Efforts to reduce the number of smoking Brits appear to have been partially undone last year as many young adults took to smoking – as well as to over-drinking alcohol – to help them cope with the stress and boredom of the first lockdown. The Sun has the story.
The number of 18 to 34 year-olds sparking up increased by 25% – an extra 652,000 people – a worrying study revealed.
And an extra 4.5 million people, mainly women, developed drink problems, researchers from University College London found.
The study showed a 40% rise in problem drinking across all age groups. Women were most affected, with a 55% increase.
Younger people, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, were most likely to start smoking.
Dr. Sarah Jackson, from UCL, said: “Lockdown was a period of great stress for many people and we saw rates of smoking and problem drinking increase among groups hardest hit by the pandemic.
“People mistakenly believe smoking relieves stress, so some may have used tobacco or alcohol as a means of coping with increased stress or boredom.” …
Last year, the Office for National Statistics found the number of people who smoked had fallen dramatically over the past decade – from nearly 20% in 2011 to just under 14%.
In particular, the habit had fallen out of fashion among 18 to 24 year-olds.
Worth reading in full.
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It could accelerate quite a bit. Those of us (like me) that have granted direct debit usually forget about it and let them grab the cash. No doubt it’s well understood that DD helps to maintain revenue. I was the treasurer of a an organisation for several years that manifested that effect. Very few new members that granted DD dropped out annually.
You can cancel your DD and apply for the return of any over payment.
I don’t even bother to self declare anymore. They send (obvious by the envelope) BBC threatening letters every couple of months which I take great joy in throwing away unopened these days.
I’ve not paid the BBC extortion for at least 15 years and before that it was only because my house mate wanted to watch TV and had an annoying habit of opening the door to randoms.
I responded to a “thank you for donating” email from Toby Young back in May with a quip about the BBC sending monthly threats for not using their service.
6 days later, and after years of no-one visiting in-person, an “officer” put a note through my door and sat in his car outside my house. In a remote location on a dead end road, this sort of activity stands out. I went out to take some pictures and a shabby bloke with an Eastern European accent confirmed he was from TV licensing. Rather than quizzing me about a TV, he got back in his car and drove away. No more letters so far.
Nor should you self declare. You don’t have to let Tescos know that you won’t be shopping with them.
You only need a TV licence for watching or recording live TV (broadcast, satellite or live streamed) and using iPlayer. You don’t need one for catch-up of ITV, etc.
Propaganda by coercion or propaganda by subscription? I prefer the latter because it’s easier to ignore. We only need to look at the criticism of the content to see that the brand recognition and reputation are a facade.
“BBC: Brainwashing Britain?” by David Sedgwick is quite a good read.
“… costing the BBC £430 a million a year.”
Cost is an outlay, what is happening to the BBC is a loss in revenue. There is a difference.
Apologies for repeating myself, but earlier this year I made a civil claim against the BBC for harrassment for continuing to send threatening letters after a visit from an “enforcement officer”. It was amazing that every letter or email they sent contained a lie. The culture of lies and disinformation obviously permeated all the way down to poor old Donna in Customer Relations. She couldn’t seem to help it! Any way they paid me £450…
Well done
Cheers
Brilliant!
Good.
The People´s Revolt has begun.
BBC is headed the way of Coutt´s bank and Costa coffee.
And good riddance.
Didn’t stop them giving Huw Edward’s a big old pay rise though just days before the shite hit the fan..
This is a good news story, but we need to be careful what we wish for. I believe in Aus, the licence fee was removed and instead the Gov now centrally funds it through normal taxation!
Then it will be no longer able to claim impartiality and people will see it as nothing more than a medium of government propaganda.
If it cannot control its bias then we must take its scalp.
I already pay somebody to put garbage out( the council) – I ain’t paying the BBC for the same.
The reason I cancelled my licence fee direct debit this year is due to the outright lies that are being presented as facts on the news (eg climate change related issues) and also the introduction of stress inducing beats throughout news programs on TV and radio. This is something that began just a couple of years ago. So even though the BBC does produce some excellent programs, I would not subscribe due to these issues.
The BBC is the mouthpiece of Satan.
I remember celebrating John Majors election victory outside Conservative HQ in Smith square. Whenever a BBC reporter tried to interview anyone a chant went up of “privatise the BBC”. Every time I read or hear the latest tosh from the BBC I think back to that moment. It really is time now.
Not paying the TV propaganda tax and not voting for any establishment party is surely the duty of everyone who believes in free speech, the nation state, liberty and freedom. They have gone rogue and thus no longer can enjoy our support and consent.