Anti-economy

Just been playing a bit of catch up the last day or so to find a few little bits and pieces going on, both in the community and in the big wide world. There are some topics that I just won’t look at not because they don’t interest me, but because I have opinions that I wish to keep to myself. That’s the end of that.

There is actually two topics that I want to mull over in this post, with the first one being a resounding positive for the community as a whole.

Vapers In Power is a newly formed political party with the sole intent on bringing electronic cigarettes along with the various debates into the halls of power. In their own words:

Vapers In Power was created over fears that were confirmed when Article 20 section 5 was added to the TPD, a clause that could forbid the promotion of vaping . These proposals could affect Vaping forums, TV and Radio Stations, Vapemeets, advertising, etc.

We consider a registered political party with a manifesto could deter any such moves by the European Union or the UK government before they happen. We also believe that should it then happen we will be well placed to confront such an abuse, with our status as a registered political party.

As of right now, Vapers In Power have two political candidates for the UK General Election 2015. This is an resounding success of the community once again pulling together and supporting the right to vape. All this has been achieved on a “shoestring” budget, powered completely by the community. I seriously cannot wait for when this gets traction and becomes widely noticed by the general public.

Part of the VIP manifesto is to tackle the spread of disinformation and bad science along with all the propaganda click-bait headlines we’ve all seen cropping up.

Good luck pooples!

This of course, brings me to my second topic. Propaganda. To be one hundred percent specific, the reactions to the propaganda.

As most of us UK people know, our beloved Chancellor is bringing the Budget to Parliament on the 18th March. It is around this time, that the Office of National Statistics determines the rate of inflation. I’m no Economist, so I’m definitely not going to go into details of that. What I’ve found marginally interesting is that e-cigarettes have been added to the “basket”, as have streaming music services.

The reason given for adding e-cigarettes is this:

e-cigarettes had been added because many smokers were using them.

Personally I think that is a half truth. Many former smokers as well as some current smokers would be slightly more accurate, but either way this can (to an extent) be taken as a positive overall. We know the smoking rate in the UK is down, and we also know that e-cigarettes are in general the primary cause for that.

What is totally disturbing, but not completely unexpected are the comments on the BBC News article covering the ONS announcement of adding e-cigarettes to the basket.

I’ve picked out just five of the most negative, and you’ll see why:

Delightful, aren’t they? It must really please those in Tobacco Control and Public Health that even an anti-tobacco product is being as vilified as actual cigarettes. Bravo people, I hope those Government grants aren’t going to waste away now that you’ve completely fucked us all over.

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