So. It is happening. As most of us have always thought. You will, of course, remember (at least for the UK) the chatter about disposable vapes started gathering momentum with some commentary from a Green MSP and now the current “Conservative” Prime Minister has decided that his Government is going Continue Reading
Smoking
VLNC: A Bad Idea That Never Dies
In one of my, admittedly, rare perusals of the hellsite that is Twitter, I stumbled across a comment from Jon Fell that caused me to stop scrolling and check the thread. The comment was:
The Nagging & Begging Continue
For those of you that follow the tobacco control debate, you’ll be – painfully – aware that the UK’s resident antismoking sock-puppet charity are always banging on about one of a few items. Of course, each item they champion – for whatever misguided reason – never goes “far enough”. This Continue Reading
A New Confidence Trick
As noted in 2006, ahead of the free vote to ban smoking in public spaces: It is essential that campaigners create the impression of inevitable success. Campaigning of this kind is literally a confidence trick: the appearance of confidence both creates confidence and demoralises the opposition. They “knew” they were Continue Reading
American Cancer Society’s Confused Position
In somewhat of a surprising move, the American Cancer Society has quietly updated its position statement on electronic cigarettes. I say quietly because there is no mention of this update on any of the social media channels, nor was there any special press release or blog post on their website. Continue Reading
Reintroducing Liberty
Two surprising pieces of news appeared in my timeline this week. First, the Czech Republic are planning to reverse parts, if not all of the smoking ban. Secondly, Austria are planning to do the exact same thing.
History is Written by the Victors
Isn’t that the saying? Instead, the Mayor of Greater Manchester; one Andy Burnham, is looking to make Greater Manchester “the first City Region in Europe to make smoking history.”. Not sure how well that is going to work sunshine.
Another Ratchet Notch
Or in the words of Simon Clark, creeping prohibition. Which is exactly what it is. Bexleyheath town centre could become the first London Borough to implement smokefree zone Time, and time again we see councils doing mad stunts like this. Bristol, of course, did it with voluntary bans in two town Continue Reading
Ideology Beats Science
It seems that the shrieking from tobacco control about the Smoke-Free Foundation is still going. I am not particularly surprised by the near-constant wailing. It has, however, taken on a particularly curious note with the activist magazine Tobacco Control now flat refusing to publish any “industry-funded” papers; something it’s refused to Continue Reading
No Such Thing As The Slippery Slope
Remember when anti-smoking campaigners just wanted no smoking zones in restaurants? Or how smoking was banned on flights – for various reasons, the overriding one being “public health” – the biggest lie ever told? Over the years, puritanical anti-smokers have insisted on the ever-increasing prohibition on where smokers can enjoy Continue Reading