Friday 17 December 2010

Slippery Slope In Preparation

Dame Judi Dench joined calls last night for a ban on smoking in cars, citing the dangers to the health of youngsters.
If you've got something to say about acting, or the film industry, I'm all ears, but why...

Ah:
Dame Judi, whose husband Michael Williams died of lung cancer in 2001, is vice president of the British Lung Foundation, which is calling for a ban.
And naturally, she's being used by the usual suspects:
Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, called on the Govenment to continue campaigns discouraging parents from smoking in front of their children. She said: "While we can't pass legislation to prohibit smoking in the home, smoking in cars can and should be prohibited by law."
You can't, but you want to. As Longrider points out, flats are the first target, but after that, it'll be terraced housing, then semi-detatched, then detached.

And then you'll move on to the streets....
Simon Clark, the director of the smokers' group Forest, conceded: "It's reasonable to encourage people not to light up in a small confined space if children are present," but he dismissed calls for a ban as "unnecessarily heavy-handed". He added: "It's a small step to far more illiberal measures like banning smoking in all private vehicles or, worse, banning smoking in the home. Enough is enough."
Enough is never enough with these people. They will push and push and push....
A ban cannot happen quickly enough for Lynda Mitchell. The 53-year-old, from Bristol, has never smoked but is dying of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. "I found being exposed to passive smoke in the car the worst because there was no escape. I want parents to know that what happened to me could happen to their children if they continue to smoke near them."
That's terribly sad, but the key word there is 'could', isn't it?

12 comments:

Dick Puddlecote said...

Just goes to show that even world-renowned actresses aren't immune to systematic brainwashing.

Clarissa said...

And once things that actually emit something that (if one is to be generous) might, just might, possibly cause various illnesses are banned then they will move onto things that don't actually emit anything, viz:

King County wants to ban public e-cigarette smoking

Chuckles said...

Just goes to show that even world renowned actresses don't know that cars are private property.

Anonymous said...

Judi Dench never struck me as being gullible enough to be used by profiteers like ASH.
Oh well, on the boycott list now.

Captain Haddock said...

I've never liked Dench or Williams .. I think their acting abilities are/were vastly over-rated ..

That Dench should be spouting this limp-wristed, namby-pamby, tripe comes as no surprise ..

Let's face it .. all actors/actresses are whores of the Left anyway ..

And could one ever take seriously the words of people who named their child "Minty" FFS ?

Angry Exile said...

@Clarissa, I found out very recently that e-cigs are already banned here in Victoria. I was absolutely gobsmacked. Big Pharma protecting their business, maybe? And now the taxpayer has begun to subsidise some of the gums and patches for people who want to quit (my personal experience was that it was a damn sight easier to go cold turkey than piss about with gum and patches, but the object of the exercise wasn't simply to enrich a different industry anyway). So if you want to enjoy a bit of nicotine then fags or e-cigs are your best bet. But if you want to buy shares in something go for Big Pharma because they've got the politicians absolutely dancing to their tune.

banned said...

I would never dream of smoking in a car if a child was present but as for banning smoking in all cars and vehicles, they have the Channel Isles to use as example, they have banned it for some years now.

Laban said...

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Angry Exile said...

banned, I'd never dream of putting a child in a car if someone wanted to have a quiet, contemplative smoke in there. ;-)

Squander Two said...

Not sure if this is the case in the whole of the UK, but in Scotland smoking is already banned in some cars. The ban on smoking in workplaces includes cars that are being used for work. So, if you're a journalist, you're allowed to smoke in your car unless you're driving to meet someone to interview them, in which case smoking is illegal.

banned said...

@Angry Exile, Good point

JuliaM said...

"...then they will move onto things that don't actually emit anything..."

/facepalm

Laban's quote is apt, here.

"And could one ever take seriously the words of people who named their child "Minty" FFS ?"

Good grief!

"I would never dream of smoking in a car if a child was present.."

Nor would most reasonable people, and the unreasonable ones aren't likely to obey a ban anyway!

"Not sure if this is the case in the whole of the UK, but in Scotland smoking is already banned in some cars. The ban on smoking in workplaces includes cars that are being used for work."

Yup, it's just the same here - there's been a few prosecutions for it, for example, this one.