Frank Davis Again

This man speaks to me and for me.

Here.

A very sound chap indeed as I remarked before.

Until the next time

A (Very) Brief Word on the Budget

For my foreign readers, I should explain that the title refers to one of the two financial statements we have here in the United Kingdom each year from the Chancellor of the Exchequer ("Finance Minister") currently the Rt Hon. George Osborne M.P.

Included in the budget was the news that excise duty on beer is to be reduced by one penny (£0.01) per pint (560ml).

Given that my local pub has recently increased its price of a pint of beer from a greedy £3.80 per pint to an outrageous £4.00 per pint, Mr Osborne's news has not caused my heart to flutter.  Please note that the current price of a pint of beer is now about 40 times what it was in the 1960s...

Pubs in England/UK are very expensive; recently in another one I decided that I would like to have a bag of crisps ("chips") to accompany my pint of beer.  I ordered them from the barmaid who then asked me for - a pound! Yes, £1 for a bag of crisps that probably cost the pub less than 10p.  I gave them back to her.

With the fascist smoking ban introduced here in 2007, and the outrageous - indeed exorbitant prices demanded - is it any wonder that hundreds of pubs are closing every week in the UK?

No it isn't!

Until the next time.

Good News for Smokers

Yes, there is good news, but sadly nowhere near Europe.

This excellent story comes from Frank Davis's blog:

Unfortunately, of course this comes from the country ruled by the remarkably fatheaded Hugo Chavez ("Raspberry Beret"), though it's nice to have somegood news from that part of the world for a change.

Not often smokers hear any good news. So this is one to enjoy.

March 3,2011 CARACAS -- Venezuela’s Ministry of Health has annulled by decree an anti-smoking law which would have prohibited smoking in public places and offices of work a day after it was published. By contrast to the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, Venezuela is one of the few countries that still allowed smoking in a wide variety of public places, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and stadiums.

A day after the anti-smoking law was printed in the Official Gazette, the annulment resolution was published in the Official Gazette. All laws must be published in the government's Official Gazette to be official. The text read: “to declare the absolute annulment of the resolution of environments free of smoke identified by number 014 and the date of February 24.” No motive or explanation was given for the sudden annulment.

Until the next time

Happy New Year?

Hello.

I genuinely wish you a Happy New Year, though given the financial gloom that seems continually to deepen with each passing week and the ever expanding government control that prevails, a "Happy New Year" does seem rather a forlorn hope.

Meanwhile Frank Davis in his latest posting says:

"But for myself I believe that it is one of the most terrible things that can be done to a human being, to deprive them of friendship and community, to isolate and exclude them from civil society. What can be more destructive to anyone's well-being?

And for what? Simply to make people stop smoking. To deprive them of one of life's simple pleasures. To force them to comply with medical orthodoxy. To make them live "healthy" lives, where "health" is mere longevity, devoid of any other considerations of social or psychological well-being."

Eloquent as ever, he is of course, talking about the absurd smoking ban introduced in England in 2007 (and in France January 2008) and shortly to begin in Spain, as if those poor people didn't already have enough problems.

I loved the quote from a World War II veteran who, cursing the smoking ban in the cold outside a pub, said "The fascists have won after all... they say it's for my health - I'm 85 for fuck's sake!"

Happy New Year!

Until the next time

A Chance, Albeit a Slim One

The BBC reports today that the government has given the go-ahead to the debating of on-line petitions in the House of Commons, although only under the private member's bill procedure, which is easily blocked.

Well, all you frustrated smokers, 20-odd percent of the population, here's your opportunity. This wants very careful thought though - I think that a petition should be eminently moderate and I think that there should be only one grand petition.

Until the next time.

Them & Us?

The news reported today - in this case by the BBC - about French President Sarkozy's Presidential Aircraft had me spluttering over my coffee this morning.

With breathtaking arrogance, the aircraft's specification includes an "air-conditioned" smoking room. I should state here and now, that I am entirely in favour of air-conditioned smoking rooms being installed everywhere, but it seems unlikely to happen in France, where just as in the fascistically oppressive UK, smoking is banned in all public places (since January 2nd 2008) and in the workplace (since 2007).

Since the presidential aeroplane has cost the French taxpayer about €180 million, one is entitled to believe that the aircraft constitutes - at least part of the time (as does the Elysée Palace for that matter where the President is known to enjoy his cigars) a "workplace."

Personally I hope the President enjoys his cigars; it's just that I don't understand why he is the only citizen of France who is permitted to smoke at work, the rest of us having to put up with cold/rain/snow/ice/wind for our rather long winters here, for which, no doubt, that arrant bullshit "global warming" is to blame.

In "Tobacco News" meanwhile I have found a splendid article about the arrogance of our rulers here concerning a State Secretary (= Junior Minister) one M. Christian Blanc, who was caught having spent €12,000 of public money on fine Cuban cigars. Generously the article adds, he sent a cheque for €3500 "for the two boxes of 25 he smokes each month" whilst being unable to account for the remaining €8500-worth.

Even more intriguing, is the reference to the practice which ended in 2001:

In Scandinavia, Germany, or even in Britain these days, Blanc would now be looking for a new job. The opposition is spluttering, but he will no doubt just be rapped on the knuckles by François Fillon, the Prime Minister, and left in peace. Until recently, no-one bothered much about the huge sums that are spent on the comfort of the state nobility. Only in 2001, did President Chirac end the practice under which all ministers were given a monthly suitcase of cash, known as ‘special funds’, to spend on whatever they liked.

This merits further investigation I think.

Until the next time.

Frank Davis

If I have any smoking sympathisers visiting here, do let me recommend you once again to Frank Davis's blog.

If you think that I'm upset about the absurd, nannying anti-smoking regulations now to be found in so many places in the world, wait until you read Frank Davis; he isn't upset - he's furious!

And then there's Frogsmoke, which I mentioned the other day; well worth a look, and finally, for the addict, Smokers Info, which provided the splendid photo below (which has appeared here before by the way.)

Until the next time