Wednesday 21 September 2016

Tuesday 20 September 2016

going up in smoke - time to stubb out cigs for good

Smoking rates across England are the lowest on record, health officials have said. Public Health England (PHE) said that 16.9 per cent of the population in England are smokers - the lowest level since records began.

The figures were released as the health body launched its annual Stoptober campaign to encourage the nation's remaining smokers to quit for the month of October. If people give up the habit for 28 days they are five times more likely to quit for good, PHE said.

In England there are now twice as many ex-smokers (14.6 million people), than current smokers (7.2 million), PHE added. Last year, out of the 2.5 million smokers who made a quit attempt, 500,000 people (20 per cent) were successful.

That's right, over 1/3 of smokers tried to quit last year. So much for the idea that smokers smoke out of freedom of choice, 80% of those trying to give up last year failed. Survey show over 90% of all smokers want to quit.
"Alongside unhealthy diet, smoking is the biggest cause of preventable early death in England, accounting for over 78,000 deaths a year. Quitters will soon see they have reduced blood pressure, easier breathing and better circulation. Stopping smoking is the best thing a smoker can do to improve their health."
Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "On top of this human cost, smoking has been estimated to cost the economy over £10 billion a year. We therefore support public health campaigns like Stoptober that motivate and support people to quit."

The Government's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Gina Radford said "We have a range of free support that can go direct to your phone, laptop or tablet via the Stoptober app, a daily email service or Facebook Messenger bot. The new Stoptober website also has advice and information on stop-smoking services and quitting aids." 

Add in the huge financial benefits of not smoking and the environmental and economic harm done by growing tobacco, there's never been a better time to quit.

Saturday 3 September 2016

when I want your opinion ....

absolutely agree with this.

"In an internet age it is, at first glance, democratic to say that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That is surely true. It is however a fatal step to then claim that all opinions are equal. Some opinions are backed by fact. Others are not. And those that are not backed by fact are worth considerably less than those that are."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/03/david-hare-nothing-but-the-truth-about-a-holocaust-denial