| 1855 | Macon B. Allen becomes the first African American to be admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts. | |
| 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister of Great Britain. | ||
Volume 128, Issue 10, October 2014, Pages 904–910
Original Research
The Fag Lady, revisited: Margaret Thatcher's efforts on behalf of the tobacco industryAbstractObjective
The
death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has offered
many opportunities to reappraise her career. However it is not widely
known that she acted as a consultant for the tobacco industry following
her resignation from office. The availability of evidence from tobacco
documents archives offers the opportunity to explore her work for Philip
Morris, and more generally to assess how industry seeks to influence
and use elected and former public officials.
Study design and methods
Analysis of documents from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu). Memos, letters and other documents were sought which mentioned Margaret Thatcher or other key individuals. Documents (n = 151) were downloaded as PDFs. Of these 51 provided relevant information.
Results
Margaret
Thatcher advised Philip Morris on issues including advertising bans,
lowering of tobacco tariffs in EEC countries, reducing tobacco taxes,
and anti-tobacco programs. She had previously been involved in moving
two of her ministers from their posts in response to tobacco industry
pressure. She advised Philip Morris to exert political pressure through
the House of Commons by lobbying MPs against the Conservative government
accepting ECOFIN, an European Union (EU) tax harmonisation agreement.
Other activities included trips to Prague, Tokyo, Chicago, Geneva and
Hong Kong on Philip Morris' behalf, or for meetings with Philip Morris
executives.
Conclusions
Relationships
between politicians and industry remain relevant today, not least
because Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
includes the protection of public health policies from tobacco industry
interference. The findings are consistent with findings from other
studies which show tobacco industry attempts to influence governments,
for example to attempt to weaken the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control. They particularly point out the value of former senior
politicians to industry, specifically their 'insider knowledge' which
can be employed to gain access to and influence other policymakers on
industry's behalf.
Keywords
Copyright © 2014 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Born on May 3 |
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| 1469 | Niccolo Machiavelli, political advisor and writer (The Prince). | |
| 1849 | Jacob Riis, American reformer (How the Other Half Lives). | |
| 1898 | Golda Meir, Fourth Prime Minister of Israel (1969-1974). | |
| 1903 | Bing [Harry Lillis] Crosby, singer and actor. Various dates given for his birth date. | |
| 1913 | William Inge, American playwright (Picnic, Bus Stop). | |
| 1919 | Pete Seeger, folksinger and songwriter. | |
| 1920 | Walker Smith, Jr. (Sugar Ray Robinson), champion middleweight boxer. | |
| 1933 | James Brown, American singer and songwriter. A soundproofed room of one’s own: 17 well-intended yet misguided feminist anthems http://www.avclub.com/r/39169tsd via @TheAVClub James Brown, “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”James Brown has held many titles, like The Godfather Of Soul, the hardest-working man in show business, and Soul Brother Number One, but no one would ever put Trailblazing Feminist on his résumé. Still, there’s a stirring consciousness lurking underneath his 1966 hit, “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” Co-written by Brown backup singer Betty Jean Newsome, the song itself seems built on egalitarianism. And while the lyrics are decidedly pro-woman—“He wouldn’t be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl,” Brown seethes—the rest of the song is a laundry list of inventions and contributions to culture devised by men. Brown’s heart may have been in the right place, but it’s possible that the release of “Man’s World” set women’s rights back at least a couple weeks. Is it a man's, man's, man's world? http://gu.com/p/xj354/stw It's a Man's Man's Man's World: James Brown Brown broadly sketches for us some pre-women's movement tableau, in which men's responsibilities consist of burly pursuits such as making trains to carry heavy loads and inventing electric lights, before explaining that all of this achievement would be utterly worthless if it weren't for the delightful, cheering presence of us ladies. Which is, presumably, why they awarded us the vote. What I have always liked about this song is that while it is an indisputable fact that this is, indeed, a man's world, it would mean nothing without a woman OR a girl. He may have been more noted for his dance moves, but Brown was evidently something of a Nabokov fan too. Feminism rating: 1/10 | |
Tuesday, 3 May 2016
May 3
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