Who’s been saying what..? DDN’s round-up of what’s being said in the national papers
Unless you have a young male family member who is repeatedly stopped and searched, it is difficult to appreciate the bitterness it causes… The striking thing is that some policemen, and their apologists, remain so invested in non-evidence-based stop-and-search when they know that only 9 per cent of such stops result in arrests (mostly for small amounts of cannabis), and they also know how damaging it is for police-community relationships.
Diane Abbott, Guardian, 2 May
If [Peaches Geldof’s] post mortem had discovered a fatal heart condition or cancer, we would be entitled to our sadness. But when the lethal blow is dealt by the more insidious hand of heroin, then the deceased is judged to be unworthy of our compassion. It’s a heartless position, wholly devoid of human empathy.
Lucy Hunter Johnson, Independent, 2 May
When I read in the papers about what Peaches did – or indeed anyone in the grip of this foul disease – the thing I’m always careful to remember is that it’s not them. It’s the addiction. Somehow the Addiction God kidnaps their ability to think or behave rationally.
James McConnel, London Evening Standard, 2 May
All of us who are sober today had to fall down – often many times and before anguished eyes. We had to hit the ground hard enough to be willing to stand up. And for all that pain, we were the lucky ones. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cory Monteith and everyone who dies each day from alcoholism and addiction remind us just how lethal this disease is.
Bill Clegg, Guardian, 9 May
Drug addiction is a terrible thing, but it is not a disease.
Jan Moir, Mail, 2 May
If the argument that e-cigarettes will ultimately lure kids into smoking seems specious, I suspect that’s largely because the one thing that smoking an e-cigarette definitely doesn’t do is make you look good… If an aura of cool has somehow clung to cigarettes despite the best efforts of anti-smoking campaigners – despite the fact that the most visible pro-smoking campaigner in Britain is currently Nigel Farage, a man with all the insouciant cool of a toddler on a bouncy castle – then the opposite seems to be true of e-cigarettes.
Alexis Petridis, Guardian, 5 May
In an imperfect world, but one where the effects of smoking comprise a large threat to the health of the nation, we should act on the balance of probabilities – which is that e-cigarettes cut smoking. Like health education, the ban in pubs and high taxation, e-cigarettes are part of the answer.
Independent editorial, 20 May
Three out of four serious offenders are now walking out of court saddled only with community orders, fines or suspended sentences… The liberals whose malign influence still dominates our criminal justice system spew out all sorts of nonsense about why prison is such a terrible idea, but the facts are clear.
Stephen Pollard, Express, 17 May