Chris Snowden on the Ever-growing Nanny State | Reupload

May 31, 2021 | Gary sits down with Christopher Snowdon, author of the Nanny State Index. They discuss vaping; smoking; sugar taxes; Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol; the drive towards increased nanny statism coming from NGOs; & what consumers can do to fight back.

Chris Snowden on the Ever-Growing Nanny State

May 31, 2021 • Gary sits down with Christopher Snowdon, author of the Nanny State Index. They discuss vaping; smoking; sugar taxes; Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol; the drive towards increased nanny statism coming from NGOs; & what consumers can do to fight back.

These interfering dudes in government have absolutely no sense of 'joie de vivre'! Further, they forget that they work for us: they are our public sevants. Their positions are paid for by our taxes! They should get off our backs and let us lead our lives as we see fit! I can think of a few people in politics in the UK—I won’t name them – today—who behave like interfering old women! In years gone by, we used to call them Betsys! Even though I have successfully given up smoking, listening to this discussion makes me want to start again!

People are not becoming healthier from quitting smoking at all. Instead of smoking, people now eat loads of junk food instead, and grow fatter abd fatter. As a result, obesity and type-2 diabetes rates are soaring. So, instead of dying from tobacco-related illnesses, they are now dying of illnesses related to obesity, insulin-resistance and metabolic syndrome instead. And that's a fact!

Whilst it is healthier not to smoke, it is healthier not to do so only if one vice is not substitued for another. Political hacks don't seem to understand this. One could speak of the law of unintended consequences here. – @ Mark

Ann Coulter Discussion on ‘Nanny State’ Anti-smoking Law Derails into Debate on Gay Saunas

Read the article here | Corinne Pinfold | Monday, March 25, 2013

Il governo italiano ha preso congedo dei suoi sensi! Kissing in Cars, Feeding Stray Cats and Building Sandcastles All Banned in Italy
THE TELEGRAPH: Bans on kissing while driving a car, feeding stray cats and building sandcastles are among a rash of new laws Italians say threaten to turn the country into the ultimate nanny state.

More than 150 "public security" laws have been introduced since Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, granted extra powers to local councils to help them crack down on crime and anti-social behaviour.

In the latest episode in the fight to maintain "public decorum", Vigevano, a town near Milan, this week slapped fines of €160 (£130) each on a young couple who dared to sit on the steps of a local monument.

"It was really hot, so we just sat down for a moment," said Giada Carnevale, 24. "The only other alternative in the piazza is to go to a bar but there they charge you €5 just for a drink. We were just chatting – we weren't eating or drinking or smoking."

But the town's mayor justified the fine, saying the council spent precious time and money each month cleaning up after idlers on the steps.

Passionate Italians caught kissing in a moving car in the town of Eboli, south of Naples, face a €500 fine. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Friday, July 02, 2010

LA STAMPA: I divieti del 2010: Le ordinanze più strane in vigore in Italia e punite con multe salate >>> Flavia Amabile | Venerdì 2 luglio, 2010

Tobacco Firms Could Be Forced to Sell Cigarettes in Plain Packets
THE TELEGRAPH: Tobacco firms are set to be forced to sell cigarettes in plain, unbranded packets as the next step in the war on smoking.

Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, will signal his support for the move as he launches the government's "tobacco control strategy" tomorrow which aims to halve the number of smokers in Britain by 2020.

In a major speech Mr Burnham will also pave the way for new "interventionist" policies aimed at stopping people smoking in their own homes or cars if they live with children.

However, he will stop short of planning an outright ban on domestic or in-car smoking – claiming this would be a move too far against freedom of choice.

Instead, ministers will consider banning the sale of cigarettes from vending machines, which they say currently provide far too easy access for children as they can be positioned near the entrances of pubs and clubs.

And the current ban on smoking in workplaces and "enclosed public places" such as pubs and workplaces could be extended to cover areas such as walkways and entrances to buildings, currently a favourite haunt of smokers exiled from inside.

Ministers will also announce a new crackdown on the import of cheap illicit cigarettes from abroad. >>> Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor | Saturday, January 30, 2010

Smokers to Face Doorway Ban in New Public Health Policy
THE GUARDIAN: Health secretary Andy Burnham keen to extend 2007 law / Plan to protect non-smokers and reduce UK smokers to 10%

Smokers could be forced to light up away from the entrances to public buildings under government moves aimed at ensuring that no more than one in 10 Britons smoke cigarettes.

The health secretary, Andy Burnham, now favours extending the 2007 landmark law which banned smoking in pubs, workplaces and other enclosed places, to prevent non-smokers having to walk through clouds of secondhand smoke.

The move comes as part of a wider attempt by Burnham to set out the case for state intervention to improve public health, insisting it does not amount to a nanny state. He will set out four principles where he says intervention is justified: where it protects the health of children, where a person's choice affects the choices of others, where barriers need to be removed to allow people to behave healthily, and where the environment can be shaped to offer healthier lifestyles.

Tomorrow's announcements will encourage cars and homes to remain smoke-free, but Burnham will stress that the state does not have a right to intervene in a private space, even to protect children. His department plans to "work with the public sector, business and the public to communicate the dangers of smoking in the home and the car".

Leading medical bodies such as the UK Faculty of Public Health back a legal ban on smoking in cars containing children, as does doctors' leader Professor Steve Field, who called it "a form of child abuse". But concern over what could be portrayed as an unwarranted interference in human rights is likely to limit any government action in advertising campaigns.

Burnham will also "carefully consider" the case for forcing all cigarettes to be stripped of their distinctive wrapping and sold instead in plain brown packets, in order to reduce their appeal. There will also be renewed action against black market tobacco, a ban on tobacco vending machines and extra NHS support for those who want to quit. >>> Denis Campbell and Patrick Wintour | Monday, February 01, 2010

Artist David Hockney Slams Smoking Ban
YAHOO! NEWS: Artist David Hockney has said he loathes the Labour Government for interfering in his life by introducing the smoking ban.

The 72-year-old lifelong smoker is backing a cross-party group of MPs who want the ban to be relaxed, so people can light up in designated rooms in pubs.

Hockney told the BBC's Politics Show that he was appalled to find that his local cafe in east Yorkshire no longer allowed people to smoke at tables outside, because they were frightened that smoke would waft inside and breach the law.

He said Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair were responsible and added: "I loathe them for it."

Hockney also took a swipe at the Government's "nanny state attitude", saying that if ministers had told the late TV chef Keith Floyd to give up rich food, alcohol and cigarettes in order to live longer, "he would have said to them that's not what I call living. Up yours! >>> ITN | Sunday, September 20, 2009

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words!
Found near a mosque in Edinburgh. Photo: MailOnline

P*** O**, Big Brother! I’ll Look After My Own Health, Thank You Very Much!
THE TELEGRAPH: Well-meaning 'snoops' are being recruited by the Government to nag their colleagues, family and neighbours into living healthier lives.

Photo thanks to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Public health "mentors" will be enlisted by the NHS to offer 'on the spot' advice in their local neighbourhood when they see people smoking, eating or drinking too much.

The Government hopes that the volunteers will help to get across its messages on healthy living in a new and influential way but the plans have been criticised as evidence of the creeping 'nanny state'.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Arts yesterday , Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, said mentors could be "amazingly successful" and that he hoped that they could revolutionise the nation's health.

The mentors, who as volunteers are not paid, are expected to work to influence the people around them, offering advice to workmates, family and friends about how they should change their unhealthy habits.

Eating a third fried breakfast of the week in the office canteen, having a drink 'for the road' at your local pub or chain-smoking another cigarette while waiting for the bus could all see the mentors spring into action to offer the Government's advice.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that it was hoped that mentors would spread the word among "people they come in contact with on a daily basis, including their friends and neighbours, and also be able to point them to NHS services, such as smoking cessation services". 'Snoops' to Nag Their Friends to Live Healthier Lives >>> By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent | Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

On the Road to a Socialist State: Obama Wants to Get the Government Involved in How Americans Raise Their Children, and from Birth!
Why don’t politicians stop meddling in people’s private affairs? If politicians want to do something to help children, then the best thing they can do is help and encourage people to be monogamous, and in stable relationships, so that their children can be raised in a healthy and stable environment. ‘Tis better for the child to have two parents, and, if at all possible, for one of them to stay at home and raise that child. Children need mothers not crèches, and a mother’s love and nurturing, not institutionalization. - ©Mark

TOWNHALL.COM: One of the most dramatic changes in American life in the years since World War II involves the way we raise our children.

We used to do it ourselves. Now, convinced we have better things to do, many of us leave the job to others.

Encouraging this flight from parenthood, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has proposed what he calls his "Zero to Five" plan. It is a collection of programs aimed at getting the government involved in the raising of your children from the moment they are born. Obama’s Vision for Government-Run Childhood >>> By Terence Jeffrey | June 25, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US)

American Health Nazis Move Closer to Home
Photo courtesy of Google Images
TOWNHALL.COM: During Prohibition, making and selling liquor was illegal, but drinking it was not. With tobacco, we are moving toward the opposite situation, where it will be legal to make and sell cigarettes but not to smoke them.

A smoking ban recently approved by the city council of Belmont, Calif., a town halfway between San Jose and San Francisco, is so sweeping that saying where it does not apply is easier than saying where it does. Smoking will still be allowed in tobacco shops, in automobiles, in some hotel rooms, in private residences that do not share a floor or ceiling with other private residences, and on streets and sidewalks, assuming you can find a spot that is not within 20 feet of a smoke-free location.

That may be hard, since Belmont's smoke-free areas include not only buildings open to the public but outdoor locations where people wait, such as ATM lines and bus stops, or work, such as construction sites and restaurant patios. But a smoker who despairs of finding an outdoor area where smoking is allowed can still light up even if he does not own a car and is unlucky enough to live in an apartment or condominium. He just has to land a role in a theatrical production "where smoking is an integral part of the story." Anti-Tobacco Crusaders Boldly Go into Smokers' Homes (more) By Jacob Sullum

Mark Alexander

Turning the US into a Nanny State
TOWNHALL.COM: With his book “Nanny State,” Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi has thrown a conservative-libertarian rope around a disturbing political and cultural trend -- the nannification of America by moral busybodies and nitpicking maternalists who use government power to micromanage our personal lives and protect us from ourselves. Whether it’s outlawing trans fats in New York City or tag on school playgrounds, Harsanyi says the “nannyists” among us are not only creating a new culture of dependency on government but also eroding what’s left of our individual freedoms. I talked to the author of “Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and Other Boneheaded Bureaucrats Are Turning American Into a Nation of Children” by phone from his offices in Denver. Welcome to the Nanny State – An Interview (more) By Bill Steigerwald

Mark Alexander

Playing Nanny to Pregnant Women
THE OBSERVER: · £120 grant to buy fruit and vegetables
· Brown rejects 'nanny state' criticism
All expectant mothers are to be given a one-off payment of around £120 that they will be encouraged to spend on fresh fruit and vegetables as a way of protecting their children from diseases and incurable conditions later in life.

The plan for a 'health in pregnancy' grant will be outlined by Health Secretary Alan Johnson this week in his first major speech outlining how the government plans to tackle the yawning health divide between the richest and poorest in England and Wales.

The payment - the first by a government that is allied to a specific health target - would be given to women when they are seven months pregnant. It would be linked to them receiving professional health advice on how to maintain a proper balanced diet, and give up drinking and smoking. The move comes as the government's record on improving public health will come under fresh scrutiny this week when Sir Derek Wanless, a former government adviser on the NHS, publishes a major report that will criticise lack of progress on tackling increasingly unhealthy lifestyles which have led to Britain's obesity epidemic. The report is expected to highlight poor eating habits, people's increasingly sedentary routines and the growing number of overweight people as areas where more determined action needs to be taken.

The pregnancy measure, to be introduced in 2009, is likely to prove highly controversial as women will be free to spend the money on drink or cigarettes. Sources told The Observer that the government accepts that some of the 630,000 women who become pregnant each year may choose not to spend the money on healthy food. There is also little published research to show that a financial incentive, combined with nutritional advice, is sufficient to persuade mothers from the most deprived areas to change their lifestyle. Pregnant women to get cash for good diet (more)

Mark Alexander

Western Governments’ Sick Obsession with Banning Everything
Not only do we have the threat of our lifestyles being changed out of all recognition by Muslims determined to continue their jihad against the free world, but we also have another form of jihad to contend with these days: the jihad being waged by the health Nazis! Health Nazis ,oh and I forgot the 'safety campaigners', are all obsessed with everything from smoking to consuming alcohol and disciplining your children. (It’s psychologically bad for them, you see.)

This morning, in the Daily Mail, it has been reported that these same health freaks, these same health Nazis now want to ban drivers from smoking in their cars! Where will it all end?

Don’t let these freaks take our rights away from us like this! All these bans are the thin edge of the wedge. Today, it's smoking. What will it be tomorrow? Let the free world remain free! Let people make their own choices! Let people live their lives! Live and let live! - ©Mark Alexander

Photo of smoker courtesy of the DAILY MAIL

DAILY MAIL: Road safety campaigners are urging the Government to ban smoking at the wheel.

Drivers caught lighting up would be given a £60 fine and three penalty points added to their licence under plans put forward by the Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association, which represents councils across the UK.

From July 1, smokers in England will be banned from lighting up in enclosed public places and at work. The ban is already in place in the rest of the UK.

This means that smokers who drive company vehicles will not be allowed to light up while driving, even if there is no one else in the car. Plea to ban drivers from smoking (more)

FOREST: SMOKE, LIES AND THE NANNY STATE By Joe Jackson

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE: Pro Libertate

Mark Alexander