'Ridiculous Spectacle of Two-bit Firebrand Socialists' | Starmer's Labour Conference Mocked

Sep 26, 2024 | Kevin O'Sullivan and James Melville discuss the recent Labour Party conference, criticizing Keir Starmer's policies and the government's decision to axe the winter fuel allowance, likening it to the poll tax. They express concern over the government's authoritarian tendencies, such as potential smoking bans and fuel duty increases, and argue that such interventions are out of touch with the public's desire for freedom.

Führer Starmer is the worst prime minister EVER! This man is authoritarian; he's a dictator-wannabe. – © Mark Alexander

The Countries Banning Smoking and Taking On 'Big Tobacco' | 60 Minutes Australia

Dec 26, 2019 • What a fight it's become as governments around the world line up against Big Tobacco to outlaw smoking. Liz Hayes travels to California and Norway where they believe at last they're starting to win the war with tough new laws that say no ifs, no buts, no smoking - full stop.

The world is full of meddlesome people! They are not very consistent, either. At the very same time as the world is clamping down on cigarette-smoking, it is relaxing laws on the smoking of cannabis and other substances. How sensible, or logical, is that?

Furthermore, doctors and medical people are encouraging e-cigarettes and vaping; yet we don’t know the long-term consequences of that habit. Many a young person has suffered from “popcorn lung” because of vaping; some have even died.

Smoking cigarettes is not a healthy habit. That we know. But so many other habits are not healthy either. Moreover, are Americans today that much healthier than they used to be when they smoked a lot? I would say that they aren’t. Diabetes and obesity are huge problems in the States, indeed in the West in general. Diabetes, in particular, leads to cardiovascular disease just as smoking tobacco does. I would therefore posit that by making it difficult, and often virtually impossible, to smoke tobacco, we have merely traded in one set of illnesses for another, namely tobacco-related illnesses for sugar-related ones.

If you truly want a healthier population, find a way to encourage people to quit smoking (voluntarily) without those people taking up other bad habits to compensate for their loss of pleasure from smoking. But the fact remains that people throughout the ages have always got their fun, pleasures and kicks from something or other. If you take one source of pleasure away from them, they will find something else to replace it, something else to fill the void. And that ‘thing’ might yet turn out in the long-term to be unhealthier than smoking ever was! – © Mark