Liverpool is, according to reports, the lung cancer capital of Britain. Not a nice statistics I am sure. But simply slapping an 18 certificate on any film depicting smoking is not going to sort that statistic out.
Liverpool City Council are supporting moves by the group Smoke Free Liverpool to put an automatic 18 certificate on every film featuring images of smoking, even retrospectively, meaning that any film used in schools to support English literature (the likes of "To kill a Mockingbird", for example), would also be banned from schools.
Modern films set in a contemporary setting will, of course, have virtually no smoking in them because in the US and in the UK and most of Europe now, smoking in bars, restaurants, etc, is banned, so Liverpool should have no need to ban these. But the threat to go back and effectively ban hundreds of classic films from being used to support teaching in schools seems crazy.
2 comments:
I couldn't agree more - and I'm not a smoker.
gun crime, the knife crime or the drugs scene. In a week where a cyclist was pulled from her bike and stabbed to death, Liverpool City council have decided to target the completely legal pastime of smoking.
The Bourne Ultimatum, with all its violence, was given a 12A certificate. If Liverpool's officials had their way it would be given an 18 certificate, not for its violence, but for the smoking scenes.
Maybe this highlights the deep routed problems within the city, and the total ineptitude of the council to deal with the city's many real challanges.
www.charlesletterman.com
I think Liverpool should look to its own city before it looks further. It is litter strewn and dirty in many places. They should put their own house in order.
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