2015

A day at the races beats a Day at the Capitol

A day at the races beats a Day at the Capitol

Just for once, I would dearly love to see a non-profit organisation that actually has some kind of moral standard. The simple fact is, I seriously doubt that any non-profit in the field of anti-tobacco has any kind of morals. At all.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all for a non-profit organisation to actually raise awareness of issues, conduct research, educate the masses and so forth, but there has to be some moral and ethical standard.

A new generation being spoon-fed

A new generation being spoon-fed

The constant flow of misinformation originating from various NGOs and charities makes a day in the life of a vaper feel a little like groundhog day. It is usually the same preposterous rubbish with some words jiggled about to make “new” headlines. Or in the case of this subject, tweets.

I do spend an incredible amount of time on social media, and although I may not see the tweets directly, other vaping advocates do so I get to see their responses. Social media. Great isn’t it?

Tobacco companies can’t tell their arse from their elbow

Tobacco companies can’t tell their arse from their elbow

Thought I’d have a stab at making a sensationalist headline for once. I’ll admit, it needs work. Some work. OK a lot of work, but it sure as hellfire beats the headline gracing the on-line Mirror today.

Headline

In a way, that headline can be seen as positive. In a bad light, if you squint. It isn’t the usual scaremongering headline that normally accompanies an article on personal vaporisers in the Mirror that’s for damn sure.

Why We Should Support….

Why We Should Support….

This is more of an opinion post than anything else. As a vaper, you should by now be fully aware of the EU TPD and the implications for vaping as a whole.

In one of my earlier posts, I received a comment mentioning that Totally Wicked should not have put their business name on the campaign to challenge Article 20. I’ll admit I have been putting this post off, not because I don’t want to cover it, but because I wanted to give it some extended thought.

IE Ireland

IE Ireland

Last week, the Irish Cancer Society released an article under their ‘News’ section detailing some ‘alarming’ findings about who uses electronic cigarettes. After reading this article two or three times, I noted a few items that were a little odd. So I sent them a pretty lengthy e-mail and waited, not expecting a response.

Imagine my total surprise when I checked my inbox this morning to find that my email actually had a response from an ICS Advocacy Officer. I’ll say this now, I do appreciate it when my e-mails get a response however short. This one, was pretty detailed, if a little wishy-washy in places.

My Journey: 10 Months On

My Journey: 10 Months On

I find it really odd what can trigger a story for a blog post. Sometimes it’s a piece of unbelievably poor reporting, utter bantha poo-doo from ‘public health’ or just a random chat. A few nights ago some of us on Twitter had a yakety yak about some old e-cig devices, and it got me thinking.

I had initially planned to write one of these at the six month point, then again at the twelve month anniversary, as a kind of journal into the life of an average every day smoker, turned vaper. Unfortunately, me being me I completely forgot to do the six month post (facepalm) so this will be slightly longer.

Not So Colourful Packaging

Not So Colourful Packaging

It seems that it is OK for public health to put tobacco and kids in the same place whilst beating the ever tiresome drum of think of the cheeeldren!

Honestly, it’s getting more than a little fucking annoying now.

I am of course referring to TobaccoFreeCA. Again. Wholly sponsored by CDPH. Vociferous anti-smoker, anti-nicotine, anti-tobacco, anti-person group of … I was going to use people but no sane person would ever condone the tactics being used by these assholes.

The Conversationalist

The Conversationalist

I recently posted about the possibility of two distinct stories that could arise from one source, it seems there has been a bit more action with one of the stories. Spurred on of course by new ’evidence'.

Armed with this stunning new evidence our resident chipmunk decides to put pen to paper and attempts to ‘dissect’ the information presented. Think we can all guess how this is going to pan out can’t we?

Guest Blog: My First Hustings

Guest Blog: My First Hustings

For this post, I’m going to bring in a very special guest. Most of you will know who this is, the southern candidate for Vapers In Power. Dear readers, I pass this page on to Liam Bryan.

My First Hustings

Hustings banner

So, two days before I was really nervous - I mean, we’re a single issue party and I’d pretty much insisted that “Protect Our NHS” give me an equal voice. They didn’t want to at first, they said there wasn’t enough time for the “major” candidates as it was. I think it was me suggesting I go as a member of the audience that swung it.

Excuse me, those are my coat tails…

Excuse me, those are my coat tails…

Advocacy Definition

Advocacy. Such an interesting concept isn’t it? You have one group of folks saying one thing, and another group saying the opposite. Before social media there were unending group meetings, PR, debates and all that jazz. True it was much slower to get the points across, but that didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things as it gave each side a lot of time to come up with something ‘better’. Not to mention getting the face time to get the point across.