Happy new year
Monday, January 7, 2008 One of our projects in 2008 is to compile a series of comments about the smoking ban. The best will be available online and we will also produce a printed version to send to every MP. A good example is this email - just received - from Andy in Glasgow:
My dad fought in the Second World War in order that we could all live in a free country. Now, as a smoker of 46 years, I feel more like a prisoner in my own country. We pay the same taxes as others, but god forbid we should light up a cigarette.
Recently I had to pay a substantial sum for a wedding in a hotel in Glasgow and had to stand outside like a second class citizen. I pay a lot of money in taxes including £196 a month council tax. I have to drive 420 miles a night in my heavy goods vehicle and can't smoke a cigarette or I'll be breaking the law of the land. Is that a laugh or what?
Andy adds: "Best of luck with your campaign. Happy new year." Happy new year to you too.
Reader Comments (11)
I am 47 years old and work in the city in recruitment, have always voted Conservative, have children at private school and consider myself to be bastion of respectability. Growing up in the 1970s when political ideology was at its most entrenched and bitter, I always had a contempt for the demonstrators and armchair socialists. The smoking ban to me has meant that I have been on my first protest march, Bristol 2007 and find myself not only breaking the law by smoking in bars that turn a blind eye, but inciting others to do so too. I find it ironical that an instinctive pro establishment person such as myself has turned into a rabid anarchist, with a venal dislike of "Liberals" and health fascists.
Since the introduction of the smoking ban in England on 1st July 2007, the social configuration of this great country of ours has changed irrevocably for ever. It has created in a single stroke, social outcasts of anyone indulging in the legal pastime of smoking. Smoking has been enjoyed for centuries by decent honourable people in social groups, including non-smokers who have been more than happy to enjoy our company.
As a pipe smoker of 37 years, my social life has been destroyed. I can no longer meet with my good friend of many years, also a pipe smoker – because we can’t sit inside our local pub and enjoy a pipe with our pint. We are now social pariahs. Only non-smokers are catered for now. No matter that we bring in around 10 billion pounds to government coffers! Still, I suppose there is one consolation, and it’s this – the open toe sandal anti-smoking zealots, can now sit in charisma free pubs and bars throughout the land and bore each other rigid which their self-righteous bullshit!
This overbearing and vindictive smoking ban has been brought in on the back of dubious and often discredited science. There is no empirical evidence whatsoever that ‘passive smoking’, SHS, or environmental tobacco smoke has any causal link to death, though organisations such as ASH, (who are funded with taxpayers money), have been peddling this myth for many years, thus justifying their funding. Has anyone ever heard of a pathologist carrying out an autopsy, and declaring that this person has died of ‘passive smoking’?
Whenever epidemiologists bring out a study concerning ‘passive smoking’, they invariably come up with different figures, and they do so without challenge, or more precisely – no dissenting voices are given any credence by the anti-smoking lobby, or the media. It’s all about vested interests.
I have noticed how complicit the media is in the vilification of smokers, have you ever heard a smoker interviewed on television saying that they enjoy smoking a cigarette, pipe or cigar? No you haven’t, and you never will, their voices will be kept well away from any TV camera. The media are also incapable of questioning the junk science being banded around, and are content to follow the politically correct line of the government, which is to dictate to the public how it should enjoy it’s leisure time. Should it not be for bars and clubs to make their own choices as to whether they allow smoking or not on their premises?
But what really angers me is this. Labour has brought democracy into disrepute by dishonouring their 2005 election manifesto pledge – remember it? If not, then I’m only too happy to refresh your memory.
‘We will legislate to ensure that all enclosed public places and workplaces other than licensed premises will be smoke-free. The legislation will ensure that all restaurants will be smoke-free; all pubs and bars preparing and serving food will be smoke-free; and other pubs and bars will be free to choose whether to allow smoking or to be smoke-free. In membership clubs the members will be free to choose whether to allow smoking or to be smoke-free.’
I find it reprehensible that this government has so dishonoured this manifesto pledge – a shameful practice that politicians have become renowned for. They call themselves Hon members, how about dishonourable members, this would seem more appropriate.
I shall keep fighting along with millions of others against this poisonous wedge that has been driven between us – at least while my mind and heart are still free from further tyranny.
For years I used to drop into my local pub every day, for a pint and a cigarette, and a chat with the other regulars to keep up with the village news.
All that ended with the smoking ban. The cigarette was as much part of the pub experience as the pint. I could no more relax with a pint without the cigarette than I could with a cigarette without the pint. Pubs are now forbidding places for smokers.
For months I kept going to my local, now sitting outside. But by mid November it had got too cold to do that, and so I stopped going all together. Which was wrenching, as it had been a little highlight of my day to visit the pub.
Nobody in the pub wanted the ban. Not the landlord, nor the staff, nor the customers. They were a tolerant bunch of people, and many of them were smokers.
I met one of the non-smoking regulars in the street a few weeks ago. I hardly ever see him now. He said that the pub, once bustling and jovial, was pretty dead most nights now.
The imposition of the smoking ban has been a triumph for intolerance. And the smoking ban of itself won't save any lives. The largest studies of passive smoking have indicated little or no risks. But these studies are ignored, because the real purpose of the ban has been to stop people smoking. Which is why the ban is steadily being widened to include outdoor areas and cars. It would have been more honest to simply make smoking illegal. But the government wants the tax revenue from smokers, while it bans them from smoking everywhere.
Perhaps, if the ban forces enough people to give up smoking, it will save one or two lives. Or delay inevitable death one or two years. But it will do so at a terrible price. It will have destroyed little communities all over the country, and brought loneliness to many people. It will have done so by taking away freedom, and by imposing the preferences of the majority on the minority. It will have set smokers against non-smokers. It will have ended tolerance and companionship.
But freedom and community and tolerance and conviviality are not measurable quantities that can be set out in tables or drawn as graphs, and so they are disregarded. But, although not measurable, they yet matter more than anything. They matter more than life itself. For what value has life without community or compassion or tolerance?
Hippocrites,and not Just the Government I am talking about either, So called Anti,s local MPS included. Twice I had reason to consult them and twice they talked rubbish and no help at all, huge salaries for very little are what I have found and most of all they appear to be all careerists not for the good of us that pay their wages.I would enjoy looking into how they live their lives and spend their huge handouts.... that goes for Ash and co. and journalists that spout the lies on their behalf.
Fot the good of all our health, I was quoted by my local Mp ha! what a joke from a City where We have huge waiting lists and bed blocking in our hospitals.My youngest brother who still has to work in a heavy Job waiting for a hernia operation, 3 years he has been waiting. My late Mother mis-diagnosed on more than 3 inpatient admissions.and numerous outpatient tests.
My Son waiting to see his neurologist has had his appointments cancelled twice.
My sister living in a flat full of damp, other residents having the police called due to noise, drug activities and crime. Living off the state whilst My Sister works hard pays her way and suffers lack of sleep due to fights and growing noise, having to get up to work in a job that gives her little left after paying her rent council tax etc. passing rubbish vomit and urine on her way out of the horrid, hallways, She enjoyed a night out once a month at the local with good friends her one escape for a quiet drink and ciggie but now that holds no joy, she is the criminal as she smokes a legal substance and has to put up with the real criminals that cause so much trouble to decent residents though they seem above the law.Yes she has tried to be rehoused but told not much chance.What a strange place we live in.
Yes Catherine, it's so sad that those in power seem so far removed from the reality of life for so many people. I read a number of forums on many different aspects of life in the UK, and an increasing number of people are of the view that 'this country is finished' and are simply choosing to emigrate because they've had enough of being straight-jacketed into submission on issues of petty point scoring for those at the top, while those working hard to build a future for themselves can't even afford to put a secure roof over their heads and many who have pushed themselves to the limit to do so are about to lose theirs according to the financial outlook. (All of which has been predicted by experts for about ten years, but the government always seem to need a 'state of emergency' before they do anything).
Meanwhile, as you say, many people who desperately need care now can't get it, while the government focuses on putting preventative pressures on people who may never get sick. It's completely upside down. So non-sensical that I often wonder what justifies the huge salaries (paid for by us) of people who arrive at such ridiculous conclusions.
..and the politicians don't even listen when we write to them, they just spout the party line back at us while stripping us of the freedoms that made this country habitable. Whatever happened to 'we are your servants'?
This no longer feels like a democracy to me. It feels like a dictatorship. If it weren't for certain personal commitments that I can't break, I would be out of this country today. I see no future here at all.
I don't think the Tories or the Lib Dems would have done things much differently. That's the problem. They all seem to sing from the same hymn sheet these days, so we are entirely without choice. There is no party standing up for liberty, personal responsibility, smaller government, and all the things I want to see returned to us.
How can it be a democracy when all the parties are clones of each other? All most of us want is a CHOICE for God's sake. At least when we we have a choice, we feel as though we have some sort of voice - which lifts our spirits.
As things are, we have none.
I can empathise with every post here and would go on to mention the elderly, perhaps now in care homes, who are being denied their right to smoke in what is now their place of residence and many of these would have fought in WW11 and lived through it and made sacrifices of loved ones and family to it. How truly dispicable this country has become, denying comfort to those in their later years who gave up so much for us in order that we could retain our freedom! What a joke!
The other people who suffer greatly are those with mental health issues, many of whom still manage to work, full or part time, but who rely on their cigarettes for their 'nerves'. In order to give up smoking, first of all you have to truly want to give up, otherwise it won't work and smokers who suffer stress, depression and especially suicidal tendencies, have more than enough to work at just to keep going without the added pressure of trying to give up something that in many cases is far more helpful and effective than the medication that is prescribed. The biggest thing for these people is that they now often remain isolated in their homes which is the worse thing they can do, but having nowhere, particularly in the cold and wet weather, to go and be able to have a coffee or drink and a smoke with friends or just acquaintences, they feel they have no choice.
Cases of depression and stress are on the increase and have been for years; people stopping smoking are the most vulnerable in this respect, yet the government whinge on about getting people who are on long term sick back to work while putting the biggest obstacle they can in front of many!
The government want to tackle obesity, yet the majority of people who give up smoking put on weight and for many that means becoming obese!
Of course, this must be part of the big plan though, especially as the government are seriously considering withdrawing NHS treatment for smokers, excessive drinkers and the obese! The more they drive people to drink and obesity through the smoking ban, then the fewer they will have to treat and at the end of the day, the less money they will need to find for pensions they cannot afford, as so many people won't make it to retirement!
Who said the government haven't got any brains? They may well have no compassion and no integrity, but if this is their plan, then I guess it is a pretty clever one.
I have read all the comments on this blog and I entirely agree with all of them. I am british and I can honestly say I have got to hate this country. This government has ruined this country they have turned a pleasant country into a nanny state that spys on you from every street corner.If i had the money I would emigrate, they have taken away our democracy and free will and they are treating us all like children. I no longer will go into a pub for a casual drink because i cannot have a cigarette, i will no longer have a coffee in town and a chat with a friend because i cannot smoke,I dont know why all smokers just refuse to obey the new unfair law and just smoke,this is just the tip of the iceberg once they have banned smoking the next thing will be drinking.This government is hell bent on trying to dictate to us how we live our lives they were elected to run the country not our personal lives. COME THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS IN THE BALLOT BOX vote for anyone else but labour.You have seen their performance these last ten years and its disgraceful unjust and bloody unfair.I hope any publicans who visits and read this site has the nerve to start up a union and fight this governments interference into the way you run your buisness and who you prefer into your pub or club smokers or non smokers..
All the posts here so reflect my own feelings. The smoking ban has, as has already been pointed out, changed this country irrevocably.
I have every sympathy with non smokers not wishing to breath others' smoke while they're eating, I also have some sympathy with their wish to have smokefree areas in pubs. Surely both these could have been accommodated without a total smoking ban in enclosed spaces?
But, as always, we have to go too far - and in some respects we have not only complied with the legislation which is far too extreme, but have exceeded its parameters.
In common with many other people, I catch a train from a station with open air platforms, on which smoking is banned - a six foot fences separates them from the car park where smoking is obviously OK. How much sense does that make?
A few days ago I went to a workshop at premises where an enclosed area has been created in the middle of the lawn with a knee high fence, making a smokers' enclosure - smoking is banned in any other part of the (extensive) grounds. Being a natural rebel, I smoked in the car park, no way was I ruining my shoes by tracking across muddy grass in high heels.
As a final example of how far tobacco fascism has gone, before Christmas there was a practice fire evacuation at work to a car park the size of two football pitches. Needless to say, those people who smoke lit up while standing in the cold waiting to be allowed to go back inside. An email was sent out the following day informing us that colleagues had objected and smoking during such evacuations is prohibited.
I'm now waiting for a guest to request me not to smoke in my own home.
Why the 20 odd percent of the population who smoke - and incidentally fund the NHS with our taxes - put up with this is completely beyond me. Why aren't we fighting back and demanding some reason and sanity?
It's not overstating the case to say I now hate Britain and its society more every day. As soon as we are able to retire, my partner and I are leaving the UK and not just because the weather is better in our intended destination, Italy.
I can tell you why jane we dont fight back its because the british havent got any B....... unlike the germans who have just had a smoking ban implemented.They have just ignored their smoking ban and carried on smoking regardless, as we should have done. If we had of done what could this government do about it put us all in prison Come on smokers stand up and fight.Forgive me if I am wrong, I thought our fathers fought in the second world war to save our freedom and democracy the very things this government is taking away from us.
I, too, now detest this country and wish that I could leave. I doubt that I will ever be in a position to do so which greatly depresses me.
The smoking ban was my tipping point I sympathise with non smokers who feel that, in the past, consideration wasn't shown towards them but I don't believe that an effective compromise solution couldn't have been found had there been the will to do so. I'm surprised at the degree of rage that I feel towards ASH and the politicians who out of naivity, personal prejudice or indifference listened to its lies. I am a hardworking, law abiding, well educated tax payer and feel that I'm now part of the underclass simply because I'm a smoker who refuses to agree with a bullying government and society that smoking is a bad thing, that I'm endangering other people's health and that I have a duty to give up.
I've never been much of a pub goer but the ban has made me feel socially isolated as I refuse to meet friends even for coffee when I can't smoke in any degree of comfort. My work .involves me in appointments with people in their homes and whereas, pre-ban, between appointments, I would go to a pub or coffee shop, now I sit in my car with my "coffee to go". In revenge I keep the engine running and sod the CO2 emissions!!
I just wish that groups which are fighting the ban could join forces with each other and also with the other groups that have sprung up in response to the overbearing, cack handed meddling of HMG.
I used to live in Spain, which is a far more tolerant country, full of much happier people. I wish I ha dnever returned to the United Kingdom Open Prison. At the New Year I was over in Spain as my Mum lives out there. What a joy it was that I was able to go out and celebrate the new Year with my family and enjoy a pint and a cigarette in the pub! How wonderful it was to see bars with signs on the outside saying 'Smoking Permitted'. They have introduced laws in Spain over the last couple of years to restrict smoking in public places. You can no longer smoke in shopping centres for example. Smoking is also banned in the airport in all general areas - however, a smoking room is provided with ventilation for passengers on outward flights as they cannot get outside once they have gone through to the gates.
As for the pubs and restaurants, they have a choice whether to be smoking or non smoking or if they are a large enough venue whether to have areas for both. All pubs and restaurants have to have signs on the outside stating what is permitted, so they have signs saying 'Smoking Permitted' 'Smoking Not Permitted' or 'Smoking Permitted in designated areas'.
This system is working really well oyt there, everyone is happy with it, smokers are not disgruntled about the limitations that exist because they can still go to bars. It is a mutually respectful system.
Interestingly, one thing the Spanish have introduced which has not happened over here is a restriction on where cigarettes can be sold in order to combat underage smoking. Not a bad thing, funny that our government has shown no interest in restricting sales of tobacco isn't it?