Steven Simon, a man of our [anti smoker] times.

Steven Simon, a fighter for smokers rights. 

Steven is a quiet, placid man who comes out of his shell whenever the smoking ban is mentioned. In fact he is passionate about it because he hates it with venom, as do most of us tolerant smokers.

I first met Simon at the very first meeting of the North of England regional group around the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008, my memory for dates has dulled somewhat, at the Tardis pub in Redcar which is now a cafe. He attended subsequent meetings at the Painters Arms in Drighlington and talked passionately about the ban and how to fight it. After a year and half at those meetings I had to stop going for family reasons and lost touch with Simon. Today I have found out he has resurfaced on my radar and he is still fighting the smokers corner:

Kendal smoker to open shop to beat ban

A CAMPAIGNER is planning to open a pro-smoking shop in Kendal to support his bid to get the law changed.

Steven Simon hopes to obtain a lease for a small unit in the town to sell T-shirts promoting his campaign while offering a place for smokers to meet and chat.

Funds raised would be used in his drive to urge the Government to overturn the smoking ban.

Mr Simon said smoking generated £17 billion for the economy and wants pubs to be able to offer ‘smoking rooms’ so people do not have to go outside to light up.

Slogans on the T-shirts would include ‘l would rather be a smoker than a fascist’.

“The smoking ban has to be amended because it is achieving nothing,” said Mr Simon.
“Give us an area inside — why should I accept that I am forced outside in winter to smoke?”

 Well said Simon, the smoking ban experiment has achieved absolutely nothing and nor will the impending Tobacco Display Ban, starting with supermarkets on the 6th of April 2012. And nor would smoking bans in your car, vending machines, playgrounds, hospital grounds or even your home, something I wrote about not so long ago.

Anyone with one ounce of 'sink estate' intellect can see that all these draconian measures are for one purpose, and one purpose only, the dehumanisation and denormalisation of the smoker and their enjoyment of tobacco and to pit the majority against the minority, albeit a very, very large minority, but a minority, without status nonetheless.

Recently other bloggers, particularly Junican from the Bolton Smokers Club and Frank Davis have been asking "where have all the wealthy smokers gone?" A question I have asked myself many a time since before the ban came in and was let down by my findings. Simon Cowell, for instance, a celeb smoker who says absolutely nothing in case it upsets his money grubbing empire.  And there is Dave West (where has he gone now?) who famously said he had Cherie Blair as his council to challenge the smoking ban at the european courts in 2008??? And there was Tony Benn, whom I sent an email to asking him to support F2C against this foul ban. He, who gives lectures to us plebs in our town halls about his 'illustrious' career whilst smoking his famous pipe said, and I paraphrase: There are more urgent world events that need sorting".

So don't look to the rich and famous smokers to get us oik smokers out of this draconian mess, it's the little people like Steven Simon, Junican, Frank Davis and yes, you and me.

The fight continues!

Well I was bored. Merry Christmas

Should I be worried?

If you are a reader of this blog then you must be interested in the smoking debate, you know, the one the anti’s say is over. Of particular interest to me is the SHS anti smoking mantra that has invaded the bodies of normally sensible people. It was the myth of SHS that drove me out of my apathy pre ban to look on the net for like minded people when I found Freedom2Choose, or The Big Debate as it was known as back then.

If you have clicked on my blogroll links lately then I’m sure you have been taken to Pat Nurse and Simon Clarke’s blogs, to name but two, and read that ASH have turned their attention to banning smoking in the home, something their leader, Deborah Arnott said her corrupt organisation would not be seeking. But it seems that she and her motley crew have been bolstered, like a drunk man starting a fight, by that bastion of illiberal anti smoking shit kicking, California.

The whole absurdity of SHS and it’s killer instinct to travel through walls and along communal pipework was first muted by one Jonathan Winickoff, (or was it Stanton Glantz? I find it hard to keep up these days,) whom Chris Snowden rips into here and here so I will not go there.

Apart from the usual incitements towards abuse and hatred of the smoker this caught my eye in this ASH document which goes under the title “What landlords can do":

Landlords already have the power to make their properties smokefree provided that the terms
are made explicit in the tenancy agreements. Enabling tenants to achieve smoke-free homes
by including smoke-free clauses in tenancy agreements is not only good public health policy
but also has economic benefits.
[…]
Private landlords, local authorities and housing associations alike can include a clause
prohibiting smoking in new tenancy agreements to a building.

It’s that last quote about local authorities and housing associations that made me beg the question “Should I be worried” in the title of this blog. Let me tell you a story.

I live in a council flat run by the local authority in Middlesbrough, have done since 1978 when the Mrs and I moved in with the aging mother in law. In 1981 Beryl’s mother died and we took over the tenancy. About a year and a half later we were told that the utility area between the bathroom and the kitchen, where the communal pipes, stopcocks, wiring etc. run throughout the block was encased, on four sides, by Asbestos boards. I am not kidding when I say that it was like a scene out of a biological disaster movie when they came to “fix” the problem. The workers were dressed up in biological suits and walked through a tunnel they had made from the front door to the bathroom, a very short distance. So, did they take the offending Asbestos out? No, they did not, they painted it! Remember this for later as, after near on thirty years I have just recently found out that they 'neglected' to inform me and my flat dwellers of something that could be detremental to our health. So flash forward to 2011.

I’ve known for a couple of months now that Erimus housing, my landlord, which is a subsidiary of Middlesbrough Council, that major works were afoot to finally remove the offending known killer Asbostos.

A lady calls.

A woman from Erimus Housing called to explain the timeline of events for the removal of the offending killer Asbestos. I was gobsmacked when she said that, nearly thirty years ago, when they painted the killer Asbestos, they could not paint all sides as one side was in a position that made that impossible and they now have decided to remove all the killer Asbestos??? Why didn’t they do that nearly thirty years ago? It is no less a killer now than it was then!

So the work is being done and I and my ailing wife, who has Alzheimer’s, have to move to a ‘courtesy flat’ in the ninth floor for six days and I am not looking forward to that, with my wife’s dementia my main concern. So we have to move out on the 17 of January 2012.

Instructions over the lady from Erimus just had to go through a box ticking exercise with questions they mostly have on file anyway. Before she started I said something I should have kept tight lipped about.

Before she started box ticking I said: “Ah, I’ll bet I know one of the questions!” and when she asked me
what question I said “I’ll keep that till you are finished.”

Well she box ticked to her hearts content but never once mentioned the smoking. When finished she asked my what was that question I’d thought she was going to ask her.

When I told her she said, stern faced, “you have to go out onto your balcony to smoke, you have to think of others, it’s policy that there is no smoking in the flats.” then said, “when you go to the courtesy flat then you cannot smoke there either.” I laughed and am sure that she was winding me up but she never cracked a smile. I can only think that the likes of Deborah Arnott and her corrupt fake charity are getting to those who are landlords and their hirelings, a sobering thought to me as I will refuse to give up smoking IN MY OWN HOME!

PS: I am now asking for a copy of my tenant agreement to try and clear this up and have been on the Erimus site to find clarification but can find none. Either this lady was taking the piss or has been duped by the likes of ASH et all.

Tales from the anti smokers darkside

Obesity “epidemic” blamed on smokers giving up their enjoyment of tobacco only to fuel obesity in the US. The stigmatisation of smokers works apparently and it’s use is advocated towards other ‘lifestyle choices’ that don’t fit in with political dogma:

The latest report card on Americans’ health says that for every person who quit smoking in 2011, another person became obese. The country showed no improvement in overall health in 2011, despite modest decreases in smoking and preventable hospitalizations. These improvements were overwhelmed by major increases in obesity and diabetes. Clearly, America has an issue with food. But if this country’s anti-smoking efforts have taught us anything, it’s that awareness, policy and social stigmas can come together to influence health habits in powerful ways—and ones which America’s food and fitness advocates can emulate.

That often used phrase by bloggers “first they came for the smokers…” does not seem so trite now, does it, but will those that are next in the firing line of healthist jihadism listen when they are vilified by politicians and the MSM alike?

Often noted by esteemed bloggers like Dick Puddlecote and Chris Snowdon, who know what they are talking about, smoking prevalence has been declining for the past 50 years:

Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke are still thought to be the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. But our nation’s smoking rates have been declining gradually for roughly the past half a century (though the rate of decline has begun to slow recently). As of 2010, about 19% of the American adult population smoked, and only 8.3% were considered heavy smokers. In 1964, when the government released its first report on adult smoking in America, the rate at 42%.

So smoking prevalence in the US has slowed recently? I wonder why. Maybe the denormalisation of smokers is the answer, in fact I am sure it is, forbidden fruit and all that.

Meanwhile Maryland has it’s lowest smoking rates for a long long while but are they satisfied? Ask the money chasing American Lung Association:

Despite lower smoking rates, more resources are needed.

Maryland is among the worst states in the country to get public help to quit smoking, according a report released yesterday.
The American Lung Association ranked Maryland as tied for the third-worst state for smoking cessation efforts. The report took into account whether states require private and public insurers to cover quit-smoking aids, as well as how much the states spend on initiatives to curb smoking.
"There is absolutely no excuse for these states' tragic failure to help (their) … smokers quit," Dennis Alexander, regional executive director of the American Lung Association in Maryland, said in a statement. "It's urgent Maryland policymakers step up and provide access to quit-smoking treatments and services that will save lives and money."

Where anti smoking hysteria is concerned you can do no better than follow the money gravy train which is drying up of late. And as we all should know by now lower smoking rates is not good enough for the righteous who hide their real goal behind the flimsy facade of altruism:

"It's not enough," said David Snyder, chairman of the leadership council for ALA in Maryland. "What would be enough is if we see that 15 percent we've got in Maryland go to 10, and then 5, and then to zero. … Every person that's addicted to nicotine and smokes runs the risk of getting heart disease, lung disease and other complications."

If David Snyder put as much effort into Maryland’s crime culture as he does smoking maybe I could applaud him, Maryland is not a save place to live in.
Meanwhile…
Texas smoking students are revolting, no, really, they are revolting:

The UC Davis pepper spray incident aside, today’s college students appear too distracted to mount memorable protests against the status quo. How can you work up a nice head of righteous indignation while your attention is being pulled every which way by iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Adderall pills from your little brother’s prescription stash? Recent reports of UNT students handing out free cigarettes to protest a campus-wide ban on smoking aren’t likely to revive a ‘60s-style spirit of liberation, either.

Although the pro-smoking UNT protesters won’t win this one, their little demonstration – especially the “eff you” it offers to America’s health puritans – warms my heart. I’m not a tobacco user, so I have nothing to lose in the crusade against smoking. But I do know two things: 1) Life is full of complicated personal decisions about risk vs. benefit, and 2) Death is coming for you too, Mr. and Ms. Snotty Anti-Smoking Advocate. I also suspect that scientific studies about second hand smoke have been fudged to promote the anti-smoking cause. So fire up a coffin nail for me, UNT tobacco rebels.

And here are the ‘revolting’ students. Just listen to the brainwashed anti smokers who study at the University of North Texas, oh, and please feel free to ignore the advert in this video for burgers full of Mayonnaise and dripping with fatty juices…loverly.

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

Listen up you lovers of food, you lovers of fine wine...it could will be you next!

Under Pressure!

And the Dutch certainly are:

Leading cancer, asthma and heart health experts accused the Dutch government on Friday of "all but closing down" its tobacco controls and said such lax policies could lead to 145,000 preventable deaths by 2040.

Now with my calculations on the back of a beer bottle label, that means in the intervening 29 years 5 people will die from smoking each year (that's if they can find a death certificate that states they died of smoking tobacco) from a population of 16,645,313 as of 2008.

Also note the date of 2040 and you can plainly see that these Mystic Meg's of this millennium  are wannabe Nostradamus's from over 400 years ago but the only difference is these latter day saints are taken seriously, so seriously that they need to band together to browbeat a liberalising government and it's people (Oxymoronic or what?).

In a letter to The Lancet medical journal, specialists from Europe, the United States and Canada said new Dutch policy moves -- including weakening smoking bans in bars and ending the reimbursement of quit-smoking aids -- would inevitably cost lives.

Is this what they call the Global Village? Is this part of the big society? A society in the global village where big villages send out their warriors to cull dissent from their perceived weaker global village's and their elected representatives?

You see, anyone or any nation that pisses against the wind of tobacco control will feel the steely hand of their fawning political elites who have set themselves up as your supperiors and you must bend to their meally mouthed words, whether their is truth in them or not, that is not for you to question.

The fact that this letter was sent to the Lancet makes me puke as it seems that this British journal is held in high esteem by other countries in the world of tobacco control without contridiction from anywhere. Staggering.

Do not faulter you Dutch.

One of the freedom from tobacco control fighters in Holland is Wiel Massen and it was he, and his associations that have changed the governments mind on smoking bans. Wiel is a true freedom fighter.

Tongue in Cheek: Smoking may make your nipples fall off!

Found this funny but please don't let the MSM know, you know how they are suckers for an anti smoking story.

According to plastic surgeon Anthony Youn, "smokers who undergo breast lifts are at great risk of losing their nipples." This is not just a theory. Their nipples may "turn black and fall off." I can't imagine a more horrifying scene.

Read the rest here.

doppelgänger

A lady with a difference, Anne Hegerty (extreme left).

Spot the difference between the two women in the photos. One is an intelligent frump looking woman who knows what she is talking about and willing to go head to head with Joe Public who think they are hard enough to take her on and challenge the answers she gives to any given question. The other woman is Jill Pell. Guess which lady is known as miss frosty knickers?

 A lady of indifference, Jill Pell, smoking Jihadist.

Jill Pell is a lady woman that is not approachable by Joe Public.