Children shouldn't be allowed to watch films with in which people smoke, says rabid nannyist

The NHS Plymouth Stop Smoking Service wants Plymouth City Council to use its powers to reclassify films so that children should be banned from watching flicks like 101 Dalmatians and Lord of the Rings, because they show people smoking (their position on minors hearing Jim Carrey's famous catchphrase is unclear).

In a strange development, those responsible for decision-making in this area displayed some common sense. Hurrah for the council, who said the issue should be left to national classification systems and guidelines. And for the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) said banning children from films was not the answer. Take THAT, Plymouth-Stop-Smoking-Service-who-plainly-need-their-budget-cut.

Name and shame time: Russ Moody, from the Plymouth Stop Smoking Service, said:

This is not about being a busybody - this is about protecting young people from harm.

In other news, Russ announced his policy on road safety - erecting massive hoardings around motorways so nobody could see the nasty cars or wander out into the road and get squished. Russ said,

This is not about being a busybody - this is about protecting young people from harm.

Finally, Russ completed his non-busybodying hat trick by demanding a national register of sweet shops, to ensure they don't dispense too much sugary goodness in one go. The Moody line on this was

This is not about being a busybody - this is about protecting young people from harm.

OK I made the last two up, in an attempt to display the point that his argument justifies just about anything (like, for example, the proposed NICE database of every household in the country in order to prevent accidents in the home). But does anyone think my fantasy suggestions less plausible than the one he's actually asking for?

By Alex Deane

countries are perfectly at liberty to require one to surrender fingerprints as the price of entry to a country, a fair deal one can accept or refuse – and which, at the border in Kenya, I would of course have accepted. But taking prints on the way out of a country is simply punitive, and says directly, we think you’re a criminal. This is important because, not least, it means I wouldn’t have any problem going to any other country which requires one’s prints (like the USA).

Comments

[Dave Atherton]

The taxpayer spends from start to finish £300 million on tobacco control. From paying for the salaries and campaigns of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the various SmokeFree quangos, stop smoking advisors, to nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and gum which have a success rate of <5%.

Taking Moody's model to its logical conclusion the Queen Vic in Eastenders and the Rovers Return in Coronation Street should be closed down as we do not want to encourage youngsters from drinking. All implied sexual activities in soaps (especially unmarried) should also be banned as we do not want to encourage under age sex, and I have not mentioned the implied violence yet.

James Bond should be seen carrying a packet of condoms with all the time as he appears not only to be promiscuous but have you ever seen him visit the gentlemen's loos and buy a packet of 3 Durex? Perhaps in his next movie he should be seen going into St Thomas' Hospital for an HIV test.

James Bond should also go on an anger mangement course as he sees to be a very violent man, as we do not want to incite youngsters to go out and commit heinous crimes.

Pandora's needs to be pried open a tad more.

[chas]

Children do not copy everything they see in films, otherwise we would have to ban children from watching any films.

[F Wilson]

Sorry Russ, You are a Busybody, it is just another move towards State Control over peoples lives and lifestyle choice,the comments by Dave Atherton are spot on, i think you will have to ban all of TV Russ to save the children or ban all anti-smoking groups and quangos to save the taxpayer further millions on pointless campaigns that have all Failed. What a wonderful thing, CHOICE.

[SadButMadLad]

Can we do something to protect the public against people like Russ Moody. This is not about being a fair - this is about protecting busybodies from making themselves look stupid.

[Purlieu]

We can't have children in films any more in case a paedophile watches one, somewhere. This is not about being a busybody - this is about protecting young people from harm.