Bun fight at the OK tea rooms

Well more freedom demo at the Vaults bar in Stony Stratford, but given Councillor Bartlett’s behaviour so far it does look like we’re dealing with an intellectually unarmed man. Realistically the chance of Mr Bartletts proposals “to ban smoking outside” going through even without a demo are very very slim – but of course we’ve seen that before many times. The first time a ban is proposed it’s laughed at an ignored, so next time round the lack of protest is cited as evidence that people don’t mind. This gets repeated a few times till a ban is brought quietly … Continue reading

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

Chicken little or salami slicing

Something that I’ve been struggling with for a while is how to respond to the apparent constant salami slicing of our freedoms without sounding like chicken little, and I’m increasingly convinced that it cant be done. The problem is the creeping nature of the beast as so well expounded by Leg Iron “The Creeper is a slow and insidious technique. On trains, it started with one no-smoking carriage. On buses, it started with smokers at the back and upstairs on the double deckers. It was not a new technique even then because, as the Filthy Smoker’s post reminded me, it … Continue reading