street government

Sapphire believes that there are two governments in every land – one ruled by the young and free which operates in the streets, and the other ruled by the geriatrics and health nuts which has no jurisdiction over her and young people generally.

"When bars and clubs start enforcing bans on drugs decreed by the public health lobby we'll just move the party outside or go back to what we've been doing for years -- partying at home," laughs Sapphire. "I feel sorry, sort of, for the hospitality industry losing out on us, but the bar and club owners really should have taken a stand."

"Their main source of income -- and attraction -- came from us, not the geriatrics and the health nuts running the public health lobby," says Sapphire. "It's ridiculous that they've forced us outside to smoke or do drugs. Hardly anybody is taking advantage of the smoke-free environment inside, and of those most are so old that they are not going to be around much longer."

"How is the government going to made amends to the hospitality industry when these bans close down thousands of bars and clubs?" asks Sapphire. "What about the tourist industry? What young people would want to come here when the whole country is geared for health nuts and geriatrics trying to live for eternity?"

"Who wants a night out at the gym or a place where the old folks hang out in their drug free zones?"

"I'm not sure which group is more responsible than the other for the current crackdown on all of our vices," says Sapphire, "but there's definitely a health agenda behind it and I think alcohol is going to be next."

"Like I said, it won't bother me what they do because I have my street government," says Sapphire, "but the world is going to become an awfully boring place for everyone else when all the health bans on drugs take effect."

"Bring back the likes of cigar chewing Winston Churchill and vodka swilling Boris Yeltsin," laughs Sapphire. "Now they were politicians to admire and would have kicked the current politically correct idiots back to kindergarten where they belong."

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stop government advertising!

Shayne is only 21 but already she is sick to death of taxpayer funded government advertising – particularly the grossly expensive ‘nanny’ advertisements that our cash-strapped public health system trots out with alarming regularity that nobody pays any attention to.

"Thousands of people are in long waiting lists for all manner of urgent surgeries and medications and I can’t believe that we allow the government to waste millions on this health advertising crap," says Shayne. "Where do these people get off? Has the government no sense of perspective?"

"I am appalled that governments everywhere spend so much money preaching to us about sinful stuff – smoking, drinking, driving, gambling, drugs, sex, overeating, etc – and in bombarding us with these ‘health’ advertisements they are, in effect, advertising the stuff to us!”

“At the same time," says Shayne, "governments rake in millions from taxing these ‘sins’; then they increase the consumption of alcohol by legislating for 24/7 liquor outlets; and, thanks to the War on Terror, the poppy fields of Afghanistan are once again back in full bloom and our kids are dying on the killing fields over there as well as in heroin overdoes at home."

"Hello? Am I the only person to put two and two together?"

"Anti-sin propaganda is really advertising the ‘sin’, make no mistake about it," says Shayne. "Any publicity, good or bad, IS publicity and keeps the product in the minds of consumers."

Read more from Shayne on this subject:

education or propaganda?

gory tobacco ads

anti-smoking propaganda or hook?

two-faced health warnings

fleecing smokers

Calista, 48, applauds Martin Whisker's brave protest against the new smoking ban by refusing to stub out his cigarette in a Scarborough pub, but accepts that it's likely to be the only protest because most smokers cannot afford a fine of £50 (reduced to £30 if paid within 15 days)or one of £200 if they are prosecuted and convicted by a court.

"Sometimes I do feel that smokers are like stupid sheep and deserve to be fleeced," says Calista, "but what you can do when you've grown up being bombarded with cool ads for smoking and were considered a wimp if you didn't smoke?"

"My parents didn't smoke -- or drink," says Calista, "so it's not something I learned at home. I picked up the smoking habit -- and drinking -- when I was at school and there was nothing my parents could do to stop me."

"Smoking and drinking were normal social habits when I was growing up and I was almost ashamed of my parents for being so backward."

"They're in their seventies now and are delighted with the smoking ban," laughs Calista, "but they won't be entirely happy until alcohol is banned, too. Fat chance!"

"Are we going backwards or forwards, or what?" asks Calista. "I can't believe that so many young people today are against smoking -- and yet they're into drugs that I wouldn't even dream of taking."

"Maybe I should consider changing my drug habits because I am fed up to the teeth being fleeced by the government," says Calista. "Tax on alcohol isn't too bad, but the tobacco tax is really killing me."

"Sure, they make tobacco tax astronomical because they want us to quit," says Calista, "but the alternatives to smoking are scary. I don't want to become an alcoholic drowning my sorrows in cheap wine -- that would be a horrible scenario."

"What does the government offer us in return for quitting?" asks Calista. "I mean, with what are we supposed to fill that void in our lives? Don't the do-gooders understand that we are hooked on the habit and previous governments were responsible -- sort of -- for our becoming addicted to cigarettes in the first place?"

"If the government wants to change a culture it should offer something better to replace it," explains Calista. "What is better than smoking? Drinking?"

"Are the 24/7 liquor outlets supposed to represent a better culture?" asks Calista. "Is the government in cahoots with the liquor industry? Do all the politicians have shares in alcohol production and distribution outlets? What the hell is going on?"

"The government promotes an anti-smoking culture forcing smokers to quit and then promotes expensive patches and drugs made by Big Pharma -- with whom it is also probably in cahoots -- and that's it?" asks Calista. "Whether we smoke or quit, it's still big money for the government and its backers. What's in it for us?"

"Better health? Oh come on!" laughs Calista. "Most quitters cope by increasing their drinking and then risk dying of alcohol poisoning or cirrhosis of the liver. Is that a better deal than lung cancer?"

"What's the good of quitting and taking up expensive patches and drugs?" asks Calista. "You're no better off financially and the void left by smoking will eat away at you -- as shown by so many ex-smokers who are like bleating lost sheep."

"The fashionable drugs these days are all tax free and banned -- bought off dealers -- and while I would love to snoot my nose at the government for fleecing me of my hard earned cash for so many years, I worry about exchanging one dependency for another and becoming hooked on something I don't know much about."

"The young people seem very cool about their so-called recreational drugs and don't seem to worry about being busted, getting a criminal conviction or frying their brains," says Calista, "so am I being old-fashioned by sticking to smoking?"

"Should I throw away my fags and take up heroin, cocaine or crystal meth?" muses Calista. "Or, should I stick to the devil I know and accept being fleeced by the government?"

"To remain a smoker is a sheep-like decision, I know," accepts Calista. "Martin Whisker's protest was merely that of an outlaw ram butting his horns against the railings and the rest of us didn't follow suit -- as we should have -- maybe because he wasn't the leader of the pack, we're too damned comfortable where we are or we didn't want to cop another fleecing in fines on top of the tobacco tax we already pay."

"So, what do you want me to say?"

"Baa-aaaaa!"

health nuts, geriatrics and smokers

Sapphire is 19, an arts student, and a sad example, perhaps, of the total ineffectiveness of anti-smoking propaganda and a bad reason, perhaps, for the government to ban the sale of tobacco products completely.

"I drink, take drugs and of course I smoke," laughs Sapphire. "The more I come across propaganda designed to make me stop doing something the more I want to do it, and if they banned alcohol and cigarettes tomorrow it wouldn't bother me because there's nothing you can't get off a dealer."

"If the aim of the anti-smoking health nuts was to get us out of your workplaces, restaurants, bars and clubs then you've won," says Sapphire, "but in doing so you've created a generation gap and a social chasm like no other one before – except, perhaps, for the Prohibition on alcohol years. Smokers and non smokers are being divided, as are young people and older people. Are you happy now?"

"Well, guys, eat up and pump up in your nice, clean smoke-free environments -- and enjoy your liquor for as long as you can afford it," says Sapphire, "because as more smokers quit, or if tobacco is banned, all those taxes the government has ripped off smokers have to be made up somehow – think carbon tax, guys!"

"And, while you're thinking about that, think also about the next wave of health nuts who may ban alcohol and all the nice sweet and fatty food you enjoy so much," laughs Sapphire. "Right now, the health system may perform operations on 80 year olds and older, but it can't possibly afford to do so forever.”

“Who is going to look after you if you ever do live longer than smokers?"

"It ain't going to be me and my smoking friends!”

Read more by Sapphire:

unruly teen alienated by stepfamily

street government

We’re all gonna die!

drugs create genius?

health and safety madness