Smokes and Brews

Mainly a load of links to other peoples stuff today by way of plugging an event over in Stony Stratford. Smoking or rather stopping people enjoying smoking has been much in the news of late with Australia being the first country to adopt plain packaging laws (H/T Dick Puddlecote), a move which Leg Iron has observed previously will just make counterfeit smokes all the easier to make. So serious are the famously relaxed and chilled Ozzies about the use of plain packing that an individual daring to sell packs in anything other than drab green will face fines of up … Continue reading

95 years on

Via a friend I’m reminded that 95 years ago today was the opening day of the Somme, and by 12:30 PM over 50,000 of Britain’s soldiers were dead or wounded. A mere 95 years after that event our politicians would sneak our honoured dead out the service entrance when they’re brought back home “to avoid public scenes of emotion”. No matter what we may think about the conflicts we’re involved in, the soldiers who give their lives for this country deserve to be publicly honoured and their sacrifice acknowledged and remembered. Please sign the petition to prevent them being brought … Continue reading

The good, the bad and the ugly

So Saturday was the first (and I do hope not last Rally against debt) turn out was predictably low, despite all the people on Facebook saying they’d attend. Proving that armchair activism is alive and well – which isn’t really news at all. I can’t agree with the people that said it was fantastic, I think claiming that is as deluded as the LibDems saying they’ll make real progress next time or the Yes2Av crowd claiming they didn’t get hammered. The turn out wasn’t good by any stretch of the imagination, and I’ll return to that but first as the … Continue reading