Cigarette manufacturers.

[Bicycle]

I smoked from age 20 (when I stopped serious sport) to 29 (when I became a father).

I was on 20 a day for much of that time and I loved it. I knew it was deadly, but I was immortal at that age.

My father was an athlete (half mile) in pre-war London and was told by his coach at the age of 15-16 to have a quick smoke before races to calm his nerves. In my early 20s I had the odd smoke before a half-marathon (which I used to do for fun and not very fast).

I dislike the smell of stale tobacco now, but I do understand why people smoke and I really think it's up to them. I find quite absurd the thought of smokers with terminal lung and heart conditions suing the manufacturers. We are supposed to die and if we live carelessly we will probably die younger.

As to the government (successive governments across decades) taking duty paid on ciggies into the exchequer, I wouldn't have it any other way. If they could hit drug peddlars with a similar duty, all the better.

But... I'd take the VAT off bicycles and cycling accessories...

 

[asterix]

Reading the thread about breast implants got me thinking. If its been proven that cigarettes kill, cause illness and allsorts of nasty side effects. Why are they allowed to be sold? ..

Tobacco growing is a very big industry in certain parts of the world, including the USA.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2504947.../us-tobacco-farming-bigger-ever/#.TwltRG9STb8

the domestic market isn’t where most American-raised tobacco ends up. According to the Department of Agriculture, more than 60 percent goes overseas. Not only is it going to traditional trading partners like Japan and Germany, but increasingly to developing countries like China, Korea and Ukraine.

Former PM Mrs Thatcher had strong links to the industry:

In 1992 Margaret Thatcher signed on as an international consultant to the Philip Morris tobacco company at a pay rate of US $500,000 annually, with half to be paid directly to Mrs. Thatcher and half to be paid to the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.
According to the 19 July 1992 U.S. Sunday Times article, Ms. Thatcher's "advice will be sought on controversial issues including the penetration of tobacco markets in Eastern Europe and the Third World. She will also be asked to help resist attempts to ban tobacco advertising in the European Community and to fight cigarette taxes and state-run tobacco monopolies." Thatcher was a non-smoker who spoke out against tobacco several times while Prime Minister.
The Independent [Newspaper] reported that Philip Morris paid for a 70th birthday bash for Mrs. Thatcher on 23 October 1995 in Washington, D.C. 800 guests attended and the estimated cost of the party was $1 million.

So basically it is down to money vs morality and money wins.

 

[Bicycle]

So basically it is down to money vs morality and money wins.

I think that's a harsh assessment.

We are wonderful creatures and we are good at things. If I weren't human, I'd want to be.

We make excellent weapons and use them to exactly as the manufacturer intended. They really are excellent weapons.

We make war over oil, swearing blind that it's about democracy. We don't read the articles about how democracy is still a billion miles away after the war.

Many of us live in a northern-hemisphere paradise of multi-car households and make a big deal out of the pittance we give to the starving and to donkey sanctuaries. We wonder whether this might not be a good time to get rid of the Aga and run only two cars.

The duty paid on toxic but legal recreational substances is not really an issue.

I don't think money wins over morality. I'm not sure it was ever even a contest.

One of the most wonderful things about humanity is how little of it we have. That's why I often wear a cycling helmet.

Of much more concern to me is whether Henry will be able to fit back into an Arsenal side that has changed so much, albeit in more of a super-sub role.

Also, why does Arshavin only show us his potential every third wet Saturday and then only for two minutes?

Questions should be asked in the House.

 

[MontyVeda]

...
I find quite absurd the thought of smokers with terminal lung and heart conditions suing the manufacturers.
...

These days maybe, but 40+ years ago, smoker's weren't given health warnings... in fact the manufacturers marketed tobacco as a desirable product, a milder smoke with NO THROAT IRRITATION, promoting certain brands as healthy, but avoiding the word 'healthy'.

 

[Bicycle]

These days maybe, but 40+ years ago, smoker's weren't given health warnings... in fact the manufacturers marketed tobacco as a desirable product, a milder smoke with NO THROAT IRRITATION, promoting certain brands as healthy, but avoiding the word 'healthy'.

Quite.

The dangers were covered up or ignored, but I still don't see it as a helpful or productive use of the law.

I mentioned earlier that my dad was encouraged as a pre-war teenage half-miler (800m runner) to smoke before races to calm him. Bizarrely, in 1972 he suffered a pneumothorax and was advised to cut down on smoking. Not to stop, but to cut down. He couldn't moderate so he quit, but the doctor would have been happy with 15 a day... How things change.

I recall also one of my favourite sporting images from childhood: A sweat-soaked Frank McLintock at half-time in the 1971 FA cup final, with a dram and a lit cigarette. How things change.

I also remember the first time I was asked not to smoke. I was in a cafe called 'La Lune Noire' in 1982 (I believe the first/only man ever asked in) and someone started to cough quite theatrically and said my smoke was upsetting her. I was gobsmacked and thought her slightly unhinged but dogged my smoke out anyway. Little did I realise that within 10 years I'd be asking guests at my house to smoke in the garden.

How things change.

One of my children smoked in the 6th Form (although only weed, I think) and I was amused at how much it got to me. It was different in my day. We, like, knew what we were doing.

 

[swee'pea99]

It amazes me that no-one on this thread appears to have picked up on the threat represented by tea cosies.

 

[MontyVeda]

It amazes me that no-one on this thread appears to have picked up on the threat represented by tea cosies.

Well it made me think... but those lists are best taken with a pinch of salt... they do come from a newspaper i assume, rather than A&E

 

[Arch]

Well it made me think... but those lists are best taken with a pinch of salt... they do come from a newspaper i assume, rather than A&E

I thought they were offical figures - but of course they can be manipulated. Before Christmas, I climbed up on the wheel of our little truck to fetch a small bag of garden waste - in fact an old bunch of flowers - from the rack on the roof of the cab. My foot slipped and I fell off and jarred one ankle and ended up flat on my back. I didn't need A and E luckily, but my ankle hurt and was swollen for a few days, and still twinges now. Was that accident caused by a bunch of flowers? Yes, sort of!

I remember hearing something on Have I Got News for You about biscuit related accidents, and one of them was a man who got stuck walking across wet concrete to fetch a biscuit that had fallen onto it....

 

[Milo]

I got my thump stuck in a bottle due to excessive curiousness could have been worse I suppose. It was rather painful so I have learnt my lesson.