'Allo, 'allo, what's all this then?
Friday, November 16, 2007 
A policeman (a CID officer) rang yesterday. He wanted advice - legal advice. (Don't laugh, I'm serious.) It's a long story but the gist of it is that smokers (officers and civilians) at his local station are getting a raw deal. Quite simply, they appear to be victims of a rather petty form of discrimination.
Apparently, it has been normal practice for staff to be allowed, during working hours, to nip out to the shops (eg the post office) for a few minutes. The officer in charge (an ex-smoker) has now decreed that only non-smokers can go. Smokers can't because - shock horror - they may have a crafty fag on the way. And we can't have that, can we?
Mr Plod wanted to know if there's a law against it. I fear not. The only thing we can do is pass on the information to the local paper, naming and shaming the officer in question in the hope that the "policy" may be changed. This, of course, can backfire on those who complained so it's not something we rush into without their full cooperation.
In the meantime, let us once again reflect on the bizarre, inflexible nature of today's anti-smoking zealots. In their evangelical desire to "help" people give up, they treat friends and colleagues like children and openly discriminate without a moment's thought.
As far as the police are concerned, you would think that senior officers have better things to do than target colleagues like this. Why make a police officer's working environment any harder or more stressful than it already is?
PS. My new friend offered some further insight into working practices at his station. Although smoking is banned in the building, car park and grounds, officers routinely turn a blind eye to prisoners smoking in their cells. If an officer fancies a cigarette, he may quietly join them - behind bars!
Reader Comments (5)
There are laws against discrimination. I don't care how you try to dress it up, discrimination IS discrimination, and every person/group/consideration should NOT have to be specifically spelled out for anti-discrimination laws to apply.
These same people would be up in arms if it were them being singled out as a second-class citizen. And they will be one day. The nannies are marching full-speed ahead and won't stop until we are all submitting to THEIR will.
Free choice is a God-given (inherent) right, and even God doesn't take that away.
Dunno if you've seen this Simon, but perhaps you might like to comment on it:
http://smokefree.ash.positive-dedicated.net/pdfs/mythsandrealitiesofsmokefreeengland.pdf
This is yet another example of today's focus upon actions which are trivial compared to those which are serious. Get people to focus on and enforce 'the trivial' and talk about it, then the emphasis is taking away from serious simmering issues. There is a terrible amount of stress which is building up day by day due to actions such as these. In work environments people are subjected to a lot of stress - police officers and teachers are only two categories which spring to mind. Due to the fact that now many millions of people are being stressed out more and more by people such as anti-smoking zealots, it is only a matter of when (and not if) there is some form of collective psychological explosion.I sense that this situation is accelerating because people are becoming increasingly unhappy as each week passes. Correct me, please, if I am wrong.
I had a look at your link Blad, and, as expected is spouted the same kind of biased bull..... I also visited one or 2 of the links provided to F2C but could not find where ASH got their information from, unless they supplied the wrong link? Did you or anyone else find anything to support their claims through any of the links?
Of course, we should be used to ASH and the like not acknowledging the truth even if it did hit them hard in the face; fanatics, unfortunately are delusional, just like suicide bombers and it is nigh on impossible to deflect them from their purpose. Perhaps they should be hunted down more or at least as much as, suicide bombers and the fanatics that are behind them.
Hello, everybody -
A simple question for you all:
Can you think of ONE single politician who has had the guts to champion the cause of Liberty on this particular issue (ie something a little more public than the occasional - and whispered - 'message of support' for one of Simon's excellent initiatives)?
They can't ALL be in the pay of ASH and the GMC, surely.......................?
Let's just hope that they allow smoking in Heaven (well, it can't be a 'health issue' THERE).