Iron men? Do me a favour

Those Aussies have been teasing us for years about our weakness in comparison to their machismo. They're all Crocodile Dundee types, we're just whinging poms who couldn't win an arm wrestle with their Sheilas, apparently.

It appears it was all a sham. There is no bravery in upside down land, merely bravado.

These days they're just a bunch of Walter the Softys who run for their fragile lives at sight of a wisp of smoke in an open street.

Frankston City Council is preparing to impose blanket bans along three busy open-air shopping strips, including opposite the train station.

Lighting up in the designated exclusion zones during the planned six-month trial could cost defiant smokers fines up to $110.

An Australian male, pictured yesterday

It takes a Brit in their bubble-wrapped country to rail against such laughable bansturbation (a great article, but if you're Australian, don't read it as the language will shock your sensitive soul).

No wonder the poor weak things went home without The Ashes this summer ... they were no doubt terrified the urn might spill and harm them, as well as messing up the crease in their jeans.

Mental imbalances and anti-smokers

Via the Ashtray Blog, comes more evidence of the psychological problems regularly exhibited by anti-smokers.

New Zealand tobacco control zealots, Quit, responded to the news that a respected researcher had deemed e-cigs perfectly safe, with the type of dreary and irrational reaction that we have come to expect from their limp, risk-terrified, and doom-laden colleagues worldwide.

"The strength of e-cigarettes is that they provide nicotine without the thousands of damaging chemicals found in cigarettes and tobacco, which is certainly a good thing," said a spokesman.

"Our concern is that, at face value, they appear to reinforce the behaviour of having a cigarette. It's reinforcing the wrong habit and potentially without addressing the addiction.

"We need to de-normalise smoking and e-cigarettes seem to role-model the wrong behaviour."

In New Zealand, e-cigs have been deemed harmful to no-one, are no threat to Quit's aspiration of living for a thousand years, don't make them have to wash their clothes more than once a month and don't force them to wash their hair like everyone else.

In short, there is absolutely nothing which could possibly make it any of Quit's business to intervene, but intervene they still do.

You see, it's still a bit like smoking ... and they just hate the fact that anyone is doing something that they don't personally like. Especially if they enjoy it.

Instead of lecturing governments, these bodies should be on a couch explaining their thoughts to a shrink. They need help.

From one religion to another

When you're paid to be fanatically anti-smoking, there isn't a day or occasion goes by without an opportunity to justify your salary.

Ramadan is the best time to stop smoking

NHS Tower Hamlets has sponsored a calendar setting out the timetable for Ramadan 2009

The calendar carries the message ‘Ramadan is the best time to stop smoking’

Ramadan starts on 22 August and lasts for 30 days. Every day during this month, Muslims around the world fast - abstain from food, drink and tobacco use - during the daylight hours.

It's also the best time to stop eating fatty foods and drinking wine, one would assume, but then the NHS doesn't receive pharma cash advocating that.

How very dare they?

Where does one start with this crap from the Sunday Sun? Might as well have a look at the beginning and see how it goes from there.

'Devious' tobacco bosses slammed

TOBACCO bosses have been slammed for “marketing death” by using beautiful young women dressed in orange satin jump suits to sell their product in busy bars.

Young women, carrying trays reminiscent of those used by ice cream vendors at cinemas, have been going into pubs selling cigarettes.

The pubs involved, which include the Centurion bar in Newcastle city centre, allow the girls into the bar in return for a small amount in commission for each packet sold.

One can only assume that the deviousness referred to is that of selling a legal product, to those who are legally permitted to buy it, on premises where the legal owner has given his/her assent.

How very dare they?

There's not really much to object to, but I'm sure some righteous bint will be along soon to tell us exactly what to think (it's not like we're allowed to make decisions for ourselves or anything like that).

Lo and behold.

The sales tactic was blasted by Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh – the campaign for a smoke-free North East.

She said: “What this is doing is glamorising the most lethal consumer product known.

“The last thing we need is the blatant promotion of cigarettes, which are the region’s biggest killer.

“There needs to be more regulation of an industry which is basically marketing death.”

There is so much wrong with this (apart from yankee spelling from the journo) that it is laughable.

More regulation? Listen, dearie, if your lot hadn't legislated a legal business out of every other avenue of promotion, this wouldn't be happening. If you need someone to shoot, try turning the holier-than-thou gun on yourself, eh?

And as for the 'last thing that we need'? When you use the first person plural, please don't include me, or any of the other 11 million smokers, in your definition of 'we'.

Ms Rutter said: “This is another example of why we’ve still got a huge amount of work to do."

No, Ailsa, this is another example of why people like you should be strangled at birth. Just shut the fuck up.

“I’m not having a go at the girls at all, they are just doing their job, but the companies need to be regulated"

Oh. How incredibly generous of you, your tediousness. Let's turn that one on its head, shall we? I'm not having a go at you for being an interfering fucknut, as you are just doing your job, but those who employ you, and those who pay for 'services' such as yours, should be taken somewhere dark and quiet and given a kicking of biblical proportions. Seeing as we are all equal under the law, I'm sure you will concede that my opinion is as valid as yours, yes?

“I would argue that there needs to be a proper licensing system. We need to be limiting the number of outlets that can sell this product and we’re calling on the Government to do everything in its power to tackle this."

There is that 'we' again. 'We' need to do nothing of the sort.

That aside, you're calling on the government (no capitalising from me when it isn't deserved) to do so, are you? Well, that would be quite simple seeing as you are entirely paid for by them. I believe it is called 'Astroturfing', a term you like to apply to groups such as Freedom2Choose who receive no backing whatsoever, whilst simultaneously benefitting from exactly such patronage yourself. A bit ... err ... devious, wouldn't you say?

Can we take it from this, then, that banning legal companies legally selling their legal product to legally entitled customers on legal premises, will be on the agenda of the next 'smokefree everywhere' wankfest?

Considering we will never get any semblance of common sense from any smokefree dirtbag, it is probably best that we finish with incontestable logic from the tobacco industry instead.

A spokesman for Japan Tobacco International, the parent company for Benson and Hedges, said: “It’s not illegal to sell tobacco products. You have to be over 18 to buy tobacco and that’s why they were visiting an over-18 venue.

“All of our staff are fully trained on challenging for ID - we have a policy of no ID, no sale.”

Not much to argue against there really. Might I also add that Japan Tobacco generate their funds from willing purchasers, instead of leeching off enforced and unpopular taxation, like certain bigoted, state-sponsored prodnoses I could mention?

UKIP gain another couple of purveyors of common sense

UKIP seem to have an in-built gravity when it comes to politicians devoid of illogical and damaging self-indulgent poppycock.

THE United Kingdom Independent Party (Ukip) have gained their first seats in the South Wales Valleys after two Independent councillors pledged their allegiance to the party.

Merthyr Tydfil Councillors Adam Brown and Neil Greer announced they were joining Ukip following a heated debate regarding foster carers and smoking.

Merthyr Council last week became the first in Wales to impose a blanket ban on smokers adopting or fostering children.

Both members joined the Independently-led Council in May 2008, but say they have since become “despondent” about the way the council is running things.

They are not alone. It's a malaise amongst the political classes that they are now so comprehensively mired in dogma and righteous diktats that they have become insulated from the realities of life.

Simply by being smokers, foster carers are quite plainly no danger to children by any measurement. Even tedious witches at ASH have, in the past, made this very clear, and that is saying something, ain't it?

Don't hate the smoker

This is not what Action on Smoking and Health is fighting for - we are anti-smoking, yes, but not anti-smoker and in today's climate we think that there is a very real danger that smokers are being marginalised in our society.*

That these councillors are willing to make a stand is laudable enough. That they did so in protection of kids disenfranchised deliberately by idiots encased in the political goldfish bowl is inspiring. That UKIP were their party of choice proves that Farage and his mates are attempting to corner the market in good old-fashioned common sense.**

In the meantime, vulnerable children will continue to suffer child abuse from Merthyr Tydfil council, until such time as they stop mutually-masturbating in their ivory tower, and start treating people as human beings rather than the stuff of self-promoting press releases.

* If you would shut the fuck up occasionally, Deborah Arnott, such pronouncements from you wouldn't be as necessary, of course. See what you have done?

** There is another party to consider in this regard, you can read about them by clicking here.

To the NHS, you are merely a number

If you've visited your GP recently, you may have seen the NHS 'It's your choice' logo before. Please don't snigger at the irony.

Anyone who chooses to enjoy tobacco (and who doesn't lie to their doctor to avoid the rigmarole) will have endured, at some point, the lectures from their GP when visiting their practice for anything from an in-growing toe-nail to a broken tibia.

The problem is that, to the NHS, you are just a number.

PSA Targets (from the Department of Health Public Service Agreement, 2004):
• Reduce adult smoking rates to 21% or less by 2010 (currently on target nationally)
• Among routine and manual groups to 26% or less by 2010 (currently not on target nationally)

Ever eager to be the bully's best friend, the Lib Dems think we aren't being hectored enough.

The Liberal Democrats have called for an end to the smoking cessation element of the quality framework (QOF).

[Norman Lamb MP] described payment for telling patients to quit smoking as 'crazy'.

'There should be payments when people actually quit, and nothing less,' he insisted.

Really? Like these paid by Warwickshire PCT, for example?

GPs and Pharmacies are reimbursed for service delivery (inflation still to be applied for 09-10):

£10.50 for each client setting a quit date
£40 for each client still quit at 4-week follow-up
£10.50 for each client not quit at 4-week follow-up. No additional payment for those not followed up at 4 weeks.
Pharmacies only - £3 per supply of NRT

So, these paid-for stages, what happens in them then, I hear you ask.

Contact 1: Plan strategy for quitting, including assessment for drug therapy including carbon monoxide test, access to nicotine replacement therapy, Zyban® or Champix®

Contact 2: Possible quit date
Ensure access to NRT, Zyban® or Champix®. Carbon monoxide test

There seems to be a lot of reference to NRT and Champix there. Not much about willpower and Allen Carr, though (note 500+ reviews and a 5 star rating). I wonder why?

Could it be that other PCTs are like Warwickshire?

Joint working with Pfizer around targeting of clinics/drop-ins

Joint working with Pfizer to develop more effective recruitment campaigns in N&B, also targeting health professionals to refer more and more effectively.

If it surprised you to learn that your GP is being paid bonuses for giving you the third degree, perhaps it won't be as astounding to know that Pfizer profit from NRT in general, and are the sole supplier of Champix.

Of course, if you stand your ground and state categorically that you don't wish to quit, there is always the ultimate threat from the healthist lobby.



Well, the smoker prevalence simply MUST come down to that arbitrary 21% ... one way or another.

Taxpayers pay for the NHS, but administrators 'own' the premises

If you pay national insurance contributions, you might want to read the document below.

Blackpool NHS

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Law & Government Business & Law NHS authoritarianism

As you can see, Blackpool Fylde and Wyre NHS trust are well aware that banning smoking on their grounds is entirely unenforceable by law. They admit that smoking in the open air is legal and that there are no plans by government to change that.

Instead, they have taken to enforcing their own made-up laws on the basis that taxpayers are NOT entitled to set foot on property for which they have paid handsomely.

They threaten legal action if their self-important, righteous rules are contravened. And the reason that they feel this is justified should stagger anyone who has ever believed that the NHS are a service, that we are the ones who pay them for that service, and that therefore we should have some say in the matter.

This is because as the legal owner/occupier of the hospital site the Trust is allowed to impose conditions on the use of its premises.

The legal owners are not those who pay for it, according to the NHS.

They take our money, at pain of fines and imprisonment, and then say that those premises are not legally ours. Instead, an unelected body of administrators have installed themselves as legal 'owners' and are dictating what can or cannot be allowed on property which has been built, maintained, staffed, and equipped with our taxes.

They then go further and state that treatment will be withdrawn from those who disobey.

A patient who refuses to stop smoking outside can be advised that they could be asked to leave the hospital; this would be carried out in accordance with the Trust’s policy on withholding/withdrawing treatment from difficult patients.

See, you thought that by paying national insurance contributions, you were entitled to healthcare. After all, Gordon Brown is always saying that the NHS is free to everyone at the point of delivery.

But you were wrong, it seems. The premises your taxes pay for are not property of the taxpayer, and the treatment you have paid towards for all of your life can be withdrawn on the whim of NHS bureaucrats, without any law saying that what you were doing is illegal.

This is just one of the many ridiculous, wriggling replies that NHS trusts up and down the country have been coming out with to justify making illegal what is perfectly legal under law laid down by government.

It was always assumed that by paying NI contributions (along with those paid by your employer), you were entitled to avail yourself of free healthcare when you need it. Not so. According to this document, your local NHS trust can wipe out your years of contributions and the entitlement which that should entail, for whatever reason they deem fit.

No-one voted these people in, yet they are making up laws that go beyond the ones from parliament. We pay their wages yet they ignore us when we don't like what they are doing. We pay for treatment yet they, unelected, have decreed themselves able to deny us what we have paid for. They revel in spreading vile hatred on national radio too.



If you ever thought that you, the taxpayer, had rights in this country. Think again.

Health & Sports Committee (Scotland) - Warning! May contain nuts.

The video below is the final 'evidential?' hearing from stage 1 into passing a law in Scotland that would see "point of sale" tobacco gantries removed from behind counters in shops and supermarkets; in fact any structure that sells these products, like ice cream vans etc, and put under the counter so that adult smokers will have to get their cigarettes and other tobacco products furtively, as though they should be ashamed for even asking for this legal product. But it's all to save the bairns from a life of dependency you see, isn't it? Yeah right!

The first part has a representative from ACPO (the Association of Chief Police Officers,) Andrew Barker, Assistant Chief Constable from the Fife constabulary debating which system is best to keep tobacco vendors on a leash, a national register or a licencing system. Oh the angst they go through in deciding how best to criminalise the hard working businessman/woman!

The second part is the usual crock of shit from MSEP's & MP's as they wax lyrical with so called facts and figures.

The committee will now ponder on all the evidence from Stage 1 and write up their findings, to be published around September this year.

Watch but have a bucket to hand because your bound to want to wretch.

Click To Play