I'm afraid that it is a rock and a hard place for our beloved government as far as the smoking issue is concerned. On the one hand they need the revenue from taxation on ciggies, so can't afford to ban it completely. They feel that they need to play nanny and protect non smokers from passive smoke without infringing the human rights of smokers. A simpler solution would be to let the landlords decide whether they wanted their establishment to be smoking or non smoking, regardless of the serving of food. The pubs/restaurants must be clearly signed as either a smoking or non smoking establishment. Therefore if smokers want to eat and drink in a non smoking place, then they don't smoke whilst there. Alternatively if a non smoker wanted to eat or drink in a smoking establishment then they have made the choice to put up with the smoke... See, it's simple really..
All that this half hearted ban is doing is trying to make the government look concerned for our welfare. Unfortunately as the country can no longer afford to keep us in our old age, the nannying is all about making the govt look caring and improving their image.
We have more elderly people in this country than ever before. This is due to the natural killers of yesteryear Diptheria, Pertussis, TB, Childbirth and many more, being all but eradicated in this country. The numbers of deaths from these causes are now very low. Deaths from malignancy have also fallen drastically in the last 50 years (except for oesophageal cancer). The stillbirth and neonatal death rate has also dramatically fallen in the last 50 years. This means we have more people living longer so we need artificial killers to take the place of the natural ones.
In the 80's the birthrate decreased, it is now on the rise again. This contributes to the fact that the majority of the UK workforce is now aged between 35-50. We have fewer young people in this country to support the elderly by way of taxation.
So you see, the government want to appear caring and concerned for our health, but really they couldn't give a fig because they can't afford to keep us. It's all to do with image and in my opinion they can't even get that right.....
Anyone for a fag?????
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Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether.
The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of my family, friends, employer, this site, my neighbours, hairdresser, dentist, GP, next door's dog or anyone else who knows me..