Smoking ban

[lnr]

Lots of people are talking about the UK plan to totally ban smoking in enclosed public places which was voted through yesterday evening. Most of my friends list who have commented seem keen, though some have reservations. I'm curious as to what those who've not said anything yet feel. Do propogate this as widely as you like. Personally I think it's a good move, though I would have been as happy with the amendment which allowed smoking in private clubs. I do think a total ban in pubs is an excellent step. And no, I don't smoke, though I have in the past been in the "Well... a bit " category. - oh yeah and just to add I am still occasionally tempted if I'm out with one of the few friends who smoke. [Poll #673518]

Comments

[pir.livejournal.com]

That's entirely hyperbole.

They're not banning smoking. They're banning it in public places. If they were banning it entirely then I'd agree, it would be bad and taking choice away, but they aren't.

People can smoke as much as they like. Just not around other people inside the pub.

[artela.livejournal.com]

...even if every single other person in the place would also be smoking in there if it wasn't banned... which is the stupid bit.

[pir.livejournal.com]

So if one person who didn't smoke walked in everyone could stop smoking and remove all the second hand smoke from the room instantly ? Yeah, that would work so well.

If you have some venues that have smoke allowed and others that do not then you limit the places where non-smokers (particularly the ones who have medical reasons for not coping with smoke) can go. Is that fair ? No. If you allow some venues to have smoke and others not then all the smokers go to that place and nothing changes. is that safe ? No.

Life isn't fair. Deal with it.

[artela.livejournal.com]

Life isn't fair. Deal with it.

You intimate that life wasn't "fair" before, but were you prepared to deal with it and leave it as it was? No. At least you had a choice in that there were *some* venues you could go to to socialise in the way you wanted to, and the "middle ground" proposal would at least have tried to cater for everyone in some way. It strikes me that some people are only too happy to accept these things as long as it is in their favour, and everyone else can go hang. No thought of compromise appears to have entered your head at all - it's all or nothing.

[pir.livejournal.com]

Any "compromise" still affects the health of people in those venues or affects the business of venues that cannot go non-smoking.

The example of a small village has already been given: if you had a pub and a private-members club as the only facilities in a village and one is allowed to keep smoking then all the smokers will go there and negatively affect the business of the other. Is that fair ? No. Every example you can come up with there is a counter-example to how it does not work in a slightly different situation.

As I said before, you cannot please everyone. No one solution will fit all requirements. Life isn't fair. The "middle ground" proposal would have tried to cater for everyone and it would have caused more problems than it solved.

The bottom line is that this is a health issue, for workers, for the public, for customers. The only reasonable way to solve this issue is to ban smoking in all those places. Full stop. If you disagree, then I suggest you write to your MP because whining to me will get you precisely nowhere.

[artela.livejournal.com]

And every example that you come up with has a way around it to make it fairer all round. By the way, I already *have* written to my MP about many matters this week - let me know when you've written to yours on the more important issues this week like the ID cards fiasco and the regulatory bill due to be discussed tomorrow :-)

(PS. I really don't expect to get anywhere in this "discussion" with you. You've already shown your true colours as a dogmatist so there isn't much point in hoping for a change in your opinion :-))

[pir.livejournal.com]

I'm not currently a UK resident (and haven't been since 1997) so I don't have an MP to write to.

[naath.livejournal.com]

And so the landlord refuses to hire me because I don't smoke?

[artela.livejournal.com]

Yup. We already have some employers discriminating against employing people who smoke (North Wales Police for example), so I see no problem with discrimination in the other direction.