Category Archives: English

In this category you will find contributions in English.++++ In dieser Kategorie finden sie Beiträge in englischer Sprache.++++Dans cette catégorie, vous trouverez des contributions en anglais.++++

The virus, the distance, the smoke

smokingbandits Posted on by

I was fortunate to have been able to squeeze in one last congenial visit to my favorite Manhattan smoking bar, Karma, on March 14, the Saturday before everything shut down due to the Corona-virus.  I cut it even closer with my last haircut, making it into the barber the last day before New York State declared all “non-essential” businesses closed.  They had the great wisdom to designate liquor stores as “essential.” So thereafter all actual social life came to halt.  People stayed home and worked from home if they could.  Others, who were in essential sectors did work, while a … Continue reading →

Smoking in New York

smokingbandits Posted on by

I live in Long Island, a suburban area adjacent to New York City. New Yorkers pride themselves on their grit, toughness and sophistication. The “City that Never Sleeps” is also known for its cosmopolitan recreations. You can find food from anywhere on the planet and night spots to please any and all tastes here. New York’s reputation as a place where “anything goes” reaches back to colonial times. In contrast to staid, Calvinist Boston, New York’s pragmatic Dutch origins as a trading center (rather than a putative haven for those fleeing religious repression to impose their own theocracy) meant a … Continue reading →

We got our airports back

smokingbandits Posted on by

There were still no smoking rooms in the Domodedovo airport near Moscow when I was flying away from Russia in early January, but soon they’ll be reopened after seven years’ absence. The amendment to the anti-smoking law has passed both chambers of the Russian parliament and signed by the President on December 28, last year. All that time we, hundreds of people participating in the battle, were keeping our fingers crossed, for fear of some last-minute trouble. That was a very, very small victory over the huge Tobacco Control machine. But, nevertheless, a victory it was, and, as such, it’s … Continue reading →

Marlboro Cowboy gets off on the wrong boot

smokingbandits Posted on by

The tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) has long been ingratiating itself to the anti-smokers. Meanwhile, it is counting on its new IQOS heaters to profit from the increasing fight against classic tobacco products with their “Heet” sticks. Netzwerk Rauchen says: Do not buy! “I Love You Phillip Morris” is the title of a movie starring Jim Carrey in 2009. Not meant was the cigarette company Philip Morris (with only one “l”) and by no means would Netzwerk Rauchen have come to associate such a title with the tobacco company.  After all, we have very different feelings towards the company.  … Continue reading →

Legalise Cannabis?

smokingbandits Posted on by

It seems people are tripping over themselves to legalise cannabis these days. Everyone is talking about it and efforts to do so are well under-way. So why is another plant, tobacco, still considered to be the most dangerous drug known to man? The Government get a lot of money from tobacco; £13 billion per year currently. Anti-tobacco groups also get a lot of money from tobacco. The Government pays them with our taxes to do a job. That job is to tell the Government what it wants to hear; that the general population want to be controlled more. The Tobacco … Continue reading →

#MeToo And Tobacco Control: The State of Fear

smokingbandits Posted on by

Congratulations, ladies’ kisses, flowers, hints at my duty to give a champagne party: that was the reaction to my newly-won title of Russia’s Sexist of the Year 2018. The awards are being distributed by a tiny, but vocal feminist grouping known to nobody. But then, they are all tiny and unknown here, however hard they try. We are a happy nation; nobody here cares even to know what’s sexism, but in any case the extreme forms of feminism have repelled virtually all the public, so anyone proclaimed the enemy of neo-feminists is getting his 15 minutes of fame and respect. … Continue reading →

If smoking had been invented only today…

smokingbandits Posted on by

The anti-tobacco industry tell us that if smoking had been invented today, it would immediately be banned outright. With the health, safety, food and drug laws we have in place, coupled with what we now know about smoking, there is no way any Government would allow smoking, or the sale of tobacco to be legal. “If smoking was unknown to us and someone invented it today, it would never be allowed”. That’s what they tell us, but I dispute it. Imagine a world where smoking had not been invented, where tobacco was simply a plant that nobody paid much attention … Continue reading →

Where are the proud smokers?

smokingbandits Posted on by

June is pride month and all over the world, many localities will explode with rainbow flags and parades of scantily-dressed people celebrating the struggles of the LGBTQ community. It commemorates the Stonewall Rebellion of June 1969, when members of the gay community fought back and demanded their right to be who they were and enjoy themselves publicly as they saw fit. And it started at a drinking establishment: the Stonewall Tavern in New York. At the time, gay bars couldn’t legally exist, so those that did were secret, illegal affairs, controlled by organized crime. Bribes were paid to the police … Continue reading →

Smokers of all countries, unite!

smokingbandits Posted on by

Prof. Dr. Günter Ropohl (1939-2017) was a Professor Emeritus of General Technology at the University of Frankfurt on Main, Germany. He was an active member of Netzwerk Rauchen. Tomorrow would have been his 80th birthday. We honor his commitment against discrimation of smokers and the passive smoking fraud by publishing a text of his from the past decade. On a worldwide scale hundreds of millions of our people are being deprived of fundamental rights. They are being refused the right to enjoy tobacco in public buildings, on public transport, and places like restaurants, pubs, and bars. So their basic right … Continue reading →