WHY I WON'T QUIT

That I enjoy moderate smoking is no surprise to anyone that visits this blog. It is the reason I never thought about quitting but I must admit I was tempted to in the late 90s early 00s as I got more drawn into the propaganda. It was only when it started to become nasty that I dug my heels in and vowed never to quit.

Despite the marginalisation of smokers like me who won't give up, I'm glad I still smoke because research has told me that the issue isn't black and white - especially for people like me who have smoked over a lifetime.

And in risking the abuse from an anonymous poster on this blog, I will repeat that I simply don't see smokers dropping dead around me. Most of the people I have known in my life of my generation who smoked are still alive and if they died it was for other reasons. Sorry anon - but it is a fact.

With the issue bugging the hell out of me today, I was very interested to read THIS over at Smoking out the Truth.

I will just say that my own foray into research showed me the same thing and I completely agree with the blog post including the fact that on active smoking my jury is still also out. The rest I'll leave to Grandad.

Some years ago, for reasons now forgotten, I gave up smoking altogether. Within days I came down with a bad chest infection. That was followed by a very sore throat which in turn led to more chest infections. I though initially that it could be a reaction to quitting but the infections continued. One day I asked my doctor if it was coincidence that the deterioration in my health coincided with quitting the pipe. He shuffled uncomfortably and admitted that yes, it wasn’t a coincidence and that I wasn’t to tell a soul he said that. A while later, for other reasons I went back on the pipe and the illnesses immediately stopped. This was my first real insight into the possibility that they weren’t being strictly honest about the dangers.

My jury is still out on the dangers of smoking itself. I have discovered that it has many beneficial effects such as reducing obesity, protecting against colitis, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and, for some women, a lower incidence of breast cancer. I have discovered that all the initial research into tobacco vs cancer had gaping holes that would discredit any serious research. I have discovered that research has been driven not by a quest for truth but by a religious zeal to ban smoking altogether.

My investigations into second hand smoking are a slightly different kettle of fish. I have discovered that ALL the current ‘proof’ of the harm is derived from false analysis of figures, distortion of statistics and downright lies. I have not found a single piece of research anywhere that proves that second hand smoke is harmful. To the contrary, I have discovered that it may even have slight beneficial effects. The whole concept of second hand smoke was invented to divide society. Nothing more, nothing less.

THIS SHOULD BE CRIMINAL.

I recall that before NuLabour's discriminatory social exclusion of smokers in 2007 no one on the street or in a pub, a cafe or a restaurant, ever really moaned or talked about a blanket smoking ban except for TV, biased agenda driven newspapers, Quangos and Govt.

Most people were happy that there was choice for both sides and few complained when Taxi-For-Hire minister Pat Hewitt initially announced a partial ban would come in. We didn't know then that she was lying to ensure there was no dissent and to pull the wool over the public's eyes to push custom towards her corporate masters and secure a very nice personal wealth package for herself.

She said there would be exemptions for "wet" pubs when the ban came in which would only affect those places where families go to eat and get pissed in front of their kids. Then she shafted everyone at the last, forced all smoker pubs out of business, dragged the economy down with it, and legislated for hate and intolerance for the first time in Europe since the 1930s.

We didn't know then that she was a bought and paid for corporate minister, like the other two creeps skillfully caricatured above by Mark Wadsworth and that she would impose any economically, as well as socially, damaging policy upon the unsuspecting British people as long as she was paid enough to do it. I mean, what did she care about Britain as long as she got rich?

Boots was just one corporate company that paid her £3,000 per day to look after its interests as health minister. I always thought that was a bit perverse bearing in the mind the spiteful smoking ban was allegedly imposed to "help" people quit, "protect" (now unemployed) pub workers, and of course to get everyone running to Boots to get their ever so expensive NRT patches, gum et al to become one of the chosen and not the despised.

I think this is so scandalous that I'd like to see Pat Hewitt criminally investigated for corruption like the other troughing MPs who got caught after they stole cash from the public purse with their imaginary expenses claims to pay for mortgages and other stuff they didn't have.

And when Hewitt was health minister, she also ripped off the NHS and ensured the service quango paid over the odds for technology it didn't get

Am I surprised that Pat Hewitt is now a consultant at said firm? Not at all. It seems entirely in keeping with her Machiavellian self interest nature. Will she be prosecuted for criminal behaviour which I believe it was? Probably not but she should be if the current Govt wants us to believe that it is honest, well meaning, respectable and responsible and it is turning its back on corruption.

Govt must not turn a blind eye to any minister who touts UK policy for personal cash and it must carry out further investigations on those who did in the past. They, as much as the bankers, brought this country to its knees.

REASON AND TOLERANCE IN TOKYO

I'm delighted to feature this guest post by businessman TIM ROBINSON who describes his recent experience as a smoker in Japan where tolerance and fairness for both sides of the smoking debate are catered for through common sense and technology.



************************************************************

I’m not a militant smoker in fact I consider myself to have “liberal” and considerate views in all things. That may sound a little big headed but I’m well-travelled and I honestly believe it increases a person’s tolerance for others and what I'd consider to be their somewhat irrational behaviour.



Since the prohibition style of tobacco control was introduced in the UK I’ve felt more than a little persecuted but I try to see the other side of the problem and I’d happily meet anti-smokers half way. OK, they consider smokers reckless and immoral people (those that are passing laws and driving policy at least).



In my experience few people on the street do not want to reach a compromise where we are all happy. Yes there are some that will never be happy but if we didn’t smoke they’d complain we fart, look funny or aren’t exactly like them. You’ll never win them over on anything, they live to be annoyed.



Now Japan is about as alien a culture as I’ve experienced where a lot of emphasis is placed on at least looking like you are following the rules. I think that if the Japanese officials banned smoking ultimately this would be a smoke free country, but no country really wants to ban smoking it creates too much revenue. That's why many countries strive to strike a balance between pampering to the prohibitionists and keeping the revenue rolling in.



This is where the UK policy makers have screwed up. They'll never please the moaning minnies but they will isolate your revenue stream and eventually lose it from smokers either bullied into quitting or buying cheaper illegal products.



Now in Tokyo all the office buildings I visit have well ventilated smoking rooms which are clean and tidy and the smell of smoke barely escapes. I’m sure the anti-smoking brigade would disagree and claim they are being killed by tertiary smoking but I’ll never win that argument. They work on blind faith and not rational discussion.



Tokyo's streets have smoking areas which are well used. People smoke in the smoking areas, there is no litter, they use the ashtrays provided, and everyone is happy. Hardly anyone flouts the rules and smoke outside of the smoking areas and those that do generally use portable ashtrays and take any mess away with them. Everyone is happy.







The UK policy makers need to come to terms with the fact that we smokers do so through choice. They say I have an addiction but I don’t want to change. I enjoy smoking, it’s legal and it pays a massive chunk of revenue into UK PLC.



Through the work of campaigners, I hope that we can strike middle ground. We need to stop listening to the mentals. They will NEVER be happy even if every one of us quit/died or found jeebus and a love puppies and hugging trees.



We could very easily make smoking as it is in Tokyo where people are prohibited from smoking in many places BUT are given alternatives. The costs of doing this would be trivial and would give businesses a choice over the policies they enact and allow market forces to determine policy. If people really want smoke free pubs there will be more of them as they will be the ones customers want. It’s just basic economics.



One of the most bizarre things that happened to me in Japan a few weeks ago was in the Roppongi - a district of bars in Tokyo. Some friends and I stood in the smokeless and sweet smelling bar. We decided we’d have a smoke with our beers and moved outside and lit up. A bouncer turned up and told us we couldn’t smoke there, where could we smoke we asked? Inside was the answer.



That bar like many places in the city has good ventilation and extraction systems and the smoke was drawn away quickly whereas outside on windless days it could linger. It was like I had fallen through the looking glass! It’s nice to be treated like an adult where I don’t have to whisper where can I smoke like I’m asking where can I molest small animals knowing that the response here will not be a holier than thou you should quit. It’ll be a courteous : “there is a room on the 2nd floor”.



I asked if I could change my hotel room to a smoking room from non-smoking if it wasn’t too much bother. The guy at reception said "certainly Sir", handed me an ashtray and said it is now a smoking room. A non smoker friend is staying in the same hotel next week and wanted to change his booking. The only room they have available is a dedicated smoking room. They tell me they have an industrial type extractors that they will run in the room and it removes all traces of smoke. I may not tell my friend the room is a smoking room and ask him after his stay how the room was. I’d bet he won’t even notice that anyone had smoked in there.



The UK could learn a lot from the Japanese attitude to smoking but sadly I don’t think “we” will. All the time holier than thou prohibitionists are driving policy based on an almost religious belief in at best dubious science where findings are pointed towards an outcome and when it fails to produce the required result is modified until it does.



* If you agree with Tim that choice is important both to the promotion of tolerance and economic common sense, then please sign the E Petitions for choice HERE and HERE

JOIN THE RESISTANCE

The Ash Hotel in Manchester has been murdered by the smoking ban and had one last act of defiance on it's last night of opening.

It's a real shame that pubs were manipulated to believe the lies from the anti-smoker industry and terrified into submission by bullying Govt threats of prosecution after the Nationalisation of pubs in July 2007.

It's also tragic that an alleged "free market" party like the Conservatives have continued state ownership of private property after the Communist NuLabour Party was booted out because people didn't like it's sanctimonious stance on health and it's horrendous waste of NHS cash on misleading advertising designed to incite hatred against smokers.

The champagne socialists used the patronising excuse that it was "for The Poor" when the "The Poor" frankly want to be left alone.

Life in poverty is difficult enough without the rich telling you what you can spend that limited amount on. They want "The Poor" to be sat at home, as miserable as sin, spending their pittance income - sometimes as little as £50 a week - on food when it doesn't even cover that. The poor are not even allowed to watch TV for fear of prison for not having a licence to fund misinformation and Govt propaganda on the BBC

NuLabour made "The Poor" the enemy with more than 3000 new laws designed to keep them in their place, stopped them from doing whatever they could to make money, bureaucratised them out of job opportunities, stopped them from having any fun possible, while they excluded them from pubs - the one release from the hell that is having nothing - through a blanket smoking ban that no one wanted and just to be sure that the "The Poor" would be excluded, they hiked up tax on beer to ensure that only the rich could enjoy them.

A comment from Xopher on the post about how the bigots are pushing for smokers to be banned from employment explains better than I could about how smoking bans and other lifestyle restrictions are prohibition of "The Poor".

... Dave says he wants us to get together save our local pubs BUT with Government demanding so much tax from drink sales, how can we support a venture that are denied the opportunity to cater for the whole community and only the wealthy can afford. Pubs were an essential for the whole community but now appear to be exclusively for the rich who can afford Government's imposed inflated taxes/prices.

There is something, just a little thing, but something we can do. We can all join the Resistance. Go over to the Nothing2Declare blog and see about getting some stickers or posters and put them out and around where you live next to No Smoking signs - the ones that are as ugly as a Nazi swastika - or on smoking bins, noticeboards, where ever you can reach those who are feeling isolated and alone, maybe because they are too poor to even afford a computer to go online and link up with other like-minded people fighting UK state oppression.

It is time there was some balance in this debate and maybe when enough of these stickers begin to appear, even the main stream media will no longer be able to ignore us, commercial enterprises will see they are backing the wrong cause, and local councils will learn that we will not take any more restrictions.

If you've had enough of this nonsense, then show it. Join The Resistance!

THWARTED

I was supposed to be away on my Tobacco UK Tax Resistance shopping trip but my plans were thwarted by the Belgians.

And the news when we arrived at Hull Docks that out boat to Zeebrugge was cancelled because of technical difficulties at the other end was not made any easier due to the ugliness of the city which we had to drive through twice in one evening.

My eyes still hurt from looking at the horrific architecture. Tried as I could to find something nice about Hull as we drove through, I simply could not.

The image of the City's Premier Inn is an example of how Hull got it all wrong. It looks rather like it was designed by people on acid - who had a bad trip half way through the build and then changed their minds.

I know my view is limited as I have never visited the city and I'm sure even Hull must have some heritage pleasing to the eye. I did sneak a look down into the Old Town as we passed and it looked quite nice but certainly the approach to Hull is a bloody eyesore.

The building which houses the Deep underwater attraction, for example, is just plain awful. There is a beautifully decorative old pub that stands on a corner as you enter Hull. It looks as if everything around it was demolished and then rebuilt in 60s asbestos.

Then there is the old, shattered, Airfix factory which, apparently, will be a business park. If the rest of Hull architecture is anything to go by, then I'm sure it will be built on the cheap and look pretty horrendous when it's finished.

The best thing about Hull, I think, is it's people. I felt sorry for the lady at the check in desk who had been on since 7am telling disgruntled passengers that their trip was off. She was monumentally patient with my grumpy other half and even managed to charm him around by throwing in a better cabin and bus transfer to and from Zeebrugge to Bruges.

I told her we hadn't eaten - as we planned to eat on the boat despite the expense - and a hungry man is an angry man. She advised that there were plenty of nice places to stop and eat in Hull. We didn't find them. As we drove through the ugly place we passed take away after take away and the only restaurant we could find was Chinese.

It was on the edge of what felt like a really rough area, next to a place that sells conservatories, but there was no parking that we could see - except a space that threatened clamping for a release fee of £75.

As we were only an hour or so from home, we decided to drive back to eat. We pulled into Damon's restaurant - a place we haven't been for years because it is rather over priced for what you get. We felt all dressed up with no where to go and so justified the stop.



The place has always been non-smoking on the restaurant side and if you wanted to smoke before, you had to go the bar. I didn't mind that. I did, however, find their no smoking sign offensive. It boasted "It's The Law!" to rub smokers' noses right in it - despite the fact that its walls were littered with images of old 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s Hollywood stars like James Dean - all with fags in their mouths.

Monumentally hypocritical but at least the photos help to keep alive my culture and they haven't been airbrushed on demand by the anti-smoking industry yet.

It was one of very few visits to eat out since the ban and I recognised why I hate it. It felt like being at work. I don't mind not smoking at work. I can handle that fine. But when it comes to my leisure time, I should be able to decide where I spend it and how. A fine meal was also ruined by not being able to have that after meal smoke - like the after meal brandy that others are still allowed to enjoy.

The pleasure of eating out has gone.

Now we're home again, I'm back to work, and looking forward to a rescheduled shopping trip next week if all goes to plan.

Maybe I'll shut my eyes as we drive through Hull next time - and then the nightmares won't return.

MORE ON THE DWARF

A couple of weeks ago we were still laughing at the story of the dwarf who pulled a vacuum cleaner around with his penis.

You might recall that among the myriad of dangerous stunts carried out by the Circus of Horrors Show, the one that the council was most worried about, and needed a risk assessment for, was a woman smoking as part of the act.

The story landed on my desk at work and I said I'd post up a copy of what appeared in the paper.

Anyone who wants to see the show can check out the tour dates HERE

Click to enlarge and read the cutting below

LIARS DAMAGE PUBLIC TRUST

There's been an almost daily assault lately of anti-smoker propaganda and the absurd Third Hand Smoke(THS) is one of the most obnoxious because it's aim is to create smokerphobia and exclusion of a minority group.

Those who want to eradicate tobacco by any means might think smokers are fair game to attack. But it would be nice to think, at least, that it's because they really do believe the health threats and are genuinely terrified of us.

So why do they admit to lying through their teeth to get funding - and why would funders and Govt continue to support these bigoted groups when they admit to being less than honest?

Rich White from Smokescreens points out that junk science is thrust purposefully on an unsuspecting public with the aim of causing prejudice and fear and ultimately exclusion of a social group.

What this really means is that individuals with a prejudice agenda are able to openly admit it and receive lavish amounts of money in return. It's a shame that America has just celebrated Martin Luther King day, a man who is revered for helping to erode social segregation, but simultaneously it is working hard to segregate another group of society - even fabricating evidence to do so.

America is embracing new prejudices while crowing about how far forward it has moved as an alleged "tolerant" and "equal" society. The UK blindly follows this trash because our leaders are quite simply thick, cowardly or naïve.

I fight for freedom of choice and I believe in individuality although I always thought of myself as more socialist than capitalist because I've always been poor. It was a surprise therefore to find this blog listed as "Right Wing" by Total Politics.

Perhaps I've changed and if so it is the smoking ban that has done it. Perhaps politics has and it isn't about "left" or "right" anymore.

I believe the battle is now between those who want to be left alone and those who want to control every move they make. Libertarianism V Authoritarianism as Josie Appleton writing in Spiked observes when examining the recent imposition of the smoking ban in Spain:

In this battle it is crystal clear what is at stake in smoking bans, and what the different sides represent. This is not a conflict between smokers and non-smokers, but between those who are for the bureaucratic regulation of social life and those who are for tolerance and liberty.

MP's CALL TO AMEND THE BAN

Obviously I welcome this move by MP David Nuttall to try and get an amendment to help struggling pubs that are dying because of the smoking ban and my fingers are very firmly crossed that someone will listen and actually take the common sense approach.

His 10 minute rule goes before the House of Commons tomorrow. I don't want to be negative but it appears the anti-smoking bigots are already getting the guns out to drown out the noise of anyone speaking up for us.

As one who does like pubs, but enjoys cafes and restaurants more, I wonder if anyone at all cares to bring back the choice there as we never hear of amendments coming that way. I'm still mourning the loss of my favourite Italian Restaurant that went a few months after the ban was imposed.

I think that now after three and a half years of social exclusion, it will be an uphill struggle and the coagulation Govt has not shown itself too willing to be fair about this. They are the same kind of fart sniffers as those who steal tax payers money to feather their own nests. They claim to care about people.They care only for profit.

I also worry that as much as MPs might want to suport David Nuttall, CaMoron and Cleggy won't be able to oblige because they are slaves to the EU and the commissioner has recently announced a move to ban smoking across the whole of Europe. Yes. The commissioner that we can't vote for but who dictates to us because that Scottish prick Gordon Brown gave Britain away with the Lisbon Treaty.

I could be wrong. I often am. Let's wait and see. Tomorrow, after Mr Nuttall's address to Parliament, we could see the first day back towards freedom and inclusion for our minority group so maligned and slandered by those with so much to gain financially from the misery they continue to impose.

And in David Nuttall's own words on his blog which is worth a read and comment of encouragement.

A PUB THAT NEEDS SMOKERS

This pub landlord obviously needs smokers and he must think this sign will draw them in. It made me look twice.

I noticed it while walking about Skegness in my lunch half hour yesterday. I would have gone in if I'd had time. We smokers are definitely in the majority in the town and this landlord wants to offer us hospitality if only he could - especially today as it chucked it down.

There's no sight more miserable than a collection of all sorts of people on holiday in a grey, wet, and seaside town huddled in doorways and under canopies. Some had pushchairs and wheelchairs as they sheltered. Most people were smoking, some were not.

Outdoor restaurant, cafe, and pub tables, all with ashtrays filling rapidly with rain, were empty but are usually full on nice days. Non-smokers are now more exposed to smoke than ever before because of this ridiculous ill thought out law.

People who hate smoke have to walk through smokers to get to the door of these establishments, they walk among smokers on the street, smoke is everywhere. We cannot choose to be segregated from them nor they from us. We have to mix. We cannot choose to take up the hospitality that the landlord would like to offer us while they take up the hospitality of one who wouldn't.

I haven't met any anti-smokers during my short time in Skegness but judging from an early summer headline I've seen, the town has had problems with "filthy" litter from smokers and resolves to "get tough".

I mentioned to my newsdesk that it would be great to have a positive litter campaign of awareness and promotion of pocket ashtrays, rather than the heavy hammer of an official threat that starts from the "filthy smoker" stance.

The real culprit is not smokers but the smoking ban. If smokers could go inside and use the ashtrays provided for them by the business owners who want to provide them,then there would be no litter on the street. But when I looked in town today, I didn't see the problem.

Bins and street ashtrays are provided and they are used. Those fag ends that I did see in the street were starting to degrade they were so old. I also saw the odd plastic bottle, chip tray, and drink can here and there too. Litter is litter. Why should it have special significance because a smoker dropped it?

Incidentally, I don't go out for fag breaks while at work. I'm not a "pathetic addict" you see. I just simply don't have time and this week has been hell hence the lack of posts yesterday.

TERRIFYING

I have been interested in the debate taking place over at David Milibland's site for leader and the comment below terrified me.

Asif Khan says:
August 2, 2010 at 11:02 pm
As a British Muslim, I feel offended that pubs still exist. The fact that many are closing is a message that Allah has spoken. Islam is rising in the UK and alcohol will soon be history.

I've rather got my fingers in my ears and singing la la la rather than accept such hatred of British culture. Some people may not agree that smoking is cultural but few can deny that the British pub has been a cultural plank of British life since Geoffrey Chaucer told his Pilgrim's tales on his journey around the ale houses of olde Englande.

I am saddened by the comment and cannot understand why people must force their culture and their views on others. I believe in live and let live.

As Oscar Wilde said : "Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking other people to live as one wishes to live."

NUTTERS!

Is THIS the most insane and unjustified ban in the world?

It's certainly an indication that anti-smokers need a straight jacket and little help from men in white coats to bundle them into the phsyco van for immediate treatment for their obsessive and unnatural behaviour.

The spokesbod gave this reason for it :

"It's not right to have non-smokers exposed to deadly smoke from smokers," said Jabeer al-Jebori, head of the Qadisiyah council. "The resolution will help limit the spread of smoking in the province. Our goal is to have clean air inside government buildings to protect our employees' health."


Any one who agrees with the Iraqui nutter above obviously needs mental health treatment.

A wisp of smoke or a car bomb? Car bomb or wisp of smoke? Only the sane among us know which poses the greater threat. Life expectancy must be so low over there because of the war that I would think smoking should be encouraged as one the smallest pleasures left to an invaded and oppressed people.

AN OPEN LETTER

Above is my reply from my MP Karl McCartney in response to my request that he support Brian Binley MP's EDM to amend the smoking ban.

Spoken like a true politician, he doesn't commit himself. He says he believes that landlords have the right to choose, yet he quotes the old statistics of the number of people who have allegedly quit up to 2007.

Mr McCartney, I would like to point out that we are three years on from the ban and smoking rates are rising.

this shows how NRT only has a "success" rate of 5% so hard pressed tax payers give the NHS a budget of £50 million and £47.5 million is a wasted. You see, Mr McCartney, there really are some people who do not want to quit and they should not be ignored.

This shows how deceitful the tobacco control lobby is and the underhanded methods they use to con government and the public. Will the Conservatives be stupid enough to fall for more of their lies?

And, yes, Mr McCartney, I do indeed feel very strongly about this issue but that should not invalidate my concerns. If strongly held views were a reason to dismiss such concerns, then how is it that the tobacco control industry - which feels very strongly about the issue - is always listened to yet the other side is always ignored.

You may say that smokers are fighting their corner because they are "addicts" this link clearly puts that lie to bed once for all. "Addiction" to tobacco is yet another lie of the deceitful anti-smoking industry which uses it to denigrate smokers and encourage intolerance against them.

Finally, Mr McCartney, I draw to your attention your immigration minister Damien Green's comments on calls to ban the burka. He said "freedom of choice and tolerance is the British way." I would like to think that you also ascribe to this view and are not selective about who is entitled to it and who is not. I actually agree with Mr Green and have always said I would fight for the right of muslim women to wear the burka if that is what they choose to do.

I find it encouraging that you say you believe in a landlord's right to choose, and I assume you also mean the smoker's right to choose, but hear what you say about EDM's not being the most effective way of achieving an aim. With this in mind, perhaps you would like to lend your support to FOREST'S Save Our Pubs and Clubs, amendthesmoking ban.com

Yours Sincerely,
Mrs Patricia Nurse.

WRITE TO KARL OR YOUR MP

Below is my letter to my local MP Karl McCartney. If you feel able to write to him or your own constituency MP in support of Brian Binley MP's EDM then please feel free to amend this to suit.


07 July 2010


Dear Mr McCartney,

I write as your constituent to ask that you support Brian Binley MP and his EDM on an amendment to the current blanket smoking ban. The details of Mr Binley’s motion can be found here :

EDM 406 (Review of smoking ban in pubs and clubs)

I would also ask to draw your attention to the two attached documents. One is a report following a speech I made at last year’s UKIP conference, on the public cost of Smoke Free and it’s effectiveness, and the other which contains musician Joe Jackson’s 10 reasons why the smoking ban is wrong.

You may recall that I have contacted you twice about this issue already. The first time was before the election and before Douglas Hogg, my former MP, retired. Several people had written to Mr Hogg protesting about the unfairness of the ban. I wanted to forward you those letters after Mr Hogg announced he was standing down but I was unable to get them back.

The second time I contacted you was to say that I would dearly have liked to have voted for you but for your Party’s silence on the smoking issue. I aligned my support with UKIP ultimately as the only party to say openly that they intended to treat smokers humanely. I know of other former Labour and Conservative smoker voters who have defected to UKIP solely on this issue. It really does matter.

I can also put you in touch with a former Lincoln pub landlady who did give Ms Merron a petition with hundreds of signatures against the ban that was ignored by the previous Govt.

I hope you will able to support the above EDM and I ask that you reply to my letter with your voting intentions. This will help me to decide who I support in the event of future elections in Lincoln.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs Patricia Nurse.

You might also want to lift some figures from Dick out and about at F2C to add to your letter.

PUDDLECOTE NAILS IT

Fellow blogger Dick Puddlecote has hit the nail in the head - err coffin - when he analyses pub closures since July 1, 2007

Well said, Dick. It's time to face the inconvenient truth.

THAT'S A NEW ONE

Goodness me. I've heard some excuses for people liking the blanket smoking ban. It used to be about health but since the spiteful law was imposed, it suddenly became about the smell that anti-smokers don't like.

I've followed this propaganda through from the start and smell was an early one they tried to use to get stupid politicians to impose a draconian ban. When I was in my teens, early 20s and before 1997, our politicians weren't so stupid because this argument from the antis was always beaten down.

Our leaders said rightly at the time that if we legislated against all things we didn't like the smell of, there would be little left that we could do. They also said smell was not enough of a reason to take away civil liberties and it must be without doubt proved that passive smoking harms others.

It is only then that the antis set their sights on manipulating scientific data to "prove" their case. Even then they had to wait for the right stupid and prejudicial politicians to come along and NuLab was their gift. I must admit I saw the ban coming when Cherie Blair moved into No 10 and her OCD meant that poor Humphrey the Downing Street Cat got the boot because of her obsessive health phobia. If she thought cats would kill her then I guessed she would also be a smokerphobic and Tony did what the Mrs told him, after all.

While debating the smoking ban the other day with some colleagues, I found that one of them, an occasional smoker, was completely against the smoking ban and wished me well with my endeavours. In fact most people I speak to on a daily basis, both smokers and non-smokers agree choice, balance, and respect for both sides of this debate, is the right way forward. Only the anti-smokers and phobics would deny the smoker the right to choose to smoke somewhere they are not.

The reason another of my colleagues gave me for why he loved the ban was because he didn't have to hear people coughing anymore. Is this reason six million and ninety two for them to hate us even more? As an excuse for maintaining the blanket smoking ban without any amendment to allow for choice, it's one I'd never heard before, and one of the most disgusting.

I KNOW HOW HE FEELS

Someone sent this to me via Facebook and I just had to share. Enjoy ... or not depending on which side of the fence you sit!

HEARTS AND SPLEENS

Tomorrow we will know which leader of the three main parties will be our new master after the greatest battle in modern times to save Britain's soul. This is the most important election in our history. It is the duty of all of us to go out and vote and tell the three main parties what we think and what we want. They bribe us like naughty children with that word "change" bandied about like free sweets to get us to do what they want. In truth, however, nothing will change under any of them or they will seek the kind of change that we don't want.

Remember Tony Bliar and the change he gave us? War in the Middle East, a huge public sector workforce that spies on and monitors its citizens, poor people poorer, rich people greedier, traditional British pubs closing by the thousands every year. A vote for Labour is nothing short of treason. If that party wins again, Britain will be ruined, in tatters, and there will be nothing left to save. It is a party that cares not for its people but for itself. We don't want more of that from Bliar's underdog Brown who is happy to dismiss anyone who doesn't share his megalomaniac view like Gillian Duffy, the woman he branded a bigot for daring to question him about her concerns on immigration and the cost of education.

Politicians will have been promising you the earth to get your vote. They have listened to your concerns. When they are elected, however, they will forget everything you said and the oppression will begin again. Cameron's Tories don't offer you anything different. If you think you're going to get the good ole Cons of Thatcher's 1980s, think again. Cameron is not Tory in the traditional sense. He is what he says he is - the Heir to Bliar. What does it matter if Blue Labour or NuLabour dishes out more of the same. Cameron need do only two things that will get the British electorate 100% behind him and give him the landslide he wants. He must promise us a vote on EU membership and he must reintroduce choice on the smoking ban for struggling pub landlords who own their own property and should have the right to set their own smoking policies. He won't do it because he is a coward, scared of taking on the EU, frightened of Quangos like Action on Smoking and Health and the Smoke Free org which rules with an iron fist over British choice from the safety of their central office in Brussels. Cameron, frankly, doesn't care about Britain, her independence, her culture or her proud sovereign history. Along with Nick Clegg, he would put the EU's priorities before our own whether the EU policies are good for Britain or not.

Nick Clegg, the current darling of British politics, would be disastrous for us. He is fake and knows how to perform having studied at stage school but don't be fooled. He is false. We haven't seen the real man yet. What we know of him is that he would take us further into the belly of the EU beast. Five more years of that, when we could still stop the Lisbon Treaty which has not yet been ratified if he gave us choice, and Britain will be no more. There will be no point in even having another election in future. Westminster under EU rule will be about as effective as a parish council.

The BNP is no answer. They have policies which would take us back 100 years. They are bigots. They lump people into groups and then judge and condemn them according to their own twisted ideology. A Britain under the BNP would be terrifying. They've promised the earth while campaigning and they lie to fool the electorate. Their election address, for example, in Louth and Horncastle says UKIP is for immigration when this is plainly not true. UKIP is for the immigrant but against uncontrolled immigration on the grounds of space not race.

The only way to gain control back from these puppet masters is to ensure we get a hung parliament. Only then can we as a nation decide what sort of modern voting system we want. Currently, it matters not whether you vote Lib/Lab/or Con - the Government will still wins and it still won't listen. It will stuff its own pockets with our cash, put it's highly paid and wasteful quangos between the people and the services they need, and it will not give a damn what the people think. We have no economy other than public service jobs. Business is strangled and stifled with red tape, high taxes, and health and safety over regulation. Entrepreneurship is frowned upon, and we have no manufacturing base. We have the illusion of an economy in the huge amount of public sector jobs that indicate personal wealth. We raise taxes to pay public service workers who go shopping, buy houses and go on holidays. That is the biggest part of our economy.


The only real and meaningful change can come if we the people take control and get out there and use that vote we only get every five years.A pathy is the enemy of democracy and the main parties depend on it for their return to power. If you want things to stay the same, the answer is simple - don't vote or just put your cross where you put it last time. If you want real and meaningful change in the true sense of the word, then vote with your heart. Find that party that best suits your beliefs and give it your vote no matter how big or how small. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you can't choose between them, then vote with your spleen against the worst Labour Government this country has ever seen. And don't be scared into voting for a party because of the fear factor which the main three have been using to terrify you into submission.

My party is UKIP because it is the only party that speaks from the heart and listens to the people it serves. It was born from a desire to give the British people a say on their own future in the EU and it is the most democratic of the lot. It has grown and evolved into a party that can match the others for the number of candidates standing for the election. It needs only voter support. It wants to return power to you the people, to make your own decisions at both local and national level. It has some great policies for Britain and her people. It's candidates are both humble and expert in varying fields. It is worthy of support.

In Louth and Horncastle, most people expect Tory Sir Peter Tapsell to win, despite the amount of times I've heard people say they don't want him back. At 80 he is outdated, he lives in an ivory tower, wrapped in an olde English bubble of a stately home, and he is there for his own needs. His biggest motivator in this election is to be re-elected so that he can become Father of the House as the longest serving member of Parliament. There have been calls for local hustings in the constituency so that local people can see what is on offer, but Sir Peter doesn't see the point. He's said he debated on one BBC local radio show. He doesn't need to debate further. As a long standing sitting MP, he says people know what he is about. True, indeed, but the electorate hasn't been given a proper chance to browse other goods in the shop.

If I was elected to serve as the member for Louth and Horncastle, then I would be your servant. I would work for you. You tell me your priorities and they become mine. I am not in this for myself. I have stuck my head above the parapet because I truly believe that it is time for Parliament to become a real representative body for the people. No matter where you live, you can make it yours too. Vote UKIP tomorrow and take the first steps to getting Britain's dignity back.

If we wake up to yet another five years of Labour - the absolute worst result there could be - then the only hope is emigration. If we can't afford to run away to a more tolerant and less oppressive country - like Zimbabwe, for example - then we might as well all take a rope to the bottom of garden and hang ourselves.

This may well be the last blog post I ever write. Those of you who know me, know that the unjust smoking ban, and the ill-treatment and exclusion of smokers, is what brought me into politics. At the beginning of the year, when we were all so full of hope that we had this one chance to make our feelings known, people began to chat and analyse which party they should vote for. To me the choice was clear. UKIP stands up for choice and it is not ashamed to stand up for smokers. Smokers, and others concerned about the erosion of civil liberties, didn't see it the same way. They somehow have this false belief that if they vote Tory, then Dave will miraculously drop the false act and become the free marketeer we expect from a Conservative.It won't happen. What will happen instead is that the smoking ban will be brushed under the carpet. Personal choice will become more limited, and that wall that came down in Eastern Europe will go up again metaphorically and surround us all in the EUSSR.

12 million smokers' votes for UKIP would have gone a very long way to tell the three main parties that a line has been crossed and we, the people, want our lives back. Too many of those 12 million don't care. That is why after this election, the smoking ban fight will be over. We will have let ourselves down and demolished any hope for freedom of choice for the next generation.

DENORMALISATION ILLUSTRATED

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It's interesting to note that I got a mention in yesterday's article by Guardian sketch writer Simon Hoggart.

I can just imagine him and Sir Peter Tapsell guzzling fine food and wine in an English summer garden as they poured over my election address and pondered on what I could possibly mean.

It would have been nice if Hoggart had asked. By way of example, I think the humorous sketch above from Jebb and Weighill's book speaks volumes far more than I could ramble here for a few thousand words - yes,I really could rant that long on the subject of denormalisation!

The book was a present from daughter No 2 who tells me it was one of things that she saw and thought of me so she bought it. Thanks Jess, but I'm not sure it's entirely practical (tee-hee) x

CUDDLING DOGS

Along with the other main candidates in the election for the Louth and Horncastle seat, I recieved an email from a concerned couple who own a small local brewery about what my party would do to help the beleagured pub industry.

I responded immediately and offered to go and see them in Louth where the Fulstow Brewery is based. I also sent them a copy of UKIP's beer mats above which were produced before Labour began it's incredible assault on other lifestyles including "binge drinking" and the incredibly offensive term of "obesity". Pubs closure rates were at 39 a week then. They stand at 52 a week a now. They also wanted to be able to trade fairly alongside the big supermarkets which the NuLab Govt seems to be giving carte blanche permission to undercut pubs on the price of beer and spirits.

I was really interested to know the views of these non-smoking professionals and it was that the smoking ban is definately killing their industry and the assault aimed at the minority that is irresponsible enough to drink to excess won't help.

They were very pleased to take delivery of a pack of the beer mats which they said they would distribute to their clients while delivering their very fine real ales.

The couple had three gorgeous Jack Russell dogs and one took rather a shine to me and jumped up on my knee. I sat and stroked and cuddled him while we talked. I do love dogs after all. It rather compensated for the fact that no-one has yet asked me to kiss babies, which I understand is one of the requirements of campaigning.

I will be in the L&H consituency on Saturday where I hope to be able to speak to lots of people and spread the word that the time for the political revolution has come. It is only UKIP that can deliver it and free society from the grip of the same old three party alliance which supports MPs, the system, and does not listen to the views of the people who really matter - the electorate - if their concerns don't match the three's identical ideological aims.

Incidentally, the brewery told me that despite asking all candidates for their views on this issue, it was UKIP that responded.

SMOKING BAN'S HUMAN, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COST

I have been quite moved by some of the responses on Simon Clarke's Blog.

Simon is meeting with the pub minister, John Healey, and he asked his readers for questions he could take with him.

The human, social, economic and political cost of the ban is told by the people who just want their lives back.

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