A Place to Stand

A very short Scotsman letter today. Indeed the last sentence was removed entirely which I think unfortunately deprived to multitudes of a witty use of PC terms even if it does require so knowledge of history.

I regret the use of political newspeak to redefine concepts. A case in point is Maureen Moore's call today for train drivers to be "supported" in not smoking in the "enclosed public place" of the cab. "Supported" should mean assisted to do what one wishes, thus having a different meaning from "forced".[ Presumably we must now believe that Stalin supported millions of people to relocate to Siberia to occupy affordable housing & develop politically correct ideas in a challenging sustainable environment.]

The letter was a response to one from the Chief executive of Ash, the anti smoking group - it is here but entirely predictable in claiming that smoking doesn't improve drivers concentration that much so for safety's sake they must be stopped. A fuller reply also appeared today :

In reply to Maureen Moore (Letters, 23 January), I don't want to travel on a train where the driver is suffering from nicotine withdrawal, and given the driver's compartment is separate from the public space on a train, I couldn't care less whether he or she smokes or not. I want drivers to be cool, calm and collected and if smoking helps them to concentrate, that's fine by me.

Ms Moore is becoming an irritant more likely to cause high blood pressure than any amount of cigarettes, and her assertion that drivers who smoke are more likely to have a crash than non-smokers strikes me as ridiculous.

DICK WINCHESTER

Well said. There remains no survey which has found evidence outwith its own limits of statistical error of passive smoking killing. When Jack told parliament that his bill would save 1,000 lives a year it was a deliberate lie & everybody in Hollyrood knows it. But it was a politically correct lie - like Stalin's.