Plain packaging of cigarettes, heralded as the “next giant leap” to reduce smoking, is more of a euphemism. Critics describe it as more “medical pornography”, with sometimes grotesque images of gangrenous feet, rotting teeth, and cancer-riddled lungs. But it also has unintended consequences for law and order, with the poorest and most vulnerable paying the highest price.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently added Britain’s breakfast favourites such as bacon, sausages and other red meat to the list of the ‘encyclopaedia of carcinogens’. All processed red meat is to join the premier league of cancer causing agents such as smoking,
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health (APPG), chaired by Bob Blackman MP has called for yet another increase in tobacco taxes. The Conservative MP for Harrow East is recommending to Parliament, “that the tobacco tax escalator be increased
A ban on smoking outside may soon become a reality if the Royal Society for Public Health’s (RSPH) proposals are adopted. The areas specifically affected are outside restaurants, school gates, in parks and even in pub gardens. The RSPH cites the smoking ban
Elle Magazine has produced a T-shirt bearing the legend “This is what a feminist looks like,” with proceeds going to the feminist Fawcett Society. It was modelled by Harriet Harman in the House of Commons, and outside by Ed Miliband
This week seemingly, like Banquo’s Ghost in Macbeth, a new law has appeared to haunt us and disappeared at the final curtain, unnoticed. This week the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (ABCP) came into force. It is to
I reported very recently on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) sixth Conference of the Parties (COP6) meeting. The meeting was heavily criticised, not only on the veil of secrecy that surrounded the meetings, where only certain people were admitted, but
In Moscow, the World Health Organization (WHO) is conducting its biennial Conference of the Parties meeting (COP6) between 13th to the 18th October. Attended by most of the signatories of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), its aim is to restrict and control
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has once more called for a pact between the Conservative Party and UKIP. Speaking at a meeting of the Eurosceptic Bruges Group on the fringe of the Conservative Party Conference, the MP for North East Somerset
Today at the Labour Party Conference, Ed Miliband is due to give the main speech. It is based on a ten-year plan to support the NHS with a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2 million and a windfall
Europe’s troubled wind turbine industry has a new predicament, with a householder in Denmark successfully suing Vestas, a Danish wind turbine manufacturer. Vestas was sued by the householder with the help of International Law Office and awarded 500,000 Danish kroner
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses of Britain’s disabled people. Hungarian Physicist Professor Gabor Gombos a former member of CRPD and now its adviser said
It has been recently reported in New South Wales (NSW), Australia that cigarette plain packaging, along with the hike in taxes has seen a resurgence in illegal tobacco. Some of the biggest buyers are teenagers. The illegal smokes are sold
The European anti-fraud agency OLAF has recently announced that between 2009 and 2013 the European Union (EU) lost €700 million in taxes as smugglers cross into Spain to sell cigarettes at half the prices. Two hundred Marlboro in Spain are
According to the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA), thirty-one British pubs a week are closing, with planning regulations supermarket takeovers being blamed. Tom Stainer, head of communications at Camra, said: “It is utterly perverse that developers are able to demolish
Scotland’s second largest health board, NHS Lothian, will not be giving further treatment to smokers for non-urgent cases, with referrals from GPs being refused. Dr. Zahid Raza said: “In Edinburgh, we will not see patients at the clinic that are
At midnight last night, the Department of Health finished its final six-week consultation on whether to implement plain packaging for cigarettes. In response, Simon Clark of the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (FOREST) personally delivered 53,196
Just as the new Premier League season is about to kick off, Arsenal’s midfielder Jack Wilshere has been ‘caught’ smoking a cigarette outside a club in Las Vegas. He was caught in December last year too, and both times felt it
This week in the European Parliament, the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) met to discuss the EU’s budget for the next year. What at first looked like a dull meeting of MEPs, became a more exciting after a Labour
David Cameron’s recent reshuffle was viewed as radical by some and controversial by others. Quite blatantly having one eye on the 2015 elections, the decisive hand of Election Director Lynton Crosby was thought to be crucial. One place where Crosby
The National Health Service (NHS) – the “envy of the world” or a study in neo Marxism, depending on your point of view – continues to please and disappoint in equal measures. Paid for out of taxation and free at
The British Medical Association (BMA) has voted by a large majority for the illegalisation of tobacco for people born after the year 2000. Dr. Tim Crocker-Buque, who is a Specialist Registrar in Public Health, said “Smoking is not a rational
Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which is usually pro-wind power, has criticised plans to build 47 wind turbines in Flow Country in the Scottish Highlands, home to the rare Wood Sandpiper (Tringa Glareola), which has only
EASTBOURNE, East Sussex, United Kingdom – Saturday saw the third Annual UKIP South East Conference at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne. The exterior maybe be tired and peeling, but this was in contrast to the fresh coat of emulsion that
One of the biggest omissions in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech was plans for plain packaging for cigarettes. Although Westminster insiders told me Labour were keen for its inclusion, a more circumspect Coalition may have chosen to avoid the issue. Both the
I reported on the April 25th the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) was aiming to classify electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) as tobacco products. This means that the same restrictions on advertising, taxation, access and public use will apply to them too, and may
Readers may have seen both debates that Nick Clegg had with Nigel Farage on the future the UK’s relationship with Europe. In the second debate on the 2nd April, the Deputy Prime Minister cited government research stating that 7 percent
A new study from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, combining an impressive six hundred other studies, describes the severe effects wind turbines can have on wildlife. Not only are the disturbances and noise of the building of turbines an
It is reported today that Britain’s Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has a new policy document out which aims to improve the health of the nation, the measures include: Minimum priced alcohol aimed at “preloading” (pre-gaming) teenagers before going out;
Yesterday, the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) desire to introduce minimum unit price (MUP) alcohol in Scotland temporarily failed. The Scottish Whisky Association (SWA) and other European drinks manufacturers have won their appeal at the Court of Session under Lord Ronald
This week the World Health Organization (WHO), along with the American Federal Drug Administration (FDA), appear to be on the cusp of classifying electronic cigarettes (ECs) as tobacco products, in a move dubbed “hugely unhelpful for the public health.” The
Australia has now had a full year of ‘plain packaging’ of cigarettes. Uncompromising pictures of smoking-related illnesses are set to a backdrop of a deliberately unattractive olive green colouring, with an identical font to signify the brand. The British Conservative-led
A new study has found that people with a sedentary lifestyle live longer than marathon runners. The study by Dr. Martin Matsumura, co-director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Leigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA, confounds expectations, with
New York City is set to challenge an epidemic of bootleg tobacco as a result of high taxes on cigarettes. The situation is similar to other areas of the world, where criminal gangs are finding themselves by selling cheaper tobacco
Vegetarians are less healthy and have a worse quality of life than meat eaters, according to a study by the University of Graz, Austria. According to the study, those who abstain from meat are “less healthy (in terms of cancer,
The European Union (EU) – obsessed with climate change, cutting carbon emissions and saving polar bears – may have been hoist by its own foreign policy petard. Vladimir Putin’s threat to cut off natural gas supplies which supply 30 percent
A blue-gray hue of gyrating marijuana smoke may become a more common sight in next door’s backyard or in a private club near you. President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971, but forty-three years of attempted drug prohibition maybe
