I will always love you.

Goodnight sweetheart, goodnight.

On Thursday the 16th if February 2012 my beloved wife of over forty years passed away after a long fight with Alzheimer's. My lovely, beautiful wife, a light smoker, hated no one but had many dislikes, like most of us do,  but would never, ever condemn anyone who has walked down that long road of life because of their lifestyle choices.

Beryl loved life and was against those that took life away, especially through wars. It was surprising then that she married me, a soldier at the time.

She was appalled at the attitude of people who disliked smoking. During her illness I had to explain to her that we were sat outside of our local pub because of a law that discriminated against us that smoked and we had no choice and nor did anyone care. Often we went outside in the cold and the rain to smoke, an action I feel sorry about as I should not have put her through such a thing. We eventually stopped visiting our local pub as it was so cruel.

Beryl was a gifted artist and music lover who is no longer dancing with the wolves of this world but now dancing with angels. She loved her ballet.

Rest in peace my lovely, beautiful wife, the hounds are no longer out to get you. I will always love you.

Loud voices in the anti-smoking wilderness. The Audrey Silk story

Audrey Silk walks and talks like any other down to earth, working class woman. She looks as though she has seen the darker side of life and could recount many stories that would make me and you feel sick to our very stomachs, and she most probably can. You see Audrey used to be one of New York's finest, a policewoman in that world wide iconic city, supposedly so 'good' they named it twice.

Now retired Audrey has another criminal to fight, a corporate criminal who does his work under a cloak of respectability, the billionaire Mayor of her city, Michael Bloomberg. Mayor Bloomberg has a penchant for banning all things that the public likes so that he can take away freedom of choice for the average New Yorker and instead of making life that little bit easier for them he criminalises lifestyle choices whilst neglecting real crime. But this is not about the omnipotent Bloomberg and his quest for a place in the self righteous hall of fame, this blog is about freedom from tyranny and a one woman Goliath throwing stones at an ogre, that woman is Audrey Silk, founder, in 2000 of NYC C.L.A.S.H. Audrey, you make me think of our very own Boudica who waged her own war against roman tyranny and won.

You are awe inspiring and I have put you in my select band of hero's, hero's who fight this onslaught on freedom of expression and choice.

Hat Tip to Wiel Maessen, who is fighting successfully he smoking ban in the Netherlands on behalf of bar owners, for the link to this video.




R.I.P Whitney Houston, you will be sorely missed.

To the anti-smoker I say this! Guest post by John Watson

I do not need to change your minds, nor do I wish to. But anyone who believes in freedom believes in these words of Voltaire:

‘I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.’

It was Abraham Lincoln who in 1858 said:

‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’

These words have stood the test of time: the anti smoking lobby seek to divide the world. If they succeed then evil wins: in the words attributed to Edmund Burke:

‘All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.’

Continuing with Edmund Burke, he also says that:

‘In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority’ and that ‘Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.’

The last quote was echoed centuries later when George Santayana said:

‘Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience.’

Those quotes could have been written today; they all apply as much today as when their illustrious authors penned them. I do not address such words toward the anti smokers for that would be equal to casting pearls before swine, but to those who smoke and those non-smokers who are tolerant and caring of those who smoke, whom I believe make up the majority of non-smokers, decent freedom loving people so unlike those anti-smokers who breed hatred and intolerance, who seek to pass laws on the back of such evil.

The smokers and the tolerant non smokers have a choice: to live in freedom and tolerance of each other, or to live under the tyranny of the anti-smoker. I remind all those that believe in freedom and tolerance of Burke’s words already quoted:

‘All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.’

John Watson

The cost is now immaterial

As we enter yet another year of smoke ban frenzy and new sets of figures continue to praise the 'great success' of the worst law ever passed since the 1790's we find that the cost of quit smoking implementations last year (alone) was £84.3m-absolutely unbelievable! That's yet another massive chunk of the nations finance gone to waste.

One wonders (on many, many occasions actually) just how low these anti smoking zealots will stoop to ruin many a smokers enjoyment but today's news article gives you some indication as we now have market stalls springing up to attract smokers to become non smokers. It is well known that Jan/Feb are the major 'quit campaign' months as people still adhere to the old fashioned rubbish of New Year resolutions-99% of which are quickly broken. I can't really see people queueing up after they have bought their veg & salad to sign up for a quit smoking course on a freezing cold day can you? "A pound of Golden Delicious, 2lb of Brussels, a packet of tomato's and a 'quit kit' please - doesn't really ring true does it!

One has to contemplate the fact that perhaps, just maybe, there is not a soul in this country that is not aware that we are in the middle of the biggest persecution era of modern times. Now, it seems, shoppers are to be harassed as they wander around their local market place thinking of the necessities needed to accompany the roast beef the following day!

Apparently ' Between 2010 and 2011, 377 people living in Furness and Millom quit through their GP, pharmacy or the stop smoking service, but smoking rates remain higher than many parts of the UK. '

Given that it is governmentaly accepted that a smoker has quit at a minimal 4 week period but in actual fact only 5% of original 'quitters' actually succeed, it means that only 16 or 17 people actually managed to completely quit smoking. Wowee-what a stupendous achievement that is!

On the other side of the coin, whilst these anti smoking bigots wage their relentless war on the smoker yet another social outlet has gone into administration. 'Calco' who operate 79 pubs in the west Midlands have suffered the fate of thousands of other pubs - they can't afford to exist in the present 'smokerless climate', engineered by the social engineering by the likes of ASH, CRUK et al. Falling sales, lack of customers as smokers keep walking have wreaked havoc within the industry yet such as Cecilia Farren are relentless in their pursuit of a smoke-free nation and care nothing for the poverty & homelessness they cause.

Cecilia Farren, a very ripe big cheese in Tobacco Control.

If we look at the fight for justice we can easily see that the legal system has been corrupted in favour of the anti smoking brigade as smoking related offences have been financially penalised far more severely that any other minor crime brought to the courts attentions these past 4 years. A Manchester shisha bar was fined £5,000 + £2,174 costs,

a total of £7,194 for allowing smoking in what was a bar set up for smoking! Some lunatic, out of his head on drugs smashes a shop window and ends up being fined £60! An Irish bar has been similarly slaughtered as a Killarney licensee has been fined £2,000 + £1,750 costs & (to cap it all) £500 "witness costs"-what the hell are they and where did they emanate from? And just to tot it all up he now faces losing his licence altogether. The courts are merciless when it comes to smoking orientated persecutions/prosecutions.

Whilst in Ireland we have heard the sad news that our friend and fellow anti ban warrior Chris Carter has finally been rejected by the High Court in Belfast. His story started 4 years ago when he closed his business down as he couldn't build a smoking room on the side of his offices (another 5 people rendered jobless) so, in protest, he went and smoked a cigarette in the council offices-yes, Shock! Horror! (but nobody died as a result of their exposure.)

Chris has fought a long and tedious battle with the Irish courts as they have pulled every trick in the book to thwart him-even disallowing his right to call Irish Ministers (then) to the witness stand as they knew that Chris would unveil them as the liars & cheats they are.

It seems not to worry these people either that the dole queues are extending, every single time a pub closes (don't forget that every 10,000 new Job Seekers claimers cost the government £1.53m per WEEK), in fact they do not care about the costs anymore, the costs have become immaterial! Economists have assessed the cost to this country thus far at £19bn, give or take a tenner-what sort of lunacy is this we are witnessing?

Chris Carter, smokers freedom fighter.

In refusing Chris's case, the judge has decreed that it is quite OK to forgo our sovereignty, our human rights and our freedoms in order that this law may prevail. It has been now ordered that Chris pays the £1,250 fine imposed 4 years ago or trots off for 47 days in prison. We cannot let that happen folks so simply nip over to http://smokersjustice.co.uk/ and help Chris avoid the indignity of such a fate. A special fund has been set up for him over at SmokersJustice so we must do our best for a man that has given all he had to give in fighting this despicable ban and now has serious heart problems to boot!

The legal system has been turned on its head by this draconian law as the persecution & prosecution of smokers increases week by week. But even saying that it is increasing is showing that more and more people are against this law and what it is doing to our nation as it is only the fanatical loons like Farren, Duffy, Arnott et al that keep beating the dying drum that SHS is the worlds biggest killer (mind you, if I were on their wage scales I suppose I would too). The fact that SHS has never been proven to kill anyone (yet carbon monoxide has) seems to have nothing to do with their arguments!

But, to go back to where we started, such is the furore about smoking that it not only seems that smokers have NO rights, the costs of obliterating smokers is immaterial!