In mid July I wrote that Brighton and Hove could become one of the first places in the UK to ban smoking in its parks and on its beaches.
Unsurprisingly, as with all of Nanny's "bright ideas", there has been some mission creep. It now transpires that the proposed "voluntary" smoking ban in Brighton and Hove’s beaches and in parks could also be extended to the outside of pubs and restaurants.
The consultation questionnaire published includes separate questions covering the outside seating areas of both types of venue.
Councillor Dan Yates, who chairs the Brighton and Hove Health and Wellbeing Board (what an absurd name for a board), is quoted by Brighton and Hove News:
“We wanted to see what people’s attitudes were to smoking where people are eating and drinking as we do not have any information on this.
Currently the inside of pubs and restaurants are legally smoke-free but not outside areas.
We would certainly not be looking at any additional compulsory smoking restrictions to business, other than the existing smoking ban.
But depending on the results of the consultation, we may want to work with businesses to encourage smoke-free outdoor areas on a voluntary basis.”
Nick Griffin, managing director of Pleisure, which runs Brighton
pubs including the Great Eastern in Trafalgar Street which has several
benches on the pavement outside, said the idea was “bonkers”.
Retarded thinking by a retarded council!“Clearly the proposal hasn’t been thought through. The law of unintended consequences will take effect here.
If one bans smoking from outside seating areas, the smoker will simply (and I hasten to add after much confrontation!) smoke in the street where they aren’t yet banned. Surely this is a worse scenario with more scope for litter, visibility from children and no greater protection for the public.
Add to this the risk it places hospitality staff under, with much of the income coming from tourism from places where such a ban will not be present.
It’s a bonkers idea! What is the justification for it?”
By the way, if you have ever wondered who invented "passive smoking" here is the answer:
"Karl Astel — upstanding president of Jena University, poisonous anti-Semite, euthanasia fanatic, SS officer, war criminal and tobacco-free Germany enthusiast — liked to walk up to smokers and tear cigarettes from their unsuspecting mouths. (He committed suicide when the war ended, more through disappointment than fear of hanging.).The anti smoking fanatics owe their origins to the Nazis!
It comes as little surprise to discover that the phrase “passive smoking” (Passivrauchen) was coined not by contemporary American admen, but by Fritz Lickint, the author of the magisterial 1100-page Tabak und Organismus (“Tobacco and the Organism”), which was produced in collaboration with the German AntiTobacco League."
Feel free to complete the consultation here, and tell Brighton and Hove Council exactly what you think of them.
Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.
Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.
Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.
www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts
Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries
And they don't even bother with their "evidence" anymore.
ReplyDeleteI think that one of the most disquieting aspects of the war on smokers is that psychiatric in-patients are being forced to 'quit' smoking by being denied the facility to smoke and being issued with NRT instead despite the fact that their involuntary incarceration has nothing to do with smoking. I consider it a form of assault, As a smoker I can imagine how awful it must be to be denied the comfort of a cigarette if one is trying to cope with mental illness - I dread having to go into a medical/surgical ward.