Weird report I saw yesterday:
The last cigarette smoked in England will be put out in 2050 – and Bristol’s final smoker will quit in just five years, scientists claim
Study commissioned by tobacco giant Philip Morris and conducted by analysts Frontier Economics
Bristol to be smoke free by 2024 followed by York, Wokingham, Berksire in 2026
In 1990, almost a third of British adults smoked, but that has halved to 15% since
One weird feature of this report was that it was commissioned by a tobacco company. And another weird thing was that it was prediction of what life would be like in 30 years time. And a third weird thing was that its prediction applied only to cigarettes, not tobacco.
I suppose that Philip Morris believe that cigarettes are on their way out, and they probably think that they’ll be replaced by e-cigarettes and a variety of other similar new technologies. After all that’s what’s been happening for the past few years, and will probably carry on happening.
But I doubt the prediction will come true. I think that the cigarette is one of the world’s great inventions. It made smoking cheap and easy. It was the Model T Ford of tobacco. Before it was invented people only had cigars and pipes. And cigars were expensive because they were hand-rolled. And pipes were cumbersome and hard to keep alight. The cigarette solved both the problem of expense and convenience. And it was also highly stylish.
And it’s still the best product around.
Because the new technologies are as heavy and unwieldy as pipes. E-cigarettes will only be as good as cigarettes when they weigh the same as cigarettes. And I don’t think they ever will. I think they’ll remain heavy, cumbersome things until they find a way of storing electrical charge in something better than batteries.
In fact, thinking about it this morning, I think that cigarettes made smoking popular only because they made smoking cheap and easy, and not (as I usually think) because two world wars increased the demand for tobacco. And so suddenly everybody was smoking, just like everybody was driving around in Model T Fords, which were cheaper and easier and faster than horses (ever tried riding a horse? It’s damn difficult.). Tobacco is no more addictive than cars or books or TV. People only started reading books when they became as cheap and easily portable as paperbacks. While it’s expensive and difficult to do something (e.g. space flight) very few people will do it. When space flight becomes cheap and easy, everyone will do it.
The antismokers don’t like smoking because it became cheap and easy, and everyone started doing it. And so now they’re trying to make it expensive and difficult again. Just like the anti-car people are trying to make travel expensive and difficult again with e-cars. New technologies liberate people, and the antismokers don’t like freedom.
I think Philip Morris should recognise that the cigarette is the best product the tobacco companies ever had, and it will remain the best product for the foreseeable future. And what they should be doing is making the case for their best-ever product, and fighting against the wall of lies that the antismokers tell about it. Because everything that’s said about tobacco is a lie. Everything.
Cigarettes are going to be around for a very long time.
…
Another weird thing I read yesterday:
The use of terms like “mainstream media” and growing distrust in “the establishment” are an “assault on freedom of expression”, the head of the BBC has claimed.
BBC director-general Lord Tony Hall said the effects of globalisation have fuelled a “progressive erosion of trust in … all those perceived as expert or elite” he complained, warning that journalism was under attack from “a crisis of faith in our traditional institutions”.
In a speech to the House of Lords this week, the 68-year-old life peer said he remembered “an age when … journalists could command the attention and respect of a whole country with the quality of their craft.”
Now, reporters for media outlets like the BBC face “attempts to target, troll [and] intimidate them” in addition to “constant anonymous threats online, simply for reporting on opinions that others might not want to hear”, he alleged.
I think it’s an “assault on freedom of expression” to deny people the ability to distrust the mainstream media. Why should people trust them? Why should people trust anybody?
Trust is something that’s earned. And trust is also something that can be lost. But this Mister Hall seems to think that the BBC and the mainstream media should be automatically trusted.
Look, Mister Hall, I stopped trusting the BBC when they threw Britain’s smokers under a bus. It was the same time (and the same reason) that I lost trust in the Liberal Democrat party, and in the medical profession, and in the European Union. I don’t trust any of them any more. They won’t speak up for smokers like me, so I won’t listen to them. Why should I listen to someone who won’t listen to me?
If, Mister Hall, you can remember “an age when … journalists could command the attention and respect of a whole country” it was because they spoke for the whole country, and not just for those who didn’t smoke, or those who thought Britain should be in the EU, or those who were worried about global warming. The BBC (and in fact the entire mainstream media) have become partisan in multiple ways. They’ve taken sides. They no longer speak for everyone. And that’s why journalists can no longer command the attention and respect of a whole country.
Hall is not alone. A lot of people think the same way he does. They think they should be automatically trusted and believed because they’re Scientists, or Doctors, or Teachers with letters after their names. None of them can understand why they’re no longer trusted. They’re no longer trusted because many of them have complete contempt for the people they want to be trusted by – and so those people have complete contempt for them.
Frank Davis 
In defence of electronic cigarettes I wish people would understand that a vaping device is NOT a cigarette. It is not held like a cigarette. It is held in the palm of the hand. It is not supposed to be held like a cigarette, not even the ones that look like cigarettes. I have seen people trying to dangle an e-cigarette in two fingers. They just display their absolute ignorance. A vaping device is not a make believe cigarette, but a thing cupped in the palm of the hand. Size and weight depend on the type of vaping.
I wish people would understand that the world is big enough for tobacco as well as e-cigarettes. And that the only ones who benefit if smokers and vapers fight about who’s “better” and a bit more right, are the ones who like to control and nanny all of us.
I agree. Vaping is a substitute for smoking not a quit aid. And devices to vape with are not used the same. Smokers could vape if they found it convenient to. But vapers have made bad friends with smokers by parroting anti smoking crap. I stopped blogging as Vapingpoint and making videos because I couldn’t bear the ugliness of it all. I’m a vaper that thinks like a smoker, and there are plenty of us. @Smoking Lamp Yes. So that we need to be very careful of people like Clive Bates and other vaping supporters who talk about “harm reduction”. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. But I have retired from fighting. Right now, I believe my disillusionment is at it’s lowest. I see “stitch up” in every corner – how our politicians have dealt with Brexit, has exposed the utter corruption that is going around us. There will always be smokers – we have smoked since the beginning of time.
Elizabeth The antismoker zealots have no interest in the difference between electronic cigarettes (vaping) and real tobacco cigarettes. They disapprove of both. Any short term accommodation of vaping will disappear when they reduce the number of smokers. You see it’s not really about health, but about control and imposing their will.
Nobody has told Bristol residents they can’t smoke cigarettes in 5 years time. I’d like to see them stop us. Loads of people enjoy tobacco in Bristol. More and more all the time especially when they find out that vaping is a waste of time. There would be riots if people cant smoke. A lot of canabis gets smoked too !
As a smoker and long term resident of Bristol wholeheartedly agree! Until the smoking ban smoking spliffs was commonplace in certain Pubs and clubs.Still is but folks do it outside now.Walk through Castle Park on a sunny day and the air is scented with the sweet smell of spliff.Unless I suddenly drop dead I will make certain that smoking is still a thing in Bristol 2025.
Yes, I remember going to a pub in Bristol in the eighties and being pleasantly surprised
to find people smoking spliffs and it being open way past closing time. Happy days.
The same people who were smoking spliffs were the ones who were quite happy about the ban on smoking tobacco.
I lived in Bristol for 35 years, and I could tell you the names of many of them, and where they lived.
I used to love Bristol. But it’s become an alien and unwelcoming place now. I haven’t visited it for nearly 10 years, even though I don’t live that far away. I’ll never go back again.
Philip Morris invented IQOS and the bit you put in they call HEETS. They think it’s the dogs dangles with a certain justification; it’s been a massive success story with a huge boost to their bottom line.
In Japan it’s acceptable to use them in many non smoking venues and people do use them in hotel rooms. A buddy of mine has had a throat problem for a while. Tried e fags that made matters worse, however IQOS has sorted that.
Drawback is he needs about double the number of HEETS to regular ciggies and while the new ones are cheaper, the result is his overall cost of smoking has gone up, ignoring the cost of the hardware.
Anyway I kicked in to explain PM’s curious prediction.
Yup. Got it in one, there SS. PM’s sole concern has only ever been about their bottom line – that has been made glaringly obvious by their deafening silence since the start of the whole anti-smoking movement. They don’t give a flying fart about their customers or indeed (as they keep batting on) about their customers’ health – what they do give a flying fart about is selling as many of their whizzy new gadgets as possible. They know as well as we all do that the moment there are more vapers (or IQOS users) than there are smokers, the antis will turn their beady eyes in their direction. But no matter – by the time that happens they will have already made their money back and more and no doubt will be busily then working on the next “big new thing” that they can foist off on their unsuspecting customers.
“an age when … journalists could command the attention and respect of a whole country with the quality of their craft.”
Well, if 90 % of what the mainstream media offer, is copy and paste on a literally global scale, then they might want to think about what “quality” really means and if this could maybe, just maybe be the reason why they can no longer command the attention and respect of a whole country.
Well that went horribly wrong. Could you delete the post in moderation please Frank?
It amuses me how PMI pushes IQOS as a reduced risk product (RRP)…I think they even made a thousand page application to the FDA as such which got rejected. It’s all BS, but I think they’ve said it so many times they believe it themselves now. PMI’s UK director managed to make a fool of himself on Piers Morgan show recently. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that these so called RRP’s do actual damage as opposed to real cigarettes….kind of like ‘heart healthy’ margarine vs butter. But who’s going to do a 2yrs study comparing lifetime exposure to tobacco smoke vs RRP vapor in mice or rats? The ‘scientists’ working for PMI prefer to do Petri dish experiments instead, to get the results their sponsor wants.
Isn’t “popcorn lung” suspected to be associated with many of the most common vaping liquids? If so, then I guess it’ll take a few years to become clear, but once it does (if it does – or even if the antis just want it to) then you can almost hear the headlines already: “Vaping as dangerous as smoking tobacco!” “Cost to the NHS of vaping-related ‘popcorn lung’ set to exceed the cost of smoking tobacco in five years!” “Children of vapers at risk from passive vape-steam!” We’ve heard it all before – but no doubt we’ll hear it all again. And the drones who gave up smoking as instructed will then obediently give up vaping, as well. Some people never learn ….
We are already hearing it all again, in a true deluge for years already, in one junk science study after the other and in “quality” reports of our beloved media who obviously don’t get why they don’t command the attention of whole countries any longer.
“Popcorn lung” is definitely not associated with vaping. It’s associated (maybe) with diacetyl, and nearly all liquid producers – at least in Europe and the US – have stopped putting diacetyl (which gives a “buttery” flavour) into liquids. Diacetyl is also in cigarettes, and much more of it than ever was in any liquid, but “popcorn lung” was never and still isn’t associated with smoking (even though TC is doing their best to define everything under the sun as “smoking related”). It’s called “popcorn lung” because workers in a popcorn fabric got it, and in that context diacetyl was thought to have been the culprit.
Actually, there’s far more diacetyl in cigarettes than in vape juice – I don’t think vaping companies use it at all anymore. Smokers don’t get popcorn lung. It’s unlikely in the extreme that vapers will unless they work in a popcorn factory where they’re breathing in the dust all day for years.
Just more propaganda.
Philip Morris can see that although cigarettes will never go away sales will decline substantially, and they have their IQOS heat not burn device, that is what they are gambling on. Can’t blame them really they’re just trying to avoid having their own Kodak moment.
I’ll try again.
The first one is an overblown advert for a new product and the second one is a rather feeble excuse for being caught out by the public and seen for what they are.
The BBC hasn’t been right since Blair attacked it full weight for telling the truth.
It was hardly a surprise when they didn’t find the weapons of mass destruction Blair insisted were there, the weapons inspectors after the First Gulf War had done their job very thoroughly.
Containment – 1991
“The US and UK used no-fly zones on top of UN-backed economic sanctions and weapons inspections as a policy of “containment”.
A UN mandate for weapons inspections was established in a resolution passed in April 1991.
The first operation by the inspections body, Unscom, took place in June, setting in train seven years of monitoring.
Many prohibited weapons and production facilities were destroyed and dismantled.
The inspectors discovered facilities that Iraqi officials had previously denied having and uncovered prohibited weapons that they had attempted to hide.
Inspectors prepare to destroy chemical weapon”s
“A no-fly zone in the north of Iraq was declared in March 1991 to protect Iraqi Kurds after Saddam Hussein’s regime had put down their uprising.
A similar zone was established in 1992 in the south, after Iraq continued offensives against the Shia Muslims there.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/iraq_events/html/containment.stm
Downing St apologises for dodgy dossier
By Channel 4 News
08 June 2003
“It’s taken them four months, but Downing Street has at last apologised for the so-called “dodgy dossier” which was used to help justify the war against Iraq.
This programme disclosed back in February that No 10’s report on Iraq’s security apparatus was largely lifted from a student’s PhD thesis, published on the internet. Home Secretary David Blunkett said it should never have been published”.
“The row over the “dodgy dossier” errupted when Channel Four News disclosed that large chunks of No 10’s supposedly authoritative report, “Iraq – its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation” had been lifted word for word from this PhD thesis by Ibrahim al-Marashi entitled more conservatively, “Iraq’s Security and Intelligence Network: A Guide and Analysis”.
It was published in the American journal Meria in September last year and relied on information dating back to the first Gulf War.
The Government document was written by members of Alastair Campbell’s “coalition information centre” in Downing Street.
It drew on “a number of sources, including intelligence material”. But it omitted to credit Mr al-Marashi.”
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/downing%2Bst%2Bapologises%2Bfor%2Bdodgy%2Bdossier/257243.html
Director General Greg Dyke has quit as the BBC’s crisis deepens in the wake of Lord Hutton’s damning verdict.
2004
“Mr Dyke told around 1,000 people outside Television Centre he was not “a political animal” but he hoped the two resignations meant “a line can be drawn under this whole episode”.
He said his sole aim had been to defend the BBC’s independence and “act in the public interest”.
Later, asked whether he was sacked by the BBC governors, Mr Dyke said he had offered his resignation on Wednesday night.
It is understood the governors voted by 2-1 to accept his resignation.
Mr Dyke said he “could not quite work out” what the governors had apologised for.
The BBC had made certain mistakes, he said, adding: “I do not necessarily accept the findings of Lord Hutton.”
The pair quit after parts of Andrew Gilligan’s BBC reports of claims Downing Street “sexed up” a dossier on Iraq’s illegal weapons were branded “unfounded” by Lord Hutton.
In his long-awaited report, Lord Hutton said he believed Dr Kelly had killed himself after being named as the suspected source of the BBC’s controversial weapons dossier story”
http : //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3441181.stm
Revealed: Blair role in naming Kelly
2003
“Tony Blair gave the go-ahead to the strategy that led to Dr David Kelly being named, believing it was ‘inevitable’ that the weapons expert would eventually be unmasked.
A confidential Cabinet Office note of a series of meetings held in Number 10 reveals that the Prime Minister supported ‘making public that a source had come forward’, but left the specifics of the two-stage ‘naming strategy’ to the Ministry of Defence.”
“The disclosures, which come four days before the Prime Minister’s appearance before the Hutton inquiry, is contained in a minute passed to the law lord’s team last week and extended this weekend.
They put Blair at the heart of the decision-making process that led to Kelly being subjected to a public grilling by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.”
https : //www.theguardian.com/media/2003/aug/24/huttoninquiry.davidkelly
BBC staff protest at ‘pressure’
2004
“BBC workers have protested against political “pressure and interference” in the wake of the Hutton report.
Hundreds joined a demonstration outside Television Centre in west London and further rallies were held at offices including Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol.
Organisers the National Union of Journalists and broadcasting union Bectu said they wanted to challenge any attempt to curb the BBC’s independence.
The BBC was criticised in the report into the death of Dr David Kelly.
It led to the resignation last week of Chairman Gavyn Davies and Director General Greg Dyke.
Today programme reporter Andrew Gilligan, whose controversial story alleging the government “sexed-up” its dossier on Iraqi weapons was called “unfounded” by Lord Hutton, also stepped down.
“Thousands of staff staged impromptu walkouts last week in support of Mr Dyke following the release of the Hutton report’s findings.
Many also paid for an advert in a national newspaper supporting their former director general.”
http : //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3459141.stm
It seems that the BBC no longer dares to rock the socialist boat. Once bitten twice shy.
People will stop (openly) smoking cigarettes when making, selling and using them is made illegal. That may well happen in the not too distant future. I wonder, though, if smoke-easies and underground smoking will have the same cachet as speakeasies and drinking had during Prohibition. The image of alcohol and drinkers was not as badly tainted as the image cigarettes and smokers.
The American media has lied to us (and abetted and fawned over government liars) for two years now in the totally-busted Trump/ Russia fantasy. While it was never even charged that Russia directly tampered with the actual voting (in fact, the Justice Dept and Obama himself repeatedly said that didn’t happen) a recent poll showed 42% of Americans believed that it did. Thus, the power of propaganda even exceeds its own message. Nor is the media and the brainwashed liberal followers ready even now to admit defeat. So the question arises as to whether the half of the country that viscerally hates Trump will begin to distrust the media. Judging by their comments on fb today they’re still in the “There must be a pony” phase.
But this mere two-year barrage of propaganda is a drop in the old bucket compared to the two decades rap on cigarettes, which has now led more than half of the country to believe they might die from smelling a smoker’s coat. These ideas will die hard–if they ever do.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6847671/PIERS-MORGAN-Mueller-report-shows-collusion-disgraceful-hoax.html
If you can read, write, memorize texts and readily regurgitate their contents then you can easily pass your exams and achieve a university degree in Public Health. As long as these mental midget sausages keep filling up the offices of anti-tobacco groups our hopes for a return to normality will be compromised. They are like Moonies and Scientologists; propagandists on the cheap. Michael Bloomberg has his own Public Health School at Johns Hopkins and the RWJ group is subsidizing and funding public health programs all over the United States. They are even planning to expand to Canada and Europe. Boycott all Johnson & Johnson products.
slugbop007
The EU says it’s a “human right” to ban tobacco.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/all/news/eu-health-chief-next-commission-will-strengthen-tobacco-rules/?fbclid=IwAR1996jIIS0zhqWPbkLoCpe52W46QifvRHSj2koHe_ZWpVsohZfA9Co0nbI
Thanks to Gods, we are off. Mr.Andriukaitis looks like a preast.:)