Police announced that the first person to be arrested under the government's new anti-smoking laws was a Mr S. Holmes (pictured above), of Baker Street London.
Mr Holmes, who named his occupation as 'master detective', was arrested for lighting a pipe in a tavern in west London earlier today.
"The arrest of Mr Holmes is wonderful news. Smoking is a heinous crime, far more serious than attempting to steal the Crown Jewels. The government has shown it is not only tough on crime, it is tough on crime busters too. That's wonderful news for me and my business associates", a passer-by, Professor James Moriarty, told
reporters.
UPDATE: Sam Leith has a great piece in today's Daily Telegraph on the mentality of those who 'wholeheartedly' approve of the smoking ban.
5 comments:
Actually, I think you'll find that Sherlock Holmes has already been imprisoned for some time for cocaine possession - to cite another drug of choice which was legal in Victorian London.
So can I conclude from this that you think cocaine should be legalised as well? (I'm assuming so, otherwise why pick Sherlock Holmes over just about any other literary smoker?)
No, I don't think cocaine should be legalised (though I'm willing to hear arguments to the contrary). But I can't recall New Labour encouraging councils to
engage plain-clothes 'cocaine busters' to hang round pub/nightclub toilets to shop people using the drug, can you?
Can I conclude from this that you think smoking a pipe in a public place is on a par with cocaine possession/use?
I don't understand, Neil. You support the arrest & imprisonment of people taking cocaine in the privacy of their own home but you think that restricting the right of a smoker to inflict his smoke on others is 'authoritarian'. So much for supporting liberty. What possible damage is the cocaine user doing to anyone else?
" Cocaine is a potent and extremely dangerous and addicting drug....... It is a central nervous system stimulant that can cause aggressive behaviour and personality changes. Because of its biological properties, cocaine impairs brain mechanisms required for the exercise of free will and reason. Psychological symptoms are characterized by intense anxiety, depression, confusion, hallucinations and paranoid delusions. These latter symptoms often require hospitalization in a psychiatric ward..."
Encouraging cocaine use by legalising it would have grave repercussions for the rest of the society. It's silly to compare it with tobacco. Ever heard of anyone
getting aggressive from smoking a pipe, or experiencing 'personality changes' from smoking a Hamlet cigar?
"ever heard of someone getting aggressive from smoking a pipe"?
it all depends what's in the pipe!
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