What Effect Will the UK Smoking Ban Have ?
From July 1st smoking will be banned from all enclosed public places in England.
Will it make any difference and if so what ?
As a smoker and a devotee to logic (and freedom) I’m somewhat torn on the issue.
I agree that other people should not be subjected to smoking should they so wish but I also think if the government allows a product to be legal and collects a great deal of tax from it then it’s consumption should be tolerated.
Quickly from the top of the head the pros and cons that come to mind
Benefits
More people will stop smoking
Those that don’t stop will have to cut down
Non-smokers will be very much happier
Problems
We live in a free country - Stalin himself would be impressed with Blair’s legacy
Pubs, clubs and bars will surely suffer. I shall not be going to a pub again !
More people hanging around outside buildings smoking - looks bad
Personally I think pubs and clubs etc should have the choice of being smoking or non-smoking, the customers can then vote with their feet as can the staff who work there.
I doubt, when all the fuss is over, it will be any big deal. After all, could you imagine anybody smoking in a shop or in a hospital ward today - doesn’t seem that long ago people did, it’s now unimaginable - I think it will soon be accepted.
So is is good or bad - what will be the outcome ?
Best
Rod - grounded from the pub
Chris said,
June 19, 2007 @ 9:53 am
The arguement is specious. It is the same argument to legalise drugs, guns, etc etc. Its not like freedom of speach where no one is physically harmed. Voting with your feet is not an option, it would be commercial suicide to go down that route on a unilateral basis, and where it was tried by Wetherspoons, they lost out considerably. You are right that it will soon be accepted, do you remember being allowed to smoke on one side of the cinema? if people can sit in cinema for 2 hours without smoking, why will there be an issue at the pub? As an ex-smoker, the hardest times of giving up were in the pub, and hopefully it will help other people who want to give up, but most of all it will save lives, especially of those who work in pubs and do not have a choice of voting with their feet, think of Roy Castle!
A Retired Bookdealer said,
June 19, 2007 @ 10:43 am
No Smoking = No Drinking - These two go together in my book, you can not have one without the other.
I wonder what they will ban next ?.
Jordan said,
June 19, 2007 @ 11:50 am
Hi
Have the goverment not thought about how much money they are going to lose with people giving up?!!
All that extra tax they get out of people, still i guess they will put it on something else!
Whatever happened to “Freedom of choice”!!!
GRRRRRRRRRRR goverment GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Jordan
A Retired Bookdealer said,
June 19, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Hello Jordan,
Whatever happened to “Freedom of choice”!!!
I think thats long gone, along with anything else the hard working people of this country once had.
Jordan said,
June 19, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
Hi RB
You are right on that one!
Still it’s nice to know that we still pay through the nose for everything and work for nothing, to have our so called extinct “Freedom of Choice”
A Retired Bookdealer said,
June 19, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
Hello Jordan,
work for nothing
I know this one too well, sadly so do most other people I speak to.
Bring Back“Freedom of choice”For the People !.
I think i may get into Politics. It can not be that difficult can it, well not looking at some of the bright-sparks that stick leaflets through my letter box.
I am off for a smoke, well I still can.
Rod said,
June 19, 2007 @ 6:12 pm
Chris,
thanks for the comment, much appreciated.
I don’t believe the a free country gives me the right to harm others though I do believe if like minded people wish to gather in an area and harm themselves then that should be their choice.
I do indeed remember smoking in the cinema, I also remember not going anymore when they stopped it. I don’t resent it nor do I think I have the right to blow smoke at someone in a cinema, all I know is I stopped going.
I see both sides of the argument hence my question as to the effect rather than railing against the ban.
I feel sure that it will be accepted and a new generation will not even think about it, much like wearing seat belts in cars.
Thank sagain Chris
Regardds
Rod
Rod said,
June 19, 2007 @ 6:17 pm
Jordan,
the nanny state ! We are surounded by it and it gets worse.
Education is the answer, so long as people know the risks, and if they then accept the consequences, that is all a government should do.
If something is wrong then it should be illegal, if not illegal then it should be allowed for consenting adults.
Smoking bars with proper ventilation would provide no health risks from residual smoke. If a business wishes to run such a premises and people wish to frequent it then that should be their business.
RC
Rod said,
June 19, 2007 @ 6:20 pm
ARB
Whatever happened to “Freedom of choice”!!!
I think thats long gone
If you were to have predicted how things would be in this country today during the Cold War people would have laughed at you.
Not even those behind the Iron Curtain were monitored as heavily.
CC cameras absolutely everywhere
Biometric ID cards on the way
Huge databases of you private information on file
Satellite tracking of your car
Your movements can be tracked via your mobile etc etc
Incredible !
Little Brother said,
June 19, 2007 @ 11:10 pm
Rod,
Whilst enroute to the Maldives some years ago I spent the first half of the trip listening to adverts for our refuelling stop at Bahrain International Airport-World’s Greatest Duty Free (apparently) My abiding memory of that was a room on the second floor next to the toilets for smokers. The room was packed and you literally couldn’t see inside for the amount of smoke-I couldn’t believe it-instant cancer! How anyone could have set foot in there is beyond me, saying that I went in the toilets and that took some stomaching believe me.
LB
kevin bradley said,
July 2, 2007 @ 10:03 pm
if they decide that meat is bad of us or they going yo ban that
when will it stop
who decide if england should be smoke free the people or the govement