old arguments about bar workers health are trotted out by the antis and the response mentions Hitler and his opposition to smoking, which is derided by the anti smoker movement in Basel, Switzerland.


Hat Tip to Mark Butcher via Simon Clarke's blog Taking Liberties.

Click To Play

Smoking kills music, apparently

And, as if it wasn't expected, everything else too.

Not sure about that. Just a personal view, but I'd say this guy is doing a good enough job of killing music unaided.