Dear Mavis ...
Sunday, December 6, 2009 In the December issue of The Oldie agony aunt Mavis Nicholson writes: "I am taking up a problem which the artist David Hockney brought up again recently about government interference in how we choose to run our lives.
"He told the BBC's Politics Show that he was appalled to find his local cafe in East Yorkshire no longer allowed people to smoke at tables outside because they were scared the smoke would waft inside and breach the law.
"He went on to attack the nanny state: if ministers had told the late Keith Floyd to give up rich food, alcohol and cigarettes in order to live longer, Floyd would have said, 'That is not what I call living.'
Nicholson adds:
"What do you think? Is the smoking ban a good thing? Surely smokers could be allowed designated rooms in pubs? That's not going to harm non-smokers, is it? Must smokers be treated as lepers? Once you start laying down the law then one intolerance leads to another ...
Older readers might like to email dearmavis@theoldie.co.uk.
Simon Clark
Although he is no oldie, Julian Harris, director of Liberal Vision, has sent the following email:
Dear Mavis,
In response to your comments on the smoking ban, I must agree with your inferences. The blanket smoking ban is one of the most illiberal measures the Labour government has introduced, praying on the modern vilification of people who choose to smoke. Many pubs have suffered, as have specialist smoking establishments such as the middle eastern cafes in parts of London such as Edgware Road. The government lied by claiming that a massive demographic of people would begin to frequent pubs, being previously deterred by smoke. This alleged "market failure" has been proven to be entirely fictitious and now thousands of pubs are going out of business due to government failure. I personally do not smoke cigarettes at all, but I'd like to see basic lifestyle freedoms such as tobacco smoking preserved, so I congratulate you for raising this issue.
Julian Harris
Director, Liberal Vision
Reader Comments (8)
Done as you've suggested, Simon.
I think this struggle is making us ALL 'older' somehow................
One intolerance certainly leads to another - just look around.
To answer her questions:
The smoking ban is ridiculed and flouted at every occassion up here in the northern labour heartlands - no wonder the imbiciles that I live among don't really care about it.
There's certainly no harm to non-smokers with regard to separate smoking rooms, but there wasn't any harm to non-smokers in the first place anyway - the zealots just didn't like the smell and had to invent the harm.
Smokers will continue to be treated as lepers as they were an easy target to 'hit'. This will back-fire though. My anti-smoking cousin (now known as clinically obese, but she looks OK to me) is a current target, and has come around to my way of thinking.
Previously she loved the ban, she now hates it. There could be hope yet.
"Previously she loved the ban, she now hates it."
Slow People can be even more maddening than the Tyrants, Mary - don't you find ?
And there's SO many of them (esp in Tesco).
Still - every little helps...................
Last Saturday my family, children included, spent a happy day at the Christmas Markets in Bruges, Belgium. They ate in two different pub restaurants. Each had a smoking and non-smoking section. These were not partitioned off. Some people sat waiting in the non-smoking part until a waitress fetched them to the smoking part as seats became available. I could take you to at least half a dozen pub/restaurants in the centre of Brussels itself which are the same. Even the EU Parliament building has a similar cosy well equipped bar inside. The same applies throughout Europe.
Only Britain and Ireland have this total ban. They waste millions of tax payer’s money on Quangos like ASH plus deceitful media advertising, so-called "research" at Universities and NHS drugs help.
This is directly ordered by and aided and abetted by the EU. This and all other prohibition has the same aim - to disenfranchise, denormalise and cause mass unemployment. Soon there will be only one job opportunity left for the masses - that of the Special Constabulary. They will be forced to take these jobs or lose unemployment benefit. Pay and promotion rely on results. These results are the number of arrests they make.
Occupied Europe has never been able to conquer Britain until now. The Spanish couldn't do it; Napoleon couldn't do it; Hitler couldn't do it. Now, thanks to our last six Prime Ministers starting with Ted Heath, it has been done. All ended up with wealth far in excess of a Prime Minister's state pension.
Roll on the next General Election - if we ever have a properly conducted one. George Brown's rage riots are next on the agenda and then in comes Martial Law and complete internal take-over by the EU.
"God Save Our Gracious Queen".
Have a good week, folks, don't let it get to you. The British people are not as stupid as our Leaders wish us to be. .
.
"The British people are not as stupid as our Leaders wish us to be...."
Perhaps, Margot (let's hope so).
But they ARE desperately ill-informed.
Would it help, I wonder, if I got my Backroom Boys to jam (etc) ALL television transmissions for (say) a couple of months ?
Even if it DID result in a deluge of even more moronic comments on Youtube by the intellectually-disenfranchised.............?
As to:
"God Save Our Gracious Queen".
No thanks ! I've had QUITE enough of Peter Mandelson.......................
I laughed aloud on reading your comment above Martin V. God preserve our (actual) gracious Queen to save US.
Denormalisation: a couple of vignettes if I may:
In the first, as secretary of a local charity working for old and frail people, I am chatting with some staff in the local hospital. We notice that a neighbouring pub is offering afternoon hospitality to old people on one day a week. The conversation turns to pubs and their struggle to survive. I deplore the effect on them of the smoking ban. ‘But you don’t smoke’, says an occupational therapist, a very loving and nice person - as if this has anything to do with the principle of the issue.
‘Yes I do’, I reply .....
... Sheer amazement, disbelief. Quiet embarrassment from others present. I do know people who agree with me but if I had been one of those people at that time in that situation, I would have remained silent.
In the second vignette I am in a supermarket which sells about four kinds of pipe tobacco, instead of two or none in other shops. While everything from whisky to nicotine replacement to imodium can be self-served, if you want tobacco you queue for a one-basket outlet. The single queue divides into four checkouts at the point the outlets are reached. If you are lucky you arrive at one where tobacco can be reached by the assistant. If not you have to ask an assistant to leave his/her check-out and go and get your tobacco. Usually I do my best to obtain my supplies on line. But if ever I do use this shop I always have to help the assistant by pointing to the product I need and often repeating the name.
Meanwhile other one-basket folk wait and watch ....
With hardly an exception the staff in this supermarket are delightful people and are helpful. We are so lucky where we live. Today, however I was met with eye-avoiding indifference., even embarrassment. Maybe the assistant was shy or awkward. Or maybe she thought she had encountered some kind of disgusting deviant.
Enjoy your shopping, smokers.
"God preserve our (actual) gracious Queen to save US."
Absolutely, Norman !
Your two 'vignettes' are disturbing, of course -but probably not that unusual these days.
You COULD take a leaf out of my book, when confronting the Disapproving Woman-Of-Today (esp one tainted with 30 years of Vulgar Feminism) - and repeat that wonderful line of Kipling's:
"And a Woman is only a Woman, but a Good Cigar is a Smoke."
Always gets a reaction (of some sort), I find............
The Maggot of Conformity has eaten into SO many people's brains.
Some years ago, there was a brief feature on the telly about the desirability of a smoking ban in London. One young-ish passer-by was asked whether smoking should be banned in pubs etc.
His response:
"Well, I'm a non-smoker - so NATURALLY, I'd support the ban."
"Naturally".......................?
Surely England can't ALWAYS have been like this ?
"I'm a Heterosexual, so NATURALLY I'd support a ban on Homos."
Nope - still don't get it.
Perhaps I was just born fifty years too late.........