Feb
14
Smoking ban
Filed Under News
Today is the day when MPs get to vote on the controversial proposed smoking ban in England and Wales. As a non-smoker I’d like to see this happen as it will be great to go out somewhere and not come home smelling like an ash tray. There are however a few problems I see, firstly that can’t seem to make a decision upon which kind of ban to introduce:
- Total ban in all pubs and private members’ clubs
- Ban in licensed premises except non-food-serving pubs and members’ clubs
- Smoking ban for all premises except private members’ clubs
Secondly how is such a ban going to be policed? You can just imagine it, a man walks into a bar and lights up, he is asked by the landlord to ‘kindly extinguish his cigarette’, the man refuses and so the police are called. By the time they arrive where is the evidence.
As a non-smoker I don’t like the smell of other people’s stale smoke, but since I’ve got friends who smoke its something that I’ve just got used to. It’s all very well and good proposing a ban, but just how will it be implemented, how long before the government is sued for contravening somebody’s human rights. It also seems a bit harsh, just think how much money the government makes from tobacco tax; we’d be screwed if the whole population decided to give up. So in summary, its a nice idea but I just can’t see how it will work. Maybe after the votes are counted and the decision has actually been made then we’ll here some proper information on how it will all work.
UPDATE – MPs have voted by huge margins to ban smoking from all pubs and private members’ clubs in England. [More info can be found here on the BBC website.]
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