Smoking ban starts this weekend

[JoeChuff]

good point. my luck with the ladies has definitely improved since i packed in the fags.

[peckham_perkster]

I'd heard about that, it kind of makes sense in a stinky kill yourself type way, of course that happened in NY!

I've just spent the whole afternoon writing a document about how we're enforcing it where I work, what a riveting read that was. Any questions about the legislation I'm your gal.

The law officially comes into effect at 6am on Sunday 1st July so would be interesting if you're at a 24 hour boozer. Isn't there one at London Bridge - The Market Porter or summat that's open till the early mornning?

[JoeChuff]

yes, and apparently lots of clubs in London are having special 24hr end-of-smoking parties tonight!

[spadetownboy]

well im fcuking pissed off about the whole thing i personally enjoy a fag with my pint of porter and now im going to either be forced to stay at home or else step outside to have a smoke prime example being i was back home when the uefa cup final was on and i missed every goal except the pens as i was out having a tab at the time. all these ex and non smokers are now coming out of the woodwork to say how great it is that they can now have a drink in a smoke free environment well it didnt seem to bother them too much when smoking was allowed and now its the thing since sliced bread and no more will bar staff be dropping like flies due to their passive smoking habit. its a bloody disgrace and yet again another example of the oppressive state in which we live.

[Ultraconsultancy]

Caimar Aha

I spent a bit of time in Gods Own Country where the smoking ban has been in place for a year or so.

The pubs seem to have dealt with it pretty well, indoors is quieter, cleaner, and brighter; ingenious methods of paddocking smokers [and inpubs I'm one of them] outdoors have worked well. It almost seems to have revived the lounge/tap divide of many years ago.

Hardest hit in scotland have been the wee family cafes, mostly italian owned, where folks could go for a fish tea or an ice cream. Every town has one and it has been an insttiution since the fifties; rightly or wrongly it has done for them.

UC

[SeanMacGabhann]

Spadetownboy said:

"all these ex and non smokers are now coming out of the woodwork to say how great it is that they can now have a drink in a smoke free environment well it didnt seem to bother them too much when smoking was allowed"

You are kidding right? I think it says a lot about the attitude of smokers that DESPITE years of people tutting, moving away from the, asking them not to smoke, campaigning for smoke free pubs etc that apparently we were never heard. Quelle Surprise

(I should point out that some of my best friends are smokers etc etc - and I love them dearly but I say the same to them)

There has been a lot of heated debate on radio and tv shows lately about civil liberties, nanny state, my-health-is-my-own-business etc

And I am pro civil-liberties. pro minimal state interference. and pro-my-health-is-my-business argument

But this isn't about that. It's not about YOU. It's about the people around you. Relating to a previous thread where the merits of old-school pubs versus what now constitutes a modern pub is the fact that a much wider constituency now frequents pubs. And like people traveling on buses, trains, planes it just isn't on for smoke to be in peoples faces anymore. We can jump up and down about it as much as we like but that's the bottom line. And no-one would seriously repeal those laws on planes/trains/buses now.

You can still smoke yourself to death as fast as you like. But the rest of us get to enjoy life a bit more

As for the argument - therre should be "choice" ( a word devalued by successive governments. I don't want CHOICE of hospital, I want my local one to work properly) - this usually means:

1) I should be able to choose to smoke: well so should people be able to choose not to inhale smoke - even in the pub

or

2) there should be a choice of smoking and non-smoking pubs. Well, of course at ANY time before the ban was mooted all pubs had that choice - to be smoking or non-smoking. The reason so very very few were non-smoking is that it stops it being a level playing field. Groups of friends inevitably consist of both smokers and non-smokers but if they all went out together do you seriously thing the smokers would accept the non-smoking venue?

This is democracy in action, not a nanny state. Most people do want this and in a few years time it won't even be an issue.

It is not the thin end of the wedge. "But if they stop smoking in pubs drink will be next!!!"... Sit down, take a deep breath and... relax. That. Isn't. Going. To. Happen. Because, unlike the smoking ban, it doesn't have anythink like sufficient public support

So my advice to smokers is to stop acting like a junkie tied to the bed by their parents and come join us for a pint

Slainte

[spadetownboy]

wheres the democracy in this.i,ve been told i can no longer have a fag in the pub, i have been given no choice in this, dosent sound very democratic to me.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Come on spadetowndboy - you are more sussed than that comment let's on.

Democracy doesn't mean anyone can do what they like. As Spock said, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"

I understand how being told you can no longer spark up does affect you - and is a pain in the behind. But you can see the bigger picture as well surely?

[Mark]

where's the democracy in this, I can no longer carry an 8inch knife in a pub, I was given no choice in this, doesn't sound very democratic to me

(of course I never have really, just trying to make a daft statement look dafter)

[mockney piers]

That's not democracy you propose spadetownboy, that seems to be anarchism. As fine a political philosophy as you'll find but not one that works.

This country voted back this morally bankrupt government back in 2005 and thus probably deserves everything it gets. I sure as hell didn't but I'm stuck with it too.

As it goes I happen to think this new law is marvellous, not in principle, just because I've been to your fair isle and it's such a breath of fresh air being in smoke free pubs.

Utterly selfish of me I know, but sod it, do I look like I care?

[snorky]

I can vouch for the sanctity of Albania as a haven for the smerker - indeed, it is mandatory in bars and cafes - so get booked up for the bright lights of Durazzo chums! ( cheap also - ?0.50 a pack for possibly bogus marloboro full fat )

[spadetownboy]

Mark Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> where's the democracy in this, I can no longer

> carry an 8inch knife in a pub, I was given no

> choice in this, doesn't sound very democratic to

> me

> (of course I never have really, just trying to

> make a daft statement look dafter)

you obviously havnt succeeded so try again.

[citizenED]

Dear all -

Sean mocked those smokers who will say "But if they stop smoking in pubs,drink will be next!!!" In the Guardian, they quoted a woman who said ..they have stopped us smoking in pubs - what's going to be next, sex?

Takes a while to sink in...

citizen

[TillieTrotter]

I think all fat people should be fined for abusing themselves!! (of course I dont) All or most of us smokers know it isnt a nice hobby but unfortunately for some of you, some of us actually enjoy a smoke. It should have been a democratic decision. It Wasnt!

[TillieTrotter]

That could have been more succinctly put but it gets my goat that you think this was a democratic decision. I object to having to listen to coked up assholes all night or drunken ones come to that but its a part of life and what ever happened to each to their own. Of course I know that non smokers have had to share the smoke but thats why I believe that grown ups should have been limited but not more or less completely quelled with regards to smoking. I think its scary that we are governed in this fashion.

[TillieTrotter]

Reading that back I would imagine you could tell I was half way down a bottle of rioja but still my argument stands!:-$

[Mark]

spadetownboy said:

"you obviously havnt succeeded so try again."

nah, can't be bothered if that's the level of your argument

23% of people smoke so therefore and if my maths is correct, 77% don't.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42442000/gif/_42442244_smoking203x224.gif

Do you really think it's worth having a vote/referendum on whether smoking should be banned in a public place?

[TillieTrotter]

Have you got a mojito head on too Mr Mark??

:(

[Mark]

yes, I have *hic*

[TillieTrotter]

hic hic for me too, and that was from Friday night. You are hardcore (having heard you did it all again on Saturday) !

[Asset]

Gimme a fag

[TillieTrotter]

*passes over an illegal public drug*

*realises we are not in Quiet Room ergo no need for asterisks*

*but love them anyway, so being a rebel (smoking illegal substances) decides to use them anyway****

[Asset]

they're not illegal yet TT - only in public. Unless you're passing something else?

[TillieTrotter]

well they are illegal in public places, therefore they are an illegal Public drug.

What do you fancy Asset? Actually, we do need a night on the tiles you and I!

[Asset]

Forum drinks on Friday...........