It’s not a civil liberties issue

Nottingham City Council is planning to become the first city in the country to ban all drinking in public places. No matter that the authorities already have extensive powers to deal with threatening or abusive behaviour, they have to deal with the “problem” by introducing yet another law to criminalise people having a glass of wine with a picnic in the park.

Amazingly, City Council leader Jon Collins said: “I do not think it's a civil liberties issue. It's about saying we do not want people drinking in the street.”

Umm, Jon, the whole point about civil liberties is that you tolerate people doing and saying things you might strongly disapprove of. You can just hear him saying a couple of years ago, “I do not think it's a civil liberties issue. It's about saying we do not want people smoking in pubs.” I don’t think he has the first inkling of what the concept of civil liberties means.

Mind you, Nottingham is also planning to do its best to drive business out by becoming the first city in the country to introduce a workplace parking levy, so it seems to be leading the field in arrogant, “we are the masters now” restrictions.

Vote against the Nanny State

Thanks to RedNev for pointing out a poll on the website of anti-drink fakecharity Alcohol Focus Scotland, asking us to vote Yes or No to the proposition “Cheap alcohol is damaging health and society. I support minimum pricing.” It’s currently running at 66% against.

As Nev says, let's try to make that figure higher before they remove the poll through embarrassment.

I read an interesting statistic today, that while alcohol-related “harm”, and alcohol consumption, are considerably higher in Scotland than in England and Wales, the general level of alcohol pricing and promotions is much the same. This strongly suggests the reasons have far more to do with social mores than with price.

All or nothing

Thirteen people from my workplace went out to the pub at lunchtime to mark the completion of the annual accounts process. Four had alcoholic drinks, nine soft drinks – and, as it was within walking distance, nobody could justify this by saying they were driving. This kind of thing underlines the dysfunctional relationship we have with alcohol in this country, at the same time experiencing chronic town-centre disorder and growing rates of cirrhosis amongst younger people, yet with responsible folks feeling inhibited from having even a single drink except when specifically “having a night out”.

Some years ago, in response to the latest alcohol scare story, there was a letter in the Sunday Times from one Ian Mulvihill, which made this point very clearly:

Brewers and legislators have created a society where regular social drinking is unfashionable, impractical and undesirable; but acute drunkenness one night a week is the opposite. And we're surprised at the results?

We would have a much healthier and more satisfying relationship with alcohol if we encouraged the regular consumption of moderate amounts in a social setting, but frowned upon obvious drunkenness, which is the situation that still prevails in many Continental countries. But, regrettably, as the routine consumption of alcohol is increasingly demonised and “denormalised”, the situation is likely to get worse in the future, not better.

MINDS MADE UP

I said in my blog post here : http://patnurseblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/thanks-to-freedom2choose-it-seems.html that I welcomed F2C Scotland's attempt to get the Scottish Parliament to debate a petition on the rigged consultation calling for the mentally ill to be deprived choice on smoking but I also believed the Scots' mind was made up and they wouldn't even entertain it.

I am very sad to say that I have been proved right. You can read about the response here on the F2C news site. : http://www.freedom2choose.info/news1.php?id=1016

Disgusting but what I expected. There is no point in trying to talk to Scottish politicians or any other main stream politician. There is ONLY one thing the British can do to get their lives back, vote for a party that values individual freedom and choice.... and the ONLY party that doesn't repeat the same old, same old, smoking twaddle is UKIP.

A vote out of office will soon let all the political lifestyle bigots know that we have had enough! Maybe then, when the next election comes around, they might actually listen to our concerns and not just dismiss us as if we don't exist.

BIRMINGHAM BULLIES RESPOND

Following my complaint about the latest anti-smoking video here : http://patnurseblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-is-pure-filth.html I have now received a response from the Birmingham PCT which made it.

The substance of my complaint is here :http://patnurseblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-have-just-submitted-my-complaint-to.html

There is no point in relating the response from the PCT because it is standard and obviously sent out en masse. You can read it here on the F2C blog :http://freedom-2-choose.blogspot.com/2009/09/smokers-blood-are-on-your-hands.html

I have replied to Ms Brookes from the communications (spin) department asking how I now take my complaint to the next stage in the process because I am unhappy with her answer as you can read below:

Dear Ms Brooks,

Thank you for your reply to my complaint. However, I still find it hard to accept your reasoning for this particular video and you have not allayed my concerns that it could incite people to violence against smokers. Therefore I will be proceeding with my complaint to the ASA in the hope that it will be removed before it leads to the death of any smoker by physical violence encouraged by your video.

I think the violence used in this particular way is unjustified for a life span of six extra years and the bullying is unjustified because I do know that there are hardened smokers, such as myself, who do not want to quit. Threatening them with such violence is unlikely to change their minds. I believe you could have produced a hard hitting message without resorting to this kind of threat.

I repeat that as a life long smoker, I am acutely aware of the dangers of smoking, but I can confirm that smoking does not physically do to the body as your violent hate propaganda film would have us believe.

My complaint still stands. Can you please advise me of the next stage of the complaints procedure and who I should now register my concerns with as you have not resolved the issue I raised.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs P Nurse.

Welcome to the twother

I see the government have given a positive response to the weights & measures consultation and said they will legislate to allow beer measures of two-thirds of a pint “at the earliest opportunity” – although that probably means it won’t happen before the General Election. I’ve said before that I think this is a good idea as it will allow people to have a worthwhile-seeming measure of beer that is significantly less than a pint. It’s especially appropriate for stronger beers of 5% ABV or more. However, it remains to be seen how enthusiastically pubs and drinkers will take it up. It’s one in the eye for metrication zealots that in effect the government are creating a new Imperial measure.

MAKE LIFE AS BRIGHT AS YOU CAN

Minutes after reading this moving piece by Gian Turci, http://www.forces.org/Forces_Articles/article_printer.php?id=1 ,I got a call from my mother in law with news that one of her best friends had died.

A lifelong smoker, she was found sitting at her computer with a cigarette in her hand. It had burned down to the tip and extinguished. She was 67. Whether she died as a result of a "smoking related illness" doesn't really matter as I am sure her death will be put down to that.

The words in Gian's piece suddenly came to my mind : "death reminds us to celebrate life ... just remember to enjoy it as freely and intensely as you can. How long it lasts doesn't matter, for it is just lightening in the dark. Make it a bright one."

Gian certainly did. He is immortal because his wise words, I am sure, will run through generations and his passion lifts the soul.

My mother-in-law's friend was just as bright to those people who knew and loved her.

As for me, maybe I'll die younger than is "acceptable" these days or maybe I'll be one of those people over a 100 years old in a nursing home recounting the reasons for my long life being two ounces of tobacco a week.

Whatever fate lies in store for me, smoking is still my choice despite the risks associated with it. I am committed to my lifestyle and whether I am here for a long or a short time doesn't matter. What really counts is what I do with the time I have got and I intend to use it well.

What is also important is that my life isn't made miserable by the health fanatics who just don't seem to get that there is so much more to life than longevity.

Losing loss leading

I see the Tories are planning to ban loss-leading in the off trade if they gain power next year. “Shadow licensing minister Tobias Ellwood has said the Tories will ban supermarkets from selling alcohol as a loss leader if they get into power.”

Setting aside the obvious administrative burden of establishing that nothing is being sold at a loss, I think people would be surprised how little difference it made. The extent of loss-leading in supermarkets even now is far less than many imagine – I would be amazed if it accounted for more than around 2% of all alcohol units sold. Most of those keen prices come from driving a hard bargain with suppliers, and if loss leading was banned the retailers would simply turn the screw further to make suppliers fund more of the promotions.

Given that you can’t pass a law to say that no business can trade at a loss, you can’t ban loss leading by the people who actually make the stuff. And would it become illegal to sell off surplus or short-dated stock below the wholesale price? If so, retailers might well become much more reluctant to stock anything that might represent a bit of a risk - or force producers to supply it on a sale-or-return basis.

Banning loss-leading stands alongside minimum pricing as another delusional panacea that in practice would bring no discernible benefit for the on-trade.

And yet more evidence that a Tory election victory won’t really make much difference.

COURAGEOUS SMOKER FACES JAIL

Irishman Chris Carter is facing 47 days in jail because he will not accept forced changes to his lifestyle.

Chris, a former florist from Bangor, does not accept the that law based on "public" consultation from self interest, government quango groups, is legal and he has tried to force a real public inquiry on the matter in the public arena of a law court.

But his defence request that former health minister Paul Goggins and the Secretary of State Shaun Woodward appear to explain where the public support for the law has come from was denied by the judge.

"Through a freedom of information request, I ultimately found out that the three "public" consultations on this only involved 13 members of the public. The rest were staff working for the Govt in various quangos," Chris said.

"The judge said he wouldn't allow me to call the two minsters because they were both very important men of high integrity. My response was "aren't we all," but he would not accept this and I was found guilty and fined £1250 for smoking in a "public" place.

"Since then, both Goggins and Woodward have been caught up in the MPs expenses scandal and so I would question how much "integrity" these men actually have.

"I have said I will not pay the fine on principle and I pleaded for the opportunity to be heard at High Court. The deadline for payment was September 17 but I've been waiting for an answer on whether this can go to the High Court or not. When I phoned the court in Newtonards to enquire, I was told that two warrants have been issued - one demanding payment and the other for prison if I don't pay."

Chris's battle began in April 2007 when Ireland became smoke free. He owned a florist shop and because all of his staff were smokers, he told his local council he would be providing them with a smoking room because he wouldn't force them outside if they didn't want to go.

The local council told him he couldn't do that so he said he would sack his staff and employ "non-smokers only". Ironically, bearing in mind that the Equal Opportunities Commission has said that the discrimination law does not cover lifestyles, and only race, creed, and sexuality, Chris was told he couldn't do this either. The result was that Chris closed his shop in protest and then went into the outside porch of his local council and lit up.

"A tobacco control officer approached me and gave me a fixed penalty. I didn't want to pay. I wanted a court hearing so I could get a public inquiry," Chris said.

Chris has been conducting his own defence. He cannot get one single MP to support him and he cannot afford a decent solicitor. He is waiting for the warrant to be executed and to spend his 47 days in jail.

A trip to Tokyo*

Being a cheeky bugger, having given a mention to BrewDog’s awesome and controversial Tokyo* imperial stout, I blagged a sample from them for review purposes. Thanks guys, you were very generous.

The other night I finally got round to trying it. I gave it an hour in the fridge and then drank it half at a time in a wine glass. To be honest, Pete Brown sums it up perfectly, and there’s not a lot I can add. It is incredibly thick, dark, rich and heavy, with a taste redolent of molasses and dates, but it remains very identifiable as a beer, and it is drier than you might expect. I would certainly echo Pete’s comment that you would struggle to get through a 330ml bottle in less than an hour. The closest comparison I can think of is some Pedro Ximenez dessert wine I once had.

It’s the last beer in the world you would want to binge on – realistically it is something like a vintage malt or claret that you would want to keep for special occasions. This only served to underline how misplaced were the criticisms of the anti-drink lobby.

Perhaps they should make it available in 170ml bottles which would be more suitable for a single serving.

THE POWER OF THE RSPCA

I love Obnoxio The Clown but until recently, I couldn't always log on to his blog. For some strange reason, my previous browser used to shut my computer down whenever I tried. I guess Obo must have offended it as he does so many other people (bless him!)

Anyway, my new browser means I've found all the things I've been missing including this piece on the RSPCA which is well worth a read. http://aljahom.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/fuck-the-rspca/

Keith Floyd - TV Legend

Tonight on BBC2 at 9 pm.

HOPE ON THE HORIZON FOR FREEDOM LOVERS

It's great to see that UKIP have won another huge victory in the heart of England which gives me hope that we might yet see a change in voting when the general election is held in six months' time.

The UKIP website is reporting an overwhelming win in the Billericay Town Council.

UKIP Councillor Susan McCaffery won 57% of the vote - more than the total of the other candidates combined.

This comes on a day when I bumped into an old friend who I hadn't seen for a couple of years. I'd told her that I was standing as a UKIP PPC and a local councillor but I didn't really expect to win the seat, not in Tory Louth or Labourite Lincoln. I was amazed because this friend, who used to be about as political as Sooty and Sweep, was more than a little interested.

"Don't be so sure," she said. "I'm certainly voting UKIP next time. I'm fed up with the tossers from the three main parties and I'm sick of the EU. If this treaty thingy goes through, then there will be no point in us paying for the prats in our parliament because all of our laws will be made by that lot in Brussels."

I wondered what made this non-political kitten into a raging UKIP party supporting tiger.

"Mostly because I can't get a job because I'm competing with cheaper foreign labour. UKIP will end immigration ... and then there is the smoking ban which is killing the pubs and British culture along with them," she explained.

The politicians used to crow that they wished us plebs would get more politically interested. Perhaps they have now got more than they bargained for as the British people finally begin to fight back and say through the ballot box that enough is enough!

DOG FIGHTERS FACE JAIL

I'm so glad that I didn't have to cover this trial because I thjnk it would have given me nightmares but I've stumbled into the press pack waiting outside the court most days to get an idea of how things were going. These are people I would seriously like to see locked up and today that might just happen as they are due to be sentenced after being convicted following a Panorama investigation.

It seems the scumbags who pitted dogs to fight unto death - even if it meant executing the poor hounds themselves because they were too horrifically injured - have now started to fight each other.

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/news/Brawl-court-dog-fighting-case/article-1369935-detail/article.html

I'm told there was a huge scrap this morning at Lincoln Magistrates' Court and two of the dogfighters have been taken to hospital. It's a shame they weren't denied proper medical treatment like the animals they were so cruel to.

I've seen both Claire Parker and her husband John (Oddbod) Parker on the same charges before a few years ago. It would appear that the maximum sentence for this particular offence is 6 months. At least Oddbod had the decency to die in prison and save us all a lot of taxpayer's money.

UPDATE : They got between 18 and 26 weeks in prison.

I reckon the maximum sentence for animal cruelty could have been upped by NuLab. It's such a shame Blair, Brown et al didn't start with animal abusers in the country before turning the screws on motorists, drinkers, foodies, and smokers. Surely they could have created some new law among thier 3000 that sets aside this sort of animal cruelty as distinctly different to domestic animal abuse which sometimes occurs unintentionally due to poverty, for example.

WORTHY OF COMPLAINT

I have just submitted my complaint to both the Birmingham PCT and the Advertising Standards Authority about the horrendous anti-smoking video, further down in my posts, which I do believe could incite violence against smokers.

My complaint to the ASA reads as follows :

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to complain about the horendous latest anti-smoking advert that shows a smoker getting beaten half to death.

I am a lifelong smoker from the age of 8 to 50 and no doubt one of the hardened smokers the Birmingham PCT says it is targetting with this video. This sort of anti-smoking propaganda will only serve to infuriate, frighten or further isolate smokers.
However, that said, my specific objections to this particular video are as follows :
The smoker in the video isn't beating himself up, someone else is even if the assailant is invisible. The only cause for those sort of injuries is physical violence. I do know the risks associated with smoking but I've never had a black eye yet!

If the smoker in this video was sitting in his own armchair at home, instead of walking down the street to an isolated place, where so many smokers have to go these days, then I might accept the message as the Birmingham PCT says it intended.

However, there is a moment at the beginning of the video when the smoker passes someone,immediately before the violence starts, which introduces the idea of a second person being involved.

We know that since the divisive public smoking ban, there have been many instances of attacks on smokers by anti-smokers and vice versa. This sort of Govt backed violent propaganda against smokers gives the wrong signals and is not helpful in the health debate.

. A copy of this complaint has also been sent to the Birimhgham PCT. I believe - intentionally or not - this video will incite smoke haters to violence.

If anyone agrees with me, then I would also urge you to put in a complaint. The ASA can be found online and the Birmingham PCT address is info@benpct.nhs.uk

It is very rare that I make such a stand as I believe these things are better ignored. However, I truly believe this video goes beyond decency

Support the Pub

I know the petitions on the Number 10 website are systematically ignored by the government, but even so they can be useful in getting publicity for a particular cause. So I think this one is well worth signing:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to reject proposals from the British Medical Association to vastly increase taxes on alcohol and restrict pub opening hours; and to protect the interests of the responsible, sensible majority of moderate drinkers.

I can’t see anything to object to in that – so long, of course, as we don’t accept the BMA definition of “moderate drinking”. Is this a sign that folks are at last waking up and smelling the coffee?

Public house, public toilet?

In a move that is billed as both saving costs and improving facilities, Stockport Council are planning to introduce a “Community Toilet Scheme”. This will involve closing current council-run public toilets and allowing the public to use existing toilets in business premises, for which the owners will receive an annual fee. On the face of it, it sounds like a win-win situation, but in reality it may prove much more problematical.

For a start, how many businesses actually have toilet facilities that are actually extensive or robust enough to cope with being heavily used by members of the public? How many have nappy-changing facilities or proper disabled provision? And, in general, toilets are tucked away at the back of the premises so can only be accessed by walking through areas where public access may cause a problem.

Inevitably the spotlight is likely to fall on pubs and restaurants, but a major problem there is that many do not open until 11 am or midday, whereas in a town centre there is a demand for public toilets from 9 am or even earlier. And it will need to be properly publicised, with signposts erected and maps produced and distributed through libraries, doctors’ surgeries and information centres. It’s no use just putting a little sticker in the window.

Perhaps it could work in a rural area where the only users will be a few motorists, cyclists and ramblers, but you can see it leading to all kinds of problems in large towns and cities. Will business owners really want to expose themselves to all the problems associated with public toilets such as drug use, sexual activity, theft of supplies, soiling, vandalism and graffiti? At present, a business owner can control the people who use his facilities, but if they are thrown open to the public this will no longer be possible. How much would the licensee of a town-centre pub think he needed to be paid to justify all the extra work and hassle? Many town-centre pubs, of course, currently have notices on the door saying “Our toilets are for customer use only”.

If it works, good luck to them, but I have serious doubts that it will prove a success, and in the longer term will just lead to a further erosion of already inadequate public toilet provision. The number of declared “community toilets” will never be sufficient and will be whittled away year by year. While it is not a statutory duty on councils to provide public toilets, surely businesses in town and village centres have a reasonable expectation when they pay their business rates that part of them will be used to provide such facilities alongside pavements and streetlighting. And can we be sure that before cutting expenditure on services that are actually used by people on a day-to-day basis, Stockport Council have eliminated all the politically correct non-jobs such as lesbian outreach workers and five-a-day co-ordinators?

Liberal health fascism

The term “health fascism” is often bandied about in relation to the banning tendencies of the Righteous, but equally it is often dismissed as a crude and simplistic term of abuse directed at what are really high-minded and altruistic policies. However, once you look into it, the term actually contains far more truth than might seem at first sight.

I have recently been reading Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg. This is an American book and so uses “liberal” not in the usual European sense but referring to a broadly left-wing viewpoint favouring greater State control over the economy and people’s lives. Goldberg’s central thesis perhaps goes beyond the remit of this blog, but in a nutshell he argues that Fascism is essentially an ideology of the political Left, not the right, and although modern leftwingers are not in an objective sense “fascist”, the two views share a common ancestry in the “Progressive” movement of the early 20th century, which sought to harness the power of the State to improve the human condition, and in the process might well end up eroding the rights of individuals.

This links very specificially to the modern tendency to wish to modify people’s lifestyles and economic choices in the interest of the “greater good” – something that was very much characteristic of Italian Fascism and German Naziism.

The following passages show how the Nazi approach to individual health and lifestyle has its close modern parallels:

The Nazis used the slogan “Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz” – “the common good supersedes the private good” – to justify policing individual health for the sake of the body politic. This is the same rationale used today. As one public health advocate wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Both health care providers and the commonweal now have a vested interest in certain forms of behaviour, previously considered a person’s private business, if the behaviour impairs a person’s ‘health’. Certain failures of self-care have become, in a sense, crimes against society, because society has to pay for their consequences. In effect, we have said that people owe it to society to stop misbehaving.”

Compare all this with a typical admonition found in a Hitler Youth health manual: “Food is not a private matter!” Or, “You have the duty to be healthy!” Or as another uniformed health official put it: “The government has a perfect right to influence personal behaviour to the best of its ability if it is for the welfare of the individual and the community as a whole.” That last official was C. Everett Koop (former US Surgeon General).

There was a classic example of this in the pretty odious views on individual health expressed the other day by Dr Kailash Chand. Now, if he isn’t a health fascist, I don’t know who is.

And read the book - it will open your eyes.

In memory of a great man

News has just been announced that the second international conference against prohibition is to be held in March next year in The Hague, Netherlands.

The event will be held in memory of Gian Turci, the father of the international pro-choice movement and an inspiration to people around the world. Gian died last March and this event will celebrate his life and work as well as examine the effects of prohibition on the hospitality industry.

Gian, an Italian, had previously lived in Canada. He became involved in the pro-choice movement when his children were lined up at school with others and sniffed by teachers who then sent a letter home to all smoking parents. Gian took huge offence, and began his fight for social justice for smokers and an end to the fraudulent use of epidemiology statistics and evidence to oppress smokers in public.

A great man who touched the lives of many, Gian helped to organise the first anti-prohibition conference last year in Brussels. His dream of visiting the centre of European democracy and to have the cause heard in our own European Parliament was destroyed when one letter of protest from a smoke free representative led to the cancellation of the event two days before it was due to take place. Too late, also, to alert the many people who were booked to attend from around the world.

They say the marathon effort involved in reorganising the conference contributed to Gian's death soon afterwards. Many of us still mourn his passing but we will never forget his influence and passion.

Many renowned medical experts gave wonderful and informative speeches last year and as I write, speakers are being approached for the event next March, including, David Goerlitz - the former Winston Cigarettes ad man who hates tobacco but the fraudulent tactics of the anti-tobacco movement even more.

More updates about the conference due to be held on March 15, at the niewspoort, The Haugue, will be included on this blog as they come in.

http://www.antiprohibition.org/ticap_pages.php?q=15

Stand up and be counted

It’s good to see someone from the drinks industry being prepared to stand up and challenge the ludicrous “alcohol health guidelines” that have been drawn up by the neo-Prohibitionists of the medical profession. Neil Robertson, the chief executive of the British Institute of Innkeeping, has condemned the views of leading doctors on the alcohol debate as “misguided” and “ill-informed”, and suggested further draconian measures could shut up to 10,000 pubs. At least 10,000 pubs, I would have thought.

He also points out that the average alcohol consumption in the medical profession is 26 units per week, which is above their own guidelines. Given the high proportion of non-drinking Muslims in the profession, those who do drink must be way above the guidelines. Funny how they don’t practice what they preach – probably, deep down, they realise what nonsense these figures are.

Unless both drinks industry bodies and consumer representatives are prepared to challenge the torrent of questionable so-called health information about alcohol, the future for responsible drinkers, drinks producers and retailers, will be very bleak.

As I have posted before, these alcohol limits were in effect plucked out of the air and have no real scientific basis. But, even if you accept they do have some validity, surely their intent is to represent an ideal as part of an overall healthy lifestyle, not to define the boundary of acceptable behaviour. If a nutritionist were to draw up an ideal healthy diet, it probably wouldn’t include any crisps or chocolate, but if someone occasionally eats a packet of Walkers or a Mars Bar it doesn’t mean they have an eating disorder. Yet we are increasingly seeing the alcohol guidelines treated as Holy Writ, and anyone who exceeds them from time to time branded as irresponsible and a problem drinker.

It needs to be said loud and clear that drinking alcohol in moderation is not harmful to health, and the official guidelines are not a hard-and-fast definition of the bounds of moderation.

Size does matter

...or at least it seems it does to the readers of this blog. I recently concluded a poll asking the question “What is your preferred size for bottled beers?” (meaning those of 5.0% ABV or less). There were 25 responses, broken down as follows:

330ml: 6 (24%)
500ml: 11 (44%)
Pint: 8 (32%)

So a decisive defeat for the smallest measure, and a surprisingly strong showing for the traditional pint. Having said that, the contents of a pint bottle won’t fit comfortably in a brim-measure pint glass – underlining the short measure that is endemic with draught beer in pubs. Personally, although I’m no great lover of the metric system, I find the combination of 500ml bottle and brim-measure pint glass ideal for at-home drinking.

Pint bottles of ale are now very rare. Charles Wells used to do Bombardier and Banana Bread Beer in pint bottles, but have now reverted to the 500ml size, although, oddly, a number of mass-market lagers such as Stella, Carlsberg and Carling are sold in pint cans, sometimes at a distinctly higher price per unit of volume than the 440ml ones.

You have to wonder whether the likes of BrewDog might be missing a trick by not putting beers like 77 Lager in bottles bigger than 330ml.

This is pure filth !

Nothing can justify showing this latest anti-smoking advert which is doing the rounds on the web. As Dick Puddlecote says, it is pure health porn and we have to pay for the abuse as well!

I saw a still of this earlier today on the Freedom2Choose blog and I'm truly shocked having now watched the whole thing.

I'm astonished that the The Birmingham NHS trust thinks " this hard hitting message will stop people smoking." Get real! It will make them angry and it could actually lead to smokers being beaten on the street --- or is that the covert intention....?

I don't care what the voiceover says, the overall message says only one thing - "it's perfectly acceptable to beat up a smoker if you don't like them because they are hurting themselves anyway."

This tax-payer funded expensive NHS smoke-free quango has only one aim - to eradicate smoking and smokers by any means. It's time for protection against this sort of incitement to violence for everybody - and not just everybody except smokers!

Yogi Bear's health tips

My friend Jude brought this nostalgic video clip to my attention

and as much as I remember Yogi and Boo Boo, I can't recall

this particular episode which seems to have been sponsored

by the American Cancer Society.

Many people will be aware that Dr Gio Batta Gori was once

its director and involved in developing a safe cigarette without

chemicals which would have meant that my generation

- a smoking child when this episode was made -

could now be smoking without any adverse health risk.

Dr Gori resigned his post when the American Cancer Society

abolished the programme in favour of aiming for a smoke free

world by the year 2000. If that isn't evidence that this issue has

nothing to do with health and everything

to do with Big Pharma funding, then I don't know what is.

Chin-chin to tiresome moralisers

I can’t say I’m normally a great fan of the writings of India Knight in the Sunday Times, but her article today on our attitudes to alcohol certainly strikes the nail on the head. She rightly takes Frank Skinner to task for arguing that, because he was once an alcoholic who regularly woke up in a pool of urine, those of us who can enjoy a drink responsibly should be subject to draconian restrictions. And she makes the point – sadly all too true - that “the idea that anyone who enjoys a big fat glass of red with their supper is basically a functioning alcoholic is slowly gaining ground.”

How can politicians ignore such a plea?

"Hi - as owner of very large family pub and live music venue my takings have been halved since the smoking ban. I have tried everything to bring in customers from meals at £1.99 (was £4.99) to house spirits at 69p (was £1.80) as well as now do not charge an entrance fee on any night - (was £5) just to entice customers to come in! No other trade has had to drop their prices so dramatically or work so hard just to carry on trading, & keep a roof over my 4 children head and keep 12 staff in jobs. I am dreading the winter as I will probably not be here next year, after 28 years in the trade, my dream which I have spent a lifetime learning about perfecting and now have will be broken and I will most definately be found hanging from a nearby tree with many others like me!!!! Fact. Just because of a smoking ban. Politicians - wake up - how would you feel if, after years of study, extreme hard work, your lifelong career was taken from you, with no chance of another job in that career because that industry had died!! Help us please."

The quote above was taking from Simon Clark's Taking liberties blog under the post about 72 year-old artist David Hockney calling for smoking rooms to be created.

Hockney also spoke of the fear of landlords and cafe owners. Who would have thought that such fear would be felt in this once free and noble land of ours. What have we allowed ourselves to become?

Anyone visiting this blog who has any opinions on the blanket smoking ban in the Uk should visit here :http://takingliberties.squarespace.com/ and leave a comment.

Less is more

An irritating practice that seems to be becoming more common in pubs is charging more for a half pint than a strict half of the pint price. I am familiar with the arguments in favour of this, that the service costs of a half pint in terms of staff time, glass-washing etc are the same as for a pint, but even so it comes across as one of those niggly things that creates a bad impression out of all proportion to any benefit it may yield. What proportion of draught beer is served in halves anyway – I suspect well under 10%?

But it seems that the new Scottish licensing laws, while objectionable in many respects, may bring an end to this practice, as they outlaw any quantity discounts. As they say, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

Service with a frown

Holiday time again, so more exposure to the vagaries of British restaurant service. The favourite transgression recently seems to be serving coffee before the dessert, which surely should be an obvious no-no. To her credit, the waitress in one establishment made a point of asking me whether I wanted my coffee with my dessert, or later. That merited a £2 tip.

Worst of all was in a Belgian-style restaurant. I had a perfectly decent meal, although I felt a bit overfaced by the number of mussels. The frites were some of the best I’ve had in years. Then they served the coffee before the dessert, when both had been ordered at the same time. To add insult to injury, they then added a standard 10% service charge to the bill. When a two-course meal cost £26, this seemed quite unreasonable. I struck this out, and returned the bill. They took the full amount, so I complained. I was then given the difference, with ill grace, in shrapnel.

The culinary experience was fine, but the customer experience was execrable.

F2C FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE MENTALLY ILL

Thanks to Freedom2Choose, it seems the Scottish Government is to debate a petition calling for a review of the consultation document "Achieving Smoke Free Mental Health Services in Scotland".

Over at the F2C blog, it says that Eddie Douthwaite, spokesperson for the pro-choice group, has cited numerous flaws in the consultation document. He complains that it has a pre-determined outcome, lacks supporting evidence and uses leading questions to misguide the public and mental health service users.

Absolutely, I would say. I also think that, actually, the Scottish health freaks have no intention of listening to anything other than their own prejudices. They want to eradicate smoking and the mentally ill are a very soft and easy target to bully into giving up.

All this brought to mind the speech given by Dr Jan Snel from the University of Amsterdam who can be seen in the video above giving his speech at The International Coalition Against Prohibition (TICAP) conference held last year in Brussels.

An expert in the field, Dr Snel says smoking is very good for those suffering from mental health issues and tobacco can be a treatment in itself. But will the Scottish Government care about the advice from such a renowned expert? I very much doubt it.

The sooner these self-serving bigots in any Parliament in the UK are voted out of office, the sooner we can celebrate the return of freedom to our land.

I wish the petition well. I am, however, too cynical to think that the Scottish Government gives a damn!

And.... while I'm on the subject and ready to rant, I might as well say that the sooner we cut off Scotland from the UK, close the border, make it so we have to a passport to get through, the better I will like it because I don't think it is conducive to democracy to have an independent Scotland whose MPs can sit and vote in our parliament but out English MPs cannot sit and vote in theirs.

I think we can all see what damage the puritancial Scots have done to this country ... and yes, that also includes the Goon Brown.

Misheard at the bar

It’s often said we have a north-south divide in this country, but those who know me will confirm that I don’t exactly have the most “eeh bah gum” Northern accent in the world, and so it beggared belief when I asked for a pint of Sussex Best in a Harvey’s pub in East Sussex and was presented with a pint of Fosters. Maybe the landlady was overdue for an ear-waxing. To their credit, there was no problem in putting the order right.

It also puzzled and dismayed me the amount of John Smith’s Smooth being sold in said pub, when one of Britain’s finest cask bitters was available alongside it in excellent condition and at a lower price.

Does size matter?

The current poll about people’s preferred bottle size was sparked by this comment of mine suggesting that BrewDog should put their 5.0% ABV 77 Lager in 500ml rather than 330ml bottles. I can see why they do it – they want to stress the idea that their beers are for savouring rather than swilling, and they want them to appear on the section of the supermarket shelves that contains Brooklyn Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. But, personally, I don’t really consider a 330ml bottle of a beer in that strength range to be a satisfying drink. I would stress it’s standard beers I’m thinking about in the poll, not those of the strength of Duvel and Old Tom where a smaller bottle size may well be appropriate.

Get your vote in now - the poll closes around lunchtime tomorrow!

Meeting Keith

It was sad, but not altogether surprising, to hear earlier this week of the death of TV chef and noted bon viveur Keith Floyd. A couple of years ago, I had a chance meeting with Keith in the surprising surroundings of the Olde Vic pub in Stockport. This was the finishing point of a CAMRA pub crawl, I had certainly enjoyed a few drinks over the course of the evening and so, by the looks of it, had Keith. His presence there was explained by the fact that the owner of the pub (who is not the same person as the licensee) was acting as his driver and general minder during a tour of his one-man show Floyd Uncorked: the life of a Bon Viveur, following Keith’s latest and, it would turn out, last drink-driving conviction. They had called in to the Old Vic on the way between a show in Keswick and the minder’s home in Stoke.

Keith was 63 at the time, and it has to be said he didn’t look a well-preserved 63, with his trademark floppy forelock reduced to a few strands, but no doubt he could still scrub up well for a public appearance. Predictably, he expressed his concerns about the future of the pub trade following the smoking ban (which turned out to be entirely justified), and, perhaps more surprisingly, said that he felt the gastro-pub trend had gone too far and was now ruining the character of many pubs. I can well understand why he thought that, as he was always a strong believer in authenticity and a critic of pretension.

Sadly, on the Keith Allen TV programme which aired on Monday, the night of his death, he seemed a frail shadow of his former self, and aged well beyond his 65 years, although his mind was clearly still as sharp as ever. It can’t be said that in his last days he was a great advertisement for a bibulous lifestyle, but he lived life to the full – he was married and divorced four times – and given the chance to live his life again I doubt whether he would have it any other way. Apparently, although he had recently been diagnosed with bowel cancer, his most recent medical gave his liver a clean bill of health.

By another strange concidence, we are doing the same pub crawl tomorrow evening. Maybe it should be named the “Keith Floyd Memorial Crawl”.

HEART ATTACK MIRACLES CONTINUE

I just read this http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/news/Heart-attack-rate-falls-thanks-smoking-ban/article-1340417-detail/article.html?cacheBust=q56QGpI042N3&authid=m3QS7zsWRKtM5w4gJ8H01j0Dxk01KQMEVZBgwZvwC0kSO8mnw1253121144139&successModeration=true#community

.. and those of us with some common sense and not blinded by propaganda or hatred know why but here http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/2009/09/worst-junk-stat-of-2010.html is Chris Snowdon's excellent rebuttall of such lying, false claims that can only be designed to pull the wool over the eyes of those who should know better - and I actually thought the Licnolnshire Echo was a decent paper. It appears to have lost it's soul.

WELFARE STATE? WHAT WELFARE STATE?

Readers may be bemused at the question above but I have to ask it after hearing the case of a young desperate mum who has had no money for seven weeks and doesn't have a clue when she is likely to get any in future.

The 21 year old fell into the poverty trap. Her biggest crime was falling for someone who hasn't got a job - but then she has known him since they were at junior school and you can't tell a 16 year-old that leaving home that early, and then falling pregnant is not the wisest of moves, especially when they are immature enough to think they know it all.

But then some people don't plan their lives, they just live them and then live with the consequences of mistaken decisions. This girl works damn hard in the house and for her daughter and as hard as any one who has to commute to work for a couple of hours before even doing a day in the office. She loses sleep, she worries how on earth the next bill is going to be paid, and fears that tomorrow may be just the day when she isn't able to feed her child. That's when she isn't sitting in the dark without electric or in the cold without gas. She's currently hiding from the baliff. Tolerant Britain is looking to evict her from her council hovel because different departments dealing with different benefits don't actually talk to each other - even thought their offices are next door to each other at the local council!

Her partner was on incapacity benefit and the family was on income support. He came off incapacity and the state stopped all of the family's money. A new claim was submitted, and lost by the department. Another claim, two crisis loans, a small amount of spare cash from family members was given over to bridge the gap -- but still nothing from the state. Today the girl has gone for yet another crisis loan and when, or if, her money does sort itself out, then she will be on reduced benefit and starting from a backward point.

Worse, she has a car but cannot afford to use it. She has been paying her insurance from direct debit but cancelled it as the car is off road. She then found out at the worst possible time, that her insurance company ignored her and still took it out of her bank leaving her £70 overdrawn and absolutely no way of paying it back. She had to threaten them with legal action if they didn't put the money they stole back in her account pronto! They did, but the bank decided it had the right to steal even more from her because they won't clear the refunded money for 10 days and she will be charged £5 every day in bank charges. Legal theft, you might call it. I certainly do!

So please don't tell me that people on benefits live the good life while those "decent" people who go to work everyday don't. It simply isn't true. Life on benefit is the worst kind of sub-existence possible and most people don't do it to avoid going to work. They do it because they have to, or because they made a wrong choice somewhere back in their lives and the system is such now that it doesn't allow you to crawl out of it.

Of course, not so long ago, we had a scheme called Family Credit. It was great. It decided that families needed a certain amount of money for a decent standard of living and it made up the difference if wages were low. It encouraged the lazy back to work and gave the unskilled hope that they could get a job and have enough to honour all of their financial commitments as well.

NuLab destroyed that system, made it cumbersome and inaccessible and so confusing that it doesn't help anyone - least of all those that really need it.

The girl I am talking about desperately wants a job but can't find one anywhere that will pay enough for child care - despite the cumbersome child care package that really doesn't help anyone unless they are well off already. Her partner has got himself a part time job for a few hours a week and that buys at least some food. But his employer will not allow him to work "on the books" so he is in a catch 22 situation.

Basically, nowadays, when you fall onto the wrong side of the tracks, you're stuffed and the righteous ramblings about the state of welfare Britain, and the "scroungers" who screw the decent working classes who pay their taxes, are not helpful. We need unity in this country despite years of divide and rule by first Thatcher and now Loony Gordon Brown and his chums in the Stalinist Party.

WHAT NEXT?

I hear the puritans at Holyrood have done what they intended to do all along and banned the display of tobacco in shops.

Simon Clark at Taking Liberties tells on his blog today about the pathetic attempt of the Scottish Parliament to pretend to be looking at this issue fairly when all along they only ever had one idea in mind.

So what is next, I ask myself, for the ban band-wagon. If the tobacco display ban has nothing to do with these people either getting paid by Big Pharma or pampering to their own bigoted prejudices, and it really is for the good of the children - even though we know display bans do nothing to reduce youth smoking - then my guess is that alcohol displays will be next for the chop.

I mean, let's face it, they say the tobacco display ban is necessary to ensure young people don't see and therefore, presumably, don't want it. So alcohol has to be next doesn't it because day after day, week after week, year, after year, as they grow up, children see alcohol displayed in many aisles in supermarkets as they are pushed in their prams, in pushchairs, and as they walk around the store as their parents shop for food.

The nutters at Holyrood don't seem to be taking any notice of that do they? After all, it obviously goes without saying that because children are growing up living with alcohol on a daily basis by seeing it constantly on display, then they are going to want it and we are in for some huge health and social problems.

I just wish this bunch of puritans would get something right and put their priorities in order.

WHAT HE NEEDS IS A DRINK AND A SMOKE

If it's true that Prime Minister Gordon Brown has mental health problems and he is taking very strong anti-depressants, then my first question has to be why on earth is the press largely silent about it?

It's not as if it's not a matter of vital public interest that we know whether our lord and master is fit to run the country or not and whether his legal drug taking is affecting his judgement.

Meanwhile I have a bit of advice for Gordon - stop taking the drugs and have a drink and a smoke instead. It's much better for you and not nearly as addictive as the crap pushed by Big Pharma.

If you want to read more about the PM's alleged illness, see Iain Dale here : http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/09/if-brown-is-ill-he-deserves-our.html

and, incidentally, Iain, I would say that he only deserves our sympathy if he does the decent thing, resigns, calls an election, and allows the country to get back on its feet. Until then, he is a liability, especially because of his illness.

COURT FILE

PENSIONER’S PURSE STOLEN AS SHE SMOKED

A 72 year old pensioner went outside a café to smoke and was approached by a man who stole her purse, court heard.

Lincoln magistrates were told the woman had collected her pension, paid some bills, and then did a bit a shopping before stopping for a cup of tea at Gainsborough‘s Pickle‘s Pantry and taking it outside so she could have a cigarette.

Jim Clare, prosecuting, said she was approached by Alan Forest and another man who asked her for a light before sitting at her table.

“One male left and Forest crouched down beside her,“ Mr Clare said.

“She could smell alcohol on his breath. After a couple of minutes, he put his hand forward next to her bag. The woman thought he was after her purse and so she lifted it up onto the table.

“She then said she was going for the bus. Forest told her he was going to have her purse. He put his hand inside her bag and took it leaving her shocked at what he had done.”

The court was told that Forest ran off but two witnesses were able to identify him and he was later arrested.

Forest (49) of Clinton Terrace, Gainsborough, admitted theft of the purse and it’s contents including £70 cash on August 28.

A letter from his carer was handed to the bench.

Magistrates were told he does have learning difficulties and some mental health problems. He had been drinking on the day of the offence and was put up to it by another person.

The case was adjourned for the preparation of reports for sentencing on October 9.

MAN HAD NO MEMORY OF DAMAGE

Angry Kane Dean Shucksmith smashed up his bathroom and damaged a car after a row with his girlfriend, a court heard.

Lincoln magistrates were told the defendant had drunk four cans of cider and he had taken 14 diazepam tablets and so he had no memory of the incident which ended with him chasing his girlfriend around a parked car.

Jim Clare, prosecuting, said Shucksmith started being aggressive as he walked home with the girl.

“The argument got very heated. The girl sustained injury and went to the bathroom.

“Shucksmith followed and suddenly started throwing punches at the bathroom shelf and then the mirror which shattered into tiny pieces.

“The girl left the address and hid behind a Mitsubishi vehicle. Shucksmith chased her around the car which he said he would smash.

“He approached the front side passenger door and started to kick the wing mirror but he was so drunk, he kept missing. He eventually managed to smash the wing mirror off the front driver’s side. He then jumped onto the vehicle and ran to try and grab his girlfriend but he fell face down on the floor. Police then came on scene.”

Shucksmith (20) of Vine Street, Lincoln, admitted causing criminal damage on August 27.

Bill Miller, representing, said Shucksmith had put right the damage to his rented flat and he had tried to contact the owner of the vehicle to make reparation.

“He has no memory of anything except waking up in a police cell,” Mr Miller said.

Magistrates called him an idiot and imposed 80 hours of unpaid work. They also ordered him to pay £75 compensation and £50 costs.

NO BURGER LED TO DAMAGED DOOR

Frustrated Brian Green kicked the door of a fast food restaurant because it was closed when he wanted a burger, a court heard.

Lincoln magistrates were told that staff found the glass panel in the door at McDonald’s on Tritton Road broken when they arrived for work. CCTV was reviewed and Green was recognised.

Jim Clare, prosecuting, said footage showed that Green had approached with a female at 1.14am on August 29.

“On finding he could not gain entry, he kicked the door causing the damage. The female pulled him away,” Mr Clare said.

Green (24) of Shannon Close, Lincoln, admitted causing criminal damage on August 29.

Green told the court that he had not intended to cause damage, he had just been reckless.

“I was just frustrated but my actions were out of order,” he said.

Magistrates said he would find it was the most expensive burger he never had and ordered him to pay a total of £415 in fine, costs, compensation and surcharge.

WOMAN ATTACKED IN LOCAL PUB AFTER FALL OUT

A woman became embroiled in trouble after two of her friends fell out, a court heard.

Lincoln magistrates were told that the complainant knew something was wrong with Pamela Elizabeth Ella Stafford as soon as their eyes met in the local pub.

Jim Clare, prosecuting, said Stafford stared at the woman who had been having some problems with Stafford’s friend.

“The defendant started shouting at the complainant and the next thing she knew, Stafford was swinging several punches at her in quick succession,” Mr Clare said.

“Several customers tried to restrain her. The complainant fell as she was punched and hit her head on a decorative wooden ledge.

“She tried to avoid more trouble by going to the toilet but Stafford was waiting for her and lunged at her when she came out, holding her up against a fruit machine.”

Stafford (41) of Beckett Avenue, Gainsborough, admitted assault on June 28.

Tony Cunningham, representing, said Stafford thought the victim had taken umbrage at Stafford’s friendship with the woman the complainant was in dispute with.

“She had told both women to leave her out of their problems and when she saw the complainant in the pub, the woman was aggressive but the defendant admits she was the one who threw the first punch.”

Magistrates conditionally discharged her for two years and ordered her to pay £75 compensation and £85 costs.

NO BLOGGING TODAY

I've sat here for a while with at least a couple of posts to write up but I'm finding it really hard to concentrate. The sun is shining outside and the sky is clear with just a scattering of cloud. That gentle warm breeze is calling me...

There can't be many such days left until the Autumn chills begin to rush in and so I'm going to spoil myself. I'm not blogging or working for the rest of the day. I'm taking a good book, my cup of tea, and my tobacco, and I'm off to read, smoke and drink outside.... err ... while I still can ....

http://takingliberties.squarespace.com/taking-liberties/2009/9/9/now-they-want-to-ban-smoking-outside.html#comments

Chopping down the grapevine

Plenty has been said this week about the British Medical Association’s call for a total ban on alcohol advertising and there’s not a lot I can add to it. But one point that hasn’t received much attention is the enormous amount of information disseminated about alcoholic drinks that is not paid for directly by the producers. There are societies devoted to the appreciation of beer, wine and spirits, magazines, guide books, newspaper columns and a growing number of internet listings and blogs. In this respect it is totally different from the tobacco market where, as far as I can see, there never has been any significant amount of amateur appreciation.

Most people with a serious interest in alcoholic drinks will probably get much more information from these informal sources than from paid-for advertising. Obviously, though, there is plenty of scope for behind-the-scenes manipulation by drinks producers, which would assume more significance if conventional advertising was outlawed. But do the doctors really want a situation where the Good Beer Guide is a banned publication and I’m committing an offence if I write on this blog that I had a good pint of Robinson’s in the Arden Arms? Regrettably, given the tone of many of their recent pronouncements, I fear the answer is “Yes”.

HANG ON A MINUTE ....

I pass the Phoenix smoke free shop every time I go into town and I find this propaganda board monumentally offensive.

I'm sure that the recent "I'm not scared of anything except my mum and dad dying" ads run on TV have been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority as "misleading" and "likely to unnecessarily scare children" and an order has been made that they are NOT to be shown before 7pm.

Why then, can someone tell me, does smoke free think it is acceptable to have this rubbish on display on a board outside the shop from morning until late afternoon?

A point I wished to make, but didn't have the time during my conference speech, was that if smoke free ideology has such public support, then why is this place always devoid of custom?

Perhaps someone has some thoughts or answers to both of the above questions.

THE LION MOVES

I managed to catch up with Emma Chapman, the landlady of the Jolly Brewer, yesterday following the hugely successful Smoker's Festival and a very interesting chat it was.

Emma tells me that the pub has been buzzing since the event because for the first time since this draconian anti-social smoking ban was enforced, the customers have realised that they can make a difference and they can do something about it.

"At first they showed little interest because they thought it was done deal and who would care to listen to what they had to say," she said.

"But when they saw that they could put their name on the SOPAC amendthesmokingban.com registration forms, and to learn of F2C and the grass roots support it enjoys, they are keen to get further involved in the campaign in whatever way they can."

Emma gave out free Forest T Shirts carrying messages such as Don't Walk, Don't Smoke, Don't Drink, Don't Think in return for a signature showing their support and on condition that they knew what the message meant and they had thought about it before wearing the T shirt. Many did and are still wearing the T shirts - no doubt having to explain to non-pub customers they come across in their daily lives what the messages mean.

She is also relieved because she says her thriving packed pub, full of atmosphere, began to die immediately after the ban. The income raised at the festival will ensure that she can survive yet another lean winter.

Emma hopes that pro-choice groups will again be involved in next year's festival - which we can only hope will be a celebration of the end of the draconian restrictions. Meanwhile, she plans to take all of the campaign literature to another Lincolnshire music festival with the traveling side of her pub to spread the pro-choice message further.

If anyone would like to approach their local landlord with the idea of holding a festival tailored to suit the pub's needs, then get in touch and let's see if we can contact more isolated smokers and spread the news that getting involved really can make a difference.

THE SLEEPING LION WAKES

People from all walks of life and cultures gathered together at the UKIP conference in Southport where for once they were united in feeling proud to be British and hopeful that this great nation can be saved from the clutches of the politically correct, the health obsessed, and the economically suicidal grip of the three main parties.

Leaping Lords, old colonialists, Thatcherite businessmen, old working classes, teachers, housewives, the unemployed, self-employed, and the underclass sat side by side in agreement that something radical needs to be done to save this once great nation from itself.

A desperate need for some kind of hope and real change is what united these people. They want their country back from the loony lefties who are too scared to say boo to a goose.

They want some kind of unassuming political and social revolution in the British way and they know they will only get it from UKIP - a party that is growing from the grass-roots bottom up. As the party will put up enough candidates to win the next general election, the only thing that is lacking is ensuring that the message gets through that the British people can take control of their lives if they are prepared to be brave, abandon their allegiance to their traditional parties in the same way that those parties have abandoned them.

From the radical anti-EU roots of James Goldsmith’s Referendum party, through the self-obsessed fiasco of Kilroy-Silk, UKIP has evolved to become the non-PC, non-racist, non-patronising party of the people which is uniting those from different cultural and social backgrounds who believe Britain and its people deserve respect.

Rapturous rounds of applause followed speakers who laid out their ideas of what the party should be tackling in areas of crime, health, social justice, education and immigration. All agree with it’s fundamental ideology of being in love with Europe but not the psychopathic control of nameless, faceless bureaucrats in the EU - that place that denies the British people any control over their own democratic future.

There is much more to UKIP than the desire to leave the EU while maintaining trading and friendship links with our European friends and neighbours who, in truth, also want their countries back.

Its policies are robust but libertarian and peppered with a healthy amount of deference for those who really matter in this country - the people of whatever colour or creed who aim to live in the British way.

There was hardly a dry eye in the house, and many spoke of shivers down the spine, as this hugely successful conference ended with flag waving and patriotic songs.

As someone of mixed race, this didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, it made me feel proud to be British, to be brought up here, to have been privileged enough to grow up in a country that was once renowned across the world for it’s stance on tolerance, fair play, justice and equality - values we are losing rapidly.

There was nothing said at conference that I couldn’t agree with and it was very moving to witness all of those people reaching out and embracing a party that really can make a difference with their support.

It has nothing to lose and everything to gain so UKIP can be brave and it can be honest and it does have a chance of winning many seats next May. It has people who are willing to walk their feet off because they truly believe it is the only way they can save their country and themselves. The next election will truly be a battle for Britain's soul.

We need to protect the British way of life and its landscape for future generations of our children … whatever colour, race or creed… because respect , tolerance and even admiration for other cultures is essentially the British way - it is what makes us British.

Divided long enough - this is a party that can unite the people who want to do so much to bring back freedom and democracy.

The three main parties are finished. They have had their day. They can offer nothing - not hope, not a future, not freedom, and not democracy. They are cowards who have taken advantage of the British good nature while the British people slumbered. They should be warned. The UKIP conference has awoken the sleeping lion and the revolution has begun.