Hey PHE, Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Earlier this week I touched upon PHE's new 'guidelines' on vaping in workplaces and public spaces.

Well, since then the government's prime 'public health' advisory body - for it is they - has tweeted a clarification of some of the wording they were using.

@brainyfurball 1/3 We’re clear that vaping is not smoking, and they should not be treated the same…

— PublicHealthEngland (@PHE_uk) July 21, 2016

This should be pretty clear if you read the guidelines, it has to be said, because although it is buried in amongst public sector makework gobbledegook, they do say that this should be a prominent feature of any policy.

Yet, as I have pointed out before, this is the precise opposite of what is happening with policies in almost all social settings. A few hours after PHE posted that tweet my BFF and I were told by stewards at Lord's cricket ground that "you can't smoke those things there" (we weren't using them at the time) and directed to the smoking area instead. The same is true of all Premier League football grounds and all Arriva Premiership rugby grounds too. Hence my hint to PHE that some action may be useful on their part if they are to be taken seriously.

.@phe_uk Erm, how about telling @premierleague, @premrugby and @ECB_cricket that & giving @healthystadia a deserved slap? @brainyfurball

— Dick Puddlecote (@Dick_Puddlecote) July 22, 2016

For those who don't know, Healthy Stadia are a bunch of repulsive north west England-based pharma-funded charalatans who have been badgering sports clubs and stadium owners with misleading - and arguably fraudulent - information about e-cigs in a deliberate but successful campaign to get them banned.

So we have one cheek of the tobacco control arse saying that vaping should be encouraged while the other (infected and unwiped) one runs around advocating that e-cigs should be prohibited just about everywhere.

It's not just sports grounds either, for example here's one policy tweeted to me just yesterday from a 'leisure' park in Cornwall which prioritises petty and pointless rules over the enjoyment and free choices of its customers.

And, of course, we have the ban on smoking and vaping on a Pembrokeshire beach which is "fully welcomed" and endorsed by ASH Wales as well as a similar ban on smoking and vaping which London's ASH think is absolutely fabulous. Meanwhile, in the past couple of weeks ASH Scotland has confirmed that it too is very happy with vaping being treated exactly the same as smoking. You know, like PHE is adamant should not be the case.

Here is ASH Scotland view on smoke-free children's playparks.... https://t.co/CkfFTr2JK9

— ASH Scotland (@ASHScotland) July 12, 2016

Now, can you see something wrong with this picture?

If you're a vaper I'm pretty certain you will have come up against this kind of policy yourselves. And if you've ever asked why the policy exists - in open air - you'll have been met with a lot of ignorance. The general excuse is that "they look like smoking" which is equally deranged because there is no law against smoking in the open air either, for the simple fact that it is not a danger to anyone's health outdoors, as I've written before.

The ban on smoking in stadia is purely a vile bullying policy imagined, lobbied for and supported by grubby, tax-sponging organisations such as ASH and others in the same mould. 

There is, and never will be, any measurable harm to others from passive smoking outside, it is a fantasy demon that the tobacco control industry has created amongst the public. Worse still, those in tobacco control who promote this fear are very clever with their words because they know very well that they are purposely lying about the potential 'dangers'. 

So what if someone slips under the radar and smokes amongst others who are vaping? Neither is any kind of a problem we should be worrying about. If it is, we sure as shit need another war to illustrate what discomfort is really all about, and to remind many that a lot of people fought very hard to protect the freedoms that the selfish and affected amongst us are now seemingly content to flush down the toilet. 

Ah but, I hear you say, some people don't like the smell of smoke, so it's only fair they be catered for. Well of course, but did anyone consider smoking and non-smoking areas? Well of course not because that wouldn't sit with ASH's chosen policy of bullying and 'denormalisation' of perfectly law-abiding people consuming a legal product. It is only the effete, snobby and repellent who ASH cater for. 

Besides, if the smell of smoke is so rancid and identifiable, it wouldn't be much of a problem to spot, now would it? 

No, the drive by tobacco control tax-spongers is based solely on the 'denormalisation' strategy; to bully and shame smokers into submission. They have deliberately created ignorance to encourage policy-makers to wrongly believe there is something dangerous about smoking outdoors, and the compounded ignorance of e-cigs has encouraged venues to ban vaping too as a matter of course.

A direct result of tobacco control extremism towards smoking has therefore resulted in the widespread 'denormalisation' of vaping as well, at the same time that PHE are declaring that the opposite should happen. Way to go 'public health', you cretins.

So what can PHE do to - as their Martin Dockrell claimed was the goal earlier this week - avoid "policies that end up doing more harm than good"?

Well, they could start by telling their own tobacco controllers that it is completely unacceptable to support any bans on vaping in outdoor spaces. Healthy Stadia should be told to go back to the sports clubs they have lied to and fix the damage that they have created or be closed down. If they refuse to do so, well PHE receive half a billion pounds a year to deliver their policy objectives ... a few stamps and a firm letter to the clubs that Healthy Stadia have shamefully misled would cost pennies and is the very least they could do.

PHE could also advise the government that if it is serious about its support for vaping - which I sincerely doubt - it should order any organisation which receives state-funding to cease blithely allowing vaping bans but instead to oppose them, and that supporting them like ASH Wales did will be a serious offence for the individual concerned which will result in their instant dismissal.

It is empty rhetoric and a crass waste of taxpayer funding to produce reports and issue 'guidelines' if you're just going to sit back and allow shit counterproductive policies on vaping in order to not derail the vile, dictatorial and entirely unnecessary 'denormalisation' campaign against smokers.

Tobacco control seem very quick to speak to organisations and demand smoking bans everywhere, but slow to the point of inertia in opposing vaping bans. You could be forgiven, in fact, for believing that they actually like them on the sly.

Anyone can say that they support vaping, but actions speak louder than words. So come on PHE, put our money where your mouth is, what are you waiting for?