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Monthly Archives: August 2019
Motorised Ashtrays?
This sounded rather amusing: Their relationship has long been fraught with bitter clashes and the sporadic volley of brutal insults. But after decades of feuding, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are currently enjoying a fragile peace and as such, the latter will … Continue reading
A Really Really Great Big Storm in a Teacup
We had a great big storm in a teacup here in Britain yesterday. A really, really great big storm. Some of the waves even broke over the lip of the teacup and splashed into the saucer underneath. It was that … Continue reading
You Are What You Smoke
Q: Why did people start smoking pot in the 1960s? A: Because they could no longer smoke tobacco. That was the surprising new idea that occurred to me this morning. And it’s a perfectly rational explanation. For throughout the 1950s … Continue reading
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To Hell with Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan is a loudmouth that I have little time for. But he seems to understand the rise of populism. Here’s him in conversation with someone called Ben Shapiro: 44 minutes: “Populism is rising because people are fed up with … Continue reading
Antismoking Snobs
Still thinking about the antismoking mindset that antismokers like Ronald Bayer reveal: In 1939 Norbert Elias published The Civilizing Process , a history of manners in which he sought to explain how acceptable behavior becomes revolting. Drawing on Elias’s classic study, in 1993 … Continue reading
Can Denormalisation Ever Succeed?
I’m still puzzling over the two antismokers in Tobacco Control who’ve swum into my view over the past few days: Marewa Glover and Ronald Bayer. Glover: “In tobacco control over 35 years, we have exaggerated the effects deliberately to scare … Continue reading
Losing Public Trust
Via Walt, a couple of pieces about Tobacco Control featuring some antismoker called Ronald Bayer. First: BAYER: The question now is, how come public health officials can’t come out straight and say the reason we’re banning smoking on parks and … Continue reading
Warmists versus Coolists
In recent years I’ve thought that global warming alarmism has been fading away, largely as a result of Climategate in 2009, when climate scientists were revealed to be cooking the books and “hiding the decline” (in proxy air temperatures). But … Continue reading
Unexpected Honesty from Tobacco Control
Hat tip to Smoking Lamp for finding this piece of unexpected honesty from Dr Marewa Glover, an NZ Auckland-based tobacco researcher, during videoed submissions on a proposed law to ban smoking in cars: “In tobacco control over 35 years, we … Continue reading
Close Down Public Health England
I liked this purely as a piece of English. It’s about Public Health England’s plans to ruin food by reformulating it. …At the heart of the reformulation delusion is an ignorance of market forces, a deep suspicion of industry and … Continue reading
