Open Letter To Martin Dockrell, ASH UK

From: dickpuddlecote@live.co.uk
To: martin.dockrell@ash.org.uk
Subject: Open Letter
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:20:03 +0000

Hiya Sunshine

Hope you and yours are well. Not overwhelmed and spluttering at the smell of your next door neighbour's bathtime candles, I trust? People can be so annoyingly free in their own homes, can't they?

Still, I'm sure you'll get them all in the end.

Anyway, enough of the small talk mate. I have a serious question to ask.

I know we have had our differences in the past, but I truly believe we have finally found something we can agree on. You never know, we may even share a beer one day if our new found relationship keeps up (shhh ... I won't tell Don Shenker if you don't).

I'm talking about that John Banzhaf, your American ASH counterpart. He's mad as a bag of marbles, isn't he?

For example:

"The public seems to be increasingly hostile to smokers and the habit, and want to stop treating them differently from other drug users, polluters, and walking health hazards, says Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)."

Also, the very responsible and normally conservative BusinessWeek provided respectability to a suggestion that 'governments should make it illegal for people with children to smoke' by just publishing an argument in favor of that view in its 'Debate Room.'

"Smokers pollute the air the public and their children are forced to breathe with toxic carcinogenic fumes, inflate taxes and the costs of health insurance, start the blazes which are the major cause of residential fire deaths, kill thousands of their own children every year, and are a major contributor to litter on beaches, streets, and elsewhere. Isn't it time we stopped tolerating if not encouraging this outrageous behavior and harm to the public," suggests Banzhaf.

I'm pretty sure that you will be appalled at such comments. After all, I do believe ASH UK have gone on record as saying that it's not smokers who should be targeted, but smoking itself.

As such, I feel confident that you will distance yourself from the lunacy advanced by John Banzhaf, namely:

- Smokers are walking health hazards
- Government should make it illegal for people with children to smoke
- Smokers deliberately start fires
- Smokers kill their own children

That sort of stuff really isn't cricket, is it?

I feel sure that you will be eager to disassociate your branch of ASH from such appalling attitudes towards smokers. I am publishing this as an open letter on my blog which, as you know as a regular reader, is entirely unmoderated. So you can either reply there (not as an Anon is better) or you can reply to this e-mail ... which I will post on the blog without alteration.

I realise you are a busy man and have much schmoozing of dozy legislators to be getting on with, as well as junk scientists to pay off, but hopefully you will find time in that exciting day of yours to give us your view of Banzhaf's comments.

{Whisper} Listen, I know you're a good egg really, but not replying at all would tend to suggest to the wider audience that you're fully aligned with Banzhaf, so please do give a view.

I look forward to hearing from you, Mr D, and when we go for that beer, do you prefer one containing alcohol or arsenic? (only kidding) :-)

Yours respectfully
Richard Puddlecote