The economy is failing Mr C

Last night the financial news was doom and gloom. Apparently we borrowed £8.6bn in October (remember "Stoptober" ) when Mr Osborne had nominated that we would only need to borrow £6bn.
Nobody should be surpised at this not so wondrous revelation but the tone of the newsreader was one of surprise-and this is the bit that sounded 'surprised':

 "This overborrowing was due to the fact that businesses did not contribute as much as expected to the Treasury"

Now I wonder why businesses are not contributing as much as 'darling George' expected? 
How about this one for starters Mr C? 12,000 of them that were once quite happily contributing colossal amounts to the Treasury are no more! They were the pubs & clubs that only 5.4 years ago were flourishing, as smoker & non smoker alike happily drank side by side. They were the days before a certain minority of non smokers became nasty, spiteful, hateful people determined to make the life of their fellow man, the smoker, a total misery. You see, even in my little world, two of the five local pubs have vanished off the face of the earth. That'll be 40% of Treasury income gone forever-within a mile of me! Do you get my drift Mr C?  

Also, to compound the misery, the two managers and eight of the ten staff are still claiming their rightful dole money, housing benefits, Council Tax rebates and Lord only knows what else they are entitled to. So, Mr C, it is easy to see why your righthand man cannot dig us out of this gigantic financial hole. 
One of the biggest social sector Treasury incomes is also severely under pressure as Bingo halls are struggling more than ever. The smoking ban closed over a hundred once top line Bingo halls but the smoking ban has marched even deeper into bingo clientele as online gaming is fast becoming more popular than trudging outdoors in all weathers. You guessed it, smokers are more than happy to smoke & 'dob the dobber' at home. With each major Bingo hall once dishing up approximately £780,000 per annum to the Treasury, poor old 'darling George' is staring bankruptcy in the face. Funny how the Americans have exempted casino's eh Mr C! Realised the cost to the state coffers eh Mr C - simples!
With Ford losing out to Turkey, the 'Transit' factory in Southampton

 

(I'm off to Turkey-you turkeys!)

will soon be no more and yet another 1,500 jobs will be lost to this country thanks to the EU (Bombardier now Transit-what's next I wonder?). Just think of the cost of that lot to our benefits system George, dear oh dear me.
While we are leaking money relentlessly and our much loved NHS is strapped for cash on a daily basis we find, courtesy of fellow blogger Jay, that we have wasted enormous amounts of money paying for five anti tobacco nerds to fly to Seoul to partake in the 'delights' of "COP5". Jay is attempting to find out just how much  money was wasted on this junkett, paid for by the humble taxpayer.

 

These were the nominated delegates, yet "Nannying Tyrants" sports a gruesome picture of Deborah Arnott & hubby  enjoying themselves in Korea. Now I'll bet that 'Debs' didn't pay for her own tickets even though she wasn't on our official representation list above.

Despite the fact that people will never give up smoking for the simple reason they enjoy it the "Seoul Zealots" will dream up evermore elaborate schemes to deny smokers that which they enjoy the truth is that they are costing governments a fortune for smokers (and the obese) cost less through life than non smokers! I cannot understand how any sane government official can ignore this simple fact of life.

It also seems that no amount of money thrown at anti smoking campaigns is going to deter the younger generations from taking up the noble art of smoking, if that is what is on their mind, for it seems that if they want to be regarded at all at school, they need to be in the cool stream, the smokers gang. That's not too difficult to comprehend either really.

We mentioned "Stoptober" at the beginning and although Health minister Norman Lamb, who revealed he quit smoking a few weeks ago, said the cost of the campaign was about "a couple of million" pounds, there is another report floating about somewhere that puts the cost at nearer £9m. Incidentally Mr C, the £9m would have paid all the wages for at least a couple of months at this hospital. Whichever it is/was, it was another complete waste of public money.....money that our hospitals could dearly do with. No matter what the final cost the mere fact that any quit figures are still ridiculously based on only 4 weeks make the whole expensive exercise a complete waste of time & money - our money. You see Mr C, we are wasting money hand over fist but you need a pair of balls to stop this happening. I have absolutely no doubt that Samantha Gwendoline Cameron (née Sheffield) would testify to the physical fact that you have a pair but the British public would have to doubt even her wifely assurances because 'mental balls' are also needed. Looking at the way things are going..... ? Amend this idiotically implemented law and provide CHOICE for all. I assure you that no non smokers, like myself, will be harmed by this process!

Over in Bulgaria, where they take their smoking rather seriously, the smokers are thoroughly pissed off with their ban and they are going to do something our licensees should have done from day one-protest. Ten major towns & cities are holding rallies to protest about their rights:

 Organizers claim that the initiative aims to raise awareness of smokers' rights and the difficulties that small and medium-sized enterprises faced once the ban was introduced in cafes, bars and restaurants, regardless of size.

They already know from reading our blogs that smoking bans kill businesses with great rapidity - and they don't want that to happen to them. 

And they are right, for  the normal people in this country (including the majority of non smokers) have seen very clearly just how much smoking bans cost nations; they far outweigh the odd few bob it might save the NHS. Yet bizarrely the NHS is being starved of much needed funding just to financially support these anti tobacco fanatics! My own hospital is beginning to 'see the light' at long last-bless them!

 A simple question should be 'what is wrong with choice'? With choice smokers would do their thing and non smokers would do their thing, yet again, simples! So why is this concept so difficult for our MPs to grasp? Perhaps this might help explain matters more clearly as, from the land down-under where smoker bashing is rife comes a masterpiece of logic and explanation. Well done John Humphreys.
Australia have ignored all tobacco manufacturers claims and have sanctified  PP (plain packaging), let's see how long it is before they start screaming, like our shopkeepers are already, about the illegal trade getting a bigger & bigger share of the market shall we? In the meantime, we have the antipodean lunatic Simon Chapman proposing that smokers be licenced - YELLOW STAR next I ask? 

(The discrimination against smokers will then be complete)

And every time a nation implements a total ban on smoking their economy starts to suffer. Not true? Check it out then. 

Smoke bans cause businesses to close.
Smoke bans cause people to lose their jobs.
Smoke bans cause a bigger strain on welfare systems.
Smoke bans cause poverty.
Smoke bans cause social deprivation.
Smoke bans cause social isolation.
Smoke bans cause great animosity, even hatred among men.
Smoke bans cause divide.
Smoke bans cause bankruptcy-both personal & national.
Smoke bans WILL cause civil unrest, it is only a matter of time.

So Mr C, not only is the economy failing, so is your credibility for you wanted to be a man of the people, oh you so wanted to be a man of & for the people. Unfortunately it seems you are merely a lackey of the anti smoking fanatics! And while you remain such, this countries economy will suffer more and more as businesses give up trying to compete. You can't even promise people jobs any more because the amount of immigrants pouring into this country far outweighs the jobs available to start with. But, should you actually wake up and smell the coffee you will realise that creating choice for licencees and cafe owners will actually create plenty of jobs, bring people back into the pubs & clubs and start filling those devastated Treasury coffers once more! Option 'B' of course is to simply keep funding ASH until they bleed this country dry. What will it be Mr C? The economy is failing - rapidly.