As UK Dopers will be aware the no smoking in pubs/clubs/public places takes effect on July 1st.
We now learn that local Govt. Authorities have been granted millions of £££s to keep an eye on us., they are training their staff to snoop just to make certain neither we smokers or pub landlords transgress :rolleyes:
It seems these people will be permitted to:
Yes, while I agree with the ban, when it happened in Ireland there was a “smoking hotline”, a couple of test cases, and that was that. It worked. Similar in Scotland.
It seems peculiar to this government that they seem to feel the need to train a load of people as snitches, and grant them authority to fine people. It’s as though England feels it has nothing to learn from its neighbours. And that it doesn’t acknowledge that we’re a nation of jobsworth martinets as it is.
In Scotland most councils just employed a couple more environmental health officers, and sent them round the pubs and clubs. They advise on smoking shelters and whatnot. It really wasn’t that much of a big deal.
Wish that were more the approach here in the US. In some states we have smoking bans and some businesses violate them regularly. Secondhand smoke kills over 100 of us a day, and it sometimes certainly makes me regret picking whatever restaurants, stores, etc, that I do (it’s not like they’re marked).
Well, this initiative has prompted me to do, finally, what I’ve been wanting to do for years, tried and failed repeatedly. The July 1st date gives me a deadline to work towards.
It’s a filthy habit, dangerous, expensive and anti-social, and I know in my heart that, while it’s extremely difficult to stop, the long-term health and financial benefits will greatly outweigh what is, in essence, a pointless and nasty habit.
Yes, folks, come July the 1st, I will completely and irrevocably give up the habit of going to pubs.
At least that will minimize your exposure to second-hand beer.
I, for one, welcome our new Stasi overlords. :eek:
First the proliferation of CCTV, then the Toll Tax, now the new Stasi. Labour wants to turn Britain into a police state.
I’ll assume that you are being completely serious 
. Up here, it’s turned out not too bad. There seems to have developed the sort of cameraderie amongst the smokers standing outside that one can find outside workplaces. When the weather is nice quite a few of the non-smokers are out there too. It’s pick-up central at weekends.
The downside is a drop in business for some pubs, in particular the old man types of place (ie the best ones). I think the auld yins are staying in the house with a carry out a lot more. Another drawback is that pubs (and their customers!) don’t smell particularly nice underneath the cigarette reek.
Here where I work their are smoking areas provided, only in the most wind swept outdoor areas to be found. I can live with that (I am a smoker). Those are about to be eliminated. And while it will tick me off, smokers as a group have brought some of this upon ourselves by throwing cigarette butts everywhere except the provided receptacles. I have seen on a regular basis a smoker with a sand bucket on the left, a ashtray on the right, flick the butt into the parking lot. The grounds keepers complain, and rightfully so, about having to sweep the area every day to clean up the mess. In all honesty, I am a little disgusted with it.
Now the Governor of Wisconsin is pushing for an “Only on your own property” Law. That is going a bit far. His other plan is to make highly taxed cigarettes even higher, like a dollar a pack higher. Stupid plan. I am only 25 miles from the Illinois border to the south, 25 miles to Iowa to the west, and a few hours drive to the Native American reservations to the north. (Tribal reservations pay no tax, creating a huge black market in cigarettes). This plan will lose revenue, which Wisconsin can ill afford. Us smokers should be heralded as heroes, we pay for the local portion of medicaid, Badger Care and other programs that provide assistance to those without proper health care and/or nutritional resources. Why not add an extra tax to tea as well? Oops, that was tried once, it didn’t workout all that well. Kind of like prohibition. That was a success, as has been the war on drugs. I suspect more money has been spent on the war on drugs than Iraq. With the same results. No bombing zones in Iraq are about as terrorist free as no drug zones in the US are free of drugs. Our leaders never learn.
Nicotine Nazis, eh? That’s a pretty harsh term to apply to smokers. I mean, sure, they’re killing innocent people around them with clouds of poisonous gas, but it’s an offensive stretch to call them Nazis for it.
Daniel
Our ban on indoor smoking was implemented in 1998, in California, and there were very few problems…
oh, never mind.
Seriously though I did enjoy an occasional smoke while having a drink; my local pub was near a cigar store and several of us used to indulge. On the other hand, my wife is very sensitive to cigarette smoke, and hates it, so I’m glad that I can take her out now and not have to worry about the smoke. For that, it’s worth not being able to smoke cigars anymore at the bar.
It’s not the ban on smoking that’s the issue: it’s the institution of a secret police employed to enforce it.
Secret police? What’s secret about them?
These guys, the Nicotine Nazis, will sneak into pubs and sit nursing a half pint for hours while furtively taking photos of anyone seen smoking.
Having gathered the damning evidence they will descend like locusts on the unfortunate smoker and with cries of “Gotcha you filthy swine” will issue on the spot fines.
The smoker being thoroughly humbled will hand over the payment, take one last look around the boozer, stumble shamefaced into the street and throw him/herself under the next passing bus shouting “FREEDOM” as the life is crushed from the poor soul.
The Nicotine Nazis will take more photos of the bleeding and torn body and turning to a horrified bunch of onlookers will say in a stern authoritive voice “Right you lot, that’s what you get for smoking, so watch it”
At work the following day the Nazis will hand in the pics to their supervisor who will pin them on the notice board after handing out medals for bravery above and beyond the call of duty.
Everyone is then happy :rolleyes:
If their uniforms are half as badass as the Nazis’ were, I’m all for it.
Suspect your neighbor? Turn them in.
[shudder]
Don’t be silly now. I mean if they strolled into the boozer all dolled up like a “real” Nazi they would hardly be secret would they.
No, they are more Gestapoish in their dress, plain clothes and possibly leather coats and maybe the odd monocle
I like that scene in Trigger Happy TV involving a group of smokers huddled together on a windy corner. Dom Jolly turns up dressed as Death, complete with black cowl, a tolling bell and a scythe over his shoulder. Now that’s an effective anti-smoking campaign !
You vastly over-estimate your ‘heroism’.
Some recent figures from next door in Minnesota:
So here in Minnesota, 2/3rds of those smoking taxes are used up paying for health care for people on public assistance. And not all the health care, just the additional care needed to treat smoking-related illnesses.
The actual figures are that, roughly, for every $1 taken in as smoking taxes, $3 is spent on smoking-related illnesses.
So smokers aren’t heroes by any means. Parasites would be more accurate.
I hope you get some help to beat your nicotine addiction; you will be much better off, and so will the rest of the taxpayers of the state.
Just out of curiosity and this somewhat relates to the post by t-bonham@scc.net as well. When stating figures relating to “second hand smoke” deaths/illnesses/etc, are the general polution levels taken into account as well? It’s always struck me as slightly odd that there is a lot of noise made about smoking but the general pollution caused by transport is apparently ignored. Especially odd when you see interviews on TV where the bar is right on a busy road in the middle of a big city.