When Will it Stop - UK Anti-Smoking

[mog69]

Just when you thought the UK anti-smoking laws could not get any more silly or 'nanny-state', they now come up with removing a pipe from our old Prime Minister: when will it stop!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2277847/So-did-BBC-chiefs-rob-Harold-Wilson-pipe-Questions-asked-PM-s-smoking-played-new-documentary.html#axzz2Kmjspznq

 

[pipeinhand]

Wag the dog, if you can make the sheeple believe what they see, you have won the war. Goebbels could have not done a better job.

 

[gray4lines]

I love seeing old pictures of guys like him, and Churchill smoking. Churchill was a fantastic guy, and very interesting to read about. It's sad to see that people believe they need to alter what really was in order to make it more palatable for some.
Really, would school children even think twice if a textbook photo happened to have someone with a pipe or cigar? I honestly doubt it.
It is of course scary to think what historical aspects are "necessary" to change to make them more "pleasing."
A very slippery slope... my vote is tell it like it is or was. If we erase anything (no matter how trivial) from the story, there is that much less to learn from history or from whatever context. The truth is the truth.

 

[judcole]

That's kinda silly.

 

[Perique]

Once started, it never stops.

 

[zonomo]

The answer is it won't stop.

 

[mog69]

V for vendetta - very cool, if only.
You are all correct, in that a few people tell everyone how it is going to be, and those people have the ear of the government.

I suppose we just carry on regardless and try to work around whatever silliness.
The government are trying to restrict any modifications to motorcycles. They say anything from the front wheel backwards will not be ale to be changed or altered.
Like I say, I'll just put up with it.

Apologies - rant over

 

[timely]

What they do to tobacco tins is crazy. Smoking has been the new evil for a couple of years now, they just have ramped it up to crazy crap. Removing a pic of anyone smoking a pipe,cigar or cigs is down right being control freaks. On one hand they want everyone to quit for their health, so they say, but they do love the huge amount of taxes they collect.

 

[sparroa]

The tobacco packaging laws are a way of enforcing a de facto ban.
It has already happened in Australia.
They legislate uniform packaging and as a result almost all of the pipe tobacco has been pulled from the shelf.
I would imagine that there is nothing left but cigarettes because it is not worth the while of the tobacco companies to redesign all of their low-margin pipe tobacco packages for one hostile market.
End result? The consumer gets screwed and liberty is eroded a little more...

 

[zonomo]

On one hand they want everyone to quit for their health, so they say, but they do love the huge amount of taxes they collect.

You mark my words that when we allow the Guv-ment to tell us how many ounces of a soft drink we are allowed to drink, we are on a slippery slope to them telling us how much coffee, french fries, and carrots to eat. Tobacco is low hanging fruit for this eventuality.

 

[rmbittner]

I have a hard time getting worked up about things like this. Read even a general history of tobacco and smoking and you'll see that these things come and go with great frequency. For years, smoking of any kind was outlawed in England -- King James I thought it was the worst thing in the world -- and then political tides turned and he eventually realized, Hey, here's a great source of tax revenue! And, voila!, smoking was acceptable again.
That doesn't mean it's easy or fun to live through these cycles. But we still have it relatively easy these days, compared with what some generations have had to go through over the last four centuries.
And, yes, I happen to be currently re-reading a social history of tobacco. Sublime Tobacco by Compton Mackenzie.

 

[drwatson]

I agree with rmbittner! These things come and go with time. However this time seems to be getting pretty bad, and shadey statistics do not help...Man swallowed by Great White shark while swimming,,,,but he was a smoker!!!Cause of DEATH! Smoking..I read a study few months ago that said antipersprents were number one cause of cancer in U.S. Of course I'm sure that study will end up in the same place as Jimmy Hoffa, cause our friends at the FDA really want us to be happy and healthy.....DRINK THE KOOLAID....AND DONT ASK QUESTIONS

 

[sparroa]

rmbittner,
I agree that there have been tides of anti-smoking fervour throughout history but we are currently facing a veritable tsunami of it...
Also, considering that we have but one life to live, I am rather concerned that the authorities are attempting to ban tobacco while I am still walking the surface of the earth.
It is no good to me if our post-apocalyptic brethren in the year 2100 rediscover the pleasures of nicotine from wild strains of tobacco found growing in a meadow...
They are trying to extinguish smoking culture in the here and now! I find it very easy to get worked up about.

 

[auspipe]

The plain packaging is destroying the pipe and cigar community in Australia. There is only one tobacco available at the moment and that is Erinmore Flake, and now comes in an ugly drab brown pouch with health warnings all over it for $50.

There never has been much of a pipe community here, and there are not many cigar smokers either. So not much anyone can do. There are about 4 true tobacconists in the whole country, and hundreds if not thousands of smokeshops that deal with cigarettes and drug paraphernalia. It is a very sad situation, I am just glad to have access to tobaccos from the US for now.

Censorship is never right and should not be allowed to continue.

 

[sparroa]

auspipe,
It is a terrible situation you face down there. It disgusts me.
See folks? It's happening now! These are not just hypothetical situations I'm complaining about.
I wouldn't be surprised if the same regulations are in place in America by 2020...

 

[foggymountain]

No wonder NY mayor Bloomberg is moving his business there. They are a bit nutty about smoking in the UK, yet they produce some of the best pipes. I got a can of Dunhill Nightcap from the UK. Half of the front label says, in huge black letters SMOKING KILLS. Silly Mikie will be right at home there. They are even joking about making him mayor of London. I bet when he moves there he will develop a British accent. He is probably practicing it already.

 

[zonomo]

I have a hard time getting worked up about things like this. Read even a general history of tobacco and smoking and you'll see that these things come and go with great frequency

Surly you recognize that we are living in an unprecedented time of social change and government intrusion. When have we had our gov telling us the size of drinks we are allowed to drink, the kinds of light bulbs to use in our house, the kind of bags we are allowed for our groceries (it is against the law in Seattle to use Plastic bags), smoke on the beach, had the social stigma of driving an SUV. Its ridiculous. I don't see any of these laws reversed to give us MORE freedom, i see an erosion of freedoms and a Nanny states emerging all over the world.