Useful links:

Forest - The leading campaign group for the freedom to smoke.

For details of the most out of touch political comment of the year - click here.

To see the Downing Street petition and response - click here.

So, after more than 400 hundred years, we may no longer smoke in public places.  Centuries of enjoying a legally permitted addictive drug (alcohol) while absorbing nicotine fumes has been banned.

We are all aware that smoking is a vile, unhealthy and noxious habit.  We also know that being enveloped by tobacco smoke is unpleasant and possibly even dangerous for non smokers (I say possibly, because it has not yet been scientifically proven).  It is however the case that adequate ventilation in continental bars, bistros, bodegas and tabernas can all but remove the smoke from the atmosphere.

Having lived in the sanitised alpine bliss of Switzerland for some years, I can testify that bars and restaurants can be virtually smoke-free even when populated by aficionados of cigarettes, cigars and pipes.  It is not rocket science but simply the application of sound common sense and practical ventilation measures.

Why then are we, the lucky inhabitants of this green and pleasant land, indubitably the fount of democracy, doomed to be deprived of one of life's little pleasures?

It is claimed by the proponents of this ban that it is in our own interests but also that it is for the benefit of those around us. However it seems to me that political correctness and socialist paternalism (ie the nanny state) may be the real reason.

It should also be noted that smoking taxes in the United Kingdom are amongst the highest in europe and yet the amount spent on the treatment of so called smoking related diseases is one of the lowest this side of the Urals.

To sum it all up, smoking is an easy target because very few politicians have the guts to stand up and defend the rights of a significant minority of their countrymen.

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A petition as follows was set up at the 10 Downing Street website:  “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to cease the persecution of smokers and allow indoor smoking areas in private establishments.”

 
As you can imagine the response was neither clear nor helpful.  The patronizing and long winded reply, probably penned at the behest of some overpaid 'special' adviser was: -

“The Health Act 2006, which received Royal Assent on 19 July, provides for all enclosed public places and workplaces to be smokefree from 1 July 2007. This will make smokefree places the norm and deliver real benefits as part of the Government's commitment to protect people from the dangers of second hand smoke, as well as reducing the number of people who smoke and cutting the number of smoking related deaths.

The Government have announced that England will be smokefree from July, ensuring that the health benefits will reach the public as soon as possible, whilst at the same time providing adequate notice for businesses and local authorities to make the necessary preparations.

Virtually all enclosed workplaces and public places, including offices, factories, restaurants, pubs, schools, public transport, working men's clubs, private members' clubs and shopping centres are covered by smokefree legislation, meaning the enclosed parts of these places will become completely smokefree when the legislation is implemented in July. There will definitely not be any future exemptions made for private members' clubs; the Health Act and the Regulations made under it are comprehensive and clubs are treated in exactly the same way as other premises.

Indoor smoking rooms in public places and workplaces will also be against the law, so anyone wanting to smoke will have to go outdoors. It is important to remember that whilst a private members' establishment is for the use of members only, it will also be a work place for those employed there. A Dundee University study showed bar workers' lung function increased by as much as ten per cent just two months after smokefree laws were introduced in Scotland. Those showing symptoms relating to exposure to secondhand smoke fell from 80 per cent to fewer than half. Scientific evidence shows that even if indoor smoking rooms are ventilated, this does not eliminate the health risks associated with secondhand smoke.

Further information is available in 'The Health Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the Workplace', the joint 2003 report from the Health and Safety Authority and the Office of Tobacco Control in the Republic of Ireland. This is available on the Smokefree England website (new window) (pompous and sactimonious claptrap paid for out of our taxes).”

How out of touch can a politician be?  On the date that it was announced that the new Highway Code would advise against smoking when driving, some junior and not very memorable government minister, pontificated as follows:

'If you're using one hand to hold the cigarette and the other to light it, clearly there is no hand left to hold the steering wheel.'

Funny, I always place the cigarette in my mouth so I can draw on it and then apply the light with one hand while using the other one to steer.  No wonder that the name of this particular politico escapes me.

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