tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post5993749186824541481..comments2023-10-17T15:56:22.827+01:00Comments on Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: Lennox Johnston in his own wordsChristopher Snowdonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15963753745009712865noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-17552195615908979362012-01-08T10:10:23.871+00:002012-01-08T10:10:23.871+00:00OK, well in the time alloted, you have to be selec...OK, well in the time alloted, you have to be selective. Selectivity allows for overt and covert biases. What to leave in, what to take out. Etc. Having said that, it was not a bad programme at all, and, if people are sufficiently interested, there is so much information now available online. I am very pleased to have that programme introduce me to Lennox Johnson, who sounds a perfectly splendid character, mad as a March hare, but all the better for it. "Self-experimentation" to demonstrate the rightness of one's case is typical of people who will stop at nothing to show the world what they believe. It was a big feature of inoculation, variolation, and vaccination from the 18th century onwards. <br />What is also clear is the mad passions that this topic, like obesity and alcohol, enrage - from the sickening moralisations still prevalent even in 2012 that smokers are evil or weak, feckless or foolish. There are plenty of such in the smoking fraternity, and just as many in the non-smoking fraternity. Judgementalism and moralising come from the smugness of "superiority" and we should have left that all behing in 1901 when old Queen Victoria passed on...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-90463358623354158362012-01-06T21:53:47.113+00:002012-01-06T21:53:47.113+00:00Your hypothesis re ASH et al's apparent non in...Your hypothesis re ASH et al's apparent non involvement for political reasons is bang on the mark. Relatively few know exactly how TC and government have manipulated and misinformed the general public and, indeed, a substantial proportion of NHS staff. The programme was a master stroke in the art of propaganda. Many uninformed viewers will have watched it believing that the denormalisation of smokers was largely driven, in true bulldog spirit, by unpaid members of the public. And it goes without saying that the BBC was fully aware of this deception. <br /><br />An semi anti friend (ex-smoker) texted me advising me watch it on BBCi-player. Apparently I should in order to get a 'balanced view'. This is what we're up against.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-34771502236237460902012-01-05T20:23:12.759+00:002012-01-05T20:23:12.759+00:00"in the end there would have to be compulsory...<i>"in the end there would have to be compulsory prevention of smoking to cure a considerable hard core of addicts"</i><br /><br />Written through ASH like Morecambe through rock. It's on its way.Dick Puddlecotehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01481866882188932892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-71013021698617084542012-01-05T20:02:14.704+00:002012-01-05T20:02:14.704+00:00I agree with everything Jonathan says. It was a bi...I agree with everything Jonathan says. It was a bit of a deux ex machina ending. I also agree with Tony that it gave the impression that tobacco was obscure until the mid-Victorian era. Untrue, of course. Pipe smoking was rampant from the 1590s onwards. Pipes didn't much a mention at all, actually. Presumably going back further than the 19th century would have meant the film over-running. It looked like it had quite a bit edited out as it was. The intro showed Walter Raleigh getting soaked in water, which I guess came from a reconstruction that got cut out.Christopher Snowdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15963753745009712865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-36881768466044315142012-01-05T19:40:04.723+00:002012-01-05T19:40:04.723+00:00Chris, your part in the programme was excellent, y...Chris, your part in the programme was excellent, you came across very well. One slight quibble though and I don't see it as your fault. The impression was given that, in the past, smoking was limited to a few wierdos like Walter Raleigh and only became widespread in the late Victorian era. Of course I appreciate that cigarette (as opposed to pipe and cigar) use increased with mass production from 1890 onwards. <br /><br />I also agree with Pat and Jonathan above. <br /><br />TonyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-20092776922214452112012-01-05T16:43:58.847+00:002012-01-05T16:43:58.847+00:00The last part of the BBC Mockumentary was despicab...The last part of the BBC Mockumentary was despicable and abusive in describing people who smoke as sub-human species. Shocking from an alleged "impartial broadcaster."<br /><br /> Thanks must go to the BBC tho for making smokers not involved in our fight angry enough to set up a FB page calling for a new Torch of Freedom March on March 31 at 12 noon from Trafalgar Sq to Parlt.<br /><br />Details here https://www.facebook.com/events/123472627770967/<br /><br /> Never has the symbol of the cigarette as freedom been more relevant in this age when ALL smokers, men and women, are stigmatised and civil liberties and equality have never been in such grave danger.Pat Nurse MAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01591807335364002658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-119214844363100152012-01-05T14:02:04.314+00:002012-01-05T14:02:04.314+00:00I enjoyed the first forty minutes but then my atte...I enjoyed the first forty minutes but then my attention started to wander. We never learned the fate of the Bristol no smoking sections, nor that of the no smoking pub. No smoking pubs usually ended up allowing smoking again. I thought Cecilia Farren came across as quite likeable though. It's difficult to believe she now objects to private smoking clubs. Perhaps she doesn't? Anna Gilmore came across as a bit of a cold fish. She was careful not to stray from the solid ground of Evil Tobacco. No mention of her "drop in heart attacks" cash-cow and nowhere in the programme was the claimed harm from passive smoking mentioned - only smelly clothes and a thick fug of smoke. A way of life was brought to an end by the smoking ban, but the reasons, claimed and real, for the ban were not discussed and the end, since the ban, of the long term decrease in smoking was not mentioned.Jonathan Bagleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17331501151709216753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-44517390251623675272012-01-05T11:46:59.478+00:002012-01-05T11:46:59.478+00:00Johnston was an ex smoker,uh huh, thought as much ...Johnston was an ex smoker,uh huh, thought as much ,their the worst anti's of them all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-64616077673559004512012-01-05T09:04:41.163+00:002012-01-05T09:04:41.163+00:00Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available ...Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only, but all BBC iPlayer Radio programmes are available to you. Why? <br /><br />If you are in the UK and see this message please read this advice. <br /><br />Go to the BBC iPlayer Radio homepage<br /><br />harley in america. I grow the tobacco you smoke.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com