We've all heard about Kate Moss smoking on the catwalk on that most puritanical of days but she wasn't the only hero to make a stance on National Hate Smoker Day - or No Smoking Day in modern Newspeak.
Actor Jeremy Irons decided to give the Oscars a miss because he's fed up of continually having to go outside and decided he'd be better off staying at home.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage also had a common sense view. He made no apologies for it and later posted on Twitter and Facebook that no-one would tell him what to do. He lit up in his Brussels office and ordered a box of doughnuts to ensure the lifestyle police got the message.
Anti-smokers soon crawled out of the woodwork to get their ever so offended and worried for the chiiildren best faces on to attack this form of free expression and support for smokers.
Kirstie Allsop (who? - she of some home improvement show) soon dived in and attacked Kate Moss whose courage was to highlight "a woman's right to live life as she chooses." I salute her stance which came soon after International Women's Day.
Prod-nosed bigot Kirstie would deny women to be themselves because they don't agree with her stance on tobacco. She whined :
"Is Kate Moss learning impaired? Smoking kills women, endangers children's health & drains the NHS #notbignotclever #respectyourinfluence
She's made a fortune out of being an aspirational figure, she needs to give back & respect her influence."
Well, Kirstie, she most certainly has done both. Huge respect goes to Kate Moss from me and millions of other free thinking people. Thanks Kate for the inspiration and support.
I wish I knew Irene Oldfather so I could find a photo of her but all I know is that she is some paranoid smokerphobic hag associated with the Scottish Parliament who would like to see Press censorship - unless it is spouting her propaganda, I suppose. It seems she would also tell modelling agencies how to run their businesses. Her motion proposed :
Condemning the Promotion of Smoking During Paris Fashion Week—That the Parliament was disappointed to see national newspapers use images of Kate Moss smoking a cigarette while modelling for Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week; condemns the use of cigarettes and smoking as a method of highlighting fashion and gaining publicity; considers that images of models smoking can be very attractive to young people, who might aspire to be like such icons, and that such high-profile images detract from the work carried out to prevent young people from smoking and in educating them on the harm that it causes; notes that it is estimated that 15,000 young people take up smoking in Scotland every year and that it causes one quarter of all adult deaths, and further considers tobacco to be highly addictive and that its easy availability and visibility can lead to young people becoming hooked, which is damaging to their health and the health of those around them.
(photo brought to my attention by Xopher in the comments)Of course the biggest creep of the day was Health Persecutor Andrew Lansley - you know, the one who is pretending to be a free market Conservative (snigger).
He announced the Govt's plan to increase child smoking and make smoking far more dangerous than it ever has been by encouraging the tax exempt Black Market initiative run by international criminals.
His ridiculous tobacco dispaly ban is the first step in the process.
Then there were the everyday heros like a Facebook friend who ensured he lit up when walking past the smoke-free thugs that invaded our town centres on March 9 with the aim of making us feel even more stigmatised.
Some gin-soaked hag felt she had the right to be offensive :
Yeah and making your breath smell, pervades the air for others and kills people...yeah grab a fag. I am sorry if that sounds rude, truth hurts.
And I would intentionally beat your brains out and step on the fag which you would litter the ground with, in most cases not extinguished. Believe me they (being the powers that be) will start on alcohol at some stage in the near future. We are the worst in Europe for drunken idiots.
My g&t has run out am off now for refill. Happy puffing folks. Just puff in your own homes that's all we ask!
My friend pointed out how offensive she was and she apologised. One can only hope she was abusive because that's what she's learned to do from the anti-smokers. Perhaps she's been re-educated but she didn't the seem the type to suddenly change her view. With luck, she'll keep it to herself next time. I wonder what she'll think of begging Govt to deal with drinkers when they come for her.
Finally, the dumbnut award of the day goes to another FB commenter who had a huge No Smoking sign behind her profile pic. Her inspirational suggestion for reducing smoking rates was :
I think they should put the price of a packet of fags up to £20. It would be an interesting experiment on the true elasticity of demand for tobacco in the UK.
I pointed out that people are growing their own tobacco and saving up their Uk tax to buy cheaper abroad and that such a price could inflate the black market further.
*Sigh* Hmmm, well, :
You think a 300% price rise in a packet of fags would make no difference to legal age consumers? You seem to be saying that the price rise wouldn't hit them because they would switch to either growing their own or buying abroad. I doubt that everyone could get their shit together to do what it takes to organize themselves in such a fashion. In any event, what I was musing about when I wrote my comment, was the fact that your drug of choice is demonstrably damaging and dangerous. Yet, it is still legal and readily available to you, unlike other drugs, far less damaging, that the government has deemed *bad* and made illegal. £20 is what a heroin addict for example would pay for a fix on the black market. Seems to me you don't have it *that* bad.
So there we have it folks. Another No Smoking/Hate Smoker Day which I'd almost forgotten marked a year to the day since we freed Landlord Nick Hogan by paying his £10,000 fine for the heinous crime of making a stance that he wanted the choice to be able to offer his customers the same service they'd had for years before. Sadly, the Govt took control of both his pubs - smoking and non smoking when they Nationalised our Hospitality Industry.