SMOKERPHOBICS WILL NEVER GET IT

Frank Davis's scrape with a smokerphobic has led to a debate in his comments on how the propaganda has perverted figures to steer people away from tobacco and those who choose to consume it.

Frank wonders if all vapers are like the bigot he bumped into but most of those I have met have bigger minds and can see the bigger picture. They defend our right to enjoy the natural product because once we're gone, they know they'll be next on the hit- list.

They also challenge the junk science on smoking because they know that soon the scientific cannons will be pointed at them. Some like Mr Bigot will never get it and that's the tragedy. All those of different lifestyles should stand together or they will pick us off one by one in this public health social engineering project.

They don't want smoking in future of any kind, and they don't want any evidence that it existed in the past. Eradication of all forms of smoking - shisha, cigarette, pipe, e-cig, cigar - is the ultimate aim. Useful idiots like Mr Bigot will help get them there faster.

The reason I don't believe this plucked from the air figure of several hundred thousands of deaths from smoking is because I haven't seen such deaths among my own generation of smokers. That's not to say that I don't believe active smoking can be harmful but I get more sceptic about the alleged "harm" it causes as each new day brings something new that smoking causes including dandruff. The health message gets more and more ridiculous and bizarre.

Meanwhile they don't explain why smokers I know from my generation are not dead? Even doctors say they don't understand why only 15% of smokers die of lung disease while others can live to a long life.

How many friends from my generation have died over the last few decades have been on my mind a lot lately after another died in a motorbike accident last week. He isn't the first in our circle lost through either a bike or a car accident.

I didn't know him well but a sudden death does rather focus your mind on how many people you have lost in your own life. There are those friends who committed suicide - one because he had a gambling problem he couldn't control and it was destroying his life, and another because the tax man was about to break him - and one friend died before he was 30 from leukaemia, another fell off a mountain while walking, another from a horse.

Within the last decade I've heard of too many who have fallen to heroin and died from overdoses. We had a bad heroin epidemic here in the late 90s and early 00s. Just imagine what they could have done to socially engineer people away from heroin rather than spending cash playing down its dangers by equating it with smoking.

Too many smokers from my generation have died before their time but none of them from cancer, a smoking related respiratory illness, or a heart problem. Sadly they have succumbed to living with all of its risk factors.

RIP CS - FROM FACEBOOK

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children

He declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

RIP ALEX

I was very sad to hear this news this evening.

My former partner, who I sincerely loved dearly, was a bit like Alex Higgins. He liked his drink more than his smoke but a hard living man he was and no-one could tell him how to live.

He was so scared, however, of the doctors that when he got throat cancer, he ran out of the back door as the ambulance arrived at the front to take him away. He was 54 when he died.

He believed that fate would have it that way and that was nature's way. All sorts of things were done to make him try and stop drinking and live more healhily, but he lived his life as he loved it and was quite prepared to accept the consequences.

"Life is about quality, not quantity, my angel," he would say. Yes, he was a man with the same kind of violent outbursts as Alex as well, which I couldn't live with. But I would never try to make him into a person he was not. I had a choice. My choice was to leave.

I suspect that like Alex Higgins, he was happy with his lot, and like Alex, he will never be forgotten.

RIP Alex Higgins -