tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post7126742001219107955..comments2023-11-05T22:35:31.766+00:00Comments on Neil Clark: Anti-Smoking hysteria reaches new heightsNeil Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479041156190090119noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-14288028751427704612008-07-16T09:11:00.000+01:002008-07-16T09:11:00.000+01:00Another contributing factor to the current climate...Another contributing factor to the current climate of moral panic and censure might be that the hapless floundering of the Blair/Brown administration has exposed the whole infrastructure of power as not only wholly corrupt and venal (the Thatchler Reich did that nicely, and we can confidently expect a future tory regime to scale effortlessly previously undreamed of peaks of sleaze), but also utterly clueless and incompetent. Wriggling like worms on a hook, they are attempting to turn the spotlight elsewhere. Such is the simplicity of their thinking (itself a symptom of their detachment from the everyday reality of the population over whom they rule) that they have fallen for the recent Hollywood stereotyping which dictates that only bad people smoke, smoking currently is cinematic shorthand for "evil-doer". Thus the vilification and social ostracisation of smokers must look good on paper to privately educated, socially cosseted career politicians desperate to cling onto some measure of power.<BR/>Just a thought.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-15191455197503048732008-07-15T21:07:00.000+01:002008-07-15T21:07:00.000+01:00Douglas: Exactly. The criminal classes of old Lond...Douglas: Exactly. The criminal classes of old London town must be laughing their heads off: a Sherlock Holmes without a pipe is a far less effective Sherlock Holmes. But hey, who cares about the effectiveness of the world's greatest detective, the most important thing is that he's not seen to light up.Neil Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10479041156190090119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-23418345939852223032008-07-15T20:55:00.000+01:002008-07-15T20:55:00.000+01:00I know we disagree vigorously on quite a few thing...I know we disagree vigorously on quite a few things, but I'm solidly in your corner on this issue...<BR/><BR/>Taking away Sherlock's pipe and Lady Penelope's cigarette holder? Blasphemy! Do they also edit the bit when Sherlock describes a conundrum as "a three-pipe problem?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-64718740360472342652008-07-14T19:17:00.000+01:002008-07-14T19:17:00.000+01:00Sadly, it's even worse than the elevation of scien...Sadly, it's even worse than the elevation of science above culture - it's a the conversion of science into politics - the science of anti-smoking is not science at all - it's pure politics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-5419302618756276572008-07-14T15:24:00.000+01:002008-07-14T15:24:00.000+01:00davros and olching: agreed. You've got to remember...davros and olching: agreed. You've got to remember in whose benefit modern Britain plc is run: the banks and monopoly capital. They don't mind us drinking inordinate amounts in private equity owned chain bars, but what they're not to keen on is the old local/the working man's club or the social club, where we can meet, chat, smoke and compare notes on the way our society is going. If we don't want to be herded into the chain bars they'd rather we stay at home, where we can do less harm. <BR/>They want an atomised, lonely society, they don't want us to <BR/>have a great social life, only that we are great consumers.<BR/>The sad thing is that this trend is spreading to Europe- I really fear for the future of the wonderful Dutch brown bars now that they've passed a draconian ban in the Netherlands. The brown bars are great places where you can meet and get into conversations with people of all walks of life- not what our masters really want.Neil Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10479041156190090119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-86092026943489336722008-07-14T13:53:00.000+01:002008-07-14T13:53:00.000+01:00Davros, I think there is some truth in that. There...Davros, I think there is some truth in that. There is nothing the establishment fears more than a group of people drinking and smoking and talking about things. It's dangerous territory for them. <BR/><BR/>I think it's also part of a new wave of puritanism and the elevation of <A HREF="http://olching.blogspot.com/2007/12/on-sanitisation-and-sterility.html" REL="nofollow">science</A>above <A HREF="http://olching.blogspot.com/2008/01/smoking-is-good-for-you.html" REL="nofollow">culture</A>.olchinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12155200018404294369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-71125879707500526422008-07-14T08:50:00.000+01:002008-07-14T08:50:00.000+01:00How about this for a real reason:The smoking ban h...How about this for a real reason:<BR/>The smoking ban has stopped many thousands of people from going to the pub. Public order and social control are more easily maintained if people stay in watching telly. Thus, the smoking ban falls under the same category as the near blanket ban on live music in pubs. The great majority of politicians (of all parties) are drawn from the hereditary ruling class, who don't go into pubs, so are personally unaffected by any of these developments, which means they don't have to care.<BR/>Does this hypothesis stand up to any scrutiny?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-13147548563107903652008-07-13T15:00:00.000+01:002008-07-13T15:00:00.000+01:00I'm almost tempted to start smoking, just to feel ...I'm almost tempted to start smoking, just to feel like a renegade.<BR/>Does anyone know the real reason for the smokng ban? It's not public health because this would open the door for bans on an almost uncountable number of things. Presumably the government liked the tax, and with inevitable privatisation of our NHS the expenditure on COPD patients is presumably only a short term concern anyway.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-86596136089643515102008-07-13T08:52:00.000+01:002008-07-13T08:52:00.000+01:00With you 100% there Neil.With you 100% there Neil.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-64896655554414660192008-07-12T19:49:00.000+01:002008-07-12T19:49:00.000+01:00"In Joan Bakewell's famous Late Night Line Up inte..."In Joan Bakewell's famous Late Night Line Up interview with Harold Pinter, both interviewer and interviewee smoked freely; today they'd both face fines and censure."<BR/><BR/>And you would otherwise describe them as "libertines" no doubt.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-30636761000705921382008-07-12T18:00:00.000+01:002008-07-12T18:00:00.000+01:00I agree with you Neil. The thing that worries me i...I agree with you Neil. The thing that worries me is that there hasn't been any rioting in the streets. <BR/><BR/>Not even a bunch of people defiantly lighting up in some of the orger (but still enclosed) railway stations.<BR/><BR/>You can't stop the invasion of Iraq by a a demonstration because it isn't happening here but even a few hundred people lighting up, refusing to give their names |& being dragged off to the cells & 3 hours of policemen filling in forms, would make the whole thing unworkable.<BR/><BR/>Are we really, as a people, that submissive? The ban started in Scotland & I did not previously think submissiveness to be a Scottish characteristic. This bodes ill for the future.neil craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09157898238945726349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-64965709163056126522008-07-12T10:25:00.000+01:002008-07-12T10:25:00.000+01:00Hear hear in all you say. It just goes to show tha...Hear hear in all you say. It just goes to show that these people are just of the picky type - especially when there are many more important issues of concern. I have always stood by the quote "You can take a horse to water but can`t make it drink. I have watched Sherlock Holmes many times - but I do not smoke a pipe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com