News & Comment
Hungary: tough new restrictions on public smoking
Thursday 28th April 2011, posted by forest
Prisons and hotel 'cigar rooms' are among a handful of exemptions to the smoking ban that was voted for by an overwhelming majority of Hungarian MPs this week.
The new law, to be introduced on January 1, 2012, will ban smoking in the workplace (including bars and restaurants) and on public transport. There will also be a ban on outdoor smoking near playgrounds, schools, creches and hospitals.
Source: Monsters and Critics (April 26, 2011)
Comments:
Dick Puddlecote
Posted on May 1st, 2011
Shame. I was planning on visiting Budapest nest year. Oh well, more money for Prague, then. Posted on May 1st, 2011
Stuart Hartill
Posted on May 2nd, 2011
I taught at a Hungarian university for a couple of years in the mid-1990's, so I was amused by this story.Posted on May 2nd, 2011
Frankly, I'm not sure Hungarian intellectual life can continue if they ban smoking in public!
It's almost compulsory to have black clothing, chain-smoke and have a permanent frown to qualify for the club. Even as a non-Hungarian speaker, I could easily spot the intellectual in TV debates. He (or she) was inevitably the one with the cigarette.
The kids I taught smoked intensely in seminars along with the local academics, and even more furiously when we adjourned to bars and cafes.
