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.
¦
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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