Power to the People - at last!

Smoking Bans kill Businesses - FACT!

     Much to the chagrin of such as ASH, FRESH, CRUK and all those other smoker haters (and they come by the bucketful I might add) Brighton Council looks very much as if they have suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the very people they are there to serve - JOE PUBLIC.
     Earlier this year, 20th June actually, Brighton glibly announced its intention to ban smoking on beaches and other public places, fully expecting a riotous approval from the the populace of course. With the attitude that fairness must be seen to prevail the council advertised its own online 'public consultation' never expecting the result that arrived. This blog, Justice4Smokers & FOREST all rapidly circulated this happening, urging all smokers & non smokers to complete the consultation for it was fairly obvious to at least a few that this was merely the starting point of complete annihilation for smokers outdoors.

 

Sun, sea & a fag..... perfect!

The results were published yeaterday.

     Almost 2,000 responses came in, flabbergasting the council with a massive majority AGAINST such a ridiculous measure, although many did agree with banning smoking at school gates. 

"Responders against the proposals said the ban, which would have been voluntary, would have a negative effect on to the local economy and the move impacted on their human rights."

     In a further damning of the councils ideas re smoking:- “There is support amongst Brighton and Hove non-smoking residents for restaurants and pubs to have smoke free outdoor spaces and the majority of all residents who responded agreed that it was antisocial to smoke where people are eating and drinking", however, this does not mean that sitting outside one of the many cafes in Brighton causes you to be smokefree for no matter what is said, OUTSIDE is OUTSIDE and if people object then they simply need to go and sit inside! Should a cafe owner decide to implement an outdoor ban on smokers then it is up to the smokers whether they actually frequent that cafe or not. Personally, although a non smoker, I would not entertain any cafe/bistro that demonstrated such hatred toward his/her fellow man and would leaflet the entire area warning of the cafe's intolerance! 
     You really do have to smile at the continuos bilge used by these newspaper 'dicks'; eg, " Smoking is the primary cause of premature death and preventable illness in the UK and accounts for more than 80,000 deaths a year." Have they researched this so called fact at all? I very much doubt it because if they did they would soon realise that there is no such thing as a premature death! Was Helmut Schmidt's (60 a day smoker) death (at 96) a premature death or was Pat Eddery's (super fit non smoker) death at 63 more, less or equally premature? And the BHF maintain most vehemntly that STRESS is the biggest cause of death in this country-so who do you believe? The press bods get quite excited by all this premature nonsense yet none of them can explain it correctly!

 

Ayr smokers can continue to enjoy a fag & a coffee

     In an equally splendid day of news we find that the other end of the country has seen similarly to Brighton - only this time it is the council themselves that have seen sense! Ayr council has rubbished plans to ban smoking OUTSIDE cafes & bistro's etc as they have realised that such a move could cause hardship to businesses. Now hardship to businesses causes business closures - which in turn causes more people to be claiming benefits - which causes less revenue going to councils in rents/rates etc. It seems that Ayr council have at last begun to realise just how costly this war on toabacco could really be-unlike many other idiotic smoker hating councils I could mention! Remember many moons ago this blog actually worked out that the smoking ban was costing £1/2bn every single month (and rising)? .... well this is why. Brighton stated that 23% of their populace still smoked - a far cry from what CRUK/Gov't would have you believe. ASH, of course, will refute such a figure as they couldn't live with themselves thinking that all their efforts were in vain!
To me it is crimminal that these parasites are still receiving public funding for all they are doing now is spreading more and more lies about a subject that 25% of the people enjoy and that has created a massive illegal market in..... a Black Market!
     On that subject and although being a generally law abiding citizen, I have to say that I give almost full marks to the BM trade in tobacco-but not the filthy crap-made cigarettes from the eastern bloc which, quite frankly, have been found to have all manner of turd in them! No, I'm talking about the cheap tobacco brought in from abroad at vastly reduced prices and 'shared' among the 'gentle folk' of this country. This saves the 'gentle folk' considerable amounts of money, makes the holidaying importers a few quid for their efforts & denies our super greedy, short sighted Gov't an absolute fortune in lost revenue (tax). And so it should because they should never have attacked smokers as they have done and certainly should not have been hoodwinked by an old drone such as Arnott! The government are a total contradiction because they spout all the bilge about smoking costing lives yet they absolutely cringe at the mention of an ageing population-which costs more and more each year. Just think about this 'you happy campers', you'll be allowed to work until you 90 years of age soon-but not allowed to smoke, which would supposedly kill you and save the government money!
     Spread the word of happenings in Brighton aqnd use this knowledge at every opportunity for this is/was a landmark victory for the people - Power to the People!