Ban smoking inside Council owned properties

[Keef]

I'm not really sure your council tax is subsidising anyone's rent, and even if it were, we are talking about people's homes here, owners or not!

[Brendan]

Keef this country if full of freeloaders who claim they can?t afford the ?300 000 they need for their own home but still insist on smoking.

It?s criminal I tell you.

[*Bob*]

Not just any old people's homes, Keef - poorer people's homes.

This surely gives us the right to piss all over them from a great height at every opportunity. That's my feeling anyway.

[Brendan]

Who do they think they are running around being poor anyway? Don?t they know it lowers the tone?

[Jah Lush]

I wouldn't piss on 'em if they were on fire. Bloody fat no good lazy bastards.

[Rico]

So can we means test? It seems if they are truly poor, they can't be asked to be responsible and follow rules. But are you also saying if they meet a certain income level, they should be?

[giggirl]

Rico, I believe that the true feeling on the thread is that what you're suggesting is just plain wrong.

[HonaloochieB]

Also you are the Rigsby de nos jours.

[giggirl]

What was the name of Rigsby's cat?

[TillieTrotter]

Rico, who the hell do you think you are. Jesus , I've never heard anything so mean-spirited in my life:(

[bon3yard]

Heh-heh, funny all over. Methinks rich landbarons who pump out the equivalent of 600 fags(a guestimate..its more than likely...a lot more)per minute in their gas guzzling juggernauts and then trot off home to their free range suppers in front of an audience of undernourished morlocks should cool their heels. Its a form of social darwinism in action...let nature weed out the fickle and feeble minded. Who is going to pay for all that downtime in Antigua if the serfs all die of Emphysema?...actually maybe Rico has a point. :-S

[Rico]

Perhaps.

I just think landlords should have the option to ban smoking in their properties.

If smoking indoors is bad, and Government can ban it in private businesses, they should be able to ban it in their own properties too. (If it is bad for customers/workers in pubs who don't smoke, why wouldn't it be bad for children/family members who don't smoke?)

I fundamentally believe Council Housing is a privilege not a right, and not for life. It should not be for life and it should carry with it both responsibilities and 'incentives' to get on your feet and move on.

You all seem to disagree with all points, which is fair enough.

[Horsebox]

Rico is a troll, no?

[TillieTrotter]

Without a shadow of a doubt.

[Pierre]

As we collectively "own" the roads, pavements, public spaces, government buildings and many other places, maybe we could ban smoking from more or less the whole country.

I'd suggest we go about it by finding out whether the majority of people who "own" that lot are in favour. Maybe we could put it to a vote or something in some kind of national election...

: P

[Rico]

Indeed there are moves to ban smoking in public parks and similar spaces. The 'owner' of Canary Wharf (private corporation) bans it except in very limited, defined spots. So yes, it may happen.

[Brendan]

I propose we should ban idiots from posting on internet forums.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

It's been a lovely acquaintance, Brendan.

[Brendan]

Oi!

[HonaloochieB]

Vienna.

[Rico]

Funny how that would've been the response 5 years ago to someone who suggested banning smoking in pubs....('idiot')

[*Bob*]

Or aeroplanes 30 years ago?

Personally, Rico, I don't think the gist of your argument is entirely without merit, but unfortunately, when you say..

"I fundamentally believe Council Housing is a privilege not a right, and not for life. It should not be for life and it should carry with it both responsibilities and 'incentives' to get on your feet and move on."

...it sounds like your reason for banning smoking in council housing is basically along the same lines as why people in prison should be made to shit in a bucket instead of being given proper toilet like everyone else.

[Keef]

You say a landlord should have the right to ban smoking in their property. I agree completely (even though I regularly break this rule in my flad, but I do go to the window honest). Council housing however is a totally different matter, and you could argue that those people living in them arer part owners too. They're not all unemployed you know!

One point that I do agree on is that it shouldn't be for life. I wish we lived in a place where there was a council house for everyone, but there isn't, and it does bug me a bit when a council place will get passed down through generations, just doesn't seem quite fair.

Aaaanyway, that's a whole other conversation, and basically my answer to the original point remains the same. No we shouldn't, and I'm pretty sure, couldn't ban smoking in council properties.

[Brendan]

If this person isn?t just a shit stirrer;

Either they have a misunderstanding of how the housing needs of this country have developed over the last 50 years and what overall long term strategies are, which is forgivable.

Or they genuinely believe that the rules for what you can do in your own home should differ according to your financial status, one law for the rich and another for the poor, which quite frankly isn?t forgivable.

[Keef]

Innit!