Keeping Tabs
‘UNDO the rubber seals. The Governments anti-smoking policy is not all that bad.
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Je déteste |
Sure, we cant smoke in public places or at work, but we can still puff away at home. The doors and windows of a smokers abode do not need to be sealed shut less a particle of tobacco escape and invade the atmosphere.
The smoking policy could have been harsher. It could have been like whats happening in France. The Times says the French Government has issued a decree banning any one in that fair land from carrying more than ten packets of cigarettes outside their home.
Knowing how much the French love a smoke, such a move is sure to impact greatly on the way of live on that side of the Channel.
Of course, the simple way around this ruling is for tobacco companies to produce bigger packets of cigarettes, ones that hold 30, 40 or even 100 fags. That should keep Mr Durocs tobacco withdrawal symptoms at bay as he makes his way from home to office.
Or else make the fags cheaper to buy and so curtail the black market in tobacco. As the paper explains, France has the third most expensive cigarettes in Europe, after Britain and Norway. No wonder the French bring them in from Belgium and Germany.
Back in Blighty, you can still wander the streets with your pockets stuffed with ciggies. And if you live in the North, you may even be aloud to light one.
The Times has seen a survey in the Publican Magazine. It says that more than half the pubs in the North West would stop serving fresh food and so exempt themselves from the new ban on smoking.
The paper says that 53 per cent of pubs in Manchester, Liverpool and the surrounding area rely on smokers for trade. Ban the smokers and the pubs go under.
Compare that figure to the 11 per cent of pubs in East Anglia and the 20 per cent of pubs in the South East that would close their kitchens and you have a North-South split.
The Governments policy is in danger of being ineffectual. The British Beer and Pub Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers is unhappy at the Public Health Bill and says it would have been better had the Government just issued a total ban on smoking in pubs and clubs, food or no food.
But surely theres another way of interpreting these figures. As weve already noted on these pages, forgoing the delights of pub grub could well improve a drinkers health.
And so we call upon the Government to launch a new campaign – Close The Kitchen and Save A Life. Its time to ban the pub meal before its too late…’
Posted: 28th, October 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
