Comments on: Smoking http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2005/10/25/1877 Every day the Prime Minister's Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as 'the lobby' for a topical chat, or 'briefing'. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:27:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: Tasty Macfadden http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2005/10/25/1877#comment-3691 Tasty Macfadden Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:25:18 +0000 http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2005/10/25/1877#comment-3691 If you go into any hospital in the land late at night you might find a handful of emergency admissions which have resulted from -generally- a lifetime's smoking. These lifetime addictions have -generally- harmed only the addict, whilst enriching worthies like the deeply unattractive Kenneth Clark. Casualty departments, however, most nights but especially at weekends are filled with victims of straightforward alcoholic poisoning, of alcohol related violence, of drunken driving; victims of the whole ghastly pisshead culture, the blood, shit, piss, scars, fractures, broken heads and limbs; homicides, domestic violence, crashed cars, broken windows and terrorised citizens, the vomit and vandalism that is the stock-in-trade of the Licensed Vintners Associations, the brewers and distillers and the vilest most irresponsible and hypocritical creatures known to man, the publicans. Alcohol is a factor in the vast majority of crimes, recorded and unrecorded, the jails are filled to bursting with people who offended when they were pissed; the remaining psychiatric units number many alkies in their client group and tens of thousands of people die each year from major organ disease caused by too much booze. Contrasted with all this mayhem cigarettes are a minor irritant. If health secretary and Nurse Ratchitt clone Patricia Hewitt really gave a monkey's about public health and a civil society she'd close the pubs down and never mind the cigarettes. Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree, I want everybody to be free and I think drinking's all very well but, like masturbation, it ought to be done in private. Its the pubs that are the problem. Not the fags. I think Bob Dylan said that. As we say on Orkney if she'd a had his dinner ready when he came in from the pub, he would'na had to give her such a hiding. If you go into any hospital in the land late at night you might find a handful of emergency admissions which have resulted from -generally- a lifetime’s smoking. These lifetime addictions have -generally- harmed only the addict, whilst enriching worthies like the deeply unattractive Kenneth Clark. Casualty departments, however, most nights but especially at weekends are filled with victims of straightforward alcoholic poisoning, of alcohol related violence, of drunken driving; victims of the whole ghastly pisshead culture, the blood, shit, piss, scars, fractures, broken heads and limbs; homicides, domestic violence, crashed cars, broken windows and terrorised citizens, the vomit and vandalism that is the stock-in-trade of the Licensed Vintners Associations, the brewers and distillers and the vilest most irresponsible and hypocritical creatures known to man, the publicans.

Alcohol is a factor in the vast majority of crimes, recorded and unrecorded, the jails are filled to bursting with people who offended when they were pissed; the remaining psychiatric units number many alkies in their client group and tens of thousands of people die each year from major organ disease caused by too much booze. Contrasted with all this mayhem cigarettes are a minor irritant.

If health secretary and Nurse Ratchitt clone Patricia Hewitt really gave a monkey’s about public health and a civil society she’d close the pubs down and never mind the cigarettes.

Now, I’m liberal, but to a degree, I want everybody to be free and I think drinking’s all very well but, like masturbation, it ought to be done in private. Its the pubs that are the problem. Not the fags. I think Bob Dylan said that.

As we say on Orkney if she’d a had his dinner ready when he came in from the pub, he would’na had to give her such a hiding.

]]>