People's Republic of Scotland Bans Smoking!

That shower of Commie ****suckers in Holyrood has just announced a total ban on smoking in public places, starting in 2006. Never mind the country is awash with hard drugs, crime is at an all-time high and the education system is falling round everyone's ears, let's pander to the anal-retentive middle classes and focus on the real priorities, eh? Christ! you couldn't make it up!
It all hinged on the hysterics from the BMA about the (alleged) effects of passive smoking. This is the same BMA which recommended the recent downgrading of Cannabis to class B, and has been dropping hints for years about the alleged benefits to be had from legalising Heroin. It's nanny-state bullshit gone mad. A few month ago, the Scottish health minister berated the Chief Exec. of McDonalds about his choice of menu, and lo and behold they knuckled under instead of telling Finnie to go play with a cucumber. All bets are off on the next thing to be banned being all "Junk" food.
I went through all this bollocks 5 years ago in local government. The professional whingers got their way about banning smoking in the office, then worked their way through bans on eating in the office, drinking coffee/soft drinks, and the canteen selling "non-healthy" food. The latter worked for about six weeks...until the canteen was on the edge of bankruptcy due to the fact there weren't enough "beautiful people" to keep it in business. By that point, I had told them to ram it and went to uni with SANE people.I don't expect the Politbureau in Holyrood to behave any different to their kiddie-on "Socialist" pals in the various councils......
If I was younger and single, I'd be 'phoning round the various Foreign Embassies right now asking about immigration procedures; I've had a gutful of control-freak non-entities. We don't have democracy in Britain anymore. It's autocratic rule by a bunch of ****ers who don't have anything more to look forward to in life.
And no, I DON'T smoke!
Anyone interested in starting a revolution?

[ 10. November 2004, 05:39 PM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]

 

This sort of thing scares me.

Later

 

What? The ban or my post!?

 

If it is any consolation, here in the "Old West" we still shoot our politicians who try such nonsense.
The last one that got 6 9mm rounds was a local county board of supervisors member who voted to raise taxes without putting it on the ballot one Mary Rose Willcox......
Not that I personally am promoting such things....

 

Over here in Ireland they have already banned smoking in public places.

Dont bother me and Im a smoker...

 

I'm for it. If someone's else's smoking is bad for me, why on earth should it not be banned?

It has nothing to do with socialism, it's just not healthy.

 

Better a pain in my knuckles than a tumor in my lungs.

 

I have to agree with Gordon. With all the other problems in the world that are more serious, why waste time and effort on banning smoking ? In this country most people can not get a flu shot this year but the US government still subsidizes the tobacco farmers to help them grow other crops. In the past they subsidized them to grow tobacco. Old people can't get decent medical care or housing but the government goes all out to save the tobacco farmer.

Oh well, I guess I am being selfish. We have a war on the other side of the planet to pay for.

 

Hi,

The total smoking ban has been in place in Ireland Since Mar 04. (I am a non-smoker).

There was huge debate on this issue before it came into affect. The main opponents to it were the Pubs and restruant owners.

75% of people were in favor of it and about 50% of smokers were in favour of it.

Yes there are bigger problems in the world. But that doesn't mean if the are problems that something can be done about that they should be ignored.

Now that it is in affect the smoking sales have gone down dramatically and therefore the tax intax. I know one person who used to smoke 15 cigs a night when out. He has reduced that to 2 now that he has to go out to smoke. This can't be a bad thing.

Also I don't have to breath in the 15 fags when I am in his company!

So overall I think it is a good thing and the majority of smokers and non smokers agree.

There have been some downsides though. Pubs and restuarants have seen a reduction in business by 15-30%.

IT is not clear if this is directly related to the smoking ban as this is a very regulated business and prices have gotten out of hand in recent years. A large number of people site the price of the pint as a reason to stay away not the smoking ban. E.g. You can get a case of 24 330ml beers in the off licence for €24. The price of beer is €4, so a choice between 6 pints and 24 bottles is not a choice at all, plus baby sitters and taxis.
With the econoimic boom in Ireland everything has gotten more expensive and it has come to the stage people have enough and are staying at home, after all the average morgage is over €1,000 a month so it makes sense to spend some time in it and not the pub.

The other downside is the atmosphere in the pub. The smoke masked alot of the musty, sweaty, hygenic smells, that are now evident. I have changed pub in part because of this.

Finally we may be seeing the death of the the irish pub as a social outlet, not just a drinking house, this is of course sad but I honestly think if publicans invested in there business reduce prices, people would come back regardless of the smoking ban.

 

Sorry Historian, I meant the banning thing is what scares me. I am a smoker, but that is not what bothers me. What bothers me is that one thing will lead to another and the next thing you know they will be trying to legislate everything. Now that scares me.

Later

 

JP-I know mate!
Monty-sorry but you're wrong mate. The Scottish Executive sent out 50,000 "consultation" forms on the subject earlier this year. No-one knows how many they got back-mainly because they refuse to say-but apparently 75% of them favoured a ban. Now, bear in mind that Scotland has a population of five MILLION, and the Exec's claim to have overpowering public support for a ban seems more than a tad dishonest!
The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said the ban was unworkable; the Scottish Licensed Traders Association refused to support it, but they went ahead and did it, and got round both problems by giving local authorities the power to recruit undercover(yes, undercover) environmental health officials to patrol pubs. This the day after warning that council tax rates in Scotland may have to rise by as much as 15% next year just to maintain public services at their CURRENT level-note the lack of mention of actually improving them.
This is the same Scottish Parliament which banned fur farms....a decade after the last one went out of business. The same one which sanctioned the availability of morning after contraceptives to under 16s in two of the most die-hard socialist areas in Scotland, and now refuses to answer queries on why both areas now have under-age preegnancy rates 14% above the national average.
Their attitude seems to be that SOME individuals have inviolable rights to enjoy life...just as long as you think the same way they do.
It's socialist dogma gone mad-the country gets more like Animal Farm every bloody day.

 

Its not soicalist dogma gone mad, just because a goverment doesn't have a lassiaz-faire attitude to everything does not make them socialist.

The fact is you are as likey to get cancer from passive smoking as your from smoking.

The reason Ireland put this in place is the fear that people who work in the hospitality trade and don't smoke may take cases against employeers for an unsafe work environment. The goverment has prevented this.

In Ireland, The Irish Vinters Assoc. Refused to support it, police said it would be unworkable and it still went ahead and has been a huge success.

The rest of Europe is waiting to see how Ireland goes and will before long be doing the same. In fact Norway have already followed suit.

 

Hmmm - I use the M25 motorway most days and I'd call that an unsafe life environment. Any ideas as to who I can sue ? Answers on a postcard please.....

 

Actually the passive smoker has slightly more chances to be affected by smoke than the ones who actually smoke, or so I heard or read somewhere… maybe it's an urban myth…

My particular case is weird —not surprisingly, of course—, since at home my boyfriend-husband-whatever has asthema and I am a singer whose voice gets very affected by smoke. Therefore, we try to stay-out of the smoke's way. At least at home people know this condition and they avoid smoking —if they need to do so, we have a nice outside terrace-balcony—, but we can't prevent other people from smoking in all places.

Smoking in public building is forbidden in Mexico, though everyone does smoke in such places…

It's a weird situation. I think smokers have the right to smoke and should be able to smoke wherever they want, but I also believe that if most people —of smokers and non-smokers— don't agree with it because it affects their health, then it indeed should be banned.

 

I'm not wrong, smoking is bad for you.

smoking = cancer, therefore it should be banned. There is no socialist dogma in that equation.

 

Sorry, but loads of things are bad for you, doesn't mean they should be banned. Alcohol is bad for you, I am damn glad it is legal, kebabs can't be good for you but thank god they are legal.

It has nothing to do with socialism though, our governments are about as socialist as Churchill.

 

Incorrect Stefan. Exessive alcohol consumption is bad for you, moderate alcohol consumption is actually quite healthy. However, smoking even one cigarette is unhealthy. The two are not equal.

Aside from that, you can drink all you want sitting across the table from me and not harm me, but if you smoke in front of me I inhale the cancer-gas too.

I applaud the conservatives in Scottland who made this law to prevent others from infringing on my right to health. That is, if I ever visit there.

 

Sorry, but that is complete crap. It IS socialist dogma gone mad, because today the very same parliament debated whether or not to legalise assisted suicide.
In other words, they don't mind you helping a terminally ill relative to die with dignity, but don't smoke in public because that kills...allegedly....
I cannot see how a total ban on smoking in pubs in Scotland can possibly be justified, when the powers that be consulted less than 10% of the population to start with, and the ones who bothered to reply are the same ones who can't sleep at night for fear that someone, somewhere, is doing something they actually enjoy....like smoking.....
I'll tell you something else too. The British government downgraded Cannabis to a Class B drug, on the advice of doctors(!)who said it wasn't dangerous enough to justify being Class A. These are the same people who want smoking banned as lethal, and heroin legalised to "kill" the drugs trade (allegedly).
It's socialist dogma gone mad. They've only had it in Ireland for a matter of months-how can they possibly tell whether it's been a roaring success or not? And anyway, the authorities would say that !
Incidentally,Monty, Scotland is the closest thing you'll find to the old East Germany these days. There haven't been any Conservative councils here since 1997.

[ 11. November 2004, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]

 

Just for curiosity,does the UK manufacture their own smokes or import from USA? Phillip Morris is located around 20 miles up the road. One of THE biggest employers in the state, directly and in-directly. Oh, and I agree with Martin,driving is the NO.1 cause of death.I take my chance every day that some idiot does'nt run me over. It's getting so I'll have to drive my

[ 11. November 2004, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: FramerT ]

 

Think we still make our own, Framert.
Thing is, the moaning minnies are spewing propaganda about people stopping smoking altogether just because it has been banned.
Have a look at This

[ 11. November 2004, 07:44 PM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]