Saturday
Mar072009
That was the week that was
Saturday, March 7, 2009 Stories that (almost) passed unnoticed ...
1. Cabinet split over cigarette display ban
2. Smokers charged 50p to light up
3. Secondhand smoke can cause depression
4. Dubai bans public smoking of shisha
5. France acts over binge drinking
6. Alcohol guidelines usher in 'a new era of caution'
From the blogosphere ...
1. This is no laughing matter (Burning Our Money)
2. Submitted as a complaint to the BBC (Devil's Kitchen)
3. Then they came for the fatties (Dick Puddlecote)
4. My early day motion to save the great British pub (Bob Russell MP)
5. More on pubs and why they're closing (Kerry McCarthy MP)
6. Gordon Brown is wrong (The Last Ditch)
Reader Comments (82)
Well if nothing else, my earlier contributions to this extensive thread may have contributed to possibly the most comprehensive discussion I have seen for a long time.
May I just point out that I would never in a million years think that my little excursions to blogs from anti smoking bigoted MPs would have any influence on their views. What it does do though is give me the satisfaction of knowing that if they blog about a smoking related issue, I say what needs to be said. Anything I and any other smoker arguing the truth says is seen by readers of the blog, it also reminds the blogger that we are still here and are not going to leave them alone.
One final note, then I will leave. Much of my apparent self analysis was more my impression of what others think of me.
Hasta Luego
Glad you showed up, Phil. I said upthread that I encountered doctors online saying that the BMA had been taken over by zealots of some sort or other in recent years, and that a lot of doctors had left the British Medical Association as a consequence. Does that ring true?
We've been wondering, more generally, whether the war on smoking is being driven by the medical profession (me and Margot) or by the government (Peter Thurgood). do you have a view on this?
On the BMA...
It has always been mostly decried by docs as unrepresentative and incompetent as a trade union and as a professional body. It does however have a monopoly and supposedly negotiates on our behalf with the government. I believe it negotiates via an intermediary such as the NHS executive on terms and conditions of employment. It's organ, the BMJ is no better than a comic. We mostly belong as without it individuals feel isolated. I know personally people who have succeeded in climbing their ranks, and as is usual with such people they are of a type only focused on their own petty agendas.
I can certainly confirm that membership is not universally considered advantageous!
On the "DRIVE" behind the war on smoking...
My views are personal and probably less well informed than most writers here. It is a difficult one to identify. I see doctors as more passively along for the ride now, although they may be responsible in part for its initiation. The government, which is also difficult to identify, cos as sure as hell it isn't in parliament, couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, let alone a war.
Although I don't favour "conspiracy theory", I lean towards the idea that the proponents are antismoking zealots whose power is diffused throughout the quango structure of all our institutions and businesses. They are in all professions and walks of life. I identify ASH as the only formally organised enemy and believe they facilitate the antis in their endeavours.
The other targets of fat, alcohol and sloth are not being pursued with the same vigour as smoking and that's because the respective antis of these pursuits are not as extreme or numerous.
I think the pharmaceutical companies are just abusing a situation.
Thanks for inviting me over Idlex and hi to everyone else.
Welcome to you, Dr Phil Button. I've admired many posts by you. Wow! A real live doctor on board - have'nt seen one for years. Mind you, because I smoke, I don't really get ill much.
My denigration of the medical profession does not, of course, include the actual hard pressed exploited "workers". There can be no-one who is not aware of the appalling conditions dedicated NHS doctors and nurses have to suffer. This was inevitable once the corrupt government transfered them to callous non-professional jack boot administration by the corrupt "Trusts".
Refreshing to get your inside story on the BMA - look forward to more later.
Timbone.
What's with the Hasta Luego? Don 't leave us. We need you. If you are off to Spain or something, please take your laptop. I meant to comment on a recent post of yours which likened the impact of the no smoking ban on a non smoker to the impact the banning of football games would have on someone like you who has no interest in football. I thought it was very apt and followed the same line of reasoning idlex used above.
You are much valued and your posts are much valued. Visiting the blogs of anti's could, as you say, do some good and you are hardly likely to be manipulated by them as others might be.
Well, the discussion of the driving forces behind the smoking ban seems to have been rather inconclusive. I fingered the medical profession. Margo fingered them too, along with the pharma companies. Peter Thurgood says it's the government. And Phil Button says it's ASH.
Perhaps it's all of them? Perhaps it isn't possible to locate the motors in any one particular organisation, and they're distributed everywhere.
As for the likes of Kerry McCarthy, I guess it comes down to how one should treat one's enemies. I'm uncompromising. I just want to destroy them. But others may take the view that one should keep one's friends close, and one's enemies closer.
I think there will be a lasting legacy of bitterness after this ban is eventually amended or repealed. I'm quite sure it will be. Antismokers will fight like mad to keep it, but in the end accommodation will be made for smokers, and a discriminatory and divisive law will be relaxed. And then we will get to hear everything that isn't reported now, and the full tally of the enormous damage that has been done to the fabric of our society will be counted. And it won't be pretty.
"Well, the discussion of the driving forces behind the smoking ban seems to have been rather inconclusive. I fingered the medical profession. Margo fingered them too, along with the pharma companies. Peter Thurgood says it's the government. And Phil Button says it's ASH."
Idlex
I don't think conclusions can be drawn that quickly Idlex. We have only been at it for just over 24 hours after all.
I think the reason that we have reached something of a stalemate so far, is precisely because "they" are doing exactly what I said, and trying their hardest to keep the real name of the enemy as far away from us as possible. As I have said before, fighting an unknown enemy, is like fighting a guerrilla force, almost impossible to win. Look at what is happening in Afghanistan, it is going on forever. The same type of thing has happened in many countries over the years, and each time it prevents the forces of good, from beating the forces of evil, and always ends with the good doing a U-turn, or giving up completely, which is exactly what they want us to do.
We need more people on our side, more investigation instead of assumptions.
I don't think conclusions can be drawn that quickly Idlex. We have only been at it for just over 24 hours after all.
Quite so.
As I have said before, fighting an unknown enemy, is like fighting a guerrilla force, almost impossible to win.
I entirely agree.
Everyone has made very good observations, and right now I'm a bit stuck to see how to make further progress.
For example, your point that "it's the government" is clearly valid. But so is my point about the manipulation of the government by the Sir Humphreys in the civil service and medical establishment. How does that get resolved. Who is manipulating who? It could be the government that uses the medical establishment, or vice versa. The same applies to ASH, which is largely funded by government money. Are they manipulating the government, or are they just puppets doing what their paymasters tell them?
There is an article in today's Daily Mail, regarding the lifting of the smoking ban at the G20 conference next month.
Anne Widdecombe, whom I have never particularly liked, has jumped on her high horse about this,(quite rightly so) and accused the government of having "one law for one, and one for another".
This is maybe the oppening we have been looking for. She, like myself, is definitely accusing the government over this. One person,like her, likeable or not, just might prove the beginning of the wedge we are looking for with which to crack open this bunch of nuts we are at war with.
Quite so, Peter! All strength to A.W., and well said that it HAS only been 24 hours for our in-depth discussion. No conclusions can be expected yet. I ABSOLUTELY must do other things today, [slapping my own wrist here]. but will return.
idlex said:
"I'll provide a few links for you, in no particular order [1] [2] [3]"
Thanks, idlex. This was fascinating valuable stuff, especially [3]. I need time to study it but my first impression is that the war against smoking has gone on for a very long time. I mentioned that this was so upthread, but here are real case histories. Within them one can see that state science was "ordered" to create scientific evidence to back up the dangers of smoking. Time and again one can see that the zealots' decry the fact that smoking and alcohol produce feelings of happiness and well being. Both are disadvantageous when a population needs to be controlled from above and its spirit broken.
I hope we all will continue the quest to find "who" is behind our present destructive regime and “Why?” I don't think it is a random group of disparate organisations as has been suggested. I'm more inclined to the Orwellian theory of Big Brother. All the parts he mentioned are now in place including the distant never-ending war. Direct TV surveillance and communication within the home is in the pipeline. Gordon Brown frequently mentions that a new fast Broadband will soon be available for everyone. He also mentioned, last year, that free health checks will be available for all over 74. How soon will this become compulsory? I don’t think the government are just crassly incompetent, as has been suggested. Disenfranchisement, starting with the smoking ban which affects one quarter of the population and has effectively destroyed or damaged all social meeting places, has been quite deliberate. So too has the mass of “print your own money and be your own little dictator” legislation which has been given to regional councils. So too has the rapid closure of businesses when we were “told” that there is now a credit crisis. Movement of money does not take place as quickly as that and, in any case, most of the chains of businesses closing were the property of a few conglomerates. The government are preparing for “Rage Riots” this summer. Even one mass demonstration or one small riot could produce a State of Emergency and the excuse for Martial Law to take over. Phil Button has very adequately described the wrecking of the NHS, that beloved institution which was once our pride and joy, .as he has that corrupt institution, once beyond reproach, the BMA.
I stand by my theory that the war against smoking was started as a commercial ploy by the pharmaceutical companies around forty years ago. You could question why I would take note of such matters, so long ago. It might help if I explain that my first job after leaving school was a four-year business management-training course at the Head Offices of Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd in Nottingham. This involved working for a short time within every single department including both their “Wet” and “Dry” factories. I also spent six months assisting one of their eminent research scientists. Through the secretarial service I have been running from home for many years, I’ve touched in and out of the medical profession – including one doctor on the Ethics Committee governing experimentation using human volunteers, [that was grisly!]. I do, perhaps, have more interest in and knowledge of the pharmaceutical companies than most people do. Peter has questioned my assumption that the pharmo’s are now the richest and most powerful industry on earth. Tables giving the richest industries are always being published. The pharmo’s are always top of the lists.
BTW the research scientist I worked with was investigating the possibility of Boots manufacturing the new products of maleic and pthalic anhydride – the basis of the soon to be produced polyester resins which are the basis of plastic. Plastic was not in production then – it was a dream of the future. Just look how that one single product has taken over the world! Let alone all the chemical air fresheners, [reminder – ban smoking!], and all other household chemical based cleaners and products.
Whether the pharmo’s came first, or the Fabian Society, or Common Purpose, or whatever name is used, is fairly immaterial really. They are all joined at the hip and their goal is global domination with the masses as their brainwashed fearful slaves.
Oh how I wish I could be completely wrong! But let us not discount the possibility. All present roads are leading to this Rome.
As to tracking down “where” they are, in our case I would look no further than the central unelected bureaucrats of the EU. They are the obvious local branch of this global domination movement. Jam-packed and well funded by pharmo representatives throughout. To get some idea of the colossus, which constitutes the EU, you need to know Brussels as well as I do. I’ve taken so many coach tours around the European Quarter and people are just open mouthed at the mile upon mile of administrative offices. Each of these huge buildings houses workers anxious to keep their jobs and increase the size of their departments.
Well, enough for today! Let’s all get back to the subject of overturning the lies within the smoking ban. That is just a part of it all – but a very important part indeed. Extricating the UK from the EU so that it can become self governing again is a subject for another day.
I sensed the trend maybe 25 years ago when the BBC reportedly banned smoking on its premises. By now it is probably professional suicide for any broadcaster to challenge the anti-smoking orthodoxy. That's assuming that journalists with a critical faculty get through the conformity filter which the current 'cool' of being in 'the media' conveys. Independent thinking was being bred out of the system. There are some excellent phone-ins on Radio Five Live in the morning. I wonder if that programme would ever give time to a serious challenge to the facts, figures and fashions of the zealots. Margot, re your comments about happiness and a sense of well-being, I remember well during the real but tiny terrors of being a National Service recruit in the 50s the enjoyment of our 'smoke breaks' during training. 'This is a moment for me. I'm jumping over their gym kit and marching up and down as they tell me. But they can't touch me for now.'
Even now, 50 odd years later I sense that that is what the zealots hate. They can't control that feeling.
I don't think it is a random group of disparate organisations as has been suggested. I'm more inclined to the Orwellian theory of Big Brother. - Margot
I'm more inclined to cock-up rather than conspiracy theories. It is always seems far more likely to me that these people have no idea what they are doing than that they have complete and perfect understanding - which is what conspiracy theories require.
Maybe I'm wrong, and in a few years time our parliament will have been boarded up, and all business transferred to Brussels, while armed European police patrol our streets, and Britain will have been renamed "Manche" or something. But I simply think that this British government couldn't run a whelk stall, never mind fiendishly manage to engineer the transition of Britain from a sovereign state to Europe client state without anyone noticing.
These people simply aren't that smart. They aren't that omniscient. And they aren't that omnipotent. It may well be what they want to do. But it's not likely to be what they'll actually manage to do.
Same for the smoking ban. Peter Thurgood thinks the government is the prime mover behind the smoking ban, but then goes on to ask what's in it for them. And I think it's this question that sets me doubting that the government knows what it's doing, because the smoking ban is going to cost it a lot of votes, but - as best I can make out - this government is still trying to fool itself that the smoking ban is wildly popular everywhere. In short, they're self-delusionary fools.
I think these things maybe just build up their own momentum, much like hurricanes that form in tropical seas before spinning northwards. They aren't "planned". They just happen as a consequence of an inexorable logic of the interactions of countless molecules of warm, moist air. And things like the smoking bans are the human versions of these natural hurricanes, and you can't point a finger anywhere and say; "They started it!"
I don't think it is a random group of disparate organisations as has been suggested. I'm more inclined to the Orwellian theory of Big Brother. - Margot
I'm more inclined to cock-up rather than conspiracy theories. It is always seems far more likely to me that these people have no idea what they are doing than that they have complete and perfect understanding - which is what conspiracy theories require.
Maybe I'm wrong, and in a few years time our parliament will have been boarded up, and all business transferred to Brussels, while armed European police patrol our streets, and Britain will have been renamed "Manche" or something. But I simply think that this British government couldn't run a whelk stall, never mind fiendishly manage to engineer the transition of Britain from a sovereign state to Europe client state without anyone noticing.
These people simply aren't that smart. They aren't that omniscient. And they aren't that omnipotent. It may well be what they want to do. But it's not likely to be what they'll actually manage to do.
Same for the smoking ban. Peter Thurgood thinks the government is the prime mover behind the smoking ban, but then goes on to ask what's in it for them. And I think it's this question that sets me doubting that the government knows what it's doing, because the smoking ban is going to cost it a lot of votes, but - as best I can make out - this government is still trying to fool itself that the smoking ban is wildly popular everywhere. In short, they're self-delusionary fools.
I think these things maybe just build up their own momentum, much like hurricanes that form in tropical seas before spinning northwards. They aren't "planned". They just happen as a consequence of an inexorable logic of the interactions of countless molecules of warm, moist air. And things like the smoking bans are the human versions of these natural hurricanes, and you can't point a finger anywhere and say; "They started it!"
Sorry. Double-posted somehow or other.
My computer must be conspiring against me.
"Sorry. Double-posted somehow or other." idlex.
Happens to me a lot. I've found you have to follow the whole procedure right through. Click 'Preview Post' then 'Make Changes' then 'Create Post' If one is missed out it looks as though you haven't created the post even though you have.
Yes, I absolutely follow your line of reasoning, idlex, that this government really is inept in every way. However. I see it as a master plan from Brussels to create a shambolick government here so that joining the EU completely will seem a desirable alternative for most people, It's obvious that all three parties are the puppets of Brussels, otherwise the Tories would have called for a vote of no confidence ages ago. Had they and the Lib Dems have read and understood the Lisbon Treaty, and had they REALLY have had a free vote, it would never have been passed through parliament.
The latest Brussels newsletter from Roger Helmer [Tory MEP] points out that we pay £4,700 per household each year to belong to the EU and receive nothing in return apart from ruination of our agriculture, fisheries, Post Offices - the list is endless. In my opinion, leaders of all three parties appear to already be well entrenched on the gravy train with personal futures assured. It doesn't really matter what they all do or say, the plan is to never have a general election ever again. It's all a charade and immaterial which party is popular or not popular.
Well, that's how I see it, idlex. I'm open to discussion.
I do agree with you that the government is so inept, it is very likely to trip up somewhere, hopefully several times, and not be able to carry the plan through to fruition. There are also those unseen spiritual elements of good and evil. Let's not discount these. What is happening now is evil in the extreme. There must be a force for good battling also.
Over to Anne Widdecombe? [In the hope that her news service picks up this thread.] I see they are now trying to deny that the G8 will allow smoking - although it will, of course.
Sorry, folks, I meant to say G20 [above].
What an absolute farce everything is at the moment.
I'm still thinking about your view, idlex, that there is no power so well organised at present which could carry through a dictatorship plan such as Orwell envisaged. Hopefully you are right, because the EU itself is in a shambles at the moment. So is the entire world, if it comes to that.
I've always felt that good will come out of this purported credit crisis which was created out of power mad mismanagement and greed.
..............
Norman - "Even now, 50 odd years later I sense that that is what the zealots hate. They can't control that feeling."
A lovely memory, Norman. You are right! That is what a cigarette is - our own personal friend giving a pleasure no one else can touch.
Did you serve abroad? If so, do you remember the lovely round tins of 50 untipped Players or Senior Service we were issued free each week? Hope you are still enjoying your pipe. Do you ride your bike with it sticking out, clenched in your teeth for all to see?
I see it as a master plan from Brussels to create a shambolick government here so that joining the EU completely will seem a desirable alternative for most people,
If anything, the EU is even more shambolic than our current Labour government. It is a bureaucracy gone mad, and busy alienating more and more of its erstwhile supporters.
I was, until recent years, broadly in favour of the EU as a "family of nations" sharing a great many common interests. But I was never in favour of an EU superstate with a vast bureaucracy manufacturing laws by the hundredweight. I have grown more and more disillusioned as time has gone on.
In a time of economic depression such as we are now entering, I cannot see that any European state can tolerate the continued existence of this vast, unaccountable bureaucracy. They can't afford it. Tidal forces seem to me to be set to tear the EU apart, as individual countries start to go their own way in order to meet their own difficulties.
In a few years time, I predict, the EU is going to be in a real mess, with bitter arguments flaring between its members, with more and more of them seceding from it. Nobody will be wanting to join it.
It's obvious that all three parties are the puppets of Brussels, otherwise the Tories would have called for a vote of no confidence ages ago.
And lost it. This Labour government has enjoyed a large enough majority over the past 12 years to win such a vote.
It doesn't really matter what they all do or say, the plan is to never have a general election ever again.
We shall see. That doesn't seem to be what most people or most politicians seem to think. They seem to be wondering whether Brown will call an election this year or next year.
And that's what I expect also.
Have just clicked into this debate this morning and am overwhelmed with how great this debate has become and how informative the information all you genius's are imparting.
I thoroughly agree with idlex that the EU is a bureaucracy gone mad.
It is solely the cause of all our troubles.
Every country in europe is now like the aftermath of war without having had any confrontation.
Ever since it grew in strength during the false economy, the govt's of the british isles have become soft and relenquished power, referred to and cowed down to them by betraying their citizens and the rewards for them were great, especially when any MEP that's lucky enough to pull off a five year stint can make over a million on expenses alone.
With a gravy train like that to aspire to why not throw the plebs to the wolves.
I hope to god that the EU and its unaccountable bureaucrats are disbanded and that individual countries will go back to governing themselves before its too late and that some Churchillian like character is manifesting himself in the wings.
Otherwise we are only exchanging the Berlin Wall for the Brussels Wall.
Over to Anne Widdecombe? [In the hope that her news service picks up this thread.] I see they are now trying to deny that the G8 will allow smoking - although it will, of course. Margot
This is why I have been saying that we need people on the inside working with us, people who won't be afraid to tell the truth of what they see and hear. There must be journalists going along to this summit, who are they, and how can we get one of ours in there?
“I hope to god that the EU and its unaccountable bureaucrats are disbanded and that individual countries will go back to governing themselves before its too late and that some Churchillian like character is manifesting himself in the wings.” – Anne.
Oh he is there alright, Anne, but for discourse to continue must, for the present, remain nameless.
I hope idlex is right and that the present draconian shambles is just ineptitude both here and within the EU hierarchy. I hope it does prove to be self-destructive. I hope that a general election will eventually be allowed.
However, let us never forget that a faceless few who can persuade political leaders to sell the sovereignty of their country to an external power is still a mighty force to be reckoned with. I suppose once these leaders had been beguiled into signing, “for the good of their country”, and received the personal golden handshake, there would be no turns back for them. Who would dare risk being exposed as a traitor? Similarly there is no democracy within our parliaments. All MPs must obey the party whip, even in a “free” vote, or lose their jobs. Similarly political peers in the House of Lords have replaced hereditary peers. Should a retired MEP vote against an EU inspired edict, [and all edicts are now EU inspired], they would lose their enormous EU pensions. Now THAT is clearly written for all to see in the Lisbon Treaty.
So thank God for the Irish, Anne, and thank God for all of us who worked so hard to persuade the Irish to vote “No”.
This is why I have been saying that we need people on the inside working with us, people who won't be afraid to tell the truth of what they see and hear.
Clearly this is already happening to some extent, otherwise we wouldn't know that smoking was going to be permitted at the G20. The story broke in the sun and has been picked up by the Mail and now Ann Widdecombe has got hold of it. That's pretty good work on the part of quite a few persons unknown, of whom I am not one.
And ultimately "we" are the British people first and foremost, rather than simply people who enjoy smoking. These people are going to be defeated by the entire people rather than just by us lot. In fact, I think they are going to be defeated by ALL the peoples of Europe, rather than just the British (who haven't been doing too well by comparison with the Dutch or German resisters).
Oddly, I've spent more time talking to French and Dutch and Spanish people about the ban than I have about anything else in recent times, and sensing the emergence of a quite different sense of "unity" which has nothing to do with the EU, but has everything to do with an ordinary decency which is to be found in every country, and which is equally appalled by what is happening, but which will express those sentiments in a different language than ours. e.g. "Merde".
Margot, thanks for your comments a few posts back. I'm afraid my National Service only got me as far as a typewriter at Northolt. We had an adjutant who kept up his flying hours by a monthly trip to Jersey to buy cheap cigarettes but I never rose high enough in the hierarchy to be invited along.
There is a bearded old man I sometimes see in my town wearing a voluminous, belted raincoat and battered brown trilby who pedals around while puffing at his pipe - a delightful sight. It's not me but I am, yes, still enjoying my pipe.
On the latter point, there was, I suspect, a huge tactical triumph for the zealots in what became their 'denormalisation' campaign when pipe tobacco and cigars were brought under the same restrictions as cigarettes. I would assume, for example, that there would be problems in showing episodes of Dr Finlay's Casebook now. As I recall, Dr Cameron had a pipe on the go much of the time.
I do hope that the irish will hold firm Margot for the next rerun of the cursed Lisbon treaty, but I'm sceptical.
The threats and scaremongering spin now, is that we will all be ruined if we dont vote yes.
This despite the fact that the country is on its knees and people are scared and frightened.
The only hope is that the irish govt are so hated right now that the no vote might just get through on a spite vote alone.
Here's hoping.
"...there was, I suspect, a huge tactical triumph for the zealots in what became their 'denormalisation' campaign when pipe tobacco and cigars were brought under the same restrictions as cigarettes. I would assume, for example, that there would be problems in showing episodes of Dr Finlay's Casebook now. As I recall, Dr Cameron had a pipe on the go much of the time."
Norman, I remember well that first warning on the side of a cigarette packet, "Smoking cigarettes may damage your health", was it 1974? Not good enough though was it.
Oh yes, Dr Cameron, portraying a real doctor I seem to remember. I had a real doctor once. I remember 1977, when Dr Fine told me to smoke Gold Leaf because it was most likely the Embassy Reagal which were causing the throat infection.
I read an interesting article in the Saturday Times Magazine this morning, 14/03/09, Timbone, which says that more people, and (get this) girls in particular, are taking up pipe smoking in the USA.
It says the most popular facebook group is "The ladies pipe smoking salon" and "The Collegiate Gentleman's Pipe Smoking League".
I haven't checked these out yet, but if we do, they might just prove to give us a few more allies.
"It says the most popular facebook group is "The ladies pipe smoking salon" and "The Collegiate Gentleman's Pipe Smoking League".
That is IT, Peter. An outward and visible sign as one strolls through the streets of a town. Wonder where one could purchase an attractive lady's pipe?
I was given a delicate clay pipe, years ago, by a larger than life friend of my second ex-husband. She was married to an Irishman and they ran an Irish pub near Charing Cross. The gift was a farewell present after we had spent a riotous weekend staying with them. Unforgetable! The fun started after closing time and carried on through most of the night.
After that, they often came down to stay at my house for weekends, bringing with them an intelligent mellow crowd of Irishmen bearing loads of booze and steaks. She and her husband were great cooks. Those were the days!
Her name was PaT. She was built like a battleship and sailed around floating multi-coloured shawls. Unforgetable! I wonder if whe is still alive.
Sadly, the pipe broke in my suitcase. I never got to smoke it.
On the subject of pipes, Margot, some years ago, I used to have an antique shop in Islington, and I let part of my shop to a friend, who sold antique smoking accessories. One day he gave me a small clay pipe, complete with a newspaper cutting from The Evening News, 28th October 1939. I still have this, which is why I know the date etc.
Anyway, the newspaper article was headlined "17th Century Gas Masks". It seems that when workmen were digging trenches in London, (something to do with the war effort at the time), they unearthed scores of these pipes, which were discarded or lost, by earlier workmen during the Great Plague of 1665. The 17th century workmen, used them when they were burying the plague victims, to guard against infection.
How's that for a little lesson in history and pipeology?
Peter: Not to mention protection and immunity from diseases that smoking gives!
Thanks for that.
On the subject of Americans rediscovering the joys of pipe-smoking... cigarette-tobacco is about to be supertaxed in the US; maybe not quite to the level of extortion ripped from us by HM Treasury, but a massive hike nonetheless. taxes on pipe-tobacco are to rise, but to nowhere near the same level.
The joys of Socialism, eh? Wonder if it'll take the American swing-vote as long as it took ours to realise just what they've let themselves in for?
Ann Widdecombe:
An example of a politician whose beliefs are often some way from my own, but for whom I have developed respect. A decent conviction politician; an old-fashioned old-Church old-money Conservative who is more liberal in her attitudes than 90% of those who wear the yellow or red rosette.
[As a former wanky faux-socialist myself, I can tell you what my life-experience has taught me to date: Tories are just nicer people.]
And what a turn of phrase she has.
"Something of the night"
Words that entered the popular conscious and stayed there. A good person to be batting for us.
Ann Widdecombe
I agree with you Basil. A sharp wit and neat turn of phrase are indicative of a deeper intelligence. However, in her case, is it deep enough for a personal quest towards integrity? As idlex inferred, upthread, most politicians do not have time in their lives to do more than curry popular approval while still obeying the party line. They, and the population in general, have to start from a few "givens". They never question these.
At present, and what a horrifying present it is, the biggest "given" is the lie that smoking kills. The truth is exactly the opposite. Smoking is, and always has been, beneficial to health. Most politicians would immediately switch off and turn their attention elsewhere after reading such a statement. I doubt Ann Widdecombe is any different.
Following the tragic news of Gian Turci’s death, I looked at the Forces website for their obituary. I came across two other articles of note. The first was a Presidential Memo from Obama to all government departments which stated that “scientific” evidence must be thoroughly verified before use. The second was a stunning article entitled, “Pharmaceutical Multinationals: Buying Governments, Selling Antismoking.” This verifies all I have said upthread, but far better and with far more indisputable evidence than I could hope to achieve.
Would the Ann Widdecombes of this world ever dare to look the real enemy so squarely in the face? I doubt it. Why upset and endanger their comfortable well-heeled lives?
Ann Widdecombe [continued...].
As for the likes of Kerry McCarthy facing the truth - not a hope in hell. She would run a mile with her knickers on fire.
Same applies to David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown. They will have been bought and paid for and now susceptible to EU intimidation should they even contemplate stepping over to our side of the wall.
They can comfort themselves with the belief that it is "all the for best in the best possible of all worlds", [to quote Voltaire's 'Candide']. It all comes under the sacred umbrella of HEALTH, together with the comfortable assurance of personal financial security for life.