Wednesday 7 May 2014

Labour MSP Confirms It Wasn't About Bar Staff

"So politicians lie, sue me"
You may not have heard of Ken Macintosh - not surprising because even Ed Miliband struggles to remember him - but he made quite a revelation in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
I cannot speak for other members, but my main motivation in voting for and supporting the ban on smoking in public places in Scotland was that it would help us to denormalise smoking, so that we would no longer see people smoking in our pubs or cafes or in most other workaday or social situations, and so that we and our children would no longer see smoking as a normal activity. I believe that the ban has been successful in doing exactly that ...
Now, we jewel robbers have always known that the smoking ban was installed on the back of lies and deceit, but it's nice to see it officially recorded.

Of course, it won't come as any consolation to the thousands of pub owners whose businesses were deliberately sabotaged - and in many cases shut down - due to a mendacious political trick. As the tobacco control industry has known since the 1970s, the only way that idiot politicians could be persuaded en masse to trample on property rights and financially cripple our world-renowned hospitality trade was via the justification that it would end the carnage of bar worker bodies piling up in the street of a weekend.

So why has Ken chosen now to come out with with this admission? Well, simply because by changing the terms of debate he can call for yet another ban, this time for e-cigs.
... I worry that we are about to undo some of that good work. 
The Advertising Standards Authority has just finished its consultation on advertising of e-cigarettes, and I hope that it will treat them as it would any other cigarette [...] the Welsh Government has said that it will restrict their use in enclosed public spaces. Here in Scotland, the minister is undoubtedly making the right noises, and seems to be indicating her intention to follow suit, but announcements have so far been limited to saying that the Government is considering the next steps.
There was no dissent from other contributors over another loss of liberty for their citizens - this is Scotland, after all, where they get very excited about banning stuff - but plenty of support. Fellow Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale declared how Macintosh's tosh had "educated" her about vaping, and Scottish Nationalist Michael Russell suggested that Macintosh may very well get his wish.
It was also right for Mr Macintosh to discuss vaping. I am quite sure that the health ministers will bring forward their plans and will have noted his contribution.
So a ban on e-cigs in Scottish public places it is, then. Hmm, it's not about health, is it?

It does appear, though, that these particular idiot politicians have very little clue what they are talking about. If you're in Scotland, you might want to be pro-active and start sending them some educational letters before they get carried away with their own ignorant self-importance.

UPDATE:

Scotland must be proud to have an expert like Macintosh educating parliament about e-cigs.
Vaping is the new term for use of e-cigarettes, which give off a cloud of vapour rather than tarry smoke. It is a term that has been coined by advertisers that are promoting a new and, they hope, attractive product.
Err, actually, it's an old term coined by a doctor in the 1970s.


Apart from that, he's spot on.

Document H/T CS via Twitter


11 comments:

John Davidson Jr said...

Even Hitler came clean in the end.............Course it was a clean shot threw the temple and a CYANIDE capsule that brought the truth to light!
Now if only we could get ASH to do the same and about 3/4ths of the rest of the world politicians to do the same!

Rursus said...

Ken Macintosh is doing strange thing ;)
Nice video, in which he attacks a Scottish government grant awarded to Amazon unaware that his party colleague had called for the grant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mhSdN4I9gA

John Davidson Jr said...

Heres a very enjoyable read

” All these years that you’ve heard about the deathly dangers of secondhand smoke. How many people have you ever known or heard about who died from secondhand smoke? Ever read it in an obit? A news story? “Death was attributed to secondhand smoke inhalation.”

Smoke-free Moorestown shows common sense

http://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/columnists/jd-mullane/smoke-free-moorestown-shows-common-sense/article_9904d323-1204-5a32-9a29-32e2772d839f.html

Budvar Yorks said...

That's the thing with the Jocks, Thatcher did something 30 odd years ago, and we still haven't heard the last of it. Their own impose this sort of shit, and not a peep out of em..

Stugo said...

As I've just said at Frank's...

I’ve met him two or three times. He was my MSP when I lived in East
Renfrewshire. A more robotic useful idiot you couldn’t hope not to meet.
I first met him very shortly after winning his first election and the
MP, Jim Murphy (who you’re more likely to have heard of as he was a
Labour minister last time), was sitting with him to teach him how to
react to the proles coming through the door.

Actually, Murphy was far more ‘normal’ in those days. Rather likeable. He wasn’t long an MP.

On a subsequent visit with Macintosh, sans Murphy, I was having
problems with benefits, if memory serves, and after discussing that I
moved onto the plans to introduce civil partnerships or some other major
topic of the time and all I got back was party rhetoric like he’d had a
chip implanted in his brain which rendered him unable to answer a
direct question in his own words.

Stugo said...

Excuse me, but the vast majority of Labour MPs voted for a ban, which obviously means more English MPs voted for it than anyone else.

The Pied Piper said...

Not much point waiting for ASH & Co to do the honorable whether by pistol or
poison,they have assumed the legacy of Hitler by disregarding any opposition,
total control of the debate and stifling reason
Best thing to do is to supply them the noose rope while quietly building the gallows,remember,they are but a motley band who think their cardboard castle
is built of stone.

keith stammers said...

Scotland is one of the few countries that has not had to be invaded to give up it's oil, they gave it all to their English masters and then wait for hand backs, maybe they think the English can run their country better than they can. If Scotland kept it's own oil ever one of it's citizens would be a millionaire, instead of living in poverty.

Ivan D said...

Macintosh is thick as a brick, unjustifiably arrogant and appears to enjoy banning things. He has found natural homes in the modern Labour party and The Scottish parliament. He has a degree in History and used to work for the BBC. They all piss in the same pot.

Justinian said...

Anti smokers have some new allies
ISIS an Islamic group currently occupying several villages in northern Syria
have imposed new strict laws in the areas under their control
Quote BBC
"Isis has banned cigarettes and music in Raqqa, and ordered shops to close during prayer times"
Also, they have introduced CRUCIFIXION for Christian captives,two allready
pinned on crosses outside an occupied village.
Cig banning and torturing christians ,ASH must be dancing with joy
Justinian

truckerlyn said...

So, he thinks children don't see as much smoking now! With crowds of smokers stood on the streets outside pubs, which had previously mostly been an adult domain, I am sure they see it as far more natural and everyday than they did before! Especially when those crowds of smokers are having a good laugh and a joke - rather appealing, don't you think?