Thursday 22 October 2009

The evils of smoking

There are some repeat comedy programmes on television and my favourite is Fawlty Towers. I am also enjoying The Royle Family and in tonight's episode Denise was talking about Baby David. "He only tipped a full ashtray over himself". This isn't too funny but it is the attitude of the whole family that progresses the humour. Dave added that they took a photo and "it was a belter".

This made me think about the court case last week in which a man was sentenced to 18 months for allowing his child to smoke. I am not a smoking fan and his actions sound reckless rather than funny. He was caught because the child had been filmed smoking on a mobile phone. I don't know the details of this case but it made me consider the numbers of similar incidents that have not resulted in a prison sentence either because it wasn't filmed or because the film wasn't handed to the police.

The added complication is that the Royle family have made jokes about children and tobacco and because of that I am guessing that some people think imprisonment is a bit harsh. I am also guessing that in the past the sentence would not have involved prison. In the future I wonder if a photo of a child with an unlit cigarette could result in imprisonment.

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