High Court test for smoking banMorning Advertiser - UK
It's a reponse, to a mad notion from Ken and Robert, that I am American, as John is spelt Jon in America. 1. Trying for the last two or so years to find out ... High Court test for smoking banMorning Advertiser - UK
The Smoking Ban will in the short term be detested by publicans and I understand why - but for Robert to say the things he does makes me feel sick that ... Officer to tackle smoking banThe Argus.co.uk - Brighton,UK
By Rachel Fitch. A council officer has been employed to make sure businesses stub out when new laws come into force. Antony Gardener has joined Arun ... UK smoking ban and its impact on fashionCatwalk Queen - London,UK
At the weekend I was in a pub in England with my cousin who lives in Wales where the smoking ban is already in full swing. She became outraged by an elderly ... Warnings for smoking ban breachesBBC News - UK
More than 25 breaches in the smoking ban have been reported by councils across Wales in the last five weeks, a BBC survey has discovered. ... Smoking ban date is a mystery to manyScotsman - Edinburgh,Scotland,UK
LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly half of adults don't know the date of the smoking ban that comes into force in England in 50 days, a survey said on Saturday. ... Smoking ban date a mystery to manyPeninsula On-line - Qatar
london • Nearly half of adults don’t know the date of the smoking ban that comes into force in England in 50 days, a survey said yesterday. ...
The IPPR's brave new world
April 15, 2007
By Simon Clark
Hats off to the Institute for Public Policy Research. New Labour's most influential think-tank knows how to attract publicity. Writing in the latest issue of Public Policy Research, the IPPR magazine, Observer columnist Jasper Gerrard says that Britain should consider raising the legal drinking age to 21. Failing that, he suggests making 18-year-olds carry smart cards "which record how much they have drunk each night and making it an offence to serve more alcohol to anyone under-21 who had already consumed more than three units". (Full report HERE.)
Can Gerrard be serious? Sadly, I think he is. Nor is he alone. His proposal is similar to one put forward by a doctor in Scotland who last year suggested that people should be limited to three units of alcohol when they go to the pub. The idea was dismissed as ludicrous and impractical but, thanks to Gerrard, the idea has resurfaced but with one significant 'improvement' - the smart card. Of course the idea is still ridiculous - and worryingly authoritarian - but others will no doubt repeat it in the hope that it gets taken up by campaigners and politicians who are either on a mission to 'protect' us from ourselves or will do anything to justify their existence.
Meanwhile, keep an eye on the IPPR. Earlier this month Simon Retallack, the organisation's head of climate change, called for tobacco style health warnings to be displayed on holiday ads, warning people about the possible damage that flights and cars will do to the environment. What next? A ban on short-haul flights? Weekend breaks abroad? Or perhaps we'll be issued with a smart card that monitors how far we've travelled by car or plane and prevents us from going any further once we've reached our 'limit'.
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Stab-proof hoodies on sale
April 11, 2007
An Essex firm is making stab-proof hoodies lined with Kevlar, the material used in body armour for British troops.
Romford-based Bladerunner, which makes protective clothes for police forces and security guards, is selling the tops for £65.
Boss Adrian Davis claims to be in discussion with schools in east London about putting Kevlar linings into school uniforms.
"It's all in development but we're at an advanced stage," he said.
"We've sent examples of school jumpers to the manufacturers and we're waiting for the costings. I really believe it's needed," he told The Sun.
His colleague Barry Samms says a policeman friend has come across 14 and 15-year-olds wearing stab-proof vests for protection on the streets.
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Soap gives caffeine kick
April, 2007
Caffeinated soap has been launched to help people who don't have the time for both a shower and a coffee in the morning.
Manufacturers claim their Shower Shock soap releases caffeine that is absorbed into the user's system and provides the same hit as a two cups of coffee.
The soap is also infused with peppermint and citrus scents so the user doesn't end up smelling of coffee, reports the Guardian.
A shower gel is also on offer, although the makers, Think Geek, warn that neither is recommended for pregnant women or children because of the caffeine content.
Jennifer Kuropkat, of Think Geek, said: "Every full body wash with the Shower Shock soap will provide the equivalent of around two cups worth of coffee.
"The caffeine is absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream. It has exactly the same effect as if you were drinking coffee. Your blood pressure and pulse rate will increase, making your brain feel more alert and awake.
"The caffeine will then last in your system for approximately four hours - the same as two cups of coffee. They really are time-saves as you don't have to wait around for your coffee to brew in the morning."
The 4oz bars of soap, available via the internet, cost £3.50, and there is also a smaller travel version. The Mountain Dew shower gel costs £6.50.
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Smoking ban should keep barbecues sizzling in UK
March 26, 2007
Aussie-style outdoor barbecues are becoming more popular in the UK, new figures show.
Last summer's high temperatures and the World Cup helped boost the the number of times people had barbecues by 46 per cent, according to food industry magazine The Grocer.
The impending smoking ban for England and Wales is expected to keep the trend going this year, the trade magazine said.
Young adults are the biggest fans of the al fresco cooking.
Chicken is the most popular barbecue food followed by pork sausages, research from market analysts TNS shows.
The amount of beef eaten during barbecues last year dropped by 42 per cent on the previous year.
Lamb was another big loser - down 13 per cent. Vegetable sausages were up 8.5 per cent and veggie burgers increased by 3 per cent.
"Consumers tend to be more likely to barbecue when major sports events are taking place during the summer as they gather with friends to watch. The barbecue consequently becomes an even bigger social occasion," according to The Grocer.
The TNS data is drawn from an ongoing survey of the take-home purchasing habits of 20,000 British households in the year ending August 2006.
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Tobacco and alcohol 'are more dangerous than LSD'
23 March 2007
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than many illegal drugs including the hallucinogen LSD and the dance drug ecstasy, according to a new scale for assessing the dangers posed by recreational substances.
Drug specialists say the current system for ranking drugs - class A for the most dangerous to class C for the least dangerous, as set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act - is irrational, arbitrary and "lacking in transparency".
Scientific evidence shows that heroin and cocaine are correctly ranked as class A drugs as they do cause the most harm. But LSD and ecstasy come close to bottom of the league in terms of harm caused, yet they are also labelled as class A.
Alcohol is legal and widely used but comes fifth in the "harm" table, ahead of amphetamines and cannabis, which are ranked as class B and class C respectively. Tobacco is also ranked as more harmful than cannabis.
The league table of 20 drugs drawn up by drugs specialists is intended to provide a scientifically based model for policy makers of the harm they cause. It shows that the dangers they pose bear little relationship to the official classification, on which the penalties for drug use are based. The eight drugs ranked as most dangerous include two that are unclassified while the eight judged least dangerous include two class A drugs.
The report comes a fortnight after an independent commission called for a radical overhaul of Britain's drug laws which it said were driven by a "moral panic". The commission, set up by the Royal Society of Arts, said the aim of public policy should be to reduce the harm drugs cause, not send people to jail. It proposed reclassifying drugs - legal and illegal - according to the harm they do.
Professor David Nutt, who works in addiction psychiatry at the University of Bristol and who led the latest research, said: "The current drug classification system is arbitrary in the way it assesses harms. It is not fit for purpose. We have tried to come up with a better system by looking at the factors that contribute to drug use and the harms they cause. We should review the penalties for drug use in the light of the harms they cause and have a more proportionate response."
Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council and co-author of the study, said: "The object was to bring a dispassionate approach to a very passionate issue. Some conclusions might appear to be liberal in stance, but that was not our starting position. We intended to reach conclusions that were evidence-based."
"Alcohol and tobacco are way up there in the league table, not far behind heroin and cocaine and street methadone. Society has not only come to terms with alcohol and tobacco but is well aware of the harms associated with them so we felt it was useful to include them as calibration points for other drugs."
All drugs were marked on the physical harm they caused to the individual user, their tendency to cause dependence and their social harm, including their effect on families, communities and society [such as crime and NHS costs]. Each was given an overall harm score by two separate groups of experts which yielded roughly similar results.
There was little evidence that ecstasy caused extensive harm, despite its widespread use by young people in clubs and pubs at weekends. Cannabis has been cited as a cause of schizophrenia but the authors said a causal relationship had not been established. If it were, evidence showed no more than 7 per cent of cases could be attributed to use of the drug.
Professor Leslie Iversen, of the University of Oxford, said there was a widespread myth that skunk, from the tips of the cannabis plant, was 20 to 30 times more powerful than that available 30 years ago. "It is simply not true," he said. "The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs looked at this carefully. Cannabis resin [hash] has changed little and is about 5 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Skunk has 10-15 per cent THC. That makes it two to three times more powerful, not 20 to 30 times."
The study, which took five years to complete, is published today in The Lancet. Professor Blakemore said: "We hope that policy makers will take note of the fact that the resulting ranking of drugs differs substantially from their classification in the Misuse of Drugs Act and that alcohol and tobacco are judged more harmful than many illegal substances."
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Alcohol and tobacco more dangerous than ecstasy, says study
March 5, 2007
The government is to be urged to consider reclassifying drugs according to the harm they do – and putting alcohol and tobacco above illegal drugs like ecstasy.
According to yesterday's Observer, The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce's commission on illegal drugs, communities and public policy has been examining what it believes is a 'serious misfit between the law relating to drugs and the way in which drugs are actually used by members of society'.
The commission, which includes John Yates, the Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner, wants to find ways of making the UK's drugs laws more effective.
It has highlighted a study carried out by Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, that suggests classification should be linked to the relative risks involved in taking each drug.
Blakemore suggests current drugs laws are outdated and the system should look at the harm each drug does to society.
He told the paper: "The system has evolved in an unsystematic way from somewhat arbitrary foundations with seemingly little scientific basis. We suggest a new system for evaluating the risks of individual drugs that is based as far as possible on facts and scientific knowledge.
"It could form the basis of a new classification scheme for the Misuse of Drugs Act."
Below is what the paper says the drugs league table would look like if the drugs were assessed in order of danger
1 Heroin
2 Cocaine
3 Barbiturates
4 Street methadone
5 Alcohol
6 Ketamine
7 Benzodiazepine
8 Amphetamines
9 Tobacco
10 Buprenorphine
11 Cannabis
12 Solvents
13 4-MTA
14 LSD
15 Methylphenidate
16 Anabolic steroids
17 GHB
18 Ecstasy
19 Alkyl nitrates
20 Khat
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THE SMOKERS GUIDE TO THE UNITED KINGDOM
2 MARSTON LANE, PORTSMOUTH, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND, PO3 5TW
E-MAIL:
darren.gray1@virgin.netDear Sir/Madam,
The upcoming smoking ban in enclosed public spaces in England, Ireland, Wales and the existing ban in Scotland is a nightmare for smokers across the UK. As such I am compiling a book entitled The Smokers Guide To The United Kingdom which will be released by Trafford Publishing in the lead-up to the ban being introduced in England.
This comprehensive directory will list all kinds of businesses who are providing outside smoking facilities for smokers so that they can use businesses who are catering for their needs. As an experienced journalist, author, theatrical agent (and smoker) I know that this will become an essential handbook for every smoker both living here and visiting from overseas.
Entry in the directory is free and I hope you'll take the time to either e-mail or post us the following information for inclusion in our book, the deadline for entries is 1st April. The information we need is as follows:-
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Name of your business
Type of business e.g. restaurant, pub, coffee shop, theatre etc......
Town/city/village you would like to be listed under in the directory
Address of business
Telephone number (optional)
E-mail contact (optional)
Website (optional)
A brief overview of your business and the products/services you provide
If you are a hotel do you provide smoking bedrooms?
INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR OUTSIDE SMOKING AREA:
A brief description of the outside smoking facilities you have
What type of furniture does the smoking area have
Does the smoking area have any shelter from the weather (if so please explain)
Does the smoking area have lighting (if so please explain)
Does the smoking area have heating (if so please explain)
Do you offer table service in your smoking area (if applicable)
What can be done in your smoking area e.g. eating a meal, drinking etc
Anything special or notable about your smoking area e.g. a stunning view or something unique about it
Many thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you,
A sad addiction to anti-smoking
February 16, 2007
Mick Hume: Notebook
After studying the habits of the UK authorities for years, I have concluded that they are antismoking addicts. Hooked on hammering tobacco users, they cannot get the urge to purge smokers from society out of their system. The buzz of telling others how to behave is just too strong.
How else can we explain their feverish efforts to extend the antismoking crusade? Like me, many long-term smokers pack it in. But the anti-smokers cannot give up their fix.
The ban on smoking in public places already rules in Scotland, and comes into force in England and Wales soon. No serious opposition remains, and the experience of New York and Ireland shows there will be no popular rebellion.
Yet still the anti-smoking addicts keep coming up with new ways to get their kicks, from shop-a-smoker hotlines to spot fines for flicking ash from a car window. Now comes news that the Government is giving councils £29.5 million to train a force of passive-smoking police. They will have power to enter pubs undercover and even film secretly before handing out £50 fines to smokers or taking premises to court. The BBC says that many towns and cities will put scores of officers on patrol, London having “several hundred, with 40 in Westminster alone”. So whatever those MPs might have got away with at public school, just let them try smoking anything down the pub.
Next, the anti-smoking addicts are gasping to get their hands on those who do it in private. Already some councils and health authorities say that residents could be denied services if they smoke at home. Last month a couple in North Wales were investigated by their council’s ominously named Public Protection Service for causing an “alleged odour nuisance” to a neighbour — by smoking in their own semidetached house.
The problem here goes way beyond the waste of money on the passive-smoking police. It is about the social cost of allowing passive smoking to be used as the pretext for promoting active snooping. It seems that if smoking did not exist today, the anti-smoking addicts would have to invent it.
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Training staff to police smoking ban to cost £29.5mCatererSearch - Surrey,UK
The Government has come under fire for giving local authorities in England £29.5m to train staff to police the smoking ban in bars and restaurants. ...
LATEST: Plan for smoking ban enforcersic Birmingham.co.uk - Birmingham,UK
Thousands of council officers will patrol bars, restaurants and shops to police the smoking ban when it comes into force in July. ...
Early smoking ban is shelvedHartlepool Today - UK
ATTEMPTS to introduce an early smoking ban at a popular venue have been shelved after angry complaints from tobacco lovers. The Studio, in Tower Street, ...
Smoking Helps Protect Against Lung Cancer
Every year, thousands of medical doctors and other members of the ?Anti-Smoking Inquisition? spend billions of dollars perpetuating what has unquestionably become the most misleading though successful social engineering scam in history. With the encouragement of most western governments, these Orwellian lobbyists pursue smokers with a fanatical zeal that completely overshadows the ridiculous American alcohol prohibition debacle, which started in 1919 and lasted until 1933. Nowadays we look back on American prohibition with justifiable astonishment. Is it really true that an entire nation allowed itself to be denied a beer or scotch by a tiny group of tambourine-bashing fanatics? Sadly, yes it is, despite a total lack of evidence that alcohol causes any harm to humans, unless consumed in truly astronomical quantities. Alas, the safety of alcohol was of no interest to the tambourine-bashers, for whom control over others was the one and only true goal. Americans were visibly ?sinning? by enjoying themselves having a few alcoholic drinks, and the puritans interceded on behalf of God to make them all feel miserable again. Although there is no direct link between alcohol and tobacco, the history of American prohibition is important, because it helps us understand how a tiny number of zealots managed to control the behavior and lives of tens of millions of people. Nowadays exactly the same thing is happening to smokers, though this time it is at the hands of government zealots and ignorant medical practitioners rather than tambourine-bashing religious fanatics. Certain governments know that their past actions are directly responsible for causing most of the lung and skin cancers in the world today, so they go to extreme lengths in trying to deflect responsibility and thus financial liability away from themselves, and onto harmless organic tobacco instead. As we will find later in the report, humble organic tobacco has never hurt anyone, and in certain ways can justifiably claim to provide startling health protection. Not all governments around the world share the same problem. Japan and Greece have the highest numbers of adult cigarette smokers in the world, but the lowest incidence of lung cancer. In direct contrast to this, America, Australia, Russia, and some South Pacific island groups have the lowest numbers of adult cigarette smokers in the world, but the highest incidence of lung cancer. This is clue number-one in unraveling the absurd but entrenched western medical lie that ?smoking causes lung cancer.?
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Smoking ban to come in at Turf Moor
20th January 2007
Deborah Lewis
SMOKING will be banned from Turf Moor from July.
Smokers will not be able to light up in any part of the Burnley FC ground, including the executive suites and boardroom.
Accrington Stanley is also planning to introduce a ban, although the club said it was trying to find an small area where fans could still have a cigarette.
The clubs have agreed to implement bans after the Football League announced a smoke-free policy for the start of next season.
The policy has been introduced to coincide with a nationwide smoking ban introduced by the government in enclosed places.
Burnley Football Club chief executive Dave Edmundson said: "We welcome the new regulations, which will enable all supporters young and old to visit Turf Moor and enjoy a smoke free environment.
"While appreciating that some supporters will not be happy at this move, we feel it is in the best interests of all considering the government legislation that will soon come into force."
Accrington Stanley chief executive Rob Heys said: "It something we are working towards and it will be in place for next season.
"However we are going to try and find some places either inside or outside the ground to accommodate smokers."
The smoking ban was introduced following a consultation with 43,000 fans across the country.
Almost 80 per cent of fans advocated the introduction of some form of smoke free' policy at matches, with half of all fans wanting an outright ban.
Only 10 per cent opposed the idea.
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Read More: UK Observations Page 1
