THE TELEGRAPH: Addicts cannot simply quit as soon as they enter hospital and the activity gives them some much-needed relief
Labour’s plan to ban smoking on hospital grounds is the epitome of a top-down initiative by a nanny-state government. It’s a great example of politicians having an idea, without actually being involved in the practicalities. They don’t understand how hospitals work because they don’t work in hospitals. This solution is a poor sticking plaster to a nation-wide problem.
When it comes to hospitals, we have to be liberal about smoking out of sheer empathy for the patients – many of whom are at the end of their lives. There’s no doubt that smoking is bad for you, so I’m not suggesting that we should encourage people to do it. But for many patients it’s a lifeline – a practice that brings comfort and relief at times of deep distress.
We also cannot ignore the fact that smoking is first and foremost an addiction – you can’t just give it up when you are admitted to hospital. Walk into any hospital in the country, even in the height of winter when it’s freezing cold, and you will see patients standing outside the main entrance in pyjamas with drip stands and drugs, smoking. Some will be smoking as relief from the stress of the intense hospital environment, some will be socialising and enjoying time together and some will be relishing the feeling of a comforting habit that they’ve enjoyed all their lives. » | Karol Sikora * | Tuesday, November 5, 2024
* Prof Karol Sikora is a leading cancer specialist, who worked as a clinical director in the NHS for more than 25 years.
THE GUARDIAN:
Smoking to be banned outside schools and hospitals in England, but pubs get reprieve: Legislation also includes ban on advertising of vapes and restrictions on flavours, packaging and marketing »
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 05, 2024
Monday, August 28, 2023
France to Ban Muslim Students* Wearing Abayas in State Schools - BBC News
Aug 28, 2023 | Pupils will be banned from wearing abayas - loose-fitting, full-length robes worn by some Muslim women - in France's state-run schools, the education minister has said.
The rule will be applied as soon as the new school year starts on 4 September.
France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws. Wearing a headscarf has been banned since 2004 in state-run schools.
Verwandter Artikel auf Deutsch.
Schoolchildren are more usually and more correctly referred to as pupils rather than students. Is, perhaps, the word 'students' being used here by the BBC to obfuscate the issue?
In regard to the banning of abayas and hijabs, the French are right to ban these modes of dress for schoolchildren. In a good, well-functioning establishment dedicated to the education of children, difference should be minimised. This goes for children of different religious- as well as children of different socio-economic backgrounds. Children need to be well-socialised. Well-socialised children grow up to be well-socialised in the community, too. Fostering difference, by contrast, leads to disharmony and even strife in society.
Regarding the wearing of hijabs, abayas and other types of headscarves, headcoverings and body coverings, even for the strictest and most devout of Muslim families, they are totally unnecessary before puberty. One should always ask oneself WHY headcoverings and other such garments become mandatory for Muslim women. (Please note that I use here the word 'women' not 'girls'. A clear distinction should, and must, be made here.) It is because of hair and the figure having the potential to arouse and excite the senses. For this reason, it is customary in Islamic societies to insist on long, loose clothing and full head coverings in order to hide the potential cause of sexual arousal. In actual fact, the very word hijab means curtain! Therefore, the wearing of a hijab is tantamount to hiding one’s adornment, beautiful hair behind a curtain, as is the wearing of long, loose abayas. A pre-pubescent girl is not, and should not be, troubled by such matters, exactly because they are pre-pubescent. Therefore, in conclusion, anyone who insists on the wearing of a hijab or abaya in a school environment is quite possibly making a political, rather than a religious, statement. Even in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam, when I was there, it was not customary to dress young girls up in such clothing. Children should be allowed to be children. It belongs to a healthy development in childhood. – © Mark Alexander
The rule will be applied as soon as the new school year starts on 4 September.
France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws. Wearing a headscarf has been banned since 2004 in state-run schools.
Verwandter Artikel auf Deutsch.
Schoolchildren are more usually and more correctly referred to as pupils rather than students. Is, perhaps, the word 'students' being used here by the BBC to obfuscate the issue?
In regard to the banning of abayas and hijabs, the French are right to ban these modes of dress for schoolchildren. In a good, well-functioning establishment dedicated to the education of children, difference should be minimised. This goes for children of different religious- as well as children of different socio-economic backgrounds. Children need to be well-socialised. Well-socialised children grow up to be well-socialised in the community, too. Fostering difference, by contrast, leads to disharmony and even strife in society.
Regarding the wearing of hijabs, abayas and other types of headscarves, headcoverings and body coverings, even for the strictest and most devout of Muslim families, they are totally unnecessary before puberty. One should always ask oneself WHY headcoverings and other such garments become mandatory for Muslim women. (Please note that I use here the word 'women' not 'girls'. A clear distinction should, and must, be made here.) It is because of hair and the figure having the potential to arouse and excite the senses. For this reason, it is customary in Islamic societies to insist on long, loose clothing and full head coverings in order to hide the potential cause of sexual arousal. In actual fact, the very word hijab means curtain! Therefore, the wearing of a hijab is tantamount to hiding one’s adornment, beautiful hair behind a curtain, as is the wearing of long, loose abayas. A pre-pubescent girl is not, and should not be, troubled by such matters, exactly because they are pre-pubescent. Therefore, in conclusion, anyone who insists on the wearing of a hijab or abaya in a school environment is quite possibly making a political, rather than a religious, statement. Even in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam, when I was there, it was not customary to dress young girls up in such clothing. Children should be allowed to be children. It belongs to a healthy development in childhood. – © Mark Alexander
Monday, October 15, 2012
RT.COM: A head teacher of a school in Russia’s North Caucasus region banned five Muslim girls from attending classes while wearing a hijab. Indignant parents filed suits at a local prosecutor’s office over the issue.
The scandal erupted a week ago at a school in the village of Kara-Tyube in Russia’s Stavropol region. Several Muslim girls of different ages were told they would not be allowed to enter the school unless they took off their hijabs.
“But that is unacceptable in our religion,” Ravil Kaibaliyev, the father of one of the children told Izvestia daily newspaper.
The children’s parents filed complaints at the district prosecutor’s office, claiming that the school had violated their constitutional rights to education and freedom of religion. » | Monday, October 15, 2012
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