Im all for people being allowed to do what they want,even if it means slowly killing themselves by smoking.Of course I also believe that if you smoke and get lung cancer,then you cant really whine when your the bottom of a long cue when it comes to a transplant.And certainly should be made to sign an agreement not to continue smoking if your given a second chance with a new set of lungs.
The latest call for the banning smoking in cars has three areas to be considered when smokers get angry about it.
Passive smoking for children.And the way children mimic their elders.Many more children end up smokers if their parents actively smoke in front of them.
Dangerous driving when many smokers decide to light up while driving.Ive seen a few no handed moves on the motorway.I even saw a woman putting on make up with her left hand while holding a fag with her right.She was undertaking me at the time.
The third reason smoking should be banned in cars,is the god given right smokers think they have to fling their burning stubbs out of the window.
Taken as a whole,the millions of stubs flung on the ground by smokers who drive is incredible.Thats not forgetting the ones on the street where people just flick them on the floor wherever they happen to be standing at the time.
I think smoking is one of a handfull of habits which benefits no one.Its a selfish dirty habit.And the sooner it burns out the better.
Despite being seen to be anti-smoking the government makes far more money in terms of excise duty on tobacco than it ever costs the NHS in terms of treating smoking related illness.
There are more people dying in this country from the effects of alcohol and you'll never see them ban booze either.
No I cant provide any proof that it does anymore harm than cars.But Im not talking about cars am I.However everyday efforts are made to reduce the emmissions produced by them.
We could chat all day about everything that causes harm to the enviroment.Inc plastic wrapping on food,chemicals in our water,coloured dyes in food etc etc etc etc.
But my argument at this point is about the ban,and smoking in general.
True the tax is high.But the price paid by all people is high.
I had to watch My grandad die a slow and painful death due to smoking related cancer.
My parents smoked right up until I was born.They gave up because they felt i deserved a smoke free childhood.A gift I will always be thankful for.
I still remember the beaches when I was a kid where smokers,(who believed it was their right because there wasnt a bin)used the sands as a giant ashtray.
Theres nothing as delightful as a fag end stuck between your toes to put you off a beach for life.I believe it takes over 5 years for a butt end to break down.
I worked for a few years in bars where I was forced to inhale other peoples smoke.That was until the ban came in.
What a joy it was to go home from work with a shirt and trousers not stinking of someone elses smoke.And before anyone says it,air con units do not save you from this.I know because I worked intwo places with them.And I ended up smelling the same.
Its not just the health issues,its frankly because a great many smokers are so selfish.Ok I can hear a lot of boos coming my way from responsible smokers.
But frankly Im sick of seeing the litter from smoking just as I am from chewing gum on every pavement in London.
Yes theres all sorts of litter out there.But a tidy up and shake up of this country has got to start somewhere.
You want to smoke! Then not infront of kids,not while your driving a car.And the whole country is not your own personal ashtray.
Yes your right there. However at the time of taking the job I had no idea who the advert was for as it was a last min casting simply asking for a football type thug arguing with the policewas shot in Germany for a German production company. I didn't know any of the product details until very late. And despite taking this job on I still back and warmly welcome the current calls for tighter control on smoking.
So just to add to this , before I'm accused of double standards. Had I been asked again to do this job, and being in complete knowledge of all the facts of what I was promoting I would have thought very carefully before accepting the role.
However I must add this that the advert was a cinema release for 18 yrs and over adults who have a choice as to whether they pick up a cigarette as apposed to a very young child out on the street or the back of a car
Well quite! Surely if someone is so very anti-smoking, watched a parent die from a smoking related cancer and then stands on their soapbox telling everyone who smokes that they are killing the planet then one shouldn't be doing commercials to promote smoking products because that would make them somewhat hypocritical and undermine their whole anti-smoking argument!
As a smoker, and I speak for all smokers here, we are getting pretty sick and tired of being painted as the lepers of the world. I don't smoke in-front of my children, I don't even smoke in my house and I don't smoke in my London flat because of respect for the non smokers around me. I don't smoke at work, on public transport, in a pub, in a restaurant on a plane, etc. because it is now illegal and now I've got some goody two shoes politician telling me I can't smoke in my own private car even though I'm in there all by myself because it's now considered dangerous!
I'd love to see the stats on the number of roads deaths directly related to smoking while driving because whatever they are you can bet your ass they are only a fraction compared with alcohol.
So why is saying "Fancy a pint!" still socially acceptable but "Fancy a fag!" isn't?
Mm no problem to me being compared to Bean. I'm sure I've been called worse and I'm not going to disagree that drinking has an awful effect on people when taken to excess . I can't take back the fact that I did do an advert involving a cigarette company, for which I explained the facts. Not something I'm proud of I assure you. But it doesn't undermine my views on smoking one little bit. I'm glad that these adverts have stopped being made.
Im sorry if smokers feel under attack from every quarter. But I'm glad attention is being drawn to children, who I do see a lot of, stuck in cars while their parents puff away in the front.
So you've reminded me of my advert and raked me over the coals about it, I probably deserved that beating . I can take it . But I still think kids shouldn't be exposed to smoking. At least as far as is practical.
I've done loads of films that I'm not particularly proud of but I've then either buried them or left them off my credits altogether. Using your appearance in the West commercial as part of your reel is the bit that undermines your position as your perfectly happy to use West to tout for more commercial work! Fail!
You took on a commercial not knowing what it was for?! How did that conversation go? "Fancy doing an advert David?"
"Yes." "Great, we won't send you a script or call sheet. See you there."
Hmm... I can smell something, and it ain't smoke!!
oh forbes M mmmm sarcasm isn't going to worry me in the slightest. The advert was arranged at short notice , I didn't know who west were the first I got to even see a shot board or know the set up was when I was already in cologne. So had I been offered u would have put more thought into it , not hoe much money was on the table . But my morals are bloody good despite the off mmm you've thrown in for effect.
I'm more than happy to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe you had no idea you were booked to appear in a cigarette commercial until you were actually on set, possibly an easy mistake to make, however, surely you would have realised it was cigarette commercial before you put it on your show reel given that it has a picture of a packet of fags on the product shot!
What you appear to be saying by that is you have very strong public opinions about certain but you're more than willing to put those opinions to one side if it suits you and that is hypocrisy. That's why your anti-smoking stance is undermined.
I gave up smoking cigarettes in December, with what I consider a miracle product the e-cig or PV (personal vapouriser) PM me if you want to know more about this subject.
Interestingly, the government want to ban the sale of nicotine liquid for personal use, they can't tax it, they can't seem to be able to regulate it (laziness?) and as they can't make as much money from it as tobacco or nicotine replacement which doesn't work, then they will ban it - requiring all the ex smokers to either give it up entirely or return to smoking something known to kill them.
Banning a product that is saving lives seems a rather churlish way of nannying in my opinion - what next? Chocolate, Alcohol, Caffeine?
Be careful what you wish for folks, because it may not effect you now, but when they start taking away all the pleasures you will be too late to stop them.
Ok Id like to clear this one up once and for all.I did an advert for west,did I for one second deny it.No!I did this job probably about 4 years ago.
I tell you how close to the wire it was.My passport had to be faxed at 10pm at night so that my flight could be booked in time.
So whatever any bugger thinks of me doing the advert in relation to my posting,Im afraid I cant turn back the clock on that one.
I was up for a debate on banning smoking in front of kids,not having to justify my past.My long gone past I might add.
But keep the objections coming.Im not afraid of a debate,as long as it doesnt go round in circles.
But if anybody wishes to see my original faxed copy of my passport,I will forward it to you.
Im not going to shy away from it,just as Im sure people who pose nude can never escape something in thier past.
But I am willing to say how I feel about smoking now.More to the point ,how I feel about its affect on the young.Whether it be in a car,a supermarket,in fact wherever.
So chip away if you feel like Im back peddling on a product I promoted.
But just so you know,nothing Ive posted has been untruthful.Ive given you all the facts about my ad,and Ive listed my reasons why I think a tighter rein should be in place when it comes to children and smoking.
Peter the smell you can smell is ou de smug.Great you have established I did a advert 4 years ago.I can see that by the fact youve been to my profile to check.
As I have said over and over I cant deny I did it.I got my script on my first night in Germany.
I didnt get a script to learn as such because we were told it was going to be dubbed.Hense the reason I didnt really know who west were until I was nearly on set.I was told west,and I said great ok.Some German company.
But no matter how many times I state this you appear not to listen ,so its pointless telling you again.
It may well have been filmed 4 years ago, David, but the footage including the pack of ciggies is on your current showreel indicating you aren't that anti smoking or you wouldn't be using it to tout yourself for more lucrative commercial work because, like a true politician, you have failed to address this issue and are skirting round the point! Thats the issue that undermines your whole antismoking debate.
No one is going to get into a debate with you about exposing children to smoking; it's wrong and shouldn't happen, end of; however to make it a criminal offence is equally as wrong insomuch that it once again chips away at our civil liberties which are already severely eroded by this governments systematic abuse of anti-terrorism legislation!
Only in a dictatorship and the UK, are the population prevented from protesting outside their seat of government! We are the most watched nation in the world with a staggering 4.2 million CCTV cameras watching our every move....that's 20% of the whole worlds CCTV's cameras on this tiny little island and most of them pointing at motorists and parking enforcement...yet another easy target for generating revenue.
This governments only solution to any issue is to either tax it or criminalise it. The Meow Meow issue being a case in point with the product banned within days of the first reported related deaths it's now a criminal offence to possess it. Shouldn't the real issue be why a certain section of our youth feel the need to get off their faces at every opportunity...the forgotten classes who's future has been stolen by a government who takes no interest in the industries that built this country but now lie in desolation around every street corner.
That's the real debate that people should be having not taking cheap shots at easy targets!
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