Smoking Ban: Finally!

I don't smoke, and never have, and what's more I find it very irritating when I spend an evening in a pub or bar and come home with both an increased chance of developing lung cancer and an immediate need to wash everything I'm wearing.

I'm sick of smokers telling me that what we need is mandatory no-smoking areas in every bar. If they want to support that argument by inventing a way of preventing smoke from drifting into the 'smoke-free' area then I'd give the suggestion the time of day but it's ludicrous to suggest that this will work in an enclosed space with nothing separating smoking and non-smoking areas.

In the commons debate on this, there were several very interesting points made. Stephen Pound was on top form as ever, presenting a highly entertaining argument against a ban (if you're interested read his contribution to the debate) but I was particularly intrigued by Lembit Opik's remarks. Opik does have a habit of coming up with the off-the-wall solutions to problems (I seem to remember he was advocating individual speed limits for each driver at one point), and in this debate he suggested an indoor clean air act. So we don't ban smoking, but we legislate the minimum air quality in enclosed public spaces.

Considering this as an alternative to a ban, I think it's actually rather a good idea. Smokers then can't complain that their civil liberties are being eroded, because they are absolutely free to smoke provided that they do not reduce the air quality. Which of course is impossible without very clever high-tech ventilation. So pubs and bars would have the choice of either banning smoking completely, shutting it in a sealed room, or installing ventillation.

Overall I think the ban is probably the best way forward, because like many of Lembit's ideas, this one would be difficult and very expensive to police. The only thing I think is bad about the ban is that it doesn't come in until summer 2007, and as a friend said yesterday “crikey if I have to give up next year I'd better get plenty of smoking in beforehand”.

16 months and counting. Your time will come. :-)

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Cartoons: Hate is self-inflicted

These cartoons everyone is going on about are driving me mad. Firstly because they have resulted in wall-to-wall coverage in the UK media, street protests in London, and resulting waste of police resources, but also because without the Internet I would not have been able to see the cartoons with my own eyes.

There are a number of issues of great concern here. Given the lack of real information available, people are making uninformed judgements, and what's more are drawing influence from the public hysteria over terrorism and Islamophobia to produce even more ridiculous arguments.

Opinions range from those who think the cartoons are funny, to those who are so incensed as to march through London proclaiming ‘Freedom go to hell' and ‘Europe is the curse, Islam is the future'. I'm nearer the former camp, though I find the cartoons (now that I've actually seen them) intriging rather than amusing.

What I do find shocking is that I had to turn to an American website to see the cartoons, and that there are political leaders in Britain condemning their publication. The fear of being labelled anti-Islamist and being hounded out of office is actually driving our media and government into a frighteningly extremist viewpoint of its own. This is the same media that pursued Princess Diana to her death, takes great pride in prising cracks in the lives of the famous, and salivates over who's going to break down first in the annual “I'm a celebrity” extravaganza. Publish these cartoons, and let the public see what the fuss is about. Stop claiming moral high ground that does not exist.

As for the protestors, these are the only people in this whole business who have actually broken any laws (unless incitment to murder suddenly became legal when I wasn't watching), and no-one seems in a hurry to arrest them. I have no sympathy for them, and they should be punished for their crimes.

To any muslem person who has been offended by the cartoons, I would say that I can understand your strength of feeling. You believe devoutly in something, hold it sacred, and someone has lampooned it in front of a readership of millions. So don't buy the paper again. Boycott Danish products if you must. But don't attack the right to speak freely, even if what is said is repugnant to you. Because that is what tolerance is all about - not accepting other religions as right or correct or even valid, but accepting other people's right to say what they like about yours.

I link to these cartoons not because I approve of them, but because they are relevant to the debate. To stifle debate is to stifle democracy, and that is the worst crime of all.

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