Cigarette ban at doorways gives no room for doubts
9/2/10 Scotland Evening Times
My pal’s old dad is a chain-smoking retired butcher who found a novel way of drumming up business during the last big recession.He added a little neat nicotine to his daily dough-making and within a fortnight he had the whole neighbourhood hooked on his steak and kidney pie.There were other by-products of having a cigarette dangling permanently from his lips. When the ash reached exactly three inches in length it would conveniently break off and sprinkle his spiced pork chops. At least he advertised them as spiced.His dad’s smoking habit certainly spiced up my pal’s childhood, such as the day a neighbour noted the overspill in the old boy’s huge ashtray.She said: “Oh, I’m very sorry for your loss. Was it someone close?”
War on Smokers: the backlash
3/2/10 Guardian
The government wants to halve the number of cigarette users, infuriating the tobacco industry and diehard smokers, says John Harris. This week, the Department of Health put out a 70-page document titled A Smokefree Future, full of plans to make cigarettes the preserve of a very hard-bitten minority. Having banned smoking in all enclosed public spaces in 2000, thereby securing a 25% drop in recorded numbers of smokers, the government's new aim is to cut the proportion of us who smoke by another half – so that by 2020, only one in 10 Britons will still have the habit.
The essential point, Andy Burnham, Health Secretary claims, is to go for policy that's "heavily targeted on the new flow of smokers coming in, rather than restricting the liberties of smokers who are already there. If they look at where I was focusing my efforts yesterday, I hope they'll see that.""At times," he tells me, "we've allowed ourselves to have this 'nanny state' tag thrown at us, by not being clear about the limits of where it's right to go. We've got to be more cautious and precise in our language." He is, he tells me, instinctively opposed to outlawing smoking in cars (even with children on board). But, like a good New Labourite, neither is he opposed to "having a debate".
Mulholland: smoking ban extension would be 'ludicrous'
3/02/10 Morning Advertiser
Lib Dem Greg Mulholland, also chair of the Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, hit out at Government plans to review the smoking ban and consider whether it should be extended to door entrances or even beer gardens.He has tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament warning against such a move, which, he said, would lead to more people staying at home to drink and smoke.“Just when pubs have got to grips with the smoking ban and have found ways to cater for non-smokers and smokers alike, this nanny state New Labour Government wants to ban something else," said Mulholland.“This really is quite ludicrous as well as draconian and will cause more damage to pubs that are already hard hit in the current climate.
“It is as if members of the Government wake up, look at themselves in the mirror and think ‘What can I do to damage the pub trade today?
Don't stub out smokers' pleasure
1/2/10 Guardian
If Andy Burnham knew the joy of a post-prandial cigarette, maybe he'd ditch his dreary plan to ban smokers from doorways writes Sholto Byrnes. I have no desire to impose my habit on others; but that is not enough for those of Burnham's ilk. They wish to force me to "improve" myself. And how swiftly this new puritanism has carried all before it. In my first job, at the Sunday Telegraph, I had smokers to my left and facing me, while at the Evening Standard in the late 90s you could tell the midday deadline was approaching by the increasing density of the fug above the editorial floor. When a news executive organised a petition to ban smoking, the editor finally replied that after due consideration he would reject the advice, as he did not want key staff having to disappear as the presses were due to roll....
The worst thing about the smoking ban
24/01/10 Sunday Times
The smoking ban, wrote Jeremy Clarkson, has had a devastating effect, not just on pubs and clubs — which are closing at the rate of one every four hours — but on society, which has now become divisive and bitter. "There are, as I see it, only two solutions. Either the government can come clean and admit that without the tax revenue from smokers, the NHS would be finished. Or, to level the playing field, it can ban smoking completely. Apparently, such a move is being considered right now in Finland. Though we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the outcome because when a Scandinavian is forced to give up the tabs, he will simply revert to the region’s second-favourite pastime: committing suicide."
Smoking ban leaves compromise out in cold
10/01/10 Irish Independent
I'm sitting in a bar in Warsaw, drinking a coffee, reading newspapers on line and smoking cigarettes. And I can tell you one thing for nothing - it's a beautiful thing not to be treated like a flea-ridden pariah. The already suffering bar and restaurant trade in Ireland is now being severely choked by (the smoking ban). It is actually the catalyst for the closure of hundreds of pubs all over this country: Pubs, which are businesses, employers and more importantly, community meeting points for people who need them.We are all aware of the dangers of smoking, so in a truly civilised society the fairest answer would surely be this -- allow the people who own the pubs and restaurants the freedom to run their businesses as they choose, smoking or non, bearing in mind that cigarettes are still legal in this country. Then allow the public the freedom to choose whether they want to patronise smoking or non-smoking establishments. Finally allow individuals to decide whether they want to work in smoking environments or not. Who loses? No one. That, my friends, is what you call freedom of choice.