The idea
On July 1st 2007, one of the most spiteful and vindictive pieces of legislation crawled its way onto the statute book…the iniquitous smoking ban. If you remember this was a blanket ban that Labour said it would never introduce…in fact they offered us a compromise, which I voted for and so did millions of others, only to find that we would be betrayed in the most callous way.
Do you remember their promise to us in return for our votes? Let me remind you.
LABOUR MANIFESTO PLEDGE 2005.
‘all pubs and bars preparing and serving food will be smoke-free; and other pubs and bars will be free to choose whether to allow smoking or to be smoke-free. In membership clubs the members will be free to choose whether to allow smoking or to be smoke-free’.
Speaks for itself – doesn’t it?
Of course the reality as we all know is completely different.
Little did we know that the smoking ban would bring an unbridled persecution and pariah status for anyone who dared to enjoy a legal product – tobacco!
Social culture would be devastated; thousands of businesses in the hospitality industry would be wiped out causing mass unemployment, and millions of long lasting friendships would be desecrated at a stroke. This nasty legislation has driven a poisonous wedge between decent honourable people…setting friend against friend, creating anger and distrust where none before existed. What right has any politician got in telling me or any other smoker that I can’t go down to my local pub and enjoy a smoke with my pint…that is the domain of the landlord or landlady…not some half-wit politician.
One organisation has done more than any other to bring about this intrusive social engineering; ASH! Here what they said in 1998.
Clive Bates the then director:
"No-one is SERIOUSLY talking about a COMPLETE ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants”. Oh, really? But these people lie as well, they say and so does the government, that ‘passive smoking’ kills…but no one can show autopsy evidence to validate such claims…they clutch at the straws of epidemiology which is nothing more than statistical conjecture and is not based on scientific or intrinsic medical proof whatsoever. I wrote to Lord Stoddart of
But what have they to gain by serving up such propaganda…that’s quite simple…they need to maintain their funding from central government (taxpayers money) and pharmaceutical companies, and of course they help peddle smoking cessation products sold by big pharma.
Its time now to fight back…please support this petition – thank you.
Why is it important?
My idea is important because it is not for politicians to socially engineer based on propaganda from the self-righteous who now infest our society. Our culture has always evolved without the incessant meddling