From The Independent…

.. these are supposed to be the good guys, right?

I’ll just pop this story here so that I know where to find it next time one of my friends complains about how the right wing media makes a headline over isolated and extreme individual cases when the underlying problem isn’t something to be too worried about.

10-year-old girl weighs 22 stone as Birmingham faces obesity epidemic

…

But the overall  number of children classed as overweight or obese in the region has actually fallen by around four per cent from last year.

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E-cig bans vs Free Speech

What a wonderful comment…

Cyto|12.25.13 @ 11:00PM|#

Their arguments in favor of this ban set up an interesting legal possibility. By arguing that e-cigarettes must be banned because they resemble smoking real cigarettes and therefore encourage smoking by making it seem “OK” to smoke they are saying that their ban is a ban on an expression of an idea, not a ban on a dangerous behavior.

That’s pretty interesting. A challenge to a regulation on free speech grounds – and on the grounds that the government intends to suppress speech that no one intends to make. Nobody intends to make a statement that smoking is acceptable by using an e-cigarette. They don’t intend to express any idea at all – they are just living their lives. And the state is saying that simply living your life as you see fit is an expression of an idea that must be suppressed. Interesting.

I cannot say whether this is really a ‘legal possibility’, but I love the line of thinking.