Smoking in the UK: Was the government right to ban smoking in all public places
Well, that I think depends upon the sort of government you want, or perhaps deserve! Perhaps as a non smoker you applaud a government that imposes such a ban. You feel that this is really good for your health and the health of the nation and of course you are absolutely right. Smoking is a fithy dirty habit that kills people, both smokers and standersby, and it should of course be totally and absolutely banned! This is a government that has the health of its citizens as a number one priority and is proudly doing the right thing by its people. Indeed, so proud are they that they pioneered this nationwide mass people preservation scheme that they now have the bit between their teeth. Mass health protection is the new order of the day. Next on the agenda is alcohol. Well what else! You can still party without fagsmoke but most parties will flop without alcohol. So here we go, warning labels on alcoholic beverages, tax hypes on alcoholic beverages, constant tv ad nagging on the dangers of enjoying a drink, that is already happening, and probably not long before a total ban on drinking in public. Perhaps as a teetotal non smoker you welcome such a ban from a government that really cares about your health but no time to applaud because our mass health care government is already turning its attention to what we eat. Fast food, junk food, salty food, our government has to protect us. Now under discussion is a tax on junk foods and directives on what children can have in their school lunch boxes. Perhaps even this is welcomed by our health concious killjoy pals but how about the next logical moves of such a government already looking at mass medication and screening schemes and refusing national health service treatment for obese persons and smokers even though they have paid subscriptions for a life time!
Our health conscious UK government has been so busy imposing its will on the masses that they seem to have overlooked endless possibilities for further health protection of the nation by mass legislation. Still, I am sure it wont be that long before they discover the appalling health risks from carcenogenic diesel emmisions. This is rather surprising though since the Japanese government seem to have been aware of the danger to national health for such a long time(about ten years in fact). The Japanese government took immediate action to ban old diesels from their city streets once they had discovered how dangerous the emmisions are. The Japanese government introduced legislation to control the design of all new diesel engines and removed all vehicles with engines more than seven years old. All the old used vehicles got exported to the UK where they became Chelsea Tractors and still freely roam our city streets. Rumour has it that carcenogenic diesel emmissions from the old V8 three litres are slightly more dangerous than second hand cigarette smoke!. Then there are the hospital incinerators, about 800 in the UK which are inadequate, outdated, obsolete and belching dioxin laden fumes into our city air. A few of the hundreds of websites on this subject seem to suggest that living downwind of one of these hospital smoke stacks could be slightly more dangerous than taking a walk in the streets of Hiroshima in the immediate aftermath of the Abomb. Still, I am sure that our government is about to realise the facts and impose a mass ban on japanese diesels and hospital smokestacks! Our government really cares about your health and is going to do whatever it takes to keep you healthy!
I digress, I am getting carried away from the subject of the smoking ban. I suppose that really smokers should be very grateful to our government for introducing this ban. What a wonderful oppotunity to quit smoking and, if you really cannot quit, at least our government did not ban the sale of tobacco and cigarettes. So, if you still want to smoke in the UK you can just as long as you skulk in back alleys and doorways to enjoy your habit. Our government still enjoys its 5billion revenue from tobacco sales while it protects our nation from smoking and I heard that a few hundred people got a new government job as smoking ban police. Everyones a winner! Our government morally protects our nation from smokers and can still pocket the proceeds from tobacco sales. The sale of tobacco is still legal! Smoking in public is not! Everyones a winner! Well not quite all, that great british institution of the village pub is on the way out. Trade dwindled after the ban as smokers stayed at home and got hit again as alcohol taxes increased. Pubs are closing at the rate of six a day and those that survive now have a depression to cope with as well. If you always wanted to visit England and have a beer in a real British pub then you had better do it very soon before the pubs have all gone
Well, thats it, it really does depend upon the sort of government you want. The government that introduced the smoking ban in the UK is a bullying nanny state that is going to decide everything for us and lead us through to a new Britain where life is going to be as miserable as the wretched government that now rules us. There is no tolerance at all, it is even illegal for a group of smokers to form a club or private pub where a smoke and drink can be enjoyed in peace. Is it not morally wrong for a government to impose this legislation on the grounds of looking after our health and yet, at the same time, profit from the sale of of a substance it deems so dangerous.? Is it also not morally wrong for our government to allow business to manufacture and sell these substances here in the UK for domestic consumption and for export to developing countries.? Is it not also morally wrong to allow these companies to trade on our stock markets and for investors to profit from such a deadly trade.? This is not the kind of government that I want. I have no choice regarding the smoking ban which is fait accomplis but I will have a choice when placing my vote at the next election, unless of course this government decides to ban elections as well!