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Friday 8 May 2015

UKIP's amazing numbers and how the UK election might affect vapers.

I am content with how the election turned out. The system we use here in the UK is very strange - lopsided. Check out the image I have given you here.

Graph

It shows what REALLY happened in this election, and how it should be if our system were fair.  Us Vapers COULD be in a far worse situation. This is an excellent analysis of our situation now from UK Politics and Ecigs

May 2015 Update

UK General Election update, May 8th 2015
Conservatives achieve a big win, hold government, and increase their seats to a clear majority of 331 (in practice probably a 12 seat clear majority) - all contrary to every poll, all of which predicted a hung parliament or even a narrow Labour win. This is the worst general election poll mistake in memory.
Labour lose seats, LibDems are virtually wiped out with a massive loss, and the minor parties - Greens and UKIP - do very badly (1 seat each). Cons took seats from everyone, especially off LibDems. SNP made massive gains in Scotland and almost achieved a whitewash. Northern Ireland was mostly held by the Unionists, with SinnFein taking some seats now they have renounced violence. In Wales, the nationalist party PC took some seats but didn't do particularly well.
The scale of the Con win was such that three other party leaders resigned (Lab, LibDem, UKIP).
UKIP were expected to do much better, but local election results are never equalled in the national election for minority parties: people have to vote tactically to keep their most-disliked party from power. UKIP got nearly 13% of the vote but one seat instead of the 84 seats they would have under PR, proportional representation. Some of their number claim this is not a democracy, it is a 2-party state, and they have a point.
How this affects the UK - EU question
In practice, the result probably does not affect the UK's membership of the EU that much: a referendum was always likely under the Cons due to a substantial number of backbenchers demanding it; but the result was and is still likely to be around a 60% nationwide vote to stay in. People don't like change, and if they see no drastic reason to vote for change, they won't.
How this affects vapers
Surprisingly, Cons are probably the vapers' best bet (not UKIP): the kippers completely messed up the EU parliament vote on the new TPD for reasons unknown - some of the 9 kipper MEPs voted for, some against, and some didn't vote at all. Who knows why; they clearly can't organise anything properly.
Cons on the other hand voted 19 out of 20 MEPs against the anti-ecig TPD, and this is a good record for honesty and good organisational skills*. Lab and Greens have a 3-line whip against vaping and will do whatever they can to ban it in order to protect tobacco tax revenues and pharma profits.
* Let's be charitable and overlook the possibility some may have connections with the cigarette trade, the TPD being, as usual, as anti-cigarette trade interests as it is now anti-vaping (though not anti-cigarette sales per se, of course).
Essentially this means that we can expect a sympathetic ear when the the new TPD is transposed, though for all practical purposes vaping faces some degree of ban in the UK via restrictive regulation. As the law comes from the EU, the most corrupt political structure in the world, nothing else can be expected. We won't know what degree of ban will be imposed until around 2017 - 2018, when the enforcement structure is finally in place and the regulations are fully enforced. As the Dept of Health is owned by pharma and will control enforcement, we can expect that EU regulations will be enforced to the hilt.
Unless, of course, legal challenges to the TPD (Article 20) are successful - in which case everything goes on hold for a while. All our hopes are pinned on the legal challenge/s, since otherwise you can expect that - eventually - only cigalikes in tobacco flavour sold on the high street will be left on sale legally (no ecig websites as that is 'cross-border adverting' and 'cross-border marketing', which will be banned). That means 99.99% of products will go black market, almost all current vendors will shut down or go offshore, prices will skyrocket, and quality will fall through the floor. Safety will take a big dive as it always does with prohibition.
If that happens, it will be the first time in history that the public have to go to the black market in order to stay healthy and achieve a normal lifespan.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Skulduggery, and insanity! Vapers in the UK, I'm voting UKIP

I have lost all faith in our political parties in the UK as I have watched them parade across our TV screens in the run-up to our general elections.

We have seen a range of idiots and puppets, parroting their dogma and creeds, bad mouthing other politicians, scaring the citizens, and never ever, ever, EVER answering questions in a straight unguarded way. I'm sick of it.

Now, in these last desperate days, we see them kissing the babies of the "hardworking" (if I hear that again I am going to go doolally) British workers, visiting building sites, schools and small "hardworking" businesses. All our politicians speak with forked tongues.  To me, they are all fake, terrified to be real. They need their jobs. Politics is just an industry now. The political parties need to hold onto their power.

They run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. And snarl, and snap, and bite.

They fear. Voters who do not see their skulduggery must be blind.

I think Tobacco Control, has, in a similar manner, become a laughing stock. Shrivelled officials with glittery eyes, run about, scaring the people about the dangers of enjoying tobacco. They have incited hate and self righteousness in their followers who turn on friends, family and strangers. They have evicted smokers into the full glare of outside where they can be seen and shamed, and that too must be stopped in case the children "see". If there were proper smoking rooms, the children would be saved!

Smokers, smoking and tobacco is REAL. To pretend no one does it, is equivalent to the prudery of the Victorians who covered table legs, because they were legs. Children should know about the real world. In school, they are told about "legs" and sex, so why can't they be told about smoking, and leave the smokers alone? They do not need to indoctrinate children to become frightened clones of Tobacco Control - the new persecution brigade.

The medical profession should not be repeaters of their doctrines either. And they should definitely not be paid to send smokers to smoking cessation on behalf of anyone. Or aid the persecution.

But the true colours of the Tobacco Control Industries are being exposed with how they are lying about vaping.

They fear losing control, losing their goals, failing even. It would be a ghastly thing for them if those who enjoy using tobacco, could do it safely, by inhaling nicotine on vapour instead. Citizens who do not see their viciousness against vaping are blind to it because they have already believed what they have said about smoking.

The world here in the UK, for me, has become a mean-spirited place. It is the only world I have. Tobacco Control made me a recluse. It made me horrified at the power of social engineering as put into place by Government puppy dogs running at their side. It has been shameful to watch. Society has become damped down, bland, dull, depressed, dun. Where is the old vigour?  Or is it just me getting old?

The young people I know, all obey the rules. They are astonished to find out that once, you could smoke anywhere - anywhere! (except in church). Some young folk I know, have never been in a church. They have had a secular education, with a new Satan being - smoking. And they believe in "science". They do not realise there is real science and also science practised to prove a pre-accepted theory, or science used corruptly.  I am hoping some young people will begin to realise how they have been taken in, are being taken in, by that kind of "science".

I hope that the insanity of the Tobacco Control Industry is shown up for the totalitarian, deformed, twisted thing it is. I don't personally know how to do that.

But a good start would be to have the smoking ban re-assessed, to allow smokers back indoors, to allow British pubs to thrive, to allow the hospitality industry to take back ownership of their own properties, and to stop the persecution of smokers in general. As a vaper, I don't mind in the least, sitting with smokers smoking. I only vape because I prefer it to smoking. I never bought in to the Second Hand Smoke myth. And washing my evening-out clothes is no trouble - I have a washing machine!

But young vapers have already been indoctrinated. They do not know better.

So there is no political party I can vote for that has any regard for smokers. And regard for smokers is crucial to how we are treated as vapers. The only person, who, in this whole drawn-out election pantomime that has talked real, been real and spoken about real things, is Nigel Farage.

So if Tobacco Control becomes parasitic on UKIP, smokers will have no one to put their hope in, but until then, THIS election, I am voting UKIP.