Sunday, 01 July 2007
As Britain goes smoke free another month opens its doors.
Weather, same as, dull, grey, and disappointing.

Smokers across England, have sparked up at work and in the pub for the last time as the ban on smoking in enclosed public places begin.

Doctors estimate second-hand smoke kills more than 600 people a year.

The government also hopes it will help smokers to quit,
and discourage children from taking up the habit.

Market researchers Nielsen estimate beer sales in England and Wales could drop by 200 million pints each year because of the ban.

However, a survey by the Campaign for Real Ale suggested
England's 6.2 million regular drinkers are likely to go out to pubs and bars more often after the ban.

Its study also found that 840,000 people who currently do not go to the pub said they would do so after smoking was made illegal.

Mark Hastings, communications director of the British Beer and Pub Association, said that although the ban may lead to a small decline in beer sales, pubs would also see an increase in the sale of food.

6.2 Million regular drinkers! That’s a lot.
Britain is on a dangerous drinking binge which is claiming lives and causing increasing damage to adults and children.

Hospital admissions related to excessive drinking have more than doubled in the past 10 years and those involving under-16s have risen by a third.

The NHS Information Centre said there were 187,000 hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions in 2005-06 compared with 89,000 in 1995-96.
Of these, 5,280 were children under 16 who needed hospital treatment after becoming dangerously drunk, compared with 3,870 a decade ago.

In 2005, 6,570 people died directly because of excessive drinking.

"Any problem in society today we either want to tax it or ban it out of existence.
BMA, Barmy Motherly Attitude,"

The recommended limits of alcohol consumption are 2-3 units per day for women and 3-4 units for men.
In standard UK pub measures a unit is half a pint of ordinary beer or lager, a third of a pint of strong brew, a small glass of table wine, one glass of sherry or a single whisky.

The limits were changed to a daily dose when doctors realised many people's interpretation of the weekly limits was that if they saved all their units up for Friday night they'd still be OK.
In fact, binge drinking is thought to have serious long-term health impacts although this form of drinking has been less well studied.

The long-term toll of heavy drinking is serious and the NHS estimates it spends £164m a year treating alcohol-related conditions.
One of the most serious consequences is for the liver.
In response to long-term alcohol exposure it starts producing more alcohol dehydrogenase, the enzyme which it uses to break ethanol down.


This means, you need more alcohol for the same effect.
This worsens the addiction.
The liver then becomes over-active, cells die and the tissue hardens.
The result is cirrhosis of the liver.
Other risks of long-term drinking include heart disease, stroke, dementia and brain damage, myopathy - a weakening of the muscles - and shrivelled sex organs.
Cancers related to alcohol include those of the liver, colon, rectum and breast cancer in women.
ANTABUSE®(Disulfiram, USP)250-mg tablets
These tablets have been used to treat chronic cases.
In brief they lower the tolerance level and induce vomiting if alcohol is ingested.

I used to be a big drinker, later becoming a daily drinker.
I laid off the booze in as much as I stopped drinking every day and now find that even small amounts of alcohol make me want to puke.
Not worried because I think the condition has saved me from contracting alcohol related problems saved me money and effectively removed me from a circle of society I wasn’t really enjoying.

So we have a smoking ban to save us from ourselves yet alcohol is still accepted as a social drug knowing full well it will kill many more people than smoking ever does!

Another ban;
In Uganda After a fair amount of stalling, the government has just announced that from 1 July the manufacture, import and use of plastic bags thinner than 30 microns will be banned.
All other polythene will be subject to a whopping 120% tax.

I’ve tried to get some answers on Blogger help, apparently a lot of us are unable to see any new posts upon our sites, and some people are getting a tad annoyed.

Had a look at the ten-day weather forecast, only one day free from showers!
What has happened to the summer this year?
I for one was looking forward to the uplifting sight of at least some sunshine.

Picture is a view of a room at the Kandovan cliff hotel in the village of Kandovan,
(400 miles) northwest of Tehran,

Whole village is carved out of the mountain.


An aggressive squirrel attacked and injured three people in a German town before a 72-year-old pensioner dispatched the rampaging animal with his crutchNot an everyday occurrence.

A Nigerian school has received a gift of 300 laptops -- one per pupil -- but has no electricity to power them up,
Electricity is indeed a big problem in Nigeria, the world's sixth largest exporter of crude oil.
Electricity is provided mainly in the cities and even there the service is at best erratic.
Most homes and private businesses rely on generators.
The plan is to provide laptops to all pupils at 100 dollars by 2008, as a way of ensuring the penetration of information and communication technology in developing countries.

June 30, 2007.
U.S .-led coalition air strikes on a village in Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday,
The air strikes in southern Afghanistan left at least 30 people, including women and children, killed or wounded,

Frozen peas could go up in price because the UK harvest has been hit by the downpours, growers warned. Up to 25% of this summer's harvest could be lost because of the heavy rains,
Wonder what other foodstuffs will get a price hike?