to those calling for a smoking ban; the massive taxes cigarettes and tobacco carry on them more than pay for what smokers cost the NHS, if the tax generated from tobacco sales were eliminated, the NHS would collapse within a month. Also, prohibition does not work, apart from the tax loss, it creates black markets, it dilutes the product, it gets cut with even worse ingredients and it becomes a greater threat to public health than it ever was before. If you need proof of this, have a look at the prohibition movement in 1920s america, or even the current narcotics legislation. I'm not saying taking drugs is right, I'm saying banning them is wrong.
I'm a smoker myself and I plan to quit when the smoking ban comes in, I'm moving back home after finishing uni, my parents abhor the idea of me smoking, my friends back home don't smoke, so it's going to be easier to just quit than have to go sneaking around outside constantly. So yes, in this respect I welcome the smoking ban, it probably is going to make bars nicer (it won't make clubs nicer though, they're just going to smell of sweat and stale lager in the future and even before I smoked, I preferred the smell of smoke over that).
However, I disagree with it in principle, it's discriminatory, reactionary, nannying, interfering, tedious and strangely reminiscent of a fascist society. You know it was proposed that a massive amount of tax payer's money should be poured into training civil servants to spy on civilians to check they're not breaking the smoking ban?
I don't have a sig, live with it.
