It may have come to your attention that this blog disappeared over the weekend owing to Pat’s decision to cease blogging for personal and family reasons. Additionally, she had come to the conclusion that she didn’t wish to be tempted back in the future, so believed it best to delete the blog entirely.
Blogger keeps content intact for up to 90 days to allow for site owners to change their minds and, seeing as I have full access rights here since helping out with sidebar widgets and the title banner, I have been able to reinstate the blog after gaining approval from Pat to do so.
There are a few reasons why I thought Tea and Cigarettes shouldn’t just vanish into cyberspace. Firstly, Pat’s writing has always been fiercely passionate and her site one of the best for articulating how invasive and damaging anti-tobacco policies have been for the average British man and woman. Consistently well-written and informative, Pat’s sometimes very personal approach gave the issues a real life feel, instead of merely statistics and spin on a page as they are usually treated by the tobacco control industry and tax-funded state entities. As such, these pages are fully deserving of being left as a permanent record for future readers interested in these subjects, as well as to preserve the many links within other blogs which have referred to articles here.
Pat has put a lot of effort into her articles, which I don’t believe should end up having been time wasted. Although she was writing purely on a voluntary basis, her motivation was to do whatever she could to highlight the deeply unpleasant – and sometimes very sinister – sleight of hand and propaganda employed by those who would wish to see smokers denormalised, and to speak out on behalf of those who are unable to, or wouldn’t know how. As such, I’m sure many will wish to offer their thanks to Pat (please do so in the comments below) for her passion and determination over the life of this blog, and this would not be possible if the plug really had been irrevocably pulled.
As things stand, Pat won’t be writing any more here as she requested that her posting rights be denied as a condition of my resurrecting the site, but she always knows how to get in contact should she change her mind, and the rights can be quickly restored … if she asks nicely enough, of course.
Finally, as a last (for now, at least) hurrah for this place, Pat’s outstanding performance on Radio 5 Live last night could not be more perfect. You can listen to her section on Stephen Nolan’s show below.
Thanks for everything Pat. Have a cuppa, spark up a fag, and enjoy your blog retirement.