Thursday 1 May 2014

We Didn't Say That ... Erm, Did We?

Further to yesterday's article here about how Public Health England plans to lobby the government - which pays them half a billion pounds per year of your taxes to do so - to include e-cigs in the smoking ban, it seems that that is not what they were saying at all! Silly me.
Professor Kevin Fenton, PHE’s national director health and wellbeing said: “We have not called for a ban on e-cigarette use in public spaces. PHE is working with our partners to consider the options for supporting safe use of e-cigarettes to reduce harm and support smokers to quit, some of which were discussed by our Board in February.”
Poor Kevin (this is him) looks to have been caught on the hop by ITV and the Indy picking up on his employer's madness. However, if he is telling the truth, perhaps I dreamed reading this long one-sided tirade against e-cigs from Kevin's obscene tax-sponging organisation.


Because using the words "prohibited" and "public places" in item 32 certainly sounds like PHE has "called for a ban on e-cigarette use in public spaces", eh?

Doesn't look much like "supporting safe use of e-cigarettes to reduce harm" to me. Does it you?


10 comments:

Edgar said...

This u-turn shows quite clearly that PHE doesn't have a clue what it is talking about. Good job we're only paying them half a billion a year.

Dick_Puddlecote said...

Think they got figuratively caught cracking one off by their mum, myself. ;)

Knowsbest said...

The PHE 'employs' 5,500 people !!

JonathanBagley said...

Tried to post a link to this article in the Independent comments but they deleted it, so posted a link to the PHE meeting matters arising without referring to you

RooBeeDoo said...

What a PHEnomenal waste of money.

Ivan D said...

Some of them might do real jobs such as testing patient samples for viruses and the like but it is hard to tell as those people are overworked underfunded and receive no publicity. They are constantly screwed around by reorganisations along with most other front line health people so they may or may not be part of PHE since it replaced whatever wasteful pointless bureaucracy was in place before it

Ian B said...

"Welcome to Puritan Health... I mean, Public Health England!"

Dragonmum said...

Does anyone share my view that the tax-payer has no idea what baubles and beads his hard-earned cash is being spent on? Governments themselves have no money - what they spend is what they've screwed out of their citizens for centuries. Since the way to most voters' hearts is via their pocket could we not compile a list of the worst effronteries - particularly the waterfalls of cash peed away on anti-smoking/vaping crap, not to mention all the billions spent in setting up inquiries and reports investigating their own behaviour - which they then blithely ignore? All these PHE, PHW etc. are totally redundant and should be re-labelled POS - Preserve Our Salaries - they care nowt for Public Health

Bones said...

It appear that the link 'long one-sided tirade' is not working.
Page not found - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/307248/PHE14-21_Matters_arising_from_PHE_Board_meetings.pdf)

Dick_Puddlecote said...

Yes, they deleted the file and replaced it with a slightly different one at a different link. I've fixed the hyperlink now.