Those were the days when smoking was the norm.
Up to 70% of men smoked and a sizeable coterie of women did so also. Every home was littered with ashtrays, even those whose occupants didn’t partake of the pleasure. You only had to say “Do you mind if I smoke” and a plentiful supply of ash trays would appear as if by magic. Even the bedroom was not out of bounds.
In those days smoking was permitted everywhere. Cinemas, buses (Top deck only), offices, pubs (Natch), trains, aircraft, & just about everywhere.
Then about twenty years ago the Nu puritans started to gain the ascendant. Slowly but surely they pushed the line that “Smoking kills”. Regardless of the fact that smokers knew the risks and accepted as a fact of life, smokers might one day be struck down with lung cancer.
As the Nu puritans, showered with government money, became bolder, more and more diseases were added to the list of smoking related diseases. Cardiovascular, cancer of the Asoephegous (supply your own spelling if you’re a nosy nu puritan reading this post), gum disease, etc. Nothing was off limits to the nu puritans.
Slowly but surely the creep of prohibition set in. Bans on public transport, planes, etc. Then private offices were to have smoking rooms, etc. The evil of second-hand smoke
Of course the governments of the time, seeing their tax revenue falling, jumped on the band wagon of nu health, and vowed to save the nation by increasing tax on tobacco. This of course gave legitimacy to the nu puritans, who have since redoubled their efforts to de-normalisation of the smoker.
So then they came for the pubs and clubs. The hysterical cry arose “We must save the bar people from dying of second hand smoke”, Of course they didn’t care that they would put thousands of staff out of work, many who smoked, and the rest, glad that they had employment. The government seemed to fail to understand that pubs are actually private premises. But then again when have you known an intelligent politician.
Of course the nu puritans have won the battles so far, but the hardcore of us proud smokers will never give in. Unless the government bans tobacco completely (Do you think they will want to lose the £11.5 billion in tobacco revenue? If you do then find another planet to live on), then the nu puritans will have lost the war.
It’s a war of time and resolve. We can get through the display bans and plain packaging and though I may not see it in my life time we shall prevail.
PS.
You’re next fatties, drinkers, salt likers, etc ,etc,etc. The template is in place and now being used.
PPS,
Can you guess which one is the nu puritan?
Is it the ASHen faced one on the left or the comely wench on the right?
(The clue is in the text)
Just goes to show how the internal ugliness of fanaticism eventually perverts the outside. ( f*ck is 'she' really a female? that is horrible, I can only imagine her partner, if she has one, is a major league pervert )
ReplyDeleteWe knew it would be a dirty fight when one of their first moves was to allow smoking on the tube in just the front carriage, the one where you die if it crashes.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with smoking from my point of view as a none smoker, is that the smell manages to cling to me and I don't want it to. I can go the pub and as long as I only have a couple of pints and don't go to close when I get home can get away with it with the other half. When people smoked inside she would know if I'd walked past the door, let alone gone in. At times in my local the air really was so poisonous, I'd leave rather than put up with it for any longer. I do not have the words to tell you how much better it is for us none smokers, it can even now be quite unpleasant walking past a group of smokers outside the office doors. As I have commented before here, please carry on smoking if you want to but please understand how unpleasant it is for us none smokers in the vicinity.
ReplyDeleteDaedalus.
But we could have had smoking and non smoking venues..........
DeleteTo be honest, it there was just the one smoking room in most pubs etc (if up to scratch, meaning no leaking into the rest of the establishment), I would have no real issue with that. I suspect it would get a bit crowded though! The funny thing is a lot of my mates smoke, (how come I never did after joining the Merchant Navy myself as an Engineer Cadet at 16, I do not know, probably the fact my dad did not smoke; although my mum did [She died of a massive stroke at 61] and none of us kids could stand the smoke and none of us smoke) I just enjoy a pint or 2 or 3 and as long as the bladder holds out, I don't get violent, I am not really going to cause anyone any issues.
DeleteAs always I support your right to smoke, as long as it does not affect me.
Daedalus
Proper air-conditioning will deal with your objection to smell of smoke, which in fact covered up the smell of ales, sweat, farts etc. Once again, if smokers are so smelly, why do doctors have to ask "Do you smoke?" Perhaps you are over sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke, yet may love the smell of a welcoming open log fire. There are others that find the smell of an old fashioned pub festooned with ashtrays very welcoming, yet in order to accommodate those that do not like that will put up with air-conditioning.
Delete"In those days smoking was permitted everywhere. Cinemas, buses (Top deck only), offices, pubs (Natch), trains, aircraft, & just about everywhere."
ReplyDeleteIndeed, as children we were exposed daily to tobacco smoke wherever we were. Even in hospitals. And how many of your peers, FE, suffered from childhood asthma? And how many of them were allergic to peanuts? Gluten? Lactose? And what is the general state of health of our generation now? We, the poor mites exposed to all that second-hand smoke back in the fifties and sixties. Are we dropping like flies from all those problems attributed to exposure to SHS five or six decades on?
As for the Dreadful Arnott, she always looks like she's just sucked a lemon. In fact, she actually epitomises in visual terms exactly what one would imagine a pursed-lipped puritan to look like. It's really quite uncanny. It would be funny if not for the fact that she has such a baleful influence over so many people's lives.
Totally unconnected, FE, but did you ever work in one of these??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.liberty-ship.com/html/vtour/08.html
Nigel. I'm not THAT old. My first ship did have a triple expansion steam engine like the one in the picture .
ReplyDelete