The Lady In A Sari With A Fag
She was standing in Leicester Square watching people with a partner.
It just didn’t go!
Mexico Tightens Ban On Smoking In Public Places
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Mexico has brought into force one of the world’s strictest anti-tobacco laws by enacting a total ban on smoking in public places.
And these three paragraphs outline the story.
The step, which was first approved in 2021, also includes a ban on tobacco advertising.
Several other Latin American countries have also passed legislation to create smoke-free public spaces.
However, Mexico’s legislation is considered to be the most robust and wide-ranging in the Americas.
If I was going to list countries that I felt would bring in tough anti-smoking legislation, I don’t think, I would have named Mexico.
The Time I Said No To Joan Collins
I’m watching Joan Collins In her programme On BBC 2.
It reminds me of the time I met her.
It must have been between 1985 and 1987, as she was with her fourth husband; Peter Holm, who is exactly two months younger than I am.
We had all travelled from Los Angeles to London on British Airways and we were queuing for passport checks. Joan was to my right and Peter was looking very disinterested.
Then out of the blue, she asked me, if I had a light for her cigarette.
I replied that I was sorry, but I didn’t smoke.
She just smiled and put the cigarette away!
Brexit: Duty-Free Makes A Come-Back For Travellers Returning From Britain
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Irish Times.
This is the first two paragraphs.
For the first time in more than 20 years people travelling to the State from British ports and airports will be able to load their luggage or their cars with tax-free tobacco, alcohol, perfumes and so-called luxury items once the new year bells chime in less than a week.
Duty-free between Ireland and Britain was abolished 21 years ago as it was not considered compatible with the emerging single market. However with the UK now leaving the EU and its single market from the start next year the old rules are set to revert.
As someone, who never buys anything in duty-free, I can’t say I’m bothered.
All Change At The Broadgate Entrance To Liverpool Street Station
Everything seems to have changed at the Broadgate Entrance To Liverpool Street Station, as these pictures show.
Note.
- You now enter at street level, rather than through a subway.
- You ascend a gentle ramp to walk through some upmarket shops and then descend into the station using an escalator.
- You can also walk through the shops to the bus station between the rail station and Broadgate.
The only thing, that hasn’t changed is the rusty smoking shelter.
Air In Scotland’s Prisons 90% Cleaner, Due To Smoke-Free Policy
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the University of Stirling web site.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Scotland’s smoke-free prisons policy is protecting the health of prison staff and those in custody – with the majority no longer exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke, according to a new study.
My late wife, who probably visited Holloway Prison around two hundred times, would probably agree with Scotland’s smoke-free prisons regime.
As I do!
It should be introduced into the rest of the UK, as soon as possible.
And why shouldn’t prisons have regular drug-testing?
North And South
I went to see Spurs this afternoon to see them play Burnley.
Coming home, I got the train between White Hart Lane and Hackney Downs stations. As we walked to the bus for Dalston, there was a mixed group of fans.
Most of the Burnley fans were smoking, as opposed to few of the Spurs fans.
Is this the difference between North and South?
Thoughts On a Red And Processed Meat Tax
This article on the BBC is entitled Should There Be A Tax On Red Meat?.
This is the first two paragraphs.
A “meat tax” could prevent almost 6,000 deaths per year in the UK, according to researchers, but should politicians be telling people what they can and can’t eat?
Scientists at the University of Oxford say governments should consider imposing price hikes on red meat – such as beef, lamb and pork – to reduce consumption.
They also go on to suggest these levels of tax, with examples.
In the UK, the study suggests a tax of 14% on red meat and 79% of processed meat.
This would mean the price of a 227g Tesco Sirloin Steak would increase from £3.80 to £4.33.
And for a pack of eight pork sausages from Sainsbury’s the price would increase from £1.50 to £2.69.
It is probably peer-reviewed research, but I doubt it would ever be introduced.
I have few questions.
Would I As A Coeliac Get Extra Tax Relief, As I Need To Eat Red Meat?
I don’t eat much red meat, but to keep my B12 at a good level, I need to eat a quality steak or burger.
Regular levels of B12 help to keep your immune system strong, which is the body’s first line of defence against cancer.
Why Do Coeliacs On A Gluten Free Diet Have A 25% Less Chance Of Getting Cancer?
Research at Nottingham University has shown this.
Being coeliac is unlikely to be beneficial, as whoever heard of a disease that let you live longer?
,So could it be the non-eating too of gluten?
Also, as many who eat a lot of red and processed meat, eat it with a bun or lots of bread,
Could this be significant?
Research needs to be done that considers consumption of red and processed meat, taking eating gluten into account.
How Would I Reduce Cancer?
There are other substances and circumstances that are proven to cause cancer.
- Smoking tobacco and other drugs.
- Eating too much and being obese
- Drinking too much.
- Too much sunbathing.
- Diesel and petrol vehicles
- Gas appliances in the home, not venting outside.
Some of these also cause other health problems.
I’d start with absolute bans on these.
- Diesel and petrol vehicles.
- Smoking tobacco
- Possession of illegal drugs.
- Gas appliances in the home, not venting outside.
- Sales of high strength alcohol.
- Jobs with a proven record of causing cancer like coal mining.
And these things would be compulsory or introduced.
- Everybody should keep a record in a smart-phone app of what they ate and their weight.
- Owning a diesel or petrol vehicle would need a special permit.
- Alcohol could only be bought in special licensed shops.
Obviously, other draconian measures could be introduced.
I doubt it will ever be acted upon, by any Government that wants to win an election.
So What Can We Do That Is Practical?
My view is that we have to nudge people into doing the right thing.
Diesel And Petrol Taxes To Subsidise Zero-Emission Vehicles
Note that I use the term zero-emission vehicle, which is a category that includes battery and hydrogen power at present. But it is a class, that could include other vehicles in future, that have yet to be invented.
If diesel and petrol taxes were to rise and the revenue were used to subsidise the purchase of zero-emission vehicles, then this might persuade more people to switch to zero-emission vehicles.
Money could also be allocated to research into zero-emission vehicles.
Zero-Emission Zones In All Towns And Cities
London is getting an Ultra Low Emission Zone, but this is only the start.
They should be Zero Emission Zones.
They should probably be paired with parking areas outside the zone and connected to it, by a zero-emission high quality rail or bus link.The link could be a segregated walking or cycling route.
The first town or city that uses this model to create healthy air quality will probably reap an enormous dividend.
From recent developments, I suspect it will be the City of London.
Smoking Would Only Be Allowed By Consenting Adults In Private
As smoking had a lot to do with the death of my son I feel strongly about this.
My wife also may have died from secondary lung cancer. But she had never smoked, although she got enough cigarette smoke from her tutor at University, who chain-smoked Capstan Full Strength.
Is There A Radical Approach?
Liverpool University Pancreatic Cancer Research Unit have one of the most impressive databases I have ever seen! It contains every pancreatic cancer case, that has been notified to the University.
They use it to look for links between factors, that might be a clue to what causes this terrible disease and for possible cures.
But imagine an enormous database of all UK cancer cases, that was processed to show how the cancers related to post codes, occupation, age, weight, smoking and drinking habits etc.
Access to an anonymised version of the database would be allowed through the Internet or a phone app.
Would access to the data, nudge people to change their bad habits?
I also know of ten-year-olds, who pester their parents to stop smoking, so imagine what a tech-savvy child would do, if given access to the app. Schools could teach them to use it responsibly.
Could it bring the whole country together to reduce levels of cancer?
Smoking In World Cup Statia
This document on the FIFA web site is entitled Stadium Code Of Conduct.
This is a sentence under Prohibited Actions.
Smoking in any stadium zone, except in dedicated outdoor smoking areas, if in existence.
That appears to be pretty clear.
So why was a fat oligarch or similar, smoking an equally fat cigar in a very plush seat, when he was caught on camera yesterday?
Thoughts On The Tragedy At Grenfell Tower
As a family, C, myself and our three boys used to live in a tower block. Admittedly, Cromwell Tower was an upmarket tower in the Barbican. I wrote about the tower in Cromwell Tower.
Cromwell Tower was designed around a concrete core in a brutalist style in the 1960s, just like Grenfell Tower.
Cromwell Tower had a network of passages that allowed escape to the floors underneath. I suspect that Grenfell Tower had similar passages.
But there were differences.
- Cromwell Tower had a higher standard of interior finish.
- Every flat in Cromwell Tower has a wide airy balcony.
- Cromwell Tower has no gas.
- Cromwell Tower was designed for high net worth tenants, whereas Grenfell Tower was a Council block.
As both blocks were designed around the same time, I suspect that they were designed to the same set of regulations.
So why did Grenfell Tower catch fire?
These are possible reasons.
Gas
I don’t like gas, as one thing I remember from working at ICI in the 1960s, is that how powerful a gas explosion can be.
Naked gas flames also are a major cause of asthma, as they create oxides of nitrogen.
But if we had had gas in Cromwell Tower and there had been a leak, the escape passages would have been an ideal way for the gas to spread through the tower.
For these and other reasons, I believe strongly, that all multiple occupancy housing should not be connected to a gas supply.
I’ve also heard that view from a Chief Fire Officer in Suffolk.
The Design And Execution Of The Upgrade
Was it done to high enough standards?
The Cladding
\Suspicion is falling on the cladding of the building.
Smoking
How friendly was the building to smokers?
Have we really learned the lessons of the past?
The Summerland Disaster
In 1971, over fifty people were killed in a fire on the Isle of Man in the Summerland Disaster. This is Wikipedia’s summary.
The Summerland disaster occurred when a fire spread through the Summerland leisure centre in Douglas on the Isle of Man on the night of 2 August 1973. Between fifty and fifty-three people were killed and eighty seriously injured
I know it wasn’t a tower block, but I think that there are common issues.
Under Background this is said.
Summerland was opened on 25 May 1971. It was a climate-controlled building covering 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) on Douglas’s waterfront, consisting of 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) of floor area at a cost of £2 million. The building’s hull and the interior were designed by two different architects—they did not match their planning to each other and thereby created a venue with significant fire risks that were only to become apparent later.
So did the architects of the upgrade do a proper job? Did they have any co-operation with the original architects.
The same Background section also says this.
Summerland was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists and comprised a dance area, five floors of holiday games, restaurants and public bars. It was a 1960s concrete design incorporating advanced controlled internal climate, built with novel construction techniques using new plastic materials. The street frontage and part of the roof was clad in Oroglas, a transparent acrylic glass sheeting.
Note the use of Oroglas cladding, which is still made today.
At the time of the Summerland disaster, I was working at ICI Plastics, who made a similar acrylic sheet called Perspex. As I look around my kitchen, I see various applications of this or similar plastics.
In several places in one ICI chemical works, Perspex windows were used, as there was the occasional small explosion and you didn’t want to shower people in glass fragments. But they were clearly marked Perspex Window – Fire Hazard.
So the problems of acrylic were clearly known at the time and yet, acrylic sheet was used to clad the building. One ICI Perspex expert told me, that Perspex shouldn’t be used to clad buildings.
So was the cladding itself a fire risk at Grenfell Tower because an inappropriate material was used, just as at Summerland?
Under Fire, this is said.
The fire started around 7:30 p.m. on 2 August 1973, and was caused by three boys who were smoking in a small, disused kiosk adjacent to the centre’s miniature golf course.
So was smoking, one of the causes of the fire, just as it was in the Summerland disaster?
We don’t seem to have learned much from the Summerland disaster.
Conclusion
I’m led back to gas being the cause of the original fire, as there is nothing energetic enough to cause such a fierce fire.
It is also stated in various media articles, that there were problems with the gas.
The Anonymous Widower 