Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking - I've Stopped!

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BARNES&NOBLE

Freedom to Choose - Light one up in support of freedom.

Hello readers. I would like to point you in the direction of a forum that I've recently joined: Freedom2Choose. Which is part of the Freedom To Choose Website.

This is an introduction to the Forum:

Freedom2Choose was born out of the frustration and anger felt by ordinary members of the general public at the way in which our freedoms, choices and democracy are being eroded. Our campaign is not about the promotion of smoking, many of us are not and have never been smokers, but about allowing the free use of a legal product by consenting adults in privately owned premises.

The smoking bans are the pivotal issue in the drive towards a healthist state and the perfect model citizen. It has already been witnessed in other countries that these bans are a precursor for bans and restrictions on other personal freedoms not least of which are food and alcohol.

Thank you for your support; if you want to join the hundreds of friendly campaigners using these forums please Click Here To Register so that you can access the discussion areas, read and post. Unfortunately we have to run a closed forum to prevent spammers and other dodgy posting from spoiling your enjoyment.

Please do register as we always need people with legal knowledge, organisational or other skills, or just those keen to be involved - everyone is welcome to join in the fight. There is plenty to join in with once you've registered - including discussion of the science, politics and law relating to smoking bans, campaign ideas and news updates, along with more general chat.

You may wish to indicate your occupation or interests when you complete your profile at registration, along with your location, which will be useful to know as we are becoming more regionally organised.

Thank you for your support

F2C

I think we have already seen the statement in bold above coming true. Now that smoking has been banned we are now being bombarded with the dangers of food and drink. This is not just about smoking, it's mainly about our liberty.

The smoking ban is shit - Bad language.

From The Smoking Ban Is Shit Blog:

Police and council officials in Wales say licencees could lose their licence if they cannot stop smokers using bad language outside their pubs.

A report by the Safer Neath Port Talbot Business Crime Reduction Partnership says the bad language is anti-social behaviour and is the responsibility of licensees.

Neath Port Talbot Council environmental health manager, Huw Jones said: "Failure to adequately control the impact and conduct of the public house can lead to a review of their licence, or even revocation. Primarily, if there is public disorder, then the police have powers to act. Additionally, the landlord will have responsibilities under the Licensing Act to maintain control of his premises and this duty extends to the impact his business has on the immediate vicinity."

The authority's head of licensing, Jim Sullivan, said some complaints had already been dealt with informally.

"We have spoken to one or two premises and they have taken steps to resolve the matter one way or another," he told the paper.

Smokers will soon be stood in the middle of fields, attended by government employees armed with cattle prods.

The Smoking Ban in England, A few Questions

The smoking ban in England commences on the 1st July. The intention of the ban is to stop all smoking in enclosed public spaces to prevent the risks of passive smoking. With that in mind, I would like to ask a few questions:

1) Most companies employing smokers have had a smoking room fitted out with air filtration and ventilation to the open air. Non-smokers did not enter those rooms and therefore were not breathing in second hand smoke. Where was the passive smoking risk?

2) Air ports spent thousands of pounds building smoking booths that were totally enclosed and surrounded with filtration units. Again non-smokers did not enter those booths. Where was the passive smoking risk?

3) Now smokers must stand outside their places of work (even though there are perfectly safe rooms inside). Why are the shelters that can be erected for smokers, regulated to make them open to the environment (no front or sides) when non-smokers will not enter them? Where is the passive smoking risk?

4) Why can we not smoke in our homes if a council worker visits? (you MUST not smoke up to 30 minutes before they arrive) surely your home is not a public space?

5) If this is all about preventing passive smoking, why are anti-smoking campaigners trying to get smoking banned outside public buildings, when there is not a risk to non-smokers?

6) Why are privately own pubs, restaurants and private members clubs classed as public spaces? Absolutely no one is forced into them, nor do they need to enter them to gain access to a necessary public service. The people who work in these areas do so out of free will, I work in a dangerous environment and I do so out of free will.

7) In the last election the government promised to ban smoking only in those places that sell food. They have gone back on that promise, just like their promise to hold a referendum on the EU Treaty. They have lied to us and then they have rode roughshod over our civil liberties. The BMA have started to make noises about alcohol consumption, is that next for a ban?

8) How do you feel about your civil liberties? how free do you feel now? how free do you think you will feel in ten years time when you are constantly monitored by CCTV, your car and even your rubbish bin is chipped and you carry an ID Card with ALL your details on it?

How free will you feel?

The Smoking Ban in England - It gets worse...

The Fostering network wants all foster carers that smoke, to be banned from looking after children under the age of five. There is a shortfall of ten thousand foster carers in the UK and the network would like to see the ban extended to stop smokers caring for disabled children.

Now correct me if I am wrong, but it is my belief that foster carers are not the scum of society. In fact they tend to be the cream of it when it comes to compassion. Does the Fostering Network really believe that these caring people will smoke in the presence of young or disabled children? I don't.

For God's sake! they are putting their petty prejudice against smokers before the needs of the children.

The Smoking Ban - England's First Sign of Civil Unrest?

Nick Hogan, landlord of the Swan Pub is leading the fight against the smoking ban which comes into force on the 1st of July. Nick says: "This protest is growing and we are still a month away. It is a -protest against dictatorship. It is not about being pro-smoking. It is about the freedom to choose." The Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, is calling the ban: "a triumph for public health (which) will protect everyone from the harm of secondhand smoke".

Now, I smoke and yet I agree with banning smoking in certain places, but this ban is going too far and is infringing on our civil liberties. In the beginning you could smoke at your desk, your workbench or wherever you applied your trade, as long as it was safe to do so. This was very correctly banned as non-smokers had no choice but to endure secondhand smoke. Then we had smoking rooms which tended to be away from non-smokers and well ventilated. Now this is where I start to disagree with the ban. What is wrong with a well ventilated room that non-smokers do not enter? I'm struggling to see the health risk. Why have smokers been forced to stand outside their places of work, when they have suitable indoor facilities that do not risk the health of non-smokers? I can't think of an answer to that one, apart from: because the government said so.

Another great idea was to put restrictions on the outdoor shelters that could be erected outside workplaces. What you are allowed is basically an open Bus Shelter. Can someone please tell me why these shelters must be open to the elements when non-smokers will never enter them? is this some kind of smoker's punishment? I cannot understand why the government have banned smoking or imposed regulations in areas that non-smokers do not frequent. Surely the same logic could be applied to banning Elephant hunting in Barnsley.

And then there's the pub issue. Pub landlords should have the right to allow smoking on their property. If I walked into a bar, and several of the clientele were partaking in an activity which I found unsavoury, I would turn around and find another bar. But what about the Bar staff? I hear you say. There are many jobs where not only your health, but your life is at risk, mine is one of them. I choose to do the job I do, just as Bar Staff do. That's freedom of choice, something which is slowly but surely being taken away from us.

Wouldn't it have been better to leave this to market forces? If non-smokers were so sick and tired of smoking in pubs, wouldn't we have non-smoking pubs popping up everywhere? But no, instead we have the government forcing this law upon us without any consultation of the people. I find this trend to pass new laws and invent new taxes which are obliged to honour very disturbing. I'm trying to see where democracy comes into this governments policy. The government are saying: you will behave like we tell you and we will take your money by further taxation without representation, if not, you will be punished.

What makes things worse is that I understand this government directive is now going to cost the tax payer £1.6 billion to implement. Also I'm led to believe that 1,200 compliance officers (compliance, that's got a ominous ring to it) are to be paid £22,000 a year to hand out 'on the spot' fines. That's more than a front line soldier gets! Oh, and get this: prisoners can smoke in their cells. Marvellous.

Money down the drain?

Last week Patricia Hewitt announced that the government was to launch a £50m Smoke-free England campaign. This was seen by many a waste of money, telling the public about an issue that will be covered by the media.

Today the BBC reported that £100m of the tax payers money is spent on translation services in the UK.

Local authorities spend £25m, NHS trusts £55m and the courts £31m on interpreting languages. .The BBC discovered that Peterborough Council translates details of its refuse collection service into 15 languages.

Islington's NHS primary care trust is providing a Turkish woman who has been a UK resident for five years with one-to-one sessions to help her stop smoking translated into her own language.

Phil Woolas, Communities Minister, said: "We believe that the system may need to be rebalanced to give a greater focus on teaching English and this includes looking at the advice given from government, public bodies and local authorities."

The former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, said: "Translation is not a disincentive. It allows them to get access to services while they learn English. Translation is a way of helping people in transition into integrating into our society."

Q. Do you believe the public should have greater control of government spending?

To view the results go to:

http://dailyreferendum.co.uk/

Blowing smoke up my a**e?

As a smoker I am reluctantly willing to accept the the banning of smoking in enclosed public spaces, however I am finding it difficult to accept the comments of Labour's Desmond Turner, MP for Brighton Kemptown.
Mr Turner wants to ban the use of patio heaters completely, calling them a "waste of energy". Mr Turner went on to say: "The use of patio heaters accounts for about one million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, which immediately cancels out, for instance, the savings made by government changes to vehicle taxations."
Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Norman Baker said: "I'm not against people smoking outside, it's better than them smoking inside, but I think they should enjoy the bracing air around them."
"Instead of reaching for the gas canister people should reach for another jumper instead."
So if these "politicians" get their way, smokers will become a bunch of shivering, jumper wearing outcasts. That is until they find out jumpers are bad for you, in which case we will become a bunch of blue, shivering outcasts.

http://dailyreferendum.co.uk/

Money for nothing?

It has been announced that smoking in public places will be banned in England from 1 July next year.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said the ban was a "huge step forward".

Chief executive of the British Lung Foundation Dame Helena Shovelton, said: "This is a victory for all those of us who have campaigned so vigorously to improve public health."

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group Forest, said that decision had been "draconian. "From July next year it will not only be illegal to smoke in every pub, club and bar in the country, it will also be impossible to set up a private club run by smokers for smokers," he said. "That's an amazing state of affairs but typical of a government that seems determined to interfere in every aspect of our daily lives."

Patricia Hewitt is to launch a £50m Smoke-free England campaign, to advise England's 3.7m businesses to prepare for the ban.

Q. Should the government be allowed to spend £50m of our money on a campaign we already know about?

To view the results go to:

http://dailyreferendum.co.uk/